1903-1904.] 193 



The account of this excursion fills nine closely-written pages. At 

 Castle Espie a proposal was made to visit Mahee Island, and it 

 is recorded that the threatening rain induced the ladies of the 

 party, and such of the gentlemen as were afraid of the 

 prospects of a wet walk, to return, leaving only a few more 

 adventurous spirits to proceed, and after various adventures 

 they all met together at Comber and had tea at Jeffrey's 

 Hotel, " where, with appetites sharpened by their walk, they 

 enjoyed with much gusto the tea, at which the matrons of the 

 party presided." The account of this excursion and much of 

 what was seen is almost identical with our excursion to 

 Mahee Island in this present session. 



A special archaeological excursion was arranged on the 13th 

 June to the Giant's Ring, ttie party, to the number of one 

 hundred, leaving the Museum in omnibuses, the route being 

 by the old Lisburn Road, and Shaw's Bridge to Drumbo 

 Round Tower. One of the omnibuses broke down, and some 

 of the party had to walk the greater part of the way. 



Mr. Wm. Gray, who is with us yet, is recorded as taking 

 accurate measurements of Farrel's Fort and the Round Tower. 

 At the Giant's Ring an address was delivered by Mr. W. J. 

 Forrester on the study of archaeology, so that it will be noted 

 that this Section, which has always been a fairly strong one, 

 got to work early in the life of the Club. The Botanists also 

 record a good day's work on this excursion. 



I find that in June of this year a dredging excursion was 

 attempted, but it was not carried out, as a sufficient number 

 did not support it. There appear to have been clouds of 

 difficulty round these dredging excursions, but persistent 

 determination finally commanded success. • 



The fourth excursion — on 4th July — was to Carrickfergus 

 and Lough Mourne by the Woodburn River, and that 

 excursion was partly repeated in the same year, and has been 

 a favourite one ever since, so much so, that we repeated it 

 again during the present year. On the return journey the 

 minutes say that the plant which attracted attention by its 

 beauty and luxuriance was the Wood Vetch {Vicia sylvatica). 



