316 ITroc. B.N.F.C, 



were so fascinated and captivated by their gifts and power 

 that they allowed them to remain and to build forts where 

 they held high festival, with music and singing and the chant 

 of bards" (Berry). To this blend then may be safely attributed 

 the constructive genius and power of the great Stone Age, 

 and if the morning of Ireland's life is only discernible by the 

 forms of her sons moving like shadows, dim and uncertain in 

 many respects, they are no less the shadows of men who have 

 indeed left us a durable record in their work of the brave, 

 fearless nature of their race, possessing, like every nation 

 since — 'but painted in different colours — the inevitable law of 

 growth, of grandeur, and decay. 



Passing on from this region of wondrous work we visited 

 Knocknarea Glen, described in the programme as '' a remark- 

 able straight cliff-walled fissure running along the mountain 

 slope for the distance of a mile." To my mind this fissure, 

 which is about fifty feet wide and bounded on each side by 

 absolutely perpendicular cliffs of limestone, is due to an earth 

 slip, like the Swiss Valley we spoke of. The interest is not 

 confined to its geological formation, but equally, if not more 

 so, to it as the most luxuriant home of the Hart's-tongue 

 fern. We could have lingered longer here, but the guide's 

 whistle again sounded, and our party divided, one section 

 climbing to the summit of Knocknarea, crossing the mountain 

 top and descending on the other side, there meeting the 

 second portion at the village of Strandhill. 



This village is on the shores of the Atlantic, and possesses 

 a fine series of sand-dunes (like our local ones in Antrim and 

 Down), which were soon the hunting-ground of the Helix 

 collectors, and the popular explanations of Mr. Welch as he 

 turned up a " rat run " and investigated the remains of a 

 rat feast on luscious snails almost persuaded me to become 

 a " snail man " too; and as I had nothing else to do I went 

 out to the sand-blown valleys in the dunes and collected a lot 

 of dried snail-shells, which seemed to me at least like the 

 brilliant armour of many a lowly creature who had served 

 his turn in this world and then passed on; for there is no 



