Our Visit to Holy Island in 1*854, by Dr. Johnston. 33 



small flock had no books. Enough ! In the evening we 

 walked to the Castle and to Sheldrake bay ; then turning 

 northward, we tracked the shore until we got a cart-road 

 which brought us back to the village in a sort of parallelo- 

 gram. The rain that had fallen during the day had enticed 

 forth a numerous host of Helix aspersa, so that it was 

 difficult to avoid treading upon them. Helix hortensis was 

 also common enough, but not in such great number ; and 

 Li/max ater, the only slug noticed, was not common. 



22nd. The morning was gusty, with alternate showers of 

 rain and glimpses of sunshine, so that our intentions of pass- 

 ing the forenoon in the Churchyard and amidst the ruins of 

 the Priory were nearly frustrated. The women, on seeing 

 the coming rain, carried tubs, which they placed under the 

 projecting spouts of the Church to be filled. Every spout 

 had its tub, and there are a good many of them. One of 

 the women, after placing her tub, set herself to gather the 

 leaves of the docken, which are used by them to lay the 

 hooks upon as they are baited. We also saw the leaves of 

 the cabbage, torn into fitting pieces, used for the same pur- 

 pose. A hasty visit to the boats produced nothing ; so home, 

 and refreshed, we started for the Lough, although the wind 

 rendered a close examination of the water impracticable. 

 The coot, in considerable numbers, was swimming and play- 

 ing in the deeper water ; and two kinds of gulls floated 

 amidst them. Tame ducks and geese were feeding in the 

 shallow water, and a blackbird whistled merrily from the 

 planting on the eastern bank. But all this was as nothing to 

 senses which were absorbed with the glorious, spacious bed of 

 buck-bean that lay spread over the north-west end. The 

 beauty of it was far beyond anything of the kind I had 

 seen elsewhere, and could scarcely be rivalled. The dry 

 season had probably been the cause of this surpassing blow. 

 Beyond it, there was a large space covered with the upright 

 variety of Polygonum amphibium, which had produced a 

 much less sure footing than the large, entangling roots of the 

 buck-bean. The east end of the Lough was rich with an 

 abundant and extensive crop of Equisetum limosum, afford- 

 ing a safe shelter to the birds ; and the gravelly shore was 

 carpetted with Littorella lacustris. I got five different 

 species of Leeches in the Lough, a sufficient reward for any 

 trouble or weariness our walk had given. 



Many of the tombstones in the Churchyard have the 



