ey arrived at the borders of a deep
glen, more wild, romantic, and picturesque than can be conceived. It
was enclosed and overhung on all sides by trees of amazing height and
dimensions, which hid it in deep shadow. Fancy might picture a spot
so silent and solemn as this, as the abode of genii and fairies,
every thing conducing to render it grand, melancholy, and venerable,
and the glen wanted only a dilapidated castle, a rock with a cave in
it, or something of the kind, to render it the most interesting place
in the universe. There was, however, one sight more beautiful than
all the rest, and that was the incredible number of butterflies
fluttering about like a swarm of bees, and they had no doubt chosen
this glen as a place of refuge against the fury of the elements.
They were variegated by the most brilliant tints and colourings
imaginable: the wings of some of them were of a shining green, edged
and sprinkled with gold; others were of a sky-blue and silver, others
of purple and gold a lightfully blending into each other, and the
wings of some were like dark silk velvet, trimmed and braided with
lace.

The appearance of the travelling party was romantic in the extreme,
as they winded down the paths of the glen; with their grotesque
clothing and arms, bundles, and fierce black countenances, they might
have been mistaken for a strange band of ruffians of the most fearful
character. Besides their own immediate party, they had hired twenty
men of Adooley, to carry the luggage, as there are not any beasts of
burthen in the country, the natives carrying all their burthens upon
their heads, and some of them of greater weight than are seen carried
by the Irishwomen from the London markets. Being all assembled at the
bottom of the glen, they found that a long and dangerous bog or swamp
filled with putrid water, and the decayed remains of vegetable
substances intersected their path, and must necessarily be crossed.
Boughs of trees had been thrown into the swamp by some good-natured
people to assist travellers in the attempt, so that their men,
furnishing themselves with long poles which they used as walking
sticks, with much difficulty and exertion, succeeded in getting over,
and fewer accidents occurred to them, than could have been supposed
possible, from the nature of the swamp. John Lander was taken on the
back of a large and powerful man of amazing strength. His brawny
shoulders supported him, without any apparent fatig