1636." Torlagh seems to have been a priest, as there are carved at the base the bell and chalice. It manifests a very inferior style of art. Allegorical art, as manifested on the stone, containing the figures of the bishop, cross, crown, and angels, is of the earliest Christian period.

The baptismal font used in the church, and which stands in front of the communion table, was the baptismal font that was used in the Catholic times, and is of the best Carrara marble.

Allusion has already been made to the labours of St. Patrick in this parish, but there is a tradition that at Ardnapaesta, in Glentogher, there existed a great serpent, the scourge and terror of all who passed that way-then, as now, one of the principal thoroughfares of the country. No earthly power could dislodge him from his stronghold. At the solicitations of the people St. Patrick took the matter in hand, combated, and pierced him with his pastoral staff, and, bleeding as he was, compelled him by exorcisms to take his departure. Off the fearful thing crawled; nor did he stop till he arrived at Lough Derg, the waters of which he dyed red with his blood. The lake became the serpent's grave, and, from the shedding of its blood therein, it obtained the name which it still bears.

From the "Ulster Visitation Book," preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, we find that in the year 1622 Patrick M'Tally was the Protestant minister of Carndonagh. He is said to be "An Irishman of mean gifts, having a little Latin and no English, but sufficient for a parish consisting wholly of Irish."

CHAPTER XII.

Illicit Distillation.

In a sketch, which purports to treat of Inishowen, it may likely be expected that something should be said of the only product of home manufacture which has become associated with its name. I allude to that celebrated beverage, the synonyme for good spirits all over the world. The distillation of Inishowen whiskey has been carried on from time immemorial, and probably will be so carried on while light and darkness succeed each other. In every season of the year-'mid the howlings. of the winter's storm, or the serene calm of summer, the laughing days of spring, and the haste and bustle of the autumn months-hordes of adventurous chemists are daily engaged in the preparation of this article in their highland huts and moun

Not always with impunity, however, can they

A

tain caverns. carry it on, for the lynx-eyed constables of the Revenue Board, set on sometimes by wretched informers, make many destructive raids upon them, and seriously disturb their avocations. volume might be written on the subject of still-hunting alone. Many a long and fatiguing chase the mercurial smugglers led the government troops and police over mountains, fens, and morasses, When the hunting party were perceived making their way to the scene of active operations, the smugglers' pickets, prompt to their duty, gave the concerted signal, which was transmitted, or rather telegraphed, with wonderful celerity. Sometimes a sharp, peculiar whistle conveyed the unwelcome intelligence, at others the sounding horn, or if the enemy approached in the night, a line of fiery torches shot off along the hill-side, and, in the eloquence of that mute display, the violator of the excise code had timely warning of impending danger. When the rendezvous happened to be on the sea-shore, as it often was, and the retreat cut off landwise by the approaching guard, then the little band, with the energy of despair, would place their more valuable apparatus in their ready skiff, and betake themselves to sea. On one noted occasion this stratagem was attempted in the little bay of Doughmore, Isle of Dough, but, ere all the valuables were got on board, the troops had possession of the boat, and a large quantity of the contraband which it contained. The latter they destroyed, but not so the boat; that was too conspicuous an object to ruin in obscurity; so, getting in, they brought it across the bay, and a cart being procured, an exploit which they accomplished with the utmost difficulty, both on account of the limited number of those vehicles to be found at the time, and the extreme unwillingness which all manner of people had to hire anything which they owned for carrying out the objects of a penal statute; but after some time the cart was procured, and the obnoxious boat they tied upon it, hoisted its sail, and, under full cloth, trundled off through Glentogher, Ture, Muff, and into Derry, Such an unusual sight created as much wonderment along the road as if the great sea-serpent, conducted by the military, had passed up on a complimentary visit to the Custom-house authorities. After it had taken place all the local prophets concurred in saying that Columbkille had prophesied it, and that it was one of the signs which should precede the world's dissolution. At Quigley's Point, on the leading road from Derry to

Moville, and about midway between them, a road strikes off nearly at right angles; it runs up the slope of the hill due west for nearly a mile, and then turns sharply to the north, leaving at this point the Clonilly National School embosomed in furze, unprofitably gay, and in its onward course passes through Glentogher, Carn, Malin, and eventually terminates at the sea near Malin Head. From the turn near the school the incline is gradually downward for about three miles, where it enters a narrow gorge or pass; here the mountains on each side seem standing up in stern sullenness, and bidding a grim defiance to their opposite neighbours. Before the days of macadamizing, ere that vicious circle, the surveyor's ring, was known or invented, a bridle road led through here, and along its beaten and devious path horse and foot-pedestrians and equestrians-were wont to make their way from or to the lower bottom of Inishowen. The neat bridge which now spans the roaring torrent of the hills was not there, but instead a line of colossal stepping stones ran across the ford, which means of transit was, in the language of the day, termed a cloghan. The stepping stones have vanished with the age to which they belonged, but the name, still more enduring, attaches to the place. Before crossing the Cloghan in our downward journey, we all at once and most unexpectedly meet a luxuriant plantation, in the very depth of the mountain wilderness. The trees are birch and Norway firs, larch, elms, and beeches; in the midst there is an excellent farm-house, in good occupation. This Tadmor, oasis, or whatever you may term it, serves to show how adapted are our mountains in most parts for the growth of timber, which, if carefully attended to, would soon afford shelter to beasts and birds, and confer an air of embellishment on their sombre cheerless slopes.

Crossing the Cloghan, a few minutes' walk will bring us to Ardnapaesta (from which the great serpent was expelled by St. Patrick) and the silver mines of Carrowmore; the road passes along them, and on the right, "like the baseless fabric of a vision," is the lone shell of a building designed for a mill for crushing and washing the argentiferous ore. We now enter Glentogher, where

"Oft from out a tiny spout
The bowl of Bacchus flowed."

And well suited is the glen for such a purpose, abundance of water in every part coming gushing down from unfailing foun

tains in the hills, sparkling and pure as on the morning of Creation, with "hides" and haunts which the keenest experts have as yet failed to discover. Glenagannon, or the glen beyond, in allusion to the former one, because it lies beyond the hill to the east, is a kind of cul-de-sac, being hemmed in by mountains on all sides, save the north, where it opens on the plain of Maghtogher, already described; the leading roads terminate at its inner extremity, beyond which is a wide-extended district of bog reaching to the confines of Carrickmaquigley on the Foyle. The history of Glenagannon is embodied in the annals and records of Somerset House, and must be well known to the anthorities there, as it is the most notorious region in Inishowen, or, for its extent, perhaps, in Ireland, for this species of manufacture. My object, however, is not to go into detail on these matters, but simply to show how by nature, artifice, or stratagem, the police, &c., have been frustrated and foiled, notwithstanding their most strenuous endeavours to find it out.

The road which enters this glen passes for a considerable distance along the edge of a steep bank, and as there is no fence or protection wall on that side the traveller must take great care to keep to the left; one false step on the edge of the bank, and he is likely to be killed first and drowned after, for along its base deep and swift passes the mill-race of the Rev. Mr. Canning's flax and corn mills. By keeping a steady look-out, then, he may reach in safety the woollen mill of Mr. Gamble, and then all danger is past. From here to a point near its centre the glen widens very considerably, and forms a kind of natural basin, the south side of which is enclosed by the beetling brows and precipitous sides of Cruckroosky. Now, all at once the glen becomes narrow, and winds around the western side of the last-named mountain, passing "Gibraltar," 66 Pennsylvania," &c., and finally terminates in the swamps of Meenahonar. A rapid river rising in Lough Conn sweeps around the western base of Cruckroosky, down Glenagannon, and goes careering along to the sea at Strabreagy. The habitations in the narrow part of the valley are situate along the very foot of the mountain, and the fields run down to the river. To the inhabitants the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies seem ever to rise through the summit of that mountain ridge, as if they made its interior a temporary resting-place, and bathe the valley in a sudden flood of light, as a refulgent lantern on the battlements of some feudal castle illumes the dark rolling

waters that glide silently along its foundations.

The rising of

the full moon in the autumn twilight is indescribably magnificent here. One evening, now long ago, a party of the Revenue police was coming down along the river at a pretty brisk pace; a still was at full work-not, indeed, directly before them, but somewhat to the right-they had passed the sentinels, who, fearing nothing on account of the course the police were taking, did not sound the alarm. When they were within a very short distance of the still-house, two of their number that were rather behind the others made a sudden detour, and were proceeding to the very place where the unconscious smugglers were engaged. What was now to be done? By raising the alarm all in the house might escape, and there were more than a dozen in at the time, including visitors, all of whom, if taken, were equally amenable to the law; but, though the parties might escape, there could be little hope of saving the goodsthey were virtually lost. Some means, if possible, must be devised to divert the police from their course-to withdraw them from this line, and get them to follow their comrades more directly.

Pat, the tailor, was working at a customer's, and, as it was that time of evening when it is neither light nor dark, he was stepping about, as was his wont, for the half hour which preceded the lighting of his candle; he perceived the movement of the two policemen, and his quick brain instantly fixed on a mode of saving the smugglers. Desperate cases require desperate remedies; so I may as well state that Pat's plan was to simulate madness-to make a furious dash in the direction of the men, with the view of being apprehended by them, and escorted to his own home-a plan which, if successful, would completely fulfil his design, for, going to his house, they should change their course, and take the very way of their comrades who had passed. He seized his scissors and a long stripe of brown paper he had stitched together, which served him for a measuring tape, and, without hat or coat, sallied out at his utmost speed in the direction of the mountain. At that moment the full moon had just so far ascended as that her lower limb rested on the hill, and the sharp crags that lay near its summit were beginning to put on a silvery hue. The sight of so odd a personage running towards them bare headed and without his coat, brandishing in one hand a pair of scissors, and in the other a coil of brown paper tape, astonished the policemen