CUCHULAINN'S DUN AND CUCHULAINN'S COUNTRY 281
Scandalous desecration of his _dun_; its situation and vast size; its existence another proof of the general truth of Irish history--Cuchulainn, the Irish Hercules--Origin of his name--Nothing told about his size or stature--Total ignorance about Cuchulainn in his birth-place; immensity of the literature in which he figures--Literary industry of early Irish monks--Cuchulainn loved by women; his abduction of Eimer; his _liaison_ with Fann; the tract about him in the Book of the Dun Cow--Fann's rhapsody--"Cuchulainn's Death" from the Book of Leinster; beauty of the view from his _dun_--Numerous antiquities of the County Louth--The Cooley and Mourne mountains--Neglect of the scenery of Louth and Down.
Its magnificence; comparison between it and the coasts of Norway; its mild climate--Bantry Bay--The cliffs of Moher-- Half Ireland has been swallowed by the sea--Constant erosion by the waves--Killary Harbour--Clew Bay, the queen of Irish Sea lochs; comparison between it and other bays-- Croagh Patrick--Achill and its cliffs--Antiquities at Carrowmore--Loch Gill--Sligo--Slieve League--Loch Swilly-- Grandeur of the scenery from Cape Clear to Inishowen; its wonderful variety; its mild climate and wild flowers--Ten people visit the coasts of Norway for one that visits the west coast of Ireland--Want of passenger steamers on the west coast; its beauties can only be seen to advantage from the sea--Few safe harbours on the Donegall coast.
Dublin not sufficiently appreciated by some of its inhabitants--Its history--Its long Gaelic name--Danish domination in it--Many times taken and sacked by the Irish--Battle of Clontarf--Canute made no attempt to conquer Ireland--Dublin has not suffered from a siege for one thousand years--Its rapid growth in the eighteenth century--Greatly improved during the last twenty-five years--Its improvement undertaken under enormous difficulties--Its educational advantages--Its libraries-- Its museum of antiquities; disgraceful management of it-- Dublin supposed to be a dirty city--Its situation--Its public buildings--Its environs; their supreme beauty-- Glasnevin Botanic Gardens--Dublin Bay; poem on it--Variety of scenery round Dublin--The Dargle--Howth--Fingall--Dublin situated in a land of flowers--Abundance of wild flowers in Ireland--Phoenix Park--Three round towers close to Dublin; error in its census--What the author has said in its praise is true.