Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Diary of Bonnivert, 1690 (Author: Gédéon Bonnivert)

entry 4

Thursday we fished most of the day, and took a great many gurnets and whitings, the sea being in a great calm. That day we left Cumberland behind us, and endeavoured to reach the Isle of Man, but could not. In the night time, the wind arising, and pretty favourable for our voyage, we left the Isle of Man at our left hand, and we discovered the coasts of Scotland at our right hand, which they call Galloway; and Friday being the 19th, we came between three islands and a town called Donaghadee, which is a market town, and seems a pretty good one. We left it at our right, and Copeland Islands at our left. We saw after that, at our left, the village called Bangor, which is but a small one, but very fit for vessels to come to the very sides of it; both sides are very rocky. That small village is famous for Duke Schomberg landing there with the forces under his command.21 Upon your right you

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see the Castle of Carrickfergus, which is a strong place; we took it last year, and lost no great quantity of men. We landed at the White House, where we saw on our arrival great numbers of poor people. The women are not very shy of exposing to men's eyes those parts which are usual for the sex to hide.22 We went that night to Belfast, which is a large and pretty town, and all along the road you see an arm of the sea upon your left, and on the right great high rocky mountains, which tops are often hidden by the clouds, and at the bottom a very pleasant wood, and very full of simples23 of all sorts.