On the 30th of September my friend Barclay Clibburn192 accompanied me on an excursion [p. 157] among the Waterford mountains. At a little distance from Anner Mills we crossed the Suire by as awkward a bridge as was ever seen, the Arches diminishing from one side of the river to the other without an elevation of the ground to account for it. The road then runs for about 4 miles at the foot of a range of mountains covered with oaks, the rich valley of the Suire spreading on the left. When we got among the mountains I found more cultivation & better land than I expected & there are some pretty spots but in general the side from the Valley of the Suire to the foot of Monavoullagh is very uninteresting and in this instance the fog hanging on the mountain top concealed its outline which on our return I found craggy and picturesque. We ascended Monavoullagh on foot under the conduct of [a] cottager & left our horses to the care of the servant. There are two or three small lakes surrounded [p. 158] by crags but I thought this side of the mountain less interesting both to the Artist and the Naturalist than the other which I had visited on first coming to Ireland. Meanwhile, I had been rambling among mountain scenery much superior to either and had gathered all the usual plants of the country almost all of which were now out of flower so that perhaps the dish might be as good but my palate was altered. Hieraceum villosa,193 Saxifraga umbrosa & Saxifraga stellaris were all the rare plants I discovered but the season was too far advanced to hope for much.
[p. 159] Among the mountains not far from the foot of Monavoullagh we observed a sentinel stationed at a farm house. The tenant had lately taken it over the head of the old occupier. In these cases it is not uncommon for the neighbouring peasantry to assemble