William Collins
Published: 2015-07-19
Total Pages: 230
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Excerpt from Dalaradia: Or, the Days of King Milcho Stalwart and imperishable, in all the rude freedom of untamed magnificence, they stood, the bulwarks of Emania and the sentinels of Dalaradia. Deep in the valley, and clear and pure as the skies that smiled down upon it, winding in many a silver coil, and laughing and leaping in the sun as it pursued its joyous way through glen and brake and dingle, past Cromleach, rath and round tower, through thick and darksome groves sacred to Bel and the Druids only, whose dark recesses had never been penetrated save by the holy and mysterious priests of the sun-god, the Braid, a bright and beautiful river, flowed, whose banks were fringed with oak, willow and laburnum, among whose branches the wild birds nestled and sung to the gladsome river as it merrily sped along. The valleys and hillsides were studded with shielings and cottages, from which the smoke, in spiral columns, curled gracefully in the air, or lay calm and motionless upon the stilly atmosphere, giving evidence of animation and life in that lone and sequestered valley. These were the humble dwellings of the herdsmen who tended the flocks and herds of Milcho, the great chieftain of the territory. Numerous huts were scattered along the coast, but at a safe distance from the encroachments of the sea, whose waves, when stirred to anger or lashed to fury by Crom, their sea-god, startled their souls with fear, and caused them to offer sacrifices for the propitiation of the angry deity. When viewed from the summit of Slieve Mis, impending in awful state over the lovely scenes below, outspreading far and wide, and basking in the Summer sun, the sight was indeed wild, beautiful and grand. From the rocky battlements of Dunluce to the silvery strands of Carnlough and Glenarm, or from Bengore Head to the far-off waters of Aghaloe, no brighter scene rose up, or fairer landscape lay, in all green Ulster. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
