I A GRIM STRONGHOLD OF THE NORTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 82

I A GRIM STRONGHOLD OF THE NORTH.

By a Bankeb. I On a wild rock, separated from the mainj lsuid by a- wide chasm, cleft by some tremendous effort of Nature right down to th» j ravine, through, which the raging water* j once eddied and swirled, lashed into fur/ | by the foaming breakers hurled by the- , -winds of the northern sea against this , uprearedl beetling CTag, stands one of thosegrim old feudal castlea •which in more troub* ! lous times wex« ev«r and anon the scene oi sanguinary conflict between kith and kin. This buttressed and embattled stronghold — Dunhioe Castle — in those fiery days conj sidered to be by far the most powerful j fastness along the whole line of the wild j iron-bound coaat of the north of Ireland, j even now exhibits full evidence of its ali most impregnable and unconquerabla j strength; though notwithstanding its scarps ! and ramparted battlements on more than I one occasion it has succumbed to the furious j onslaughts of its foes. The main fortress I itself, built on the frowning insular rock, j appears to be almost as adamantine as the I rock itself; for though erected so far back i in the dim vista of the past that even tradij tion fails to name the powerful chieftain*" by whom it was first founded, yet the heavy, devastating hand of Tim© has altogether failed to overthrow those massive ramparts, or to Jay waste those loapnooled towers and buttressed donjon and keep. And, as a farther defence, on the mainland opposite the rock-fortress is an extensive subsidiary fortress, formerly separated from the island fort by a drawbridge, but now joined to it by a permanent narrow causeway, over which tlie visitor whose nerves are equal to the occasion cautiously walks. But now, where cuirassed and helmeted warriors formerJy fought in deadly contest, and where the air was thick with arrows and javelins, and 'where, with broadsword and claymore, halberd and battleaxe, falchion, and rapier, those mailed and vizored tribesmen I of old were, with wild shouts and fury, dealing death at every . stroke, sheep are peacefully browsing and th« lark is singing its love-carol. And where, in. those dark, and dismal 1 dungeons, th« fettered ca'pidyes 1 , weighed down with clanking chains and pinioned in gyves and manacles, pined away and died, now, open to the sky. the dToopi ing fronds of ferns or graceful tufts of wild | flowers adorn, tho walls and perfume the air. But we ourselves, unlike those captives of old, though pinioned and h«ld fast in the [ gyves and shackles of oar misdeeds, may, < if we will, burst all the bonds which so enfcrammel us, if only, with the aid of the Poly Spirit, we supph'c»te the Almighty for deliverance in the name of his i well- be loved Son, who in our stead receiver} | the chastiEement which was our due. For i by His stripes we are healed.

— The robbery of graves is the one crime in. China for which the thief may be killed on the spot by anyone finding him in the act. — A new kind of boot is about to bo put on the market, the sole and heel of which, when worn out, oan. bo unscrewed, and new leather put in their place. The inventor claims that a pair of boots can be soled and heeled in 55sec, saving 25 per cent, on the coet of ordinary boot-repairing.