[From Sketches in IoM, 1844]

SKETCHES.

DALBY AND THE NIARBYL POINT.

"To sit on rocks, to muse o’er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene,
Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o’er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude; ‘tis but to hold
Converse with nature’s charms and view her stores unrolled."

IT was a charming and radiant norning; the breeze came softly wooing up the valley, bearing on its wings that invigorating and grateful freshness which is invariably felt amidst the mountainous districts of this lovely Isle. For some time past we have been living retired from the noise and bustle of a town. Our habitation is amongst the hills—ay, even at the foot of the lofty and precipitous Sleu-Whallin* our little cottage is situated, from whence we enjoy a magnificent view down the valley of the South, Barrule bounding the distance. The trees are in full bud ; some of them indeed have already expanded their young broad leaves, and are fanned by the gentle breezes. The flowers give forth a grateful aroma, and oh! are they not beautiful to look upon? How soft and delicate are the leaves of the wild rose! how vivid the grass! what a firm yet fragile beauty in those blue bells and green plants that stretch themselves aloft, as if impatient to breathe once more the vernal air, and expand themselves hourly with dews, sunshine, and rain. The birds) also, are sweetly warbling forth their melodious notes : from every bush and spray the thrush and blackbird are trilling their wild lays, and high in the heavens the lark is hymning in such delicious strains that imagination might persuade us they issued from the groves of some enchanted land! It is no other season than Spring— no other month than May—the smiling month of May, when everything in creation is bursting forth with redoubled vigour into life and loveliness, and man perceives the mighty Spirit awakening the world and all therein into a newness of life, and pouring sunshine and summer beauty upon the earth, thus linking, as it were, our hearts to nature.

Whilst looking over a map of the Island a few days since, fancy led us to choose Dalby as the point of attraction for our first ramble, it being a place which we never visited, nor is it a locality by any means well known even to the generality of the inhabitants, and consequently much less to visiters. It was early when we proceeded on our way. The road leads around the northern base of Slieu-Whallin, and hard by, a tortuous river winds down the vale, which looks like an azure riband as it reflects the dazzling sheen of the sky above. Towards Peel the country appears uninteresting; there is nothing in its scenery to captivate the beholder, but when we had passed a jutting prominence in the mountain the prospect became truly charming. Ballamoar, the ancient-looking edifice of that name, embosomed amongst a grove of patrician trees, which have witnessed generation after generation pass away, lay serenely in the fore-ground, and, on the declivity of the mountain, the Vicarage and many picturesque residences are scattered.— Beyond, and in the middle distance, green meadows with numerous cattle browsing upon them are seen, and in the far off, a line of hill undulating to the northward, upon whose apex a mausoleum was erected some years since by a very eccentric character, which still remains, serving for a landmark to the mariner when coasting by the western shores of the Island. Altogether it is so lovely a scene, that we were allured to linger there for hours. Near to the parish church of Patrick the road diverged to the left; but slowly we progressed, for on every side there was some charming view to stop and contemplate. The sunlight beaming over the valley—the sparkling river, and the azure hue of the distant mountains were now presented to us; and immediately the scene changed to the sloping hill, the wooded dell. and the dark blue sea, with a foreground of rustic cottages, from which the smoke ascended in graceful columns. Descending a steep hill, we entered the ravine of Glenmay. Several cottages are built in this romantic little spot, and down it flows the silvery stream which supplies the fall below.

"Bright, mild, and clear, thy gentle waters flow;
Round thy green banks the spring’s young blossoms flower;
O’er thy soft waves the balmy zephyrs blow."

On the opposite side of the hamlet the ascent is rather precipitous and at its smnmit the road branches off to the right., and overlooks the valley for the space of half a mile, when it turns to the southward, where the scenery, instantaneously as it were, becomes completely changed. There is an indescribable wildness—a barrenness about it. You appear to be traversing another region altogether; no trees—no green pastures like those you have just left; nought but a long slope of mountain shelving towards the illimitable sea, whose billows are ever surging and beating against it. We were just on the eve of wending our homeward path, when a thought struck us, that having journeyed so far, we might now visit the Niarbyl: so thither we accordingly bent our steps, and in a brief period of time were at the extremity of the western coast, standing on the sea shore.

Can language describe with all faithfulness the sublimity of the scene which now burst upon our view, or can the painter, with all his skill and ingenuity, delineate its magnificence and grandeur? Oh, no! feeble indeed would be the attempt! Above us peered a cliff where the beautiful red moss hung in wreaths from rock to rock; and calmly and serenely the pellucid water of the channel stretched far and wide its polished area, and the little wavelets, as the tide came in, lap-lapped against the rocks on which we rested,

"and sent
Into our hearts ærial merriment."

There in the southeast rose the promontory ycleped[sic] the Little Headland, deeply, darkly blue, and linked to it Ennyn Moar, uplifted in splendid magnificence, appeared like some mighty prince of the earth— noble—grand—sublime !—his head diademed with a wreath of snow-white fleecy clouds, which betimes obscured its surface, and anon was dissipated before the breeze that blew upon its heath-clad heights.— Breda joined Ennyn Moar, standing out in strong relief as a ray of sunlight ifiumined its outline and fell on the tide beneath in showers of silvery radiance; and far in a southwestern direction stretched away the extreme promontory of the Island, beyond which the Calf of Man, whose bold headlands reared proudly in the air, seemed to defy every storm and tempest that might assail them.

Such, gentle reader, is a faint outline of the scenery to be enjoyed from the creek of the Niarbyl. Will it induce you to wander thither? But perhaps you care not—perhaps you are heedless of the grandeur and sublimity of nature! The love of mountains, waves, and skies may not be deep in your heart with a pure passion. Oh! if such be the case, we cannot enter into your feelings—we cannot hold communion with you; but, on the other hand, if you appreciate these things, go and ramble to the Niarbyl Point, and you will behold some of the sublime works of Him "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance."

* This mountain is said to be haunted by the spirit of a murdered witch, which, however, does not appear to mortal eyes, but every night joins its lamentations to the howling winds. This woman is said to have shared the fate of Regulus, having been put into a barrel with sharp iron spikes inserted round the interior, pointing inwards, and thus by the weight of herself and the apparatus was allowed to roll from the top of the mountain to the bottom.. Many other persons here underwent death in a similar manner.. One of these, named Thomas Carran, who was accused of witchcraft, suffered this cruel and torturing penalty, firmly protesting his innocence of the crime laid to his charge.— In-proof of this--as he is said to have predicted—a thorn tree has since growa, and marks the fatal spot on the summit of the mountain, where the cask, in which he was enclosed, in fulfilment of’the sentence awarded against him, was precipitated over the brow, to roll and. bound and dash with. headlong speed to the plain below