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| DUNMORE, COUNTY WATERFORD. - There are numerous Dunmores-another Gaelic form of great, or strong, fort-in Ireland, but the fishing village lying near the mouth of Waterford Harbor, presented in the sketch, is the most widely known. Not many years ago, it was a place of some commercial importance, and a pier,which cost $500,000,000, was built to accommodate the Milford Haven packets, as Dunmore was their Irish station. But declining population brought with it the kindred curse of decaying trade, and the village has been deserted by the English steamships for a long time. In summer a few people enjoy sea-bathing at Dunmore, which has in this vicinity many interesting relics of the past, among them a Druid alter constructed of several broad slabs, which are supported by fourteen perpendicular stones, forming a circle thirty-six yards in circumference. There, also, is pointed out to the traveller a sacrificial stone so placed that the blood of the human victim flowed freely off. A kindred practice prevailed among the Aztecs in Mexico, where sacrificial stone are preserved in the National Museum at the Capital. The coasts around Dunmore are bold and striking. Many remarkable subterranean passages, or caves, have been formed by the action of the waters, and are objects of great interest to the curious. |
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