2 Mr. W. H. Turle— ^ Visit 



these islands, and the only one that contains a village ; Inish- 

 vickillane (or Inishmackillaun, as it was called half a cen- 

 tury ago) is the next largest and is inhabited by a single 

 family. The next in size is Inishnabro (formerly Inishnubro), 

 and it is the loftiest, rising 583 feet above the level of the sea. 

 It is uninhabited. There is a lighthouse on Inishtearaght 

 (the Tiraght Rock of the old maps) , but no other houses. Inish- 

 toorskert (which used to be called Inishtuiskero) and Beginish 

 (the Beginist of the old maps) are quite uninhabited. There 

 are no trees on any of the islands, and the shores are for the 

 most part precipitous cliffs, where it is very difficult to find 

 a landing-place. 



I have paid two visits to the Blasket Islands, one in 1889 

 and the other in 1890. From Cork to Tralee there is a 

 railway, but from Tralee to Dingle is a long drive of thirty- 

 two Irish miles. The road passes along a range of moun- 

 tains which rise higher and higher as the traveller proceeds 

 westwards, until they culminate in the lofty peak of Brandon, 

 3127 feet above the sea. I arrived in Dingle on the 30th of 

 April, and fortunately found my boatman waiting for a fine 

 day to sail over to the Blaskets in his fishing-smack. I 

 had just time to drive over to Sybil Head in a car to arrange 

 with my climber to meet me in his canoe near Beginish on 

 the following day. He is the youngest of three brothers, all 

 fishermen, and is a handsome lad about 17 years old, belong- 

 ing to the black-haired, black-eyed race that is to be found 

 in some parts of Kerry and Galway, and is supposed by 

 some to be of Spanish origin, but by others to be the remains 

 of the old race which lived in Western Europe before the 

 Celts came over. He only spoke Gaelic, but was a splendid 

 climber. 



We left Dingle early on the morning of the 2nd of May 

 with a fair breeze and a dancing sea, which sometimes swept 

 the decks, and as they were covered with sheep and oxen, I 

 had to make the best of it. After rounding Slea Head we 

 steered northwards through the Blasket Sound, where a 

 very swift current is always running. Soon after noon the 

 wind began to drop, and we made but little head against the 



