198 PROSPECT FROM CARIUG-A-BINNIOGH. 



more frequent ; and each progression towards the summit 

 shorter after every pause. "To climb the trackless moun- 

 tain all unseen/' is very poetical, no doubt, but it is also, 

 I regret to add, amazingly fatiguing, and a task for men of 

 thews and sinews of no ordinary strength. But we were 

 determined and persevered -" en avant," was the orde,r of 

 the day ; on we progressed, slowly but continuously; the 

 steepest face of the hill was gradually overcome, and a wide 

 waste of moss and shingle lay before us, rising towards a 

 cairn of stones which marks the apex of the mountain. We 

 pressed on with additional energy ; the termination of our 

 toil was in view : in a few minutes we gained the top, and a 

 scene, glorious beyond imagination, burst upon us at once, 

 and repaid tenfold the labour we had encountered to ob- 

 tain it. 



We stood upon the very pinnacle of the ridge, two thou- 

 sand feet above the level of the sea ; Clew Bay, that mag- 

 nificent sheet of water, was extended at our feet, studded with 

 its countless islands : inland, the eye ranged over a space of 

 fifty miles ; and towns and villages, beyond number, were, 

 sprinkled over a surface covered with grass, and corn, and 

 heath, in beautiful alternation. The sun was shining glo- 

 riously, and the variety of colouring presented by this 

 expansive landscape, was splendidly tinted by the vertical rays 

 of light. The yellow corn, the green pasturage, the russet 

 heaths, were traceable to an infinite distance, while smaller 

 objects were marked upon this natural panorama, and 

 churches, towns, and mansions occasionally relieved the 

 prospect. "We turned from the interior to the west ; there 

 the dark ^waters of the Atlantic extended, till the eye lost them 

 in the horizon. Northward, lay the Sligo islands ; and south- 

 ward, the Connemara mountains, with the noble islands of 

 Turk and BofHn nearer objects seemed almost beneath us ; 

 Achil was below Clare Island stretched at our feet while 

 our own cabin looked like a speck upon the canvas, dis- 

 tinguished only by its spiral wreath of smoke from the 

 hillocks that encircled it. There was an indescribable lone- 

 liness around, that gave powerful effect to all we saw. The 

 dreariness of the waste we occupied was grand and imposing : 

 we were far removed from every thing human ; we stood 

 above the world, and could exclaim with Byron, " this, this is 

 solitude !" 



