258 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



eye view of the lower lighthouse. The old build- 

 ings are close to us, at an altitude of nearly 400 feet. 

 Above, to the right, is a pinnacle of great height, 

 terminating in a sharp point and surmounted with a 

 massive stone wall. How in distant years the 

 stones were got up to build it, for it is well-nigh in- 

 accessible, or what purpose this masonry served, 

 remains a mystery. Having seen the old lighthouse, 

 we now partly retrace our steps in order to visit the 

 Spit, the culminating peak of all. At Windy Gap we 

 strike off the path to the west, picking our steps as 

 best we can, and meeting a notch cut here and there 

 in the rock to assist. We pass through the Needle's 

 Eye, which resembles 12 or 14 feet of a good-sized 

 chimney more than anything else, up a narrow path, 

 till we come to a small platform, some 12 or 14 feet 

 by 6, covered a foot deep with a luxuriant growth of 

 sea pink. It contains several graves of people un- 

 known. Farther yet, up a difficult path, we reach 

 the Spit. What a view is this ! On one side a stone 

 let fall will drop into the sea a thousand feet below. A 

 small shrub, the only one on the island, grows here ; 

 it is about six inches long, sprouting out of fissures 

 so narrow that the blade of a knife can scarce be 

 inserted. To the north stand boldly out the 

 Blasquet Islands, then Dingle and Tralee ; to the 

 east, Valentia Island, Portmagee, and in the distance 

 the Killarney mountains. In a line appear the 

 Lemon and Puffin Rocks ; then Bolus Head, 

 Waterville, Sneem, Kenmare, Beerhaven, Dursey 

 Sound, and the Bull and Calf Rocks. From south 

 to north the great Western Ocean, specked here and 

 there with inward or outward bound vessels. 



