PROGRESS INTO TERRA INCOGNITA. 3 1 



the entrance of the inlet. From the high lands which 

 rose on every side, the squalls fell more heavily and 

 frequent than I found agreeable ; but in an hour we 

 cleared this confined and dangerous channel, and, 

 running between Currane Point and the island of Innis 

 Biggie, entered Black Sod Bay. 



The passage down the inlet was marked with several 

 incidents which were in perfect keeping with the wild 

 and savage scenery around. A seal would suddenly 

 raise his round head above the surface, gaze for a moment 

 at the boat, and, when he had apparently satisfied his 

 curiosity, sink quietly from our view. In rounding 

 the numerous headlands through which this inlet irreg- 

 ularly winds, we often started flocks of curlews, which, 

 rising in an alarm at our unexpected appearance, made 

 the rocks ring with their loud and piercing whistle. 

 Skirting the shore of Innis Biggie, we disturbed an 

 osprey, or sea-eagle, in the act of feeding on a bird. 

 He rose leisurely, and, lighting on a rock, waited till we 

 passed, and then returned to his prey. We ran suffi- 

 ciently close to the shore to observe the size and colour 

 of the bird, and concluded that a grouse had been the 

 eagle's victim. 



When we had cleared the islands, the breeze blew 

 fresh and steadily ; the boatmen shook out the reefs 

 which had hitherto confined their canvas ; the galley 

 with increased velocity rushed through the rippling 

 water, till, doubling a neck of land surmounted by a 

 ruined castle, and running up a sheltered creek, I found 

 myself at the termination of my voyage, and warmly 

 welcomed by my Irish kinsman, from whom for fifteen 

 years I had been separated. 



I have been here three days, and am as much domes- 



