289 Apparent strange Inconsistencies* 



We entered some of the cabins : the wretch- 

 edness of the interior was perfectly corres- 

 pondent to their external appearance. The 

 inhabitants seemed bent under their weight of 

 misery. Many of the elderly persons peti- 

 tioned for tobacco, but none of them asked for 

 money. 



Whilst we are compelled to sigh for the 

 wretchedness of those we left within, we could 

 not but smile at the strange inconsistencies 

 which presented themselves without ; though 

 unable to account for the causes whence they 

 originate. In one place is a laborer working 

 with a shpvel, the handle of which is little short 

 of his own length ; and close to him is a man 

 breaking stones with a hammer fit only to 

 drive a common nail, with a handle not a foot 

 long. 



Every advance we made on Benbulb in- 

 creased its consequence. The road led us 

 within a short distance of this remarkable 

 mountain, which rose like a perpendicular wall 

 from the plain to a great height j and did not 

 the magnitude forbid the conclusion, it might 

 be taken for a work of art. The north side is 

 inaccessible ; an ascent can only be found on 



