Castle Isle. 391 



either from an intensity of misery, or the most 

 subtle and refined hypocrisy : the least reflec- 

 tion, however, decided in favor of the former j 

 for considering the few opportunities which 

 could be afforded for the successful effect of the 

 best acting, the practice could not be made to 

 answer. The figure and deportment of the piti- 

 able mendicant were sufficient evidence of the 

 reality of her sorrows : the cause of which we 

 had no opportunity of learning, but their im- 

 pression will not readily be effaced. 



At Raithkeele we took leave of the limestone 

 substratum over which we had travelled almost 

 one hundred miles, and which in some places 

 stretched nearly across the island. 



At Castle Isle we understood we should meet 

 it again. The whole town is built with lime- 

 stone, surrounded by morass, so that it may be 

 described an island of limestone, in the centre 

 of an ocean of bog. 



Two miles from Castle Isle is an ascent of more 

 than a mile : after gaining the summit we had a 

 most extensive plain below us, bounded by a 

 lofty chain of mountains, which surround the 

 lake of Killarney, and extend towards Bantry 

 Bay. Castle Isle was formerly the county town, 



