SNOW 57 



wards, having made a fresh start, the captain had to 

 anchor again further up the loch. Next day he 

 reached Stranraer. All the bags and baskets which 

 had accumulated at Dumfries had to be sent b}^ train 

 to Ayr (Stranraer being inaccessible by land), whence 

 they were taken to Stranraer by sea at night. For 

 this purpose the Princess Victoria, or the Princess 

 May (I am not now sure which), was brought round 

 to Ayr. 



The beautiful vessel was a wonderful sight when 

 bearing up for Ayr Harbour. It was a day of bright 

 sunshine, with a blue sea, like the Bay of Naples. 

 The rigging, bridge, and all exposed parts of the 

 vessel were covered with snow and icicles. The perils 

 of the night were over, but Captain Campbell is 

 reported to have said that he never could have 

 imagined such blinding drift and intense cold as he 

 and his men had to endure until they got fairly into 

 the loch. 



The country roads were of course wholly impassable 

 for man or horse. But people in remote places 

 nevertheless cried out loudly because they did not 

 receive their Scotsman newspaper by post as usual. 



In Ireland, even in the South, the drifts on Sunday, 

 February 10, about Fermoy, were eight to ten feet 

 deep. The mail-trains from Cork for Dublin could 

 get no farther than Buttevant. Between that station 

 and Dublin there are said to have been fifteen miles 

 of impassable snow. 



Great were the sufferings of the sorting-officers in 



