WESTWARD HO I 269 



reproduce a few lines written by Mrs. Blake, of 



Boston, Massachusetts,* who says of the Cove of 



Cork : 



' The hitherto uiLknown lovehness of the soft green upon the 

 hills, the vivid masses of golden yellow gorse, shining like decora- 

 tions upon the brow of height and headland, the soft languor of 

 the warm air, the picturesque lines of gray houses rising from 

 or nestling amid the green slopes, the imposing situation of the 

 fine buildings around which the town [Queenstown] is grouped, 

 the massive earthworks and embrasures of the two outlying 

 forts, and the general air of cheerfulness and bright expectancy, 

 would force the spirit of the least imaginative into sympathy.' 



I now take breath to say that surely this glowing 

 paragraph justifies my passing comment. 



Queenstown itself is on an island — Great Island 

 (seven miles by four), as distinguished from Little 

 Island, which lies higher up the lough. It faces, at a 

 distance of three or four miles (with Spike Island and 

 the naval establishment of Haulbowline in between), 

 the comparatively narrow entrance of the harbour, 

 where Eoche's Point on the east, and Church Bay 

 on the south-west, open out into the Atlantic Ocean. 



It is to the ci-devant Inman Line — now carrying 

 the United States mail — that belongs the distinction 

 of first calling at Queenstown, in 1856, to land and 

 embark despatches ; but it was not until 1860 that 

 the practice was firmly established by the Cunard 

 mail-packets making the Cove a regular port of call. 



Part of my business was then to edit, as it were, 

 w^hat was called the Queenstown Landing-table — a 



'» 'A Summer HoHday in Europe,' 1890. 



