Croaghaun of Achill 



brings forth her young, and even the rare Greenland seal 

 has sometimes been seen here, for he is occasionally carried 

 on an iceberg far to the southward of his usual quarters and 

 comes to land along the western shores of Ireland. 



Over this wild hill the tribes of the wild geese and plover 

 often pass on their northern and southern flights and come 

 to rest on the low ground in the shadow of Slievemore, where 

 they find food in plenty and rest undisturbed. 



As the sun sank beneath the ocean new cotintry showed 

 itself which had hitherto been hidden in the haze. A dozen 

 miles to the south, Clare Island, with its high hills, caught 

 the sun. Then away beyond it again there lay the hilly Isle 

 of Innishturk, and still farther to the southward the long, 

 low island of Innishboffin, with its bold headland — ^the Stags 

 of Boffin — breaking the force of the Atlantic. The meaning 

 of Innishboffin is said to be "the island of the white cow," 

 for in the centre of the isle there lies a lough, supposed to 

 contain a fairy cow, which from time to time shows itself. 



Bearing farther east the hills of the mainland stood out — 

 Croagh Patrick, with the church standing on its summit, 

 over 2,000 feet above the sea, and beyond it the chain of 

 Connemara hills, known as the Twelve Pins, or Twelve Bens, 

 as, I believe, the name was originally written. 



Wherever one might look no tree met the eye in all this 

 country, and yet in former times vast forests clothed these 

 boggy plains and hill slopes, and even to-day the relics of this 

 great colony may be seen in the tree stumps and roots which 

 are unearthed in digging the peat. 



South-west the sky now took on a tinge of pink, each 

 fleecy cloud being rose-tinted in the light of the setting sun. 

 A firm line showed where sea and sky met, for the air was 

 now of an exceptional clearness, and in the north wind there 

 came the breath of frost. Across the hundreds of miles of 

 ocean that lay spread before me no ship passed : the waters 

 were given over to the seal and the quick-flying solan and the 

 cormorant. 



1^75 



