CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIERS. 151 



of lakes now constitutes the chief attraction of Killarney, 

 the Lower, the Middle, and the Upper Lake. Let us 

 suppose ourselves rowing towards the head of the Upper 

 Lake with the Purple Mountain to our left. Remem- 

 bering our travels in the Alps, you would infallibly call 

 my attention to the planing of the rocks, and declare 

 the action to be unmistakably that of glaciers. With 

 our attention thus sharpened, we land at the head of 

 the lake, and walk up the Black Valley to the base of 

 Magillicuddy's Eeeks. Your conclusion would be, that 

 this valley tells a tale as wonderful as that of Hasli. 



376. We reach our boat and row homewards along the 

 Upper Lake. Its islands now possess a new interest 

 for us. Some of them are bare, others are covered 

 wholly or in part with luxuriant vegetation ; but both the 

 naked and clothed islands are glaciated. The weather- 

 ing of ages has not altered their forms : there are the 

 Cannon Rock, the Giant's Coffin, the Man of War, all 

 sculptured as if the chisel had passed over them in our 

 own lifetime. These lakes, now fringed with tender 

 woodland beauty, were all occupied by the ancient ice. 

 It has disappeared, and seeds from other regions have 

 been wafted thither to sow the trees, the shrubs, the 

 ferns, and the grasses which now beautify Killarney. 

 Man himself, they say, has made his appearance in the 

 world since that time of ice ; but of the real period and 

 manner of man's introduction little is professed to be 

 known since, to make them square with science, new 



