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‘materials for*forming the beautiful. But all 
‘are found at Killarney. Man, who mars Na- 
ture so often, has helped her here, for the 
‘castles and abbeys he raised of yore still stand, 
and their ivy and flower-decked ruins, tenanted 
only by the bat and the bee, put the finishing 
touch on this earthly Eden, and make it one of 
the scenic wonders of the world. 
Another wonderful thing about Killarney is _ 
the admirable proportion that its scenic fea- 
tures bear to one another. If the mountains 
were any higher they would be too high for the 
lakes, and if the lakes were any bigger they 
would be too big for the mountains. Even the 
rivers and waterfalls are in almost exact pro- 
portion to the other phases of Nature. The 
monstrous Mississippi or the thundering Niag- 
ara would spoil such a miniature paradise, but 
the limpid Laune and O’Sullivan’s babbling 
cascade suit it exactly. Killarney is the most 
perfect effort of Nature to bring together with- 
out disproportion all her choicest charms. 
Small as Killarney is, it would take at least a 
‘week, or perhaps two weeks, to see it and know 
‘all its loveliness. It is only on foot and without 
hurry that its beauties can be seen in perfection. 
Its mountains may be ascended and glorious 
. views of sea and craggy heights obtained ; but 
the charm of Killarney is not grandeur, but 
beauty. There are mountain views in America 
finer than can be had from the summits of 
Mangerton or Carn Thual. It would be waste 
of time to climb those hills. Let the tourist 
rather wander in the hundreds of shady lanes 
or paths that skirt the lakes, or take a boat and 
navigate that most picturesque river, for its 
length, in the world, the Long Range, that con- 
nects the upper with the lower lake. Let him 
mark the wondrous luxuriance of grass, leaf, 
weed and flower. The arbutus grows so large 
that it becomes a tree. Ferns of such gigantic 
proportions may be found in shady nooks that 
they seem to belong to some far-back geological 
age. Softness, freshness, luxuriance and deauté 
viante are the real glories of Killarney. In 
these it has no rival. 
There are two drawbacks to Killarney ; there 
is the guide nuisance and the rain nuisance. 
The nuisance of guides is probably no greater 
than in many other places ot tourist resort, and, 
NATURE'S REALM. 
by a strong effort of the will, can be got rid of. 
But the rain is a more serious matter and must 
be borne patiently. Some years come when 
not a dozen dry days occur throughout the en- 
tire summer, but generally there is no greater 
rainfall than on the west coasts of Scotland or 
England. There have been quite as many wet 
days in New York during the three last sum- 
mers as there usually are in Killarney. It does, 
however, too often happen that tourists are 
confined to the hotel for four or five days at a 
time, owing to the rain. It must be borne in 
mind that this excessive moisture of atmos- 
phere is what has given the southwest of Ire- 
land, and England, too, their exquisite charm 
of verdure and wild flowers. When a fine day 
comes after rain in Summer or autumn, all Na- 
ture seems to laugh. Flowers of all hues open 
their petals; birds in multitudes begin to sing, 
and wild bees and hosts of insects make the air 
musical with theirhum. The American tourist 
need have no fear when insects are mentioned, 
for the mosquito is unknown in Killarney. 
Midges are the only insect plague, but they 
never enter houses, and are troublesome only 
before rain, early in the spring or late in the 
fall. ; 
Most tourists go to Killarney early in the 
summer. June and July are favorite times for 
Americans to visit it. As it lies almost in the 
direct route between New York and Liverpool, 
they generally visit it before going to England 
or the continent of Europe. But the time to 
see Killarney is in the autumn; it is then in all 
its glory. It should not be visited before the 
15th of August; from then until the Ist of Oc- 
tober it is the most beautiful place, perhaps, on 
earth, provided, always, that the weather is not 
wet. There is only one thing that mars the 
weather in the south of Ireland, namely, rain. 
Cold, in the American sense of the word, is al- 
most unknown. Every day that is not wet 
must be fine. There is, it must be confessed, 
rather more prebability of having dry weather 
in Killarney in the spring or early summer than 
in the fall, but, by visiting it in the spring, the 
tourist would gain nothing, and would lose the 
wild-flower feast ofautumn. No American, no 
matter from what part of the country he comes, 
can form the faintest conception of what a Kil- 
