NATURE'S REALM. 
larney mountain is in September, if the weather 
be fine. The wildflower that is the glory. of 
Ireland is the heath. It blossoms only in the 
autumn. Next in glory to the heath comes the 
‘furze. Both furze and heath are unknown in 
this country. They are indigenous in the whole 
of the southwest of Europe, but, owing to the 
mildness and moistness of the climate of Ire- 
land, they grow and blossom there with a 
luxuriance unknown in any othercountry. The 
heath bears a flower of the most delicate pur- 
ple, and the furze bears one of the brightest 
yellow. When a great mountain becomes a 
mighty banquet of purple and gold, a sight is 
revealed which surpasses anything else on earth 
in floral beauty. Almost every mountain round 
about the “‘ Eden of the West” is clothed from 
base to summit in a vast drapery of heath. 
Some of the Killarney mountains are wooded 
for a few hundred feet up their sides, but most 
of them are entirely covered with heath inter- 
spersed with furze. When a fine autumn oc- 
curs, tens of thousands of acres of mountain 
and moorland gleam in the sunlight, an ocean 
of purpie heath and golden furze. Not only 
do the heath and furze blossom in the au- 
tumn, but myriads of other wildflowers appear 
only at that time of year, or blossom most luxu- 
riantly then. Even white clover, which rarely 
blossoms in this country except in the spring 
or early summer, opens its flowers widest and 
sends out its most fragrant perfume in an Irish 
autumn. The air is heavy with the fragrance. 
of flowers ; the mountains are musical with the 
hum of bees, and 
Every wingéd thing that loves the sun 
Makes the bright noonday full of melody. 
Killarney in a fine autumn becomes not only 
entrancing, but overpowering in its loveliness. 
The whole country round Killarney is a 
wonderland. Macauley’s description of it is 
true to the letter. In all his works nothing can 
be found of a descriptive character equal to the 
passage quoted from him in this article. He 
had a great subject, and he has handled it as 
no other writer of the English language could. 
He has described one of the loveliest regions 
in the world in a few lines that will stand for- 
ever as one of the greatest efforts of a great 
writer. His description is a brilliant gem of 
173... 
composition, just as the place it describes is a 
brilliant gem of Nature. 
No one should visit Killarney without visiting 
Glengarriff. It is only about twenty miles 
from Killarney, and can be reached by a sort 
of low-backed car peculiar to Ireland. This 
car is a very curious sort of conveyance. The 
occupants sit back to back, with their sides to 
the horses. In fine weather there is no pleas- 
anter mode of traveling than on a low-backed 
car, but when it rains, one is anything but com- 
fortable. Glengarriff is thought by some to 
surpass even Killarney in beauty. It is a deep 
glen surrounded by mountains of the most fan- 
tastic shapes, clothed with.a wealth of foliage - 
that would astonish any one who had not seen 
Killarney. The lake that is seen at Glengarrift 
is sea water, and opens into Bantry Bay. The 
tourist will find an excellent hotel here, and no. 
matter how he may be satiated with the beauty 
of Killarney, he will see other and more striking 
beauties in Glengarrift. 
Killarney is well supplied with hotels. There 
are five or six, and they areall good. Most of 
them are situated in sequestered places, where 
a view of some enchanting scene spreads before . 
the door. The village of Killarney is about a 
mile from the lake; it is a place of no interest, 
at all, but there is a very good hotel in it, and 
many tourists stop there, for it is jusf at the. 
railway terminus. Hotel expenses at Killarney 
in the tourist season are not so dear as at some 
of the fashionable American summer resorts. 
They will not average over four or four and a 
half dollars a day, and, by the week, not more 
than twenty or twenty-five, including servants’ 
tees. Guides are not much wanted, unless 
mountains are to be ascended.. Then they are 
indispensable, for mists may suddenly come on. 
the very finest day, and the tourist without a 
guide would run a chance of spending a night . 
on a bleak mountain, or being drowned in a 
lake or bog-hole. Ponies..of a, most-docile . 
character can be hired: cheap, Pony-back 
traveling is a favorite mode of “doing” Killar-_ 
ney, especially with ladies. and lazy men; but 
no one into whose soul the charm of Killarney . 
really enters would think: of traveling through 
such lovely scenes on. horseback. On footorin 
a boat is the way to see Killarney. 
