St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-08-08

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of all guests are some of the most valu-
able volumes of engravings together
with a great variety of books, some OF
them rare and expensive. The owner
of this property, London engineer,
has recently expended $4,000, on the
house and grounds. The drive from
Glengariff to Killarney ,forty-two miles,
led us up 1900 feet in ten miles and
where with every turn of the winding
road we had a new and finer view Of
the broken and abrupt ridges and peaks
of the Caher Mts. and of the bay at oul
feet, then through tunnel 200 yards
long to the northern slope which we
descended eleven miles to Kenmare, OF
the bay of the same name. Here is
fine Roman Catholic Cathedral anC
Convent, and by hurrying our lunch
little we managed to make the pries
and the nuns brief call. found the
priest in the church catechising large
class of boys and girls from the parish
school, and lingering within hearing
distance, was thoroughly pleased witt
the sound doctrine and good advice
that fell from his lips. Up again we
went, nearly as high as in the morning
and with backward and sidelOng out
looks scarcely less grand and surprising
till at length we crossed the summit and
there burst upon our gaze upon the left
the rugged, rock-crowned peaks of the
highest mountains of Ireland and in
front the full outline of the lakes of Kill
larney. For nearly ten miles as we
pursued our serpentine descent the sill.
YER waters lay at our feet, the Black
valley,-so called because for three
months in the year the few people that
live in it, it is said, never see the sun.
so PERCEPTIONS and lofty are the noun
tains that enclose it,-yawns more
widely till we see where it pOurs its
waters into the Upper Lake, and over
the head of this lake we peer far into
the Gap of Dunloe, a mountain pass
which we on the morrow traverse. The
beauty, the variety, the exhilaration of
that mountain drive, linking, as it did,
with us, the two confessedly finest le-
gions of Irish landscape, we shall never
forget, and we earnestly commend to
all our readers who may hereafter visit
this part of Ireland not to omit, if fine
weather is allowed, this introduction to
the Lakes of Killarney. After tea this
evening there was plenty of time,-for
till nearly 10 o'clock there was light
enough for reading,-to visit the ruins OF
an old abbey, glance at a cascade of &c
feet plunge, and drive around the fine
grounds of Mr.. Herbert, the member OF
Parliament from this county. On the
morrow, sending a four cared boat to
the head of the three lakes to meet us,
we drove around the foot of them and
past the grounds of Lord Kenmare and
the remnants of Aghadoe, an old castle,
whose stones bear Druid Inscriptions,
to the northern end of the Pass of Dun
loe whence for six miles we walked, OF
rode on Irish ponies, to the head of the
Upper Lake where we found our boat
men waiting with a welcome lunch.
The next four hours we spent either on
the water or on the islands enclosed by
them, hearing numerOusly multiplied
echoes from the bugle of our guide, and
many a song and wild legend from the
lips of himself and his boatmen, and af-
ter having gone the whole length of the
three lakes, finished our days work by
examining quite thoroughly the ruins
of Innisfallen Abbey, which the chroni-
clers assert was founded by st. Finian
in the. seventh century. The original
Ms. of the Annals of this monastery are
in the Bodleian library at Oxford, and
the magnificent hollys and yew trees of
this island must be very old. One of
these trees grows over an abbot's tomb
stone, and by peering between the roots
one sees the stone directly at the base
of the trunk.
Saturday morning we were ticketed
for Dublin, quite content that, since we
were safely housed, it should rain, but
congratulating ourselves both that we
had had fine weather for the previous
days,-when for weeks before we were
told the rain had been almost incessant,
and, secondly, that we did not follow
the advice of one of our best and, gen.
orally, wisest friends, to leave Ireland
out of our route of travel.
AS for Dublin we have only space to
say that in spite of the rain, we yester-
day visited four churches, including ST..
Patrick's Cathedral, the great reposi-
tory of national relics-and here and at
Rutland Square Presbyterian church
formerly DR.. Johns Halls, now of New
York;, heard two orthodox sermons.
Yours very truly,
Fl. T. FULLER.
Our New York Letter.