Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-18
the instruments spell out the American mes-

sage under transmission from Newfound
 land, it is so promptly forwarded from Va- lentia that the first half of the dispatch is at Embden before the last half has wholly left Newfoundland. The other room is exclu- sively devoted to stock exchange and press messages, from six to ten operators being thus employed. These messages are wholly transmitted in cipher; and some idea of the rspiditT and promptness of the work may be formed from the fact that New York, Bos- ton or Philadelphia broker feels very much aggrieved if he cannot secure London an- swer to cable message inside of thirty min- utes. There are altogether perhaps two score men employed in various capacities by the cable company at Knightstown, and with their families they form most pleasant lit- tie colony in this remote and unfrequented corner of Ireland. The area of Valentia Is- land Is trihe over six thousand acres. It is about five miles long and but two in breadth. The Knight of Kerry is it's titled owner. His lodge is a most picturesque structure overlooking the bay and magnif- gently environed. Agriculture is carried on to a considerable extent; some of the finest cattle of Ireland are bred and grazed here;
 the island contains one of the most splendid slate quarries of Europe, producing states of such remarkable size that four will form the walls, and fifth the roof, of fairly sized
 cottage; and the huts of many of the fishers of the southwest coast in delightful pictur- sequences dot the entire reaches of both the island and mainland shores.
 My giant fisher friend of Port Magee hay- ing been my inseparable companion, in a degree from the good fellowship springing up between us from the moment when, as tramps, we met on the Killarney road near ancient and slunbrous Kilorglan, and partly in consideration of an agreed stipend which, though ridiculously small to the mind of an American, seemed 8 fortune in itself to 8 Kerry fisherman, the days had all too rapid ly passed, an idyn of life amid entrancing scenes of beauty among humble coastwise folk. But I determined before departure from the southwest coast to perform the dan gerous feat of a trip to the Great Skellfg rock, and an ascent of it's loftiess and most inaccessible peak. This determination is more easily formed than is the project per formed. Every day for a week we would rise before day and tramp to the cliffs below
 Port Magee for forecast of wind, weather and sea; for certain destruction attends at. tempted landing upon the Great Skellig save when old ocean may be caught mapping and for few hours is at rest. At last propi- tious day came With my friend and three of his hardy companions we set forth in 8 strong open boat with the out going tide from the tiny pier at Port Magee, and with out stroke of oar were soon sweeping through the southern entrance of the harbor of Valentia. This channel is overhung by stupendous and towering heights, pierced at
 
 the right and left toward the sea, with mon strous cayerns drilled out by the awful
 pounding of the Atlantic's waves; while above them the cliffs and crags are tenanted by countless sea fowl. The Skelligs are the most southwesterly extensions of Ireland. They are properly three in number, lying in direct line southwest from Port Magee. The first and the least is called Lemon Rock. It is round solid mass rising only 8 few feet above the water. The second and next larger is called Little or Lesser Skellig, and is a craggy grouping of rocky pinnacles standing grim and black against the sky; as though some city of churches with won drous steeples had been submerged, rearing above the waves their mighty Gothic spires, among which millions of sea birds had found their desolate bones. The third, the Great Skellig, is precisely nine miles at sea from Port Magee. It is an enormous and precipitous mass of rock rising perpendicu- larly at nearly all angles to the height of several hundred feet, and from thence push ing skyward stupendous, irregular groups, terminating in two lofty pinnaoles, the high est of which reaches an altitude of seven hundred and ten feet. It is said that the ocean soundings around it are far deeper than those in any part of the English Chan nel; and st no other point upon the whole Atlantic are witnessed such awful battles be- tween wave and stone. The base of the only lighthouse now in use upon Great | dred and forty feet above the sea, and the I roof of this lofty structure was few years ago crushed in and partly carried away by the assaults of the waves, which must have been lifted upwards of one hundred and ! eighty feet above the sea level to have been dashed upon it!
 The sea was perfectly calm as we left the channel, save where impercept1ble distant swells, messing upon the half hidden ledge that protects the harbor entrance, flung gilt tering spume an1 spray landward behind us. Over to the west Bray Head rose preoipitous- ly one thousand feet out of the water. Be- yond this innumerable fshers' sails blended like huge on coming surge at the edge of the horizon. To the left grim head1ands stretched away in dark projections to far Bolus Head; and the long, regular stroke of the oarsrnen soon sped us past Puf6n Island. In an hour and a half we were alongside Lemon Island lying like some sleeping half | hidden monster to our right; and in two hours time we had come abreast of Little | Skellig Here we were favored with char acteristic sight. This island is the only one | off the Irish coast where the pufin haunts \ and breeds in countless numbers. Taking l advantage of the placid sea, perhaps three-
 score coastwise folk were here seeking these fowl within the Assures and clefts of the l craos Many aerial battles between men | slung with ropes from dangerous heights and the birds they were mercilessly seeking were seen in progress as We passed. The eggs and flesh of the pufin eaten; their feathers
 are dried and sold; and trifing traffic Is carried on in picked or cured puhns, which are exchanged for potatoes and meal with \ the country folk at the Iveragh wilds. At | last the Great Skellig was reached, and we made landing without difficulty at the only | spot upon which foot can be set from the | sea. I begged the boatmen to climb the l crags with me, but they shook their heads ] related by my fisher friend who consented tc 1 accompany me, was on account or certain l portentious superstitions the peasantry and fishermen tenaciously hold regarding the 1 spot. The only human beings now living
 upon Great Skellig are those having charge of the lighthouse. But more than thou l sand years ago hundreds, if not thousands l passed their entire lives in religious devo tions upon this wild sea mountain; for thii place was then the St. Michael's Mount O.
 Ireland. It's history was luminous even il
 the earliest days of Christianity in Erin. 4 l majestic monastery once stood in the little
 valley between the two lofty peaks of th'
 island. From the single landing place. sil
 hundred and twenty stone steps, many DOT l tions of which remain, led to the monastery
 the great cashel, the oratories, the stone
 cells, the ancient burial place and many un l recorded structures which the incalculabl' ! toll and jealous conservation of remote ag grouped within this sacred spot. Basil.
 traced remains of nearly all these structures
 still exist; and fragments of gigantic crosses here and there push through the strange de
 bris, whose contemplation cannot but send [ thrill through the least impressive heart
 Far, far above this tens of thousands of pill
 grims in the intervening centuries have
 climbed. Near the top of the highest pin nacle one must squeeze through narrow or flee called the Needles Eye in order to fol
 low their olden painful way. Just beyond
 this is narrow ridge or saddle of solid rock
 One must get astride this and work alonl
 with legs and hands until an ascending shelv ing rock is reached. The danger here is ter rible. One false movement and you ar l plunged headlong into the sea from eithe side. From this to the highest point an. fairly sure footed man may pass securely t the slender yard wide summit, along whicl , are found rudely sculptured crosses or sta } tions. have been in some eerie spots i my travel, but never before have I stoo where such sense of subliuity mingled wit l awe inspiring insecurity possessed me. O 5 three sides you look down black straigt
 line of over seven hundred feet into th - ocean. Behind and below you are the so