The Irish standard., 1897-09-11
THE MOST XTRAORDINARY PART
OF THE EMERALD ISLE.
HAS PECULIAR CHARMS Of ITS OWN.
AN INTERMIXTURE OF MOUNTAINS,
DOGS AND QUAGMIRES.
SOME OF the POINTS OF INTEREST.
TaEE CELTIC TONGUE STILL. SPOKEN
BY THE INHABITANTS.

The whole of the western part of the
county Galway, from Lough Corrib 70
the Atlantic is the most extraordinary
part of Ireland, writes r. o. r. in the
Dublin Freemans Journal. 1t is all
generally known as Connemara: but the
Joyce county forms Il large part of it,
and this latter is never called Come
mara by the natives. Those in search
of the beautiful, and it alone, should
! not go to Connemara; but those in
search of the strange the terrible and
the sublime should hasten to it at once.
1t is not like any other part of Ireland,
and, probably, not like any other spot
of the earth's surface. Nature could
hardly make two Connemaras, any more
than she could make two Niagaras. Let
man from any other part of Ireland
be blindfolded, brought to Connemara
without knowing whittier he had been
brought, and then let loose to use his
eyes in almost any part of it, the tes-
timony of saint would hardly make
him believe he was in Ireland. He
| would see, spread out before him, the
most extraordinary intermixture of
! mountains, bogs, rocks, quagmires and
precipices, of fresh water and salt water,
of ocean-eaten coast and tarn -decked
moors, such as might be looked for in
vain in any place but in Connemara.
The name Connemara is evidently
from Cuain ma mara, bays or harbors
of the sea. The nominative plural of
cuan, bay or harbor, is now cuanta
but in old Irish 1t was cuain. No name
| could be more appropriate for the coun-
try lying along the ocean most of the
way from Galway city to Clifden In
! almost the entire length of that extra
| ordinary coast there is hardly a mile
OF 1t that is not penetrated by some
| ragged arm of the sea; but few of them
unfortunately, have sufficient depth of
water at low tide to give shelter to any
vessels but small craft. For CONNER
cial purposes most Of them are useless.
! There can hardly be said to be any cliff
scenery along this ragged coast; but its
wilderness and raggedness have their
own peculiar charms, and there are few
places in Ireland where those in search
of Wildness and strangeness could en-
JOY themselves more than in exploring
the sea-indented shores between Galway
and Clifden.
There is only one spot in all Come
mara from which the strangeness. deso-
lation and awfulness of that country can
be seen in perfection, and 1t is curious
that that spot is not better known to
| those who go to see that strange coun-
try. The place that affords the best
view in Connemara is Cashel hill-Cnoo
| a Chaiseail, as it is called by Irish
speaking Inhabitants. 1t is conical
hill about four miles southwest of the
railway station of Recess, and only a
mile from the excellent hotel of Cashel
kept by Mr.. OI4oughlin Cashel hill
seems only a quarter of an hours walk
from the hotel but those who undertake
TO ascend 1t must not let their eyes de-
ceive them, for distances in Connemara
are very deceptive, and the top of Cnoc
| a Chaiseail can only be reached after a
stiff climb of an hour over locks. round
quagmire and through glens. Never
has the writer climbed so DECEPTIVE a
mountain, and never was he shorter of
breath than when he arrived at it's sum-
nit, which can hardly be much moro
than thousand feet over the sea level.
But no fatigue or shortncss Of breath
would be too much to pay for the view
from the summit of Cashe hill.
That there is nothing like it in Ireland
is certain; that there is nothing like 1t
in the world is probable Grander views
may be seen elsewhere, but for strange
ness. uniqueness, and for widness al
most horrible, it beats anything not
only in Ireland but in these islands. To
the north rise the grandcst, widest ant.
ruggedest mountains in Ireland, the
| Twelve Pinrs. or Binns as it would be
more correct to call them. They arc
not any higher than some of the Dublin
mountains; but the Dublin mountains
are as tame as manure heaps compared
with the Twelve Pinns. Seen from the
top of Cashel hill they rise up almost
perpendicularly in serratcd heaps OF
"herbless granite" In most places they
seem inaccessible even to wild goats
They are wild, grand, rugged and ter