The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-11-07
PART V.

tCopyrig1zt. 1908, by John A. Blsck)
Back from the lake in the deepest
loneiiest part of the glen, under the
great mountains where solitude
reigns supreme" we saw little cot
tage and the priest told US that the
family that lived there spoke no Eng
lish, so few people did they meet; and
we wondered that they spoke any hu-
man language, so isolated were they.
The priest, the Rev. Father DAILY, d. D.,
of Australia, who was living here and
studying the Irish language, told US
that Irish was pretty generally spoken
all about here, and, said he, sit is well
spoken" for they speak it as correctly
as if they had studied it in Dublin uni
rersity, which is remarkable in un-
learned peasants and is true of scarce
ly any other people.
I am told that this fact is due to the
language itself, which is so constructed
that to speak it at all one must speak
1t correctly. If this be true, what a
refuge Irish would be for the prosper
Gus papa who didn't get no schoolin', -
when his daughter gets along in high
school to the period when she begins to
say: "Oh, papai You should not say,
pass them potatoes it sounds perfect
ly horrid.''
Directions or guide boards along the
road are written in Gaelic as we'll as
English and many merchants use it in
advertising their business.
On the shore of Gouganebarra near
the approach to the island stands the
cave-lil1e tomb of Father O'Mahoney, a
recluse who lived many years on the
island and who was famous for his
piety. He died in 1928. Opposite the
lake stands a small hotel, where we
lunched, mostly on warm brown bread,
which we We're informed was baked in
a three-legged pot with turf piled
around it. Sure, it had the flavor Of
the turf on it, which whets an Irish
mans appetite.
Soon after We left Gouganebarra we
entered the wild pass of Keim-an- -Eigh
the path of the deer. 1t is a long,
deep ragged rent in the mountains.
There is just room for the road be-
tween the heaps Of mountain wrecks
on either side thrown high" High
above US rise the Jagged walls of earth
and rock, some of which hang on so
carelessly that we shudden as we think
how slight a disturbance might bring
down on our heads half a mountain.
The rocky sides of the pass are draped
with ferns and flowers and trailing
vines, and here and there a clinging
sive solitude of this savage place. 1t
is less than 100 years since Captain
Rock and his followers made this pass
their stronghold from which they made
raids on the country and defied the
combined forces of the gentry. And
centuries ago the O'Learys and O'Sulli-
vans found Keim-a an -Eigh their refuge
and strength in time of trouble.
Emerging from the southern end of
the pass we found ourselves at the head
OF a great valley which widens out to-
ward the south. The road starts high
up on the right hand side of the valley
and winds gracefully down to the
river Owvane. which flows down into
Bantry bay, of which we get some fine
views from the higher parts Of the road.
The road through the pass is steep and
hard, but the account is fully balanced
by the miles Of fine coasting down the
southern slope. Glengariff way.
Away across the valley to our left
stood a detached member of the Sheehy
group of mountains, high and pointed,
which we could not get away from:
although we We're seemingly flying
down the valley past him. yet we never
got past him till we dropped down be-
hind another comparatively insignificant
hill which hid the Sheehy giant from
our view. This is one of the curious ex-
periences of travelling among the noun
tains; that there is usually one fellow
who makes himself conspicuous from
the time you enter his domains until
You get well out again: and you never
seem to get any farther away from
him. till at some turn, or drop of the
road, you elude him. Skiddaw in the
English Lake country followed me for
hours; there he was. right over at my
left watching down upon me every time
] looked around till he hunted me out
Of his bailiwick; this big Sheehy noun
tain dogged our heels for a long way
down the Glengariff road
We came out on the hills above Glen
garim in the evening and dropped ST.
lently down by a fine, shady road to the
level Of the bay. The village is a very
small group of houses. Glengariff is
mostly hotels, which are set around the
bay where they command the finest
views, and as the mountains are high
about Glengariff, so are their prices. |
Perhaps we made a mistake in not look
ing at Glengariff through the front win
dows of one Of these hotels whose bills
assist you in appraising its beauties;
al any rate, we felt some of the disap-
pointment one often feels at first sight
Of a well-advertised place
A graveyard is lonely enough place |
when il is out in the open; in the !
woods if is the blackness of darkness. j
Such was the one we saw at Glengariff, !
near the old church at the fork of the /
- Looking over lHte the woods |