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Show B . Ualemais Itfapderirs, H ODD INCIDI2NTS OP KOWKION TKAVI31, AND H' OI391JKVATION. iLo.VDOV, Jan. 30, 189. I wonder hove many Americans ever lslleel the 1 famous Skellic'a of the toutliu est coast ' of Ireland? They are the most south- , westerly extensions of Ireland; are three In number; and tie In a direct line south west of I'ort Msgce. The first, and the least, Is called Lemon Rock. It Is a round, solid miss rising only a few feet above the water. The second and next , larger Is called Little, or Lesser Skellhj, and Is a craggy grouping of rocky pinnacles, pinn-acles, standing grim and black agilnst the sk ; as though some city of churches with wondrous steeples had been submerged, sub-merged, rearing above the waves their mighty Gothic, spires, among which millions of sea-birds had found their desolate homes. The third, the Great Skclllg, Is precisely precise-ly nine miles at set Irom Tort Magcc. It Is an enormous and precipitous mass of rock rising perpendicularly at nearly all angles to the height of several hundred feet, and from thence pushing skyward stupendous, irregular groups, terminating In two lofty pinnacles, the highest of which reaches an altitude of 7 10 feet. It is iid that the ocean soundings sound-ings around it are fir deeper than those In any part of the English channel, and nt no other point upon the whole At-t At-t lantlc are witnessed such awful battles between wave and alone. The base of the only lighthouse now In use upon levelled rock, 140 feet above the sea, c and the roof of this lofty structure w as 1 a few yean ago crushed In and partly carried away by the assaults of the , waves, which must have been lifted tip- wards of 180 feet above the sea level to have been dashed upon Itl A determination to land upon and tcate Great Skelllg rock Is more easily formed than Is the project performed, , for certain destruction attends attempted 1 landing, save 'when old ocean may be , caught napping and for few hours quite ,' f at rest. Uvery day for nearly a week. 1 J ' with a Kerry fisherman friend, I arose !, - before day and tramped to the chlTs below I'ort Mage; for forecast uf wind, 1 weather and sea. At list a propitious . day came. With my friend and three of , Ms hardy companions we set forth in a 1 j strong Open boat with tho outgoing tide r from the tiny pier of the pott, and with- 1 ) out stroke of oar were soon sweeping it I through the southern entrance ol the h ' harbor of Valentia. P j The sea was perfectly calm as we left ; I the channel, save where Imperceptible ,j ' distant swells, massing upon tho half- hidden ledge that protects the harbor entrance, flung glittering spume and spray landward behind us. Over to the west, Uray Head rose precipitously 1,000 feet out of the water. Ileyond this. Innumerable fishers' sails blended like a huge oncoming surge at the edge of the horizon. To the left, grim head- 1 lands stretched away In dirk projec- tlons to far Dolus Head; and tho long, I regular stroke of the oarsmen soon sped ; j In put l'ulhn Island. . In an hour and a it; 1 ' half, wa were alongside I emon Island ;ijr lying dike some sleeping half hidden (Jj monster to our right; and in two hours' ! time we had come abreast of Little ' Skelllg. j Here we were favored with a character- i istlc tight. This island is the only one oir .the Irish crmt where the pufhn haunts nml breeds' In countless Humbert.. u j Taking advantage of the placid sea, i fj perhaps three score coastwise folk were uj , here seeking these fowl within the . j fissures and cleft of the crags. Manj ' &' aerial battles between men slung with jl kv ropes from dangerous heights and the 1 nlf birds they were mercilessly seeking, fi were seen in progress as wc pissed. jgl The eggs and llesli of the puilm i.re Ml 1 eaten; tlieir feathers nre clticel and sold, iwr and a trilling trailic is carried on in ISlu pickled, or cured, puffins which arc ex- Iiwls changed for potatoes and meal with the Mm country folic of the Ivcragh wilds. W' At last the Great Skelllg was reached, AfA and wo made a hnding w ithout cliflicnlty 18ml "' ,n0 "'f' P' UP" w"'c" ft can be ffui ie uom "lc Bca' ' begged the boatmen 34S to climb the crags with me, but tlicy ffital ahook their luadi gravely and rtfuscif. IW T 'Hio reason for this, as related by my raHey lisher friend who consented to IStf accompany me, was on account of jjjjjy certain portenllous superstitions the icasantry and hshcimen tentciously told regarding the spot. 'Hie only rVtrSI human beings now living upon Great ijn Skelllg nre those having rhargo of the Sjl1 lighthouse. J Hut more thin a thousind ) ears ago, Iftw hundreds, If not thousands, pissed their jff,' lives In religious deotlons upon this R-wf wu sea niountaln; for this plice was KM then the St. Michael's Mount of Ireland. ITA Its history was luminous even In the JVA, earliest days of Christianity In Ilrln. A Luis' majestic monastery once stood in the gBR' littles, alley between the two lolly peaks (jSLU of the Island. I'rom the single landing- I tSt'll place, 610 stone steps, many portions of JjK .1 which remain, led to the mountcry, the I j? j great cishel, the oratories, the stone II 1 ' cells, the ancient burial place, and many j"' unrecorded structures which the in- ' calculable toll and rcaloun consecration fcti of a remote ago grouped within this gBt sacred snot. Lastly traced n mains of VS nearly all these structures still exist, nml Kf, fragments of gigantic crosses here and SKI there push through the strange debris, tHa whose contemplation cannot but send a tWiJ thrill through the least impressive BaVl heart. Mil Tar, far nbene this tens of thousinils WSa of pilgrims In the intervening centuries MJB have climbed. Near the lop of the Mf" highest pinnacle one must squeeze aJWj through a narrow orifice called the vBlrf Needle's Lie, in order to follow their inwri olden painful way. Just bejundlhUls S3M2 a narruu ridge or saddle of solid rock iMl One must get astride this and work B along with legs and hinds until an HI . ascending shelving rock is reached. Hgf 1 The ilangcr here is terrible. One false IFHj movement, and) nu arc plunged head- liffl 1 long Into the sea from cither side. I'rom H0 - this to the highest point any fairly sure- fl- footed min miy pass securely to the jHnl slender ord wide summit, along which Mil are found rudely-sculptured crosses, or rjt stations: Will 1 have been In some eerie spots In UUa my travel, but never before hate I JB Hood where sucli sense of sublimity fi mingled with awe Inspiring Insecurity IJf possessed me. On Ihrcu sides )ou look 1 down a black, straight line of over 700 fjrj . ' feet into the cccan Hehlnd and below '( .' you, are the sols inn ruins of remote ages. ' '' Tar to the north and cast is the weird sei walled coast. Your own land Is s.oio miles beyond those white specks of fislicr-boats to the west. Around and abnvetou are only the palpable clouds', and ghostly whistle of darting sea-bird's sea-bird's wing. The solemn grandeur and awful Impresils encss of the place are appilling. The descent was more dangerous than the Climbing, but we accomplished It safely, re-entered the boit and made for I'ort Magee. I never wish to see Great Skelllg again unless from the deck of an Atlintlc steimer, when a sight of It as the first glimpse of Hurope Is occasionally occasion-ally had, and as we rounded the reef Into the safer channel, while night was softly descending, and the lights from A thousand mackerel fishers's boats gleamed gleam-ed along the western horizon, I turned with a sigh of relief from this tremendous tremend-ous and desolate terror of the deep, to welcoming land, as from some hideous phantom of unhappy dreams. Valletti, the chief city of Malta, is never silent save In the early morning hours. Then it Is like a city of the dcid, but always sweet and cool and winsome. At that time if you ara abroad alone, the silent churches the huge nubcrges, the tremendous ramparts, the vast arch-w arch-w iy, the dim porticoes and the shadowy balconies seem to whisper anew their talcs of romance old, their mysteries of chivalrous and knightly days. Ilut soon from this patio, from that narrow thoroughfare, another silent archway, from huge barred dootslh.it open and close with a startling click, come funeral forms, clad In somber black. They glide along with bowed heads. Their advent lias been so sudden and their number Is at onco so great that you are filled with surprise and dismay. Ilut these do not remain. Tor a soft and delicate hand, as if by accident, with a swift motion changes the folds ol the faUilla, and the pretty faces 'of half a thousand Millcse maids and matrons are one by one fumed roguishly or kindly to yours. Then )ou realize that the faithful fair of Valuta arc on their way to early miss, nncfiou stand there, hat In hod, yourself a reverent worshiper, mentally blessing one and all for tlieir piety ond pretty gracious ways. In the vast geography and pan6rama of travel certain places and objects take on special typificallunnnd significance. At least this is true in my own experience ex-perience as a wanderer. I ncmsecin any port a II , squatty, high pooped brig with its two, tin), square-rigged masts, but my mind Instantly reverts to Ilucelona and the sunny harbors of the Kivicrn. A basket of eggs in n grocer's window no longer recalls the boyhood farm days but n certain barren ledge upon the western sea wall of I itiul Head, where beneath the deafening screams of sea-fow I I saw not thousands but .millions of sea-fowl eggs. Tho filatcst odor of sugar or syrrup brings back the screeching of ships' wenches as oceans of murky sweets are being stow ed in holds In the liirbor ot 1 lavani. An emigrant Kussian Jew in his qualm, patrlircnal habit, Hashes back upon my mind the dumb suffering of these folk' in Cracow. Any muflled Italian shitcr-ing shitcr-ing over his charcoal stove and tray of chestnuts waits to my Imagination Hie odor of the steaming polenta or brings again to sight the fur chestnut gros.es of Lombardy and Tuscany; and so on through an Infinite reach of suggestive seeming and association. Ilut trio most dreamful, mystic, almost pathetic suggestlvenes aluays conies with picture or sight of the palm tree. Cuba, Spain, Majorca, Malta, Morocco, Algcrlialui)S return with this emblem ol dolorous Isohtlon and inexpressible loneliness. It hints of tho camel, the llcdouin, the desert. In art, In story, In fact, it ever suggist tho endless hopelessness hope-lessness and Impossibility of the barrius between the races that subsist upon an rest beneath It, and those who know and lose the maple, beech and oak. I wish to record 0 conclusion from extended ex-tended observation In f.uorof theiuw-lywomt.11 theiuw-lywomt.11 of Scotland. We hate nil read much in books, and in the prints wlicru names are not oltc.11 enough signed to sweeping gcneratUitions regarding re-garding foreign peoples, to the effect mat lowly women ol Scutch towns and cities nru all wufully addicted to drink. I do not belles e it. 'Ihey drink, but neither do all nor even any Important percentage indulge in liquor at all. 'loose who do, often get ' cheer)," and no doubt they would lie belter olf without It. Ilut I hive uctcr seen n hcoth w om.111, high or low, In or out of Scotland, even In the moit w retched retch-ed wynds and closes of Edinburgh or Glasgow, approaching that emphatic rendition termed "fighting drunk." So, too, 1 am inclined 10 belles c that the drinking prowess of Scotciiicn lias been greatly exigcratcd. Scotch literature, litera-ture, especially that portion gMng expression ex-pression to Scuth hie and customs of a century ago, is certainly lull of the humor and pathos of drunkenness. IV-rhaps Scotchmen were drinkers of valor then; but there Is not a mora moderate and well ordered people today, to-day, lhoolddrinking-boiitsoftheclau chiefs, and, later, of the small nobility and country notables, arc no more. I'rom the great St, Andrew leasts down through the countless grades of social festival and cheer to me simple-heart-lightening! of the fisher folk, beside the wild sc.i-lochs, who were onccalino.it sai age In their thirst for strong drink, guzzling and drunkenness are nlmost unkuoun. "I a) "and oceans of this "tlie- cup that cheer but nut inebriates" has nlmost universally displaced the hr tMuttsweh of old. - If ii fund ui si fur liquor lingers In Scotlind ns u diss peculiarity, it still holds anion,; thosu "children of the mist," those Impetuous, cinnj, thoue.li es cr w insume I lighl inders of the North In my wanderings among them 1 have found one curious characteristic. They aro bom religluus disputants. Warm up the cockles of their hearts with a drop ot peat whiskey, and they nra masters of polemics. It Is then tint they will stoutly assert that Adampoke Gaelic and tint the Bible was originally riltcn in Gaelic. Asa Highland clergyman of Strathglass oncu told me. "One glass makes them doctrinil enthusiasts, two setathem expounding ever) point upon 'Justification,' 'Adoption' and 'Sinctl-tic.itlon' 'Sinctl-tic.itlon' in an ecstacy of argumentative frenzy, and, 1 sometimes think, with another, they would stop on their way Into heaven and hotly cngigc St. l'ete-r himself I" Many anecdotes nre still related in the north of Scotlind concerning the drinking habits of the Highlanders. One old shepherd of Glen Atlric fell ill and w ai cut dou n by his ph) siei in to an ullowance of two ounces of whiskey per I day, on pain of death If this should be exceeded. Wholly ignorant ot the exact ex-act quantity, yet ruminatisely whimpering whimper-ing over his misfortune, he stealthily called his grandson to his bedside and asked "Hobby, d'j e ken ycr tables, noo?" "Ay, gran'fay'r, nrtry me then?" "Ifoo mlckle be twa oonces, noo' ' "Twa oonccsf twa oonces I Hoot I Sasteen drachms mak Ui' ooncc; sax" "Twa times saxtcen drams tli'day" shouted the sick man uproariously. "J he Lord be praised for sic a ceevil dochterl ' Another I liglilander had been brought to his death bed Irom exposure and hlrd drinking. His tearful family and the minister stood by his bedside C raying for some token of repentance 1 his last moment. The minister noticing n strange light In his eyes bent over him and eagerly enquired 1 "Sandy, Sindy, what Is the greatest wish of your soul?" 'Tor a mlchty Loch Lommond of whuskcyl" Ihe minister was staggered, but almost pitifully continued Tin entreaty with, "ilut what Is the second? Oh, mon, mon, remember etcrnllyl" ' OIi, ay, guld msenlster," gasped Sandy faintly; "for anlthcr Loch Lommond o'whuskeyl" niHlAlt L. WAkKUAN. |
