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MUNSTER 33
heard it all, though at secondhand, on a sail from
the Kenmare River to Bantry, one night when the
sea was all fire, and the mackerel shoals dashing
this way and that, made flashes like a Catherine
wheel, and porpoises or dolphins following them left
long trails of light on the surface with sudden sparkles
wherever the great fish came up to roll. Out to sea
was the recurring flash of the Bull Light, for which
ships steer on their way from America; and though
there was no moon I could still distinguish this huge
island rock, and its neighbour the Cow. The Calf,
where the light used to be, is lower, and lies close
in by Dursey Island in that year much talked of, for
a party of police who had crossed to collect rents
from the few islanders, were effectively marooned,
as the boat they had chartered left them, and every
other craft was suddenly spirited away.
I think, perhaps, that night was lovelier on the
Kenmare River under a sky ablaze with stars
than even the days of sun had been; but nothing
else in Ireland is so perfect, to my fancy,
as this
long, narrow sea lough between the two mountainous
peninsulas, and having inland of it the full vista of
those higher mountains which encircle Killarney's
lakes.
On the Kenmare shore of the southern peninsula
is Lord Lansdowne's famous seat, Derreen, set among
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