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MUNSTER 47
leading to the gateway of ocean. We walked along
the river bank, often shoulder high in fern, often stop-
ping to pull the blackberry clusters, and we studied
the pools set in, here among trees, there with open
sward on both sides and moor stretching away be-
hind. Below the rapids we took boat, and for a
mile or more rowed through level bogland, with
groups of Scotch fir, purple stemmed in the afternoon
light, rising from the river bank. Between
their trunks, or in the open gaps, we could see the
peaked mass of Carrantuohil, rising in the south-east,
the light on its high ridges, but the valleys and chasms
on its sides deep
in shadow. As we neared the lake
the flat land broadened, and from across it came the
aromatic, pungent smell of bog myrtle,
distinct as the
scent from a beanfield, but strong and tonic as brine.
Then for an hour and half we paddled down the lake
between mountain and mountain, winding round pro-
montory after promontory into sight of reach after
reach of the lake. Finally as we entered the wide
northern stretch for our course was due north all
the shore was seen divided into demesnes, big and
little, each with its own wooding. The hotel lies
farthest of all towards the river's outflow in the north-
west, and whoever chose that site deserves credit, for
across the wide shining water rise the whole ring
of mountains Carrantuohil away to the south-east,