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KILLAKXEY.

[1860

to pass over us in swift succession. Near thisboundary line the atmospheric currents mingle,and the copious aqueous precipitation which wenow observe is the result.

Superadded to this source of general rain, wehave at Killarney local condensers in the neigh-bouring mountains. Round the cool crests ofCarrantual and his peaked and craggy brothers themoist and tilted south-west wind curdles ceaselesslyinto clouds, which nourish the moss and heatherwhose decomposition produces the peat whichclothes the disintegrated rocks. Grandly the vastcumuli build themselves in the atmosphere, hangingat times lazily over the mountains and mottlingwith their shadows the brown sides of the hills.Reddened by the evening sun, these clouds casttheir hues upon the lakes, the crisped surface ofwhich breaks up their images into broad spaces ofdiffused crimson light. On other days the cumuliseem whipped into dust, and scattered through thegeneral air, mixing therewith as the smoke ofLondon mingles with the supernatant atmosphere.Day by day the guides prophesy fine weather—theblackest cloud is ‘ all for hate.’ You are assuredthat if you start to-day you will not get ‘ a singledhrop' of rain ; you go, and are drenched; but theguide’s purpose is accomplished, the moderate sum ofthree and sixpence being added to his private store.