CORRESPONDENCE.
A VICEROY'S VISIT TO SOUTH KERRY AND ITS HOTELS.
IRELAND, like the poor, is ever with us ! It usurps the time and patience of the House of Commons, and proves a serious stumbling-block to progressive legislation,—as a matter of fact, political Ireland, the cockpit for party strife, is at a discount, and all sorts and conditions of men and women are united in thinking that the Green Isle and its representatives have been rather too much in evidence during the past decade or two. Agricultural and pastoral Ireland is in a pleasanter condition, and fulfils its mission of supplying the wants of its larger, wealthier, and manufacturing sister-isle ad_ mirably, and in some respects its prosperity is in a more stable condition than that of England, which has felt the depression in the price of produce far more acutely than her Western neighbour. But scenic and sporting Ireland takes a higher place than any. Her hunters, chasers, and racehorses have in turn taken highest honours. Her salmon fisheries are a source of national wealth, though by no means equal to what they ought to be if adequately conserved and fostered. Her deer-forests, though few, produce the heaviest harts and binds in the king- dom, while her pastures are peerless as an arena for the chase. Dublin is an interesting old Scandinavian city, dotted with handsome public buildings, but her suburban zone is full of beauty, while the Celtic Switzerland, as Wicklow has been termed, has lovely land, mountain, and sea stapes; but these being of easy access and fairly furnished with hotels, are more or less hackneyed or Cockneyed. The Vale of Ovoca, the Glen of the Downs, and Glendalough, have been trodden by myriads of tourists, Rostrevor and the Mourne Moun- tains are nearly as familiar to thousands of summer and autumnal long vacationists, but Southern Kerry has
been comparatively unexplored, save by those who followed what is called the "Prince and Princess of Wales's Tour," who took in the lacustrine loveliness of Killarney, with its background of peaks and passes, and the sylvan and sea- scenery of Glengariff and Bantry Bay. Within the last lustrum, however, thanks to Mr. Balfour and the co-operation, of the Directors of the Great Southern and Western Railway Corporation, new avenues have been opened out to the tourist, the angler, and the gunner ; while the Southern Hotels Company have taken their opportunity for purchasing three or four parks and mansions that occupied situations of much scenic beauty, and commanded extraordinary fishing and shooting advantages, so that the less msthetic tourist,.
weary of- " The vague emotion of delight In gazing on an Alpine height,"
might find relief from the monotony of mountains and the surfeit of scenery, in catching salmon and trout, or shooting grouse and snipe galore.
So important did Lord Houghton think this movement towards the development of Ireland's resources, and the attraction of tourists by means of comfortable hotels with good cookery and moderate tariffs, plus fishing and shooting privileges, that he gave up several pleasant engagements— amongst others, one to Lismore Castle, to accept the hos- pitality of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire—in order to- see how the new system worked, and to satisfy himself that the hotel arrangements were adequate and encouraging. The verdict of the Viceroy is most satisfactory in every respect. He came ; he saw ; he ate and drank. He sampled everything, and returned to the Viceregal Lodge with a most favourable impression of the opportunities offered to the travelling world' to explore a new and interesting area, with ease, comfort, and economy. Moreover, he was welcomed and well receive& everywhere as the Queen's representative, and as a great officer of State endeavouring to serve Ireland. Nor was any of the paltry party pettiness that marked the progress of another Viceroy manifested, for here-
" None were for a party, but all were for the State,"—
the general wish being to bring London into Kerry, instead of Ireland into London.
It was in the first week of this month of sunshine and leafy shade that Lord Houghton, accompanied by Colonel Jekyll, R.E., and Captain G. Digby, R.N., and with Colonel Dease for local pilot, left the Lodge for Killarney, where Lord Ken- mare, the Lieutenant of the County, put horses and carriages,. boats and boatmen, at the disposition of his Excellency's party. Muckross, the Toomies, Ross Castle, Mangerton, M' Gillicu ddy Reeks, and the Gap of Dunloe are too familiar to many of your readers to dwell on here; let us pass on to Farranfore Junction, where Lord Wolseley and General Fryer, with their staffs on• an official round of inspection, were foregathered with. The Horse Gunners encamped at Glenbeigb, a place erst famous for its eviction scenes duly rehearsed, were visited, as well as Caragh Lake Hotel, encircled by a belt of mountains; and a light railway cleverly engineered through mountains, like some of the lines in Northern Spain, brought the travellers- to Cahirciveen, an apparently thriving place, where Canon Brosnan's Memorial church, in honour of "the Liberator," has already absorbed some £20,000 of freewill offerings, and is still roofless ! Dingle Bay, of cobalt hue, with Valentia. Island, the property of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, Knight of Kerry, within a short row of the shore, looked charming. The island is well worth a visit, if only to see a herd of pure-bred " Kerries," and the finest tree fuchsia in the kingdom. The scenery between Cahirciveen and Waterville is not very interesting, but a good coach, ad- mirably horsed, makes the dozen miles seem short, and it is something of a novelty—even in Ireland—to see turf out out of a field partly devoted to potatoes. Waterville village was the terminus of the day's travel ; it bristles with hotels apparently, bat the chief building or institution is the Anglo-American Telegraph Office, which Lord Houghton duly visited next day, and exchanged greetings with its President, in New York, Mr. Mackey. The Viceregal goal was half-a- mile further on—namely, Waterville Lake Hotel, once a. manor-house, occupied by the Hartopp family ; the lake in front was illumined by the rich afterglow, and reminded one of the inland seas in the Bavarian Tyrol. Like them it was encircled by rugged hills ; and like Caragh Lake, it is con- netted with the sea (Ballinskelligs Bay) by a river full of salmon and white trout, of which many are claimed by a weir erected in King John's day. Lord Houghton spent some time here visiting mountain tarns and wooded isles, on some of which were ruined fanes and ceme- teries, and the beehive cells of Celtic anchorites or eremites. Parkuasilla Hotel was reached after a drive through moun- tains and by the sea-coast, whose caves are still seal-haunted. Derrynane Abbey, the family place of the O'Connells, and the home of "the Liberator," was visited en route, and the sweet, sylvan scenery of Parknasilla, surrounded as it is by well-wooded parks, where the rhododendron is seen amidst fern and heather, and clumps of fuchsia and bamboos, was -very soothing after the dusty drouthy drive. The extensive grounds of this hotel, lately the summer pleasaunce of the Bishop of Limerick, touch the waters of Kenmare Bay, that looked like an inland sea studded with timbered islands, of which none is more beautiful than Garinish, Lord Dunraven's property and occasional home. Opposite is Derreen, Lord Lansdowne's Irish home, where Froude wrote much, as well as at Dromore Castle, Mr. Mahony's. The founda- tions of a larger hotel have been laid at Parknasilla, and -no lovelier spot could be found for the honeymooning, for the beautiful grounds dispel the idea of an hotel, nor is the awakening from the dream of delight made rudely unpleasant by an exorbitant bill, for the charges are very moderate, sojourners for a day paying 12s. for everything, while a much lower tariff is given to week visitors. Royal weather is usually associated with Victorian visits ; the Viceregal tour was made perfect by its atmospheric amenities, but damp Clays are not unknown in Kerry, and for them books are provided by the company. Lord Houghton's party went on -to Glengariff ; had a cruise in a torpedo-boat to Castletown, and were hospitably entertained at Mount Melleray, by the Trappist Lord Abbott, whose monks have turned a stony wilderness into a garden. For "restauration," change, and repose, South Kerry is well worth a visit,—a visit that
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