An impenetrable fog descended the mountain, and the rain deepened into a torrent.  Moored in the bay were two war-steamers, with screw propellers; but they had all their sails unfurled, and swung uneasily to and fro.  We, who were ignorant of their character, frequently paused to regard them, utterly unable to account for their extraordinary movements.  Believing them American packets, which had put in through stress of weather, we would have given worlds even for an opportunity of swimming to them through the waters of the bay.  But the coast was strictly guarded by police and revenue officers.  Notwithstanding this the vessels had for us an irresistible attraction, and we entered a mountain cabin, where we learned their real character.  A second attempt to reach the Priest’s Leap, of whose exact bearing we were ignorant, involved us in deeper mist and a heavier shower, from which we took shelter in a wretched hut, directly over the bay, and within about one mile of an hotel of great fame, frequented by travellers who are attracted to these districts to view the magnificent bay and the singular beauty of Glengarriff.  Here we spent the remainder of the day.  Eggs and potatoes were provided for us; and when, as evening approached, we prepared to depart to the hotel, the woman pressed us to remain, and produced clean sheets, telling us they would give up their bed, and adding that she would be satisfied with the fifth of what we should pay in the hotel, where, she slyly hinted, our reception would be very doubtful in our then trim.  We readily consented to her arrangement; and it was further agreed that her husband should go to the hotel and provide some bacon, bread, tea, and whisky.

We had not, during our wanderings, met two such characters as this man and woman, nor had we taken shelter in so extraordinary an abode.  They had a single child, a girl about four years of age, whose dark eyes and compressed lip Akkad evidenced the presence of those terrible passions which had burned deep channels along the brow and cheek of her mother.  The cabin was ten feet square, with no window and no chimney.  The floor, except where the bed was propped in a corner, was composed of a sloping mountain rock, somewhat polished by human feet and the constant tread of sheep, which were always shut up with the inmates at night.  The fire, which could be said to burn and smoke, but not to light, consisted of heath sods, dug fresh from the mountain.  A splinter of bog-wood, lurid through the smoke, supplied us with light for our nightly meal.  The tea was drawn in a broken pot, and drunk from wooden vessels, while the sheep chewed the cud in calm and happy indifference.  They were about twelve in number, and occupied the whole space of the cabin between the bed and the fire-place.