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south with the bay of Gallway and western ocean; on the west and north with the same ocean, and with the mountaines of Formna more further on the north.

The country is generally coarse, moorish, and mountanous", full of high rocky hills, large valleys, great bogs, some woods, whereof it had abundance before they were cut.

Cong, was lately purchased, and munificently presented to the Royal Irish Academy, by James Mac Cullagh, Esq., the distinguished Professor and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.

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Galway. For an account of the river and bay mentioned here see further on. Mr. Nimmo, in his valuable Report before referred to (note ), says: "The district of Iar-Connaught is nearly surrounded by the sea on the south and west, and the great lakes, Mask and Corrib, on the east; the latter navigable into the town of Galway, and could easily be made so to the sea."-Report, p. 188.

P Mountanous.—" Although Conamara be mountainous, it is by no means an upland country like Wicklow; at least threefourths of Conamara proper is lower than 100 feet over the sea. Great part of IarConnaught rises from the shore of Galway Bay, in a gently sloping plain, to about 300 feet; at the upper edge of which there are some hills of about 700 feet, and beyond them a low limestone country extends to the edge of Lough Corrib, and but little elevated above its level, which is only fourteen feet higher than the sea; but Joyce's country, on the other hand,

It

is an elevated tract with flat-topped hills of 1,300 feet to 2,000, interspersed with deep and narrow vallies."—ld.

a Woods. See Boate's Natural History of Ireland, 8vo. London, 1652, ch. 15, which accounts for the diminution of timber in Ireland by the "incredible quantity" consumed in the ironworks erected before that time, and by the exportation of pipe staves, in "whole ship loads." I find that on the 18th March, A. D. 1616, King James I. granted license to Richard Milton, "to cut timber in Ireland (except such as has been marked by the King's officers for ship timber) for pipe-staves, hogshead staves, cloppboards, or other cloven ware, and to export the same for twenty-one years."—Rot. Pat. 14 Jac. I. 3, p. f. No. 8. The same causes seem to have continued to and after the time of our author. On this subject the Irish have an ancient saying

Teóra h-uaire do cuir Eire,

Teóra monga, 7 teora maola di. Ireland was thrice beneath the plough-share, Thrice it was wood, and thrice it was bare.

Mr. Nimmo, in his Report, says: "Conamara is very destitute of wood, a few

It is replenished with rivers, brooks, lakes', and standing waters, even on the tops of the highest mountains. On the sea side there are many excellent large and safe harbours for ships to ride on anchor; the climate' is wholesome, soe as divers attain to the age of ninety years, a hundred and upwards. The land produces wild beasts", as wolves', deere, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, hares, rabbets,

scrubby patches only being thinly scattered through it. The country, however, possesses an extensive stool of timber, for in almost every dry knole or cliff, the oak, birch, and hazel, appear shooting in abundance, and require only a little care to rise into valuable forests. Several bloomeries, which were erected about a century ago, consumed much of the timber, and copsing was afterwards neglected. The sheltered vales, navigations, and abundant waterpower, would form great advantages in the cultivation of timber."-Report, p. 188.

Rivers, brooks, lakes." There are about twenty-five navigable lakes in the interior of Iar-Connaught, of a mile or more in length, besides hundreds smaller; the sea coast and all these lakes abound with fish. The district, with its islands, possesses no less than 400 miles of sea shore. On Lough Corrib it has fifty miles of shore, so that with Lough Mask, &c., there are, perhaps, as many miles of shore of the sea, or navigable lakes, as there are square miles of surface."— Id. p. 188.

s Harbours." There are upwards of twenty safe and capacious harbours, fit for vessels of any burthen."-Id. It is questionable whether the same can be said of

IRISH ARCH. SOC. 15.

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any equal portion of sea coast in any other part of the globe. The late Mr. Nimmo, from whose Report on Iar-Connaught the few foregoing illustrations of so much of our author's text have been taken, was well acquainted with the natural advantages and capabilities of Iar-Connaught. That great engineer was employed by Government in this district, and he did more towards the ultimate improvement of the place than any other man that ever lived.

Climate." The climate is mild, snow being little known during the winter; the mountains on the north, and general variety of surface, afford considerable shelter. The summers, however, are wet, and it is exposed to heavy westerly winds.”—__ Id. But even this humidity might be corrected; and there can be no doubt, that by the common and ordinary processes of reclaiming, planting, and extending agriculture throughout this great district, it would, at no very distant period, become, in the language of Boate, "one of the sweetest and pleasantest in the whole world, and very few countries could be named that might be compared with it for agreeable temperateness."-Nat. Hist. ch. xxi. sec. vi. u Beasts. Our author not having given

bets, squirrells, martins, weesles, and the amphibious otter, of which kind the white-faced otter" is very rare. It is never killed, they say, but with loss of man or dog, and its skin is mighty precious. It admits no rats to live any where within it, except the Isles of Aran, and the district of the west liberties of Galway.

the scientific names of the various objects of natural history which he has mentioned, they will be found inserted in the notes, from the best modern authorities, together with the general or local names in Irish. The above mentioned are, the wolf, canis lupus, mac tire; deer, cervus elephas, fiaż; fox, vulpes vulgaris, rionnaċ; badger, meles taxus, bpoc; hedgehog, erinaceus Europæus, grainneog; hare, lepus variabilis, gearrpiaiġ; rabbit, lepus cuniculus, comín; squirrel, sciurus vulgaris, lopa; marten, martes abietum, maopaocpoinn; weasel, mustela erminea, caróg; otter, lutra vulgaris, madrad uisge; rat, mus rattus, luc prancaċ.

▾ Wolves. When our author wrote, and for some years after, wolves were to be found in Iar-Connaught, but not in such numbers as in the early part of that century. The last wolf which I have been able to trace here was killed in the mountains of Joyce-country, in the year

1700. After the wars of 1641, the ravages of the wolves were so great throughout Ireland, as to excite the attention of the State. "Wolf hunters" were appointed in various districts, and amongst others in Iar-Connaught, who helped to rid the country of these ferocious animals.

W

The

White-faced otter.-Called by the Irish Dobhar-chu. Martin, in his interesting description of the Western Islands of Scotland, London, 1703, 8vo. p. 159, tells us, that in the Isle of Skie, "the hunters say there is a big otter above the ordinary size, with a white spot on its breast, and this they call the king of otters; it is rarely seen, and very hard to be killed. Seamen ascribe great virtue to the skin, for they say that it is fortunate in battle, and that victory is always on its side."

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* It admits no rats.-This is not the case at present. The Norway rat every where prevails, having nearly extirpated the little black Irish rat. The latter was the species mentioned by Cambrensis in the following passage: "Est et aliud ibi (i. e. in insula Aren in occidentali Connactiæ solo posita) notabile: quia cum per totam Hiberniam copiose nimis mures abundent, hæc tamen insula mure caret. Mus enim nec nascitur hic, nec vivit invectus."-Top. D. 1. c. 6. See the description of these islands further on in this treatise. A similar story was told of the "towne of Armagh." See Stanihurst in Holinshed, vol. vi. p. 41, Lond. 1808. In the well-known Book of Lecan, preserved in the Library of the

The water streames, besides lampreys, roches, and the like of no value, breed salmons (where is recourse to the sea), eels, and divers sorts of trouts. There was never a pike or bream as yet engendered in all this countrey, nor in the adjacent parts of Mayo or Galway counteys. The sea here is plentifully stored with fish', as cods,

Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, the following curious passage occurs in prefatory remarks to a treatise on the early history of Ireland: "Sicut absque bestia Paradisus erat, ita Hibernia pariter. Hibernia nec leonem, nec draconem, nec ranam, nec Murem nocentum, nec Draconem, nec Scorpium, nec unum noxium animal nisi lupum alit. Hibernia autem proxima Britanniæ insulæ, spatio terrarum angustior sed situ fecundior."

y Lampreys.-The scientific names of the fishes, &c., mentioned in this and the following paragraphs are: lamprey, petromyzon marinus, laimppe; roche (i. e. rud), leuciscus erythropthalmus, poisteac; salmon, salmo salar, bradán; eel, anguilla acutirostris, arccann; trout, salmo trutta, breac; pike, esox lucius, galliasg; bream, cyprinus brama, brann; cod, gadus morhua, org; ling, lota molva, lunga; hawkefish,

... punnać spaineać; coale-fish, merlangus carbonarius, mongaċ; turbot, pleuronectes maximus, taisbert; plaice, platessa vulgaris, leażog garb, or leazog breac; haddock, gadus æglefinus, cudóg; whiting, merlangus vulgaris, mongaċ ; gurnard, trigla gurnardus, cnudán; mackerel, scomber, punnaċ; herring, clupea harengus, sgadán; pilchard, clupea pil

sana,

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chardus, pilreíp; oyster, ostrea edulis, orpió; scallop, pecten maximus, sliogán mapa; cockle, cardium edule, pucán; muscle, mytilus edulis, duilícín; razure, solen siliqua, rgian mapa; lobster, homarus vulgaris, gliomaċ; crab, cancer pagurus, papzán; shrimp, palamon serratus, pibepóbés; whale, balana mysticetus, míol mon; grampus, phocna orca, . porpoise, phocoena communis, mucmapa; thunny, thynnus vulgaris, tuinnín; eagle, aquila chrysaetos? Fiolar; ganet, sula bassoland sula basgoose, sana?. ....; puffin, alea torda, cpurrán ; barnacle, anser brenta, cadan ; wild goose, anser ferus, gead fiadáin; swan, cygnus ferus, eala; cock of the wood, tetrao urogallus? coileaċ-coille ; woodcock, scolopax rusticola, coileac feaoa; chough, fregilus graculus, cudóg; rook, corvus frugilegus, cnáimpiaċ; cormorant, pelecanus carbo, brogeal. The bird which never flies but over the sea is locally called martin, and is probably the guillemot, uria troile. Ambergris will be found noticed in a future page.

2 Fish.-See the last parliamentary Report on the Fisheries of Ireland; an important document, which enters minutely into most of the particulars relating to this great

cods, lings, hawkfish, coalefish, turbets, plaises, hadogs, whitings, gurnards, macrells, herrings, pilchards, &c.; and no less liberall of shell fish, as oysters, scollops, cokles, muscles, razures, together with lobsters, crabs, shromps, &c.

It now and then casts ashore great whales, gramps, porcupisses, thunies. Both sea and land have their severall kinds of birds. Here is a kind of black eagle', which kills the deere by grappling him with his claw, and forcing him to run headlong into precipices.

Here the ganet soares high into the sky to espy his prey in the sea under him, at which he casts himself headlong into the sea, and swallows up whole herrings in a morsell. This bird flys through the ship's sailes, piercing them with his beak.

Here is the bird engendered by the sea out of timber long lying in sea. Some call them clakes and soland-geese, some puffins,

but neglected source of national wealth. a Whales.-an interesting extract from a communication made by Lieutenant Boroughs, commander of the coast guard in the West of Ireland, taken from the valuable Fishery Report alluded to in the last note, will be found in the Additional Notes, p. 183.

Black eagle." The black eagle fixes his talons between the deer's horns, and beats its wings constantly about its eyes, which puts the deer to run continually, till it falls into a ditch, or over a precipice, where it dies, and so becomes a prey to this cunning hunter. There are at the same time several other eagles of this kind, which flye on both sides of the deer, which frights it extremely, and contributes much to its more sudden destruction."-Mar

others

tin's Western Islands, Isle of Lingay, p. 70.

Clakes." Clack gooses" (Phillips), barnacles, or soland geese, Irish, Caoan Sippínna, the local name. "There is also the cleck goose; the shells in which this fowl is said to be produced are found in several isles sticking to trees by the bill; of this kind I have seen many, the fowl was covered by a shell, and the head stuck to the tree by the bill, but never saw any of them with life in them upon the tree, but the natives told me that they had observ'd 'em to move with the heat of the sun."—Martin, Isle of Orkney, p. 357. See also on this point of natural history, Cambrensis in Top. Hiberniæ, "sunt et aves hic multæ, quæ bernacæ," &c. Also Stanihurst's Description of Ireland in Holinshed, vol. vi. p. 18, Ed. ut supra; and his

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