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It is impossible to glance over the wonderful maps | marked out; for the peninsula contains three ancient of the Ordnance Survey of this part of Ireland, without divisions-Joyce's Country in the north-east, Jara saddened feeling for the present and a hopeful one Connaught (or West-Connaught) in the for the future. We say wonderful maps; for seldom has there been such another display of mapping as this celebrated Survey presents. Take the county of Galway, for instance- the one which contains the Connamara district. Here we find no less than 137 large sheets devoted to this county, on a scale of six inches to a mile; while the Index Map, in which the whole county is represented in one sheet, is quite a triumph of minute engraving. Although on a scale of only one-third of an inch to a mile, this index-map presents the natural and social features with astonishing fulness.

One of the most striking entries on this map, both for its frequency and the tale which it tells, is "Castle in ruins." This entry is not met with so repeatedly in Connamara as in the portions of Galway county farther to the east; but it is to be encountered even in that region of rugged beauty. Eastward of the town of Galway, however, the "Castle in ruins" meets the eye so frequently in the map that the attention is forcibly arrested by it. How old are these ruins? What was the state of the people when those castles were built? Was English conquest or internal discord the cause of the ruin? Such are the queries that suggest themselves to the mind. So far as the names are concerned, nothing can be more thoroughly Irish than these ruined castles-Kilroge, Kilcoritan, Cloghmoyle, Cloghballymore, Cloancurreen, Ballynamantragh such names tell much more of the Celt than of the Anglo-Norman.

But when, leaving these relics of man's work, we transfer our attention to the natural features of Connamara, it is difficult to imagine that such a country will always remain as it is-a social and commercial blank. What a chain of lakes! what a coast line! A short line of about seven miles will connect the eastern extremity of Killery Harbour with the western extremity of Lough Mask; and thus we have formed a northern boundary to Connamara, all but seven miles consisting of coast-line. Then a straight line of two miles is all of land that intervenes between the south of Lough Mask and the north of Lough Corrib; and this latter noble lake stretches southward till it pours its waters into the river Corrib, which itself finds an embouchure in Galway Bay: thus is an eastern boundary given to Connamara, of which all but two miles consists of water. As to the western and southern boundaries, they are wholly formed by the sea. We may therefore say that this large districtmeasuring, perhaps, forty miles from east to west by twenty-five from north to south differs from an island only by the occurrence of two isthmuses, of seven and two miles respectively as viewed upon a map, it is a peninsula, and as a peninsula we shall treat of it. Strictly speaking, and in relation to the ancient divisions of Ireland, Connamara is comprised within narrower limits than those here

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east, and Connamara all that lies westward of those two divisions. In this narrower sense, Connamara would be pretty accurately bounded on the east by a line drawn from the inner part of Killery Harbour to the inner part of Kilkerran Bay; and the district thus marked out would extend from twenty to twenty-four miles in each direction. But the physical and industrial features of the peninsula are independent of these local divisions; and we shall continue to give the name of Connamara to all that lies westward of the two noble lakes. These lakes, containing nearly seventy thousand acres of water-surface, and entering into the Atlantic by a river which passes through the county town— ought to effect great blessings for Ireland some day or other. Then there are in addition an almost incalculable number of smaller lakes spread over the peninsula, but more thinly in the southern than the northern half. This, too, is a district where the coastline presents such a series of inlets and harbours as is not easily to be paralleled elsewhere. The word Connamara is said to mean "land of bays." Beginning at Killery Harbour, with its many coves and inlets, we pass round a jetting promontory and find ourselves in Ballynakill Harbour, which throws out its manifold arms into the land in various directions. Then occur Claggan Bay, Streamstown Bay, Kingstown Bay, Clifden Bay, and Mannin Bay—all of which serrate the extreme western margin of the peninsula, and in front of which are numberless small islands washed by the Atlantic. Next, bending round south and east, we pass in succession the Bays of Bunowen, Ballyconneely, Gorteen, Roundstone, (Cut, No. 17), and Cleonile,-a series which ends in the deep inlet of Berbragh Bay. The minor bays of Ard and Mweenish, which next occur, are followed by the magnificent harbour of Kilkerran, whose deepest inlets have distinctive names of their From Kilkerran Bay the coast proceeds pretty regularly from west to east, ending at the town of Galway, and forming the northern side of Galway Bay; this line of coast is marked chiefly by the inlets which form Casheen Bay, Coonawilleen Bay, Kiggaul Bay, Greatman's Bay, and Cashla Bay, and by the island of Gorumna.

own.

The best information which we possess concerning Connamara, and the source whence most subsequent writers have derived their principal details, is contained in the late Mr. Alexander Nimmo's Report on that district. Commissioners were appointed by the Crown, early in the present century, and soon after the Union of Ireland with Great Britain, to examine the bogs of Ireland, with a view to the suggestion of such plans as might facilitate their reclamation. The labours of the commission lasted several years, and did not terminate till 1814. The commissioners employed ten eminent engineers, and a large staff of surveyors, to examine and survey the bogs; and the separate reports of these engineers are full of valuable

details concerning Ireland and its latent capabilities. They minutely surveyed, examined, and measured no less than 1,013,358 acres of bog land; while there were separate examinations, not professing to enter into so much detail, of three other districts in Wicklow, Erris, and Connamara; containing together about 387,000 acres of bog, and 355,000 acres of mountain peat soil. Mr. Nimmo, Mr. Lovell Edgeworth (the father of Maria Edgeworth), and Mr. Griffith, were among the most eminent of the engineers employed.

The Connamara district considered as including the whole of Galway county westward of Loughs Corrib and Mask-is one of the most uncultivated in the whole of Ireland. The quantity of arable land seems, at first glance, not to exceed one-twentieth of the whole area; but the process of reclamation will give a more and more favourable ratio in this respect. Where cultivation has made the greatest progress on the south shore of Lough Corrib, the arable or dry land is interspersed with extensive tracts of naked limestone rock of a most desolate aspect; and it appears to be only after incredible labour, that a few patches of soil have been torn from the general waste. Nevertheless as if in encouragement and reward for whatever labour and capital are bestowed on this region of wildness-such is the fertility of these spots, and the value of the pasture among the limestone, that this land, even including rock, produced at the time of Mr. Nimmo's examination a rent of fifteen shillings per acre, and where tolerably cleared, was rented as high as in any part of Ireland.

The other parts of the district are principally bare moors, consisting of various depths of bog, upon a bottom of primitive rock affording little soil; but several strings or beds of limestone run through the district, and are distinguishable by the verdure and cultivation which have taken place in their vicinity.

Mr. Nimmo estimated the population at 30,000. It is now supposed that the number must have exceeded that limit; but taking the estimate as he gave it, he states that half of the inhabitants are in Connamara proper, one-third in Jar-Connaught, and one-sixth in Joyce's Country; that nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Connamara proper are settled along the sea-shore; that in Jar-Connaught the inhabitants reside either on the sea coast, or on the northern slope of the hills next to the limestone country; and that the upland part of Joyce's Country is quite uninhabited. But in these details, and in the statement of total rentals, the lapse of nearly forty years has in all probability introduced wide differences.

Before any reclamation of bog land commenced, 57 per cent. of the whole area of Connamara consisted of mountain and upland pasture, 34 per cent. of bog, 7 per cent. of arable land, and 2 per cent. of limestonerock. A formidable picture this, with only one acre in fourteen deserving the name of arable land! Yet Mr. Nimmo was impressed with the conviction that there are certain facilities about and around Connamara which might render the improvement and cultivation

of the district more hopeful than in many other waste lands of the kingdom. These facilities presented themselves to his mind under the forms of climate, aspect, coast-line, and geological formation.

First for the climate. It is decidedly mild. Snow is little known even in the hardest winters. The cattle are never housed; for the mountains in the north, and the great variety of surface, afford considerable shelter. The least favourable features are wet summers and strong west winds.

Next for the aspect. Although Connamara may be deemed in some sense mountainous, it is not an upland country like Wicklow. At least three-fourths of Connamara proper is lower than 100 feet above the level of the sea; and this low level must have an undoubted influence on the prospective vegetable fertility of the district. Jar-Connaught 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. Joyce's Country is, in every respect, more mountainous and wild.

In respect to sea-coast, nothing can well (size being considered) be more magnificent than this peninsula. After reading Mr. Nimmo's remarks thereon, a reader must lack hope indeed who cannot look forward to a day of prosperity for the district-far-distant, perhaps, but not the less certain and cheering. "The district is nearly surrounded by the sea on the south and west, and by 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. Various great inlets penetrate the district, so that no part of it is distant four miles from existing navigation. There are upwards of twenty safe and capacious harbours, fit for vessels of any burden; about twentyfive navigable lakes in the interior, of a mile or more in length, besides hundreds smaller. The sea-coast and all these lakes abound in fish. The district, with its islands, possesses no less than 400 miles of seashore. 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."

In respect to the geological features, there are extensive bands of calcareous sand round the coast in almost every bay; there are numerous beds of available limestone adjacent to almost all of the navigable lakes; and there is bog-peat which will furnish an inexhaustible supply of fuel.

Taking in conjunction the above four groups of circumstances or conditions, Mr. Nimmo remarks:"On the whole, it appears to me that the improvement of this district, so far from being difficult or hopeless, is a thing highly feasible; and if vigorously but steadily pursued, is likely to meet with fewer obstructions and greater ultimate success than, perhaps, in any other part of Ireland.".

In respect to the fitness for agricultural purposes, Mr. Nimmo arranges the peninsula into four parts

The hopeful anticipations of Mr. Nimmo with respect to the harbour and water-power of Connamara have already been touched upon; and we find that he was not less hopeful with respect to its bogs :

the Limestone Field, the Granite Moor, the Middle | Experience, however, has shown that it is more proDivision, and the Northern Division. The Limestone-fitable to employ sea-weed as manure for the improveField lies principally between the town of Galway and ment of the wastes, than to manufacture kelp, even at Lough Corrib, and along part of the western shore of remunerating prices. the lough. It is a triangular nook, forming the western edge of the great limestone-field of Ireland. Much of this limestone-rock is bare; but on its edges are many very fertile spots; the hollows are mostly filled with bog. Other patches of limestone are interspersed with other rocks in various parts of the peninsula. The Granite Moor forms the southern part of the peninsula; it contains no limestone, but is partially covered with bog of various depths. There is a large supply of shell or coral-sand in the bays on the coast, which might easily be applied to the manuring of this moor; and there is abundance of red sea-weed, equally applicable to such a purpose. The Northern Division contains no limestone or calcareous matter; but it is so deeply indented by Loughs Corrib and Mask, that no part of it is distant more than three miles from some spot whither lime may be brought by water-carriage. The great drawback to this division, at the time of Mr. Nimmo's examination, was, that there was neither a single road fit for a wheel-carriage, nor a single bridge over a stream or inlet, in the whole of this portion of the peninsula. The Middle Division, the last of the four portions into which Mr. Nimmo divided the peninsula in respect to agricultural capabilities, contains numerous veins or beds of limestone, so situated that almost every farm within that tract has either limestone upon it, or within half a mile of it. Many of these lime-rocks are also situated on long and deep lakes a circumstance which gives a facility of transport that may at some future time become of the greatest importance.

The industrial processes which were carried on in Connamara at the date of Mr. Nimmo's examination, are interesting to note, because they mark the early stages of a course of labour which may, perhaps, lead to prosperous results in future years. One employment was that of cutting sea-weed for manure, or collecting that which is at every tide cast ashore. Two or three boat-loads of sea-weed, of about six tons each, were usually applied as manure over an acre of potato ground. The weed was usually sold at half-a-guinea a ton. The rotation adopted at the farms at that period was frequently as follows:-one year of potatoes raised on sea-weed; one year of oats or barley; four or five years of natural meadow; and then potatoes manured with sea-weed, as before. Among those things which have to checked the productive labours of Connamara is the decline in the use of kelp. Since the wonderful progress of chemistry, which has led to the manufacture of soda from common salt, the obtaining of the same alkali from kelp has been almost discontinued; because the lowest price which would keep the poor kelpers from starvation is still higher than that at which soda can now be purchased. Kelp used to be made by burning sea-weed, and soda by purifying the kelp.

some extent

"I am perfectly convinced," says he, "from all that I have seen, that any species of bog is by tillage and manure capable of being converted into a soil fit for the support of plants of every description; and with due management, perhaps the most fertile that can be submitted to the operations of the farmer. Green crops, such as rape, cabbages, and turnips, may be raised with the greatest success on firm bog, with no other manure than the ashes of the same soil. Permanent meadows may be formed on bog, more productive than on any other soil. Timber may be raised, especially firs, larch, spruce, and all the aquatics, on deep bog; and the plantations are fenced at little expense. With a due application of manure, every description of white crops may be raised upon bog; and I know no soil from which they can be extracted without it. There is this advantage in the cultivation of bog, that any species of soil will act as a manure to it even the siliceous sand of Renvill having that effect; but this admixture of foreign soil, though highly beneficial, is not essential to the improvement of bog; fallowing and manure, such as dung or lime, will convert the bog-stuff itself into a soil, and extract large crops from it; so that there is nothing desperate in the cultivation of bog upon a basis of rock."

Those travellers-few and far between--who have visited Connamara since the date of Mr. Nimmo's examination, are invariably struck either with the latent capabilities not yet developed, or with the fine scenery which portions of the peninsula exhibit. Sir Robert Kane, in the work before quoted, passes in review the sources of power which are presented by the rivers and lakes of that country. When he comes to speak of that province which contains the district of Connamara, he says: "The province of Connaught is that which deserves most attention in relation to its navigable lakes. Its soil is not inferior to that of the rest of Ireland; some of the sweetest pastures and most productive lands are found within its limits. Its coasts abound with fish; its mountains are rich in ores; its people are willing to work, and travel hundreds of miles seeking for work, even at a rate which only allows them to sustain existence. that province is the reproach of Ireland and the byword of Great Britain. Its population is relieved by charitable subscription from recurrent famines. Little more than one-half of its area has been made available for cultivation; and it is but a few years since its interior was first rendered accessible to industry by the formation of proper roads."

Yet

Mr. Inglis, whose Tour through Ireland' about fifteen years ago, was a means of bringing many

beauties of that country before the notice of English| miles from some sea-bay, or lake having communicareaders, shared in the general opinion of the capabi- tion with the sea. If there were good roads in all lities of the Connamara district. "At Maam," he directions, this length of land-carriage would not be says, "one is forcibly struck with the advantages great; but even this distance would be much dimiwhich would be opened up to this district by the nished by improving and connecting the navigation of extension of the navigation of Lough Corrib to the the chains of lakes which extend through every part of sea. Fine slopes of reclaimable land border the deep Connamara." stream that, at the distance of half a mile, flows into Lough Corrib; and the same boats that would carry to market the produce of the cultivated land, would bring from the bay of Galway sand, sea-weed, and lime to be laid upon the yet unimproved wastes." The same thought seems to have repeatedly occurred to the mind of Mr. Inglis, during his journey through Connamara. "It was impossible," he says, while progressing on foot from Maam to Clifden, "to cast the eye over the vast inclined plains of bog-land, skirted by fine water levels, which seemed to invite draining, without feeling a conviction of the immense capabilities of this part of Ireland; and seeing, in prospective, these vast tracts bearing abundant produce, and the chain of loughs carrying that produceon the one side to Lough Corrib and Galway Bay; and on the other to Birterbuy Bay, or one of the other bays which lie to the westward." Again, the following remarks suggest irresistibly the future which must be destined for this remarkable peninsula. "There is perhaps no part of Ireland so well adapted for experimenting on waste lands and reclaimable bogs as Connamara. No part of Connamara is more than six

Besides the industrial associations connected with this district, there are many scenes of great beauty. The Killery, for instance, is a beautiful and remarkable boundary to Connamara on the north. It is a narrow deep inlet of the sea, extending far up into the country, and bounded on both sides throughout its whole extent by a range of mountains nearly as elevated as any in Ireland, and of very picturesque forms. The inlet is not above a mile across. In several spots the mountain boundary rises abruptly from the water; but there are many clefts and hollows which reveal more elevated peaks beyond, and show the extent of the range. Those who have visited both regions say that there is nothing in the British Isles which approaches so near to the character of the Norwegian Fiords as Killery-a deficiency of dark-foliaged timber being the chief drawback from the comparison.

The Rev. Cæsar Otway, who published several works relating to the topography of the north-west of Ireland, speaks of Lough Corrib as "a noble sheet of water, here and there studded with islands-some large and fertile, others rugged rocks; some embattled

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with the ruins of an old fortress; some made holy by the crumbling remains of a still older church, where some Culdee made his desert,-a disciple of Columba, or Fursey, or Fechin, his retreat. If such a lake as this were in Scotland, or indeed anywhere else in Europe, it would be covered with steam-boats and yachts, and there would be hotels and accommodations on its shores, and a county as rich if not richer than Cumberland, would be opened out, and planted, and built on."

One of the most extraordinary scenes of this extraordinary peninsula is displayed at the isthmus between Loughs Mask and Corrib. The waters of the former flow into the latter at the town of Cong; but no river or stream is to be seen in the maps, and the existence of any communication appeals rather to the ear than to the eye. The flow is in great part subterraneous. The rocks have been tunnelled during the lapse of ages by the waters which came from Lough Mask and some smaller lakes towards Lough Corrib. Well may Mr. Otway, after such a description as the following, claim for Ireland the attention of those who love wild scenes of beauty and grandeur:-"Cong is certainly a rare place-it might be called the Irish Arabia Petræa; but there is this great difference, that our place of stones is also a place of rivers of waters. For here, amongst hills of stones and valleys of stones, you hear the rustling sound of streams through a multitude of holes, and gullies, and caverns; where waters are now appearing and then disappearing, until all at once they burst forth from under the rock, and form a rapid river, rushing to Lough Corrib, larger than the Liffey. It certainly is a singular sight. To the left of the village you see a strong and turbulent stream gushing through salmon and eel weirs, as it flows with all its turbulent eddies to the lake; then you look to the north, south, east, and no river is seen, nothing but the great gray ridges of limestone; you look closer, and you see enormous springs turning at once some great mill-wheels with the impetuosity and force of their waters as they rise from the earth; and while those springs start up and boil in all directions around you, as you do not know whence they flow, so you do not understand whither they are tending."

The western districts partake less of the beautiful than the eastern; but even here there are scenes which drew forth from Mr. Inglis no small amount of admiration. After speaking of the road from Roundstone to Clifden, which seems to be bare and desolate, he thus records his opinion of the north-western part of the peninsula :—"I do not hesitate for a moment to say, that the scenery in passing from Clifden to the Killeries and Leenane is the finest in Ireland. In boldness of character nothing in Killarney comes near to it; and although the deficiency of wood excludes the possibility of a competition with Killarney in picturesque beauty, I am certainly of opinion that the scenery of this part of Connamara, including especially the Killeries, which is in Joyce's Country, is entitled to rank higher than the more praised (because better

known) scenery of Killarney. I would not be understood as saying one word in disparagement of Killarney, which, in the combination of forms and colours, is not to be surpassed; but in speaking of Killarney, I think I ventured to observe that no approach to sublimity was to be found; and as, in the part of Ireland of which I am now speaking, there are undoubted approaches to the sublime, with all of the picturesque besides that depends upon form, I think these ought to weigh heavier in the balance than that softened beauty which at Killarney is created by abundance and variety of wood, and consequent splendour of colouring. I know that a far stronger impression was made on my mind in this journey than by anything I saw at Killarney. Be it known, too, that this is a country of lakes-lakes with as fine mountain boundaries as are to be found in the three kingdoms."

Chiefly through the exertions of Mr. Nimmo, a road has been made entirely round the peninsula, beginning at Galway, and winding sufficiently near to the sea and the lakes to open up those districts to the tourist and (what is better to the capitalist. There is another road extending across the district from south-east to north-west. The road to Ballinahinch passes close by the southern slope of the remarkable group of mountains called the Twelve Pins; and among these mountains is now quarried a green marble so beautiful, that it only waits to be better known in order to find a ready market. These Twelve Pins form a striking nucleus to a striking district. They stand in the very centre of Connamara, and occupy an area six or seven miles square. It is supposed that the name Pin is here a corruption of the Scottish Ben or mountain ; but be this as it may, the mountains, about a dozen in number, are placed in two opposite rows, inclining together at the ends so as to enclose a kind of oval valley. The chief among the mountains are Knockannahiggen, Bengower, Benlettery, Derryclare, Ben cullagh, and Benbaun; these vary in height from 2400 to 2000 feet; the others average about 1800 feet. (Cut No. 18.)

Mr. and Mrs. Hall, in their work on Ireland,' give the details of some information which they received concerning the Connamara marbles, from the proprietors of one of the marble works in Galway

town.

The quarries in question are situated on the shores of Lough Corrib; and they were discovered in the following way :-An Englishman was exploring the country for minerals, useful rather than ornamental, when he chanced to discover a stone of fine texture, which, on being polished by a mason, was pronounced to be marble of a fine jet colour. He was unable to work the quarry for want of means; but two brothers of the name of Ireland made an arrangement with Sir Valentine Blake, the proprietor of the estate on which the marble was found, to export some blocks of it to London. This occurred about the time when Mr. Nimmo was making his examination. The marblemerchants soon appreciated the beauty of the material;

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