west were seen the dripping sides of the snow-capped mountains glittering in the sun. Here and there

fed a picturesque group of mountain cattle, in search of which tripped over the rocks several red-kirtled damsels, in order to supply part of our morning's meal. Anxious to enjoy so fine a day, we soon took leave of our hospitable host, and proceeded onwards along the margin of Lough Corrib: our attention sometimes attracted by a bold projecting crag; at others, by a gurgling rill or a proud waterfall; then again by a cottage or a village peeping up among the gray rocks, and scarcely distinguishable from them; and sometimes by an amusing group of little children trotting along bareheaded and barefooted by the side of our horses, for the pleasure of keeping company with the quality. After climbing the pass of Mam Cloughaloon with much difficulty to our horses, we had to pass the fords of Bealnabrach, or rather to ride for several miles in the bed of a mountain torrent, which formed the track by which we were gradually led to the pass of Mam Turc; at the foot of which the mountains rose abruptly to the south of the river, with rugged and precipitous sides, while the brown and more ample bases of those to the north, pastured by a few halfstarved sheep, added but extent to the desolation

that surrounded us. A few cabins on the banks of the stream, and the scraps of cultivation about them, seemed but specks in the mass of rugged grandeur that every where presented itself to the eye. As we climbed the pass, we found scarcely any track by which to ascend, and where we followed the course of the mountain streamlet, the difficulty which our horses had in finding a footing was greatly increased; we were however amply compensated by the magnificent view from the summit, when we wound through the narrow defile, and caught the sun sinking over the broad Atlantic, with the twelve pins of Bennabola (abrupt conical mountains, with extensive lakes at their base) rising as a fore-ground, and the broad valley at our feet, enlivened by its setting beams. An hour's ride brought us to the bottom of the pass where we came on the mountain road from Galway to the sea at Ballynakill and Renvyle.

H.

LETTER III.

JANUARY.

You must be content to go back with me to the evening on which we so rapidly descended the pass of Mam Turc. I will not make you climb again that steep ascent, but you must return as far as the cross roads, where the little by-path from the Killery harbour, used to meet the main road from Renvyle to Galway; from this point, at the distance of seven or eight miles to the south east, diverged the narrow track by which we had crossed the chain of mountains that divides the baronies of Ross and Ballynahinch.

It had been our intention to take up our headquarters at the foot of Bencoona, on a farm which was held directly from the landlord; and thither we despatched the main body of our little army; but seeing the wreck, which was the primary object of our expedition, lying on the white sands, at no great distance to the westward, we determined to proceed thither, previously to our settling for the night.

On the shore we found a party of as wild looking fellows as can be imagined; some idly watching the surf, as it rolled in successive waves, and dashed against the side of the vessel, which was at that time surrounded by the tide; and others, under the command of a person of superior rank, running in and out of a hovel dug in the sand, that served as a watch-house for the party destined to protect the timber and staves already landed. I soon found that the leader of this motley group was a son-in-law of Mr. and that it would be impossible for us to refuse the invitation, which without any consideration of the purport of our visit, was most hospitably given, to what was emphatically called, "the big house." I was indeed delighted at the opportunity of seeing, for the first time, the interior of such an establishment. A middle-man, possessing an income of 1500l. per annum, arising from his good management of profit rents, surrounded by a numerous and untutored tenantry, utterly unconscious of any other claims on the land, must have been undoubtedly a person of consequence in this country, and, as such, an object of great curiosity to those who little understood the arrangement of these matters. His authority too received an additional sanction, from the circumstance of his claim

We

ing to be a lineal descendant from the old Kings of the West, O'Flaherties of centuries long since gone by; and, however trifling this may sound in your English ears, yet in a country where feudal claims are scarcely yet relinquished, and feudal feelings are still warmly cherished, the descendant of a former race of kings is regarded with greater veneration than would be granted to one who could make a fair show of lands and honours of a modern date. ventured therefore to disregard the warnings that we had received from intelligent but prejudiced lowlanders, who had endeavoured to instil a fund of suspicion into our minds against the whole race of mountaineers; and readily accepted the offer that was made us on behalf of this acknowledged chief. It is true, we were well armed, but there was in reality little foundation for the idle tales that had induced us to take this precaution. Mr., was a justice of the peace, and, as such, with patriarchal power, administered to all around, his own form of statute law, somewhat different perhaps from that which Mr. Gabbett has abstracted for the use of the present generation, but quite sufficient for the protection of any one to whom he thought fit to extend his favour; in which number we were certain of being reckoned, so long as we remained under his roof,