Aran'; and in the time of Malachias Mac Aodha of West Connaught extraction', archbishope of Tuam [ab. Ao. 1313, ad. Ann. 1348], after principally, the Burkes, many of whom afterwards took the surnames of Mac Philbin, Gibbons, Jonine or Jennings, Mac Huberts, Mac Tibbotts, Mac Meylers, &c. The adjoining districts were possessed by the Berminghams (afterwards called Mac Feorais), the Jordans, Costellos, Prendergasts, Mac Morrises, Stauntons (afterwards called McEvillys), Fitzsimonses (afterwards called Mac Rudderys, recently Knights), Fitzstephens, &c. All these families are descended from the Anglo-Norman adventurers or soldiers who came to Ireland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but having afterwards became 66 more Irish that even the Irish themselves," their possessions were nearly all confiscated in the seventeenth century. Their descendants are consequently much reduced from the opulence of the original founders; but many of them yet preserve rank and respectability in the country. The Annals of the Four Masters contain, in great part, the history of these fami lies. iAran. These baronies of Moycullin and Ballynahinsy, and the half baronies of Ross and Aran will be found described further on. The extent of Iar-Connaught, viz., of Ross, Moycullin, and Ballinahinch, is estimated in Irish acres, by the able engineer, Mr. Nimmo, in his valuable "Report on the Bogs to the west of Lough Corrib" (printed as an Appendix, No. 12, a long debate for many years before and in his time, the cathedrall of Enaghdun was, Anno 1321, united to the see of Tuam, by the finall decision of Pope John the twenty-second. The half barony of Rosse lies furthest to the north, the barony of Moycullin to the east, the half barony of Aran to the south, and the barony of Balynahinsy to the west. It is thirty-two miles long from Galway to Slimhead* ; ; people of this district had plenty of corn for their own consumption after paying their landlords. Potatoes, which were then unknown, are now, generally speaking, the principal food; and even they sometimes fail, of which there have been, in latter years, some awful instances. j West Connaught extraction.-Our author's meaning seems to be that Malachias Mac Aodha, i. e. Malachy Mac Hugh, or Hughes, was of the same extraction as the O'Flaherties of West Connaught. This ancient and respectably descended family of Hughes, is now pretty generally spread over this province. For its pedigree down to the archbishop, see Mac Firbis's great Book of Genealogies, preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 201. It is also given by O'Ferrall (who here agrees with Mac Firbis), in his curious Book of Irish Pedigrees, preserved in the Herald's Office, Dublin, as follows: "Mac Hugh of Monteach; 96. Canfaola, son of Colgan, the thirteenth Christian king of Connaught (see No. 11 in the O'Flaherty Pedigree, Appendix II.); 97. Dungal or Toole (second son of Canfaola, Amalgadh, the ancestor of O'Flaherty, being the oldest); and (setting 98. Cumscragh; 99. Donn; 100. Cosgry; 101. Murias; 102. Conang; 103. Gownan; 104. Cosgrach (some call him Flann abrad) a quo Clann Coscry; 105. Rory; 106. Hugh, a quo the surname Mac Hugh; 107. Muredach; 108. Teige; 109. Hugh; 110. Donogh; 111. Melaghlin; 112. Donald; 113. Melaghlin McHugh, a canon in Elphin, and made bishop there, 1309; archbishop of Tuam, 1313; and (as also elsewhere stated by our author) governor of Connaught, jointly with Edmond Burke, son to the red Earl of Ulster, in 1333; died 1348. He was a learned antiquary, and writ the book called leabar Mhic Cooa, now [1709] extant."-Orig. in loc. citat. See Ware's Account of Archbishop Mac Hugh, vol. i. p. 610. k Slimhead.-Ceann leime; in Mackenzie's "Maritim Survey," and other modern maps and charts, improperly called Sline, or Slyne, head. This is the most western point of Conamara, and our author must have calculated its distance from Galway, according to the "long Connaught miles" ("magnis milliaribus Conaciensibus," de Burgo, Hib. Dom. p. 308, n. (e)), for it is at least fifty miles, modern (setting aside the Isles of Aran) sixteen miles broad, from Killin', opposite to Aran, to the Salmon Leap of Easroe. It is surrounded on the east with Loughmeasg, the isthmus and river of Cong", Lough Orbsen, and the river of Galway; on the south English measure, from that town to the light house at Slimhead. Harris incorrectly says: "I judge the name Slime-Head should be written Slin-Head, Slin signifying a shoulder."-Harris's Ware, vol. ii. p. 202. This is one of the numerous errors which should be corrected in a new edition of that work. 1 Killin-Easroe.-At Killin (Cillín) are the ruins of an old church, near the south-west point of Casla Bay. Easroe, Earpuaó, lies at the head of the Killery, Caol faile ruao, near the mearing of the counties of Mayo and Galway. Loughmeasg.-mearga, now called Lough Mask. This lake will be found mentioned again in the sequel. "Cong.-In Irish, Conga and Conga Fecin, a border town between Mayo and Galway counties, formerly celebrated for a richly endowed monastery, founded by St. Fechin (but, according to Ware, by Donal Mac Aodha mhic Ainmhire, monarch of Ireland) in the seventh century. Cong is situated upon an island or isthmus formed by the openings of the subterraneous river flowing from Lough Mask into Lough Corrib. The plain of Moytura, Irish Mag Tuineao, famous for a decisive battle fought there at an early period, between the Firbolgs and Tuatha de Danans, early invaders of Ireland (see Four Masters at A. M. 3303) lies within the parish of Cong, to the right of the road leading from the town of Cong to the village of the Neale. Here were to be seen the remains of an ancient fort, called Carai Mhic Tuipe; lately demolished in order to erect the glebe house of Nymphsfield on its site. The Annals of the Four Masters inform us, that in A. D. 1198, Roderick O'Conor, king of Connaught and monarch of Ireland, died at Cong, and that his remains were conveyed to Clonmacnoise, and intombed at the north side of the altar of the great church there. Cathal Crovdearg (the red-handed), king of Connaught, having leagued with William Fitz-Adelm de Burgo, or Burke (the first of the Burkes who came to Ireland), they marched to Cong, where they spent the Easter. While there, this William Burke, and the sons of Roderick O'Flaherty, entered into a conspiracy to murder Cathal, but it was providentially discovered and defeated. A. D. 1226, Nuala, queen of Ulster, and daughter of Roderick O'Conor the monarch, died at Cong, and was interred in the canon's church there. The remnant of a splendid cross, which formerly belonged to the monastery of 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. Galway. For an account of the river and bay mentioned here see further on. Mr. Nimmo, in his valuable Report before referred to (note i), 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." Id. 9 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 Teóna 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. C 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 |