570 NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 



properly speaking, a succession of falls; the bed of the river 

 seems to be broken into a series of unequal steps, ceasing on- 

 ly when its waters mingle with those of the Atlantic. I was 

 told that great numbers of salmon annually amuse themselves 

 by leaping at these falls, and that some sunnount them all ; 

 the majority however find the labour too severe, and are car- 

 ried back to the sea, or captured, bruised and exhausted, on 

 the shelves of rock. From Ballisodare to Ballina the road is 

 over a dreary bog, and without interest ; thence to Crossmo- 

 lina its character is the same, but here I left the usual track, 

 and, rounding the base of the huge Slieve Nephin, found a 

 way to Newport. Below Nephin is a finely- wooded bog; 

 there appeared to be nothing like cultivation, and the wood 

 seems quite a natural one. Newport is a miserable place ; 

 the traveller will find no rest there. It is the only town I had 

 ever entered in which I could find no inn, but here there is 

 none at all ; some twenty or thirty filthy spirit-shops, but no- 

 thing like an inn. 



The next morning there was a wind blowing against which 

 it was all but impossible to stand ; it blew clouds of spray 

 off the surface of the river : however I was early on my way, 

 skirting Clew Bay, and gazing on its innumerable islands. — - 

 I would fain have gathered some information about these 

 beautiful spots of verdure ; but alas ! everything here is to be 

 received with hesitation. The number of islands is variously 

 stated by almost every one you meet, but the favourite num- 

 ber is three hundred and sixty-five — one for every day in 

 the year, a number corresponding precisely with the lakes 

 of Glengariff. Of these islands one hundred and seventy are 

 well cultivated and inhabited. Looking over this wilderness 

 of isles, Croagh Patrick fills up the horizon, its summit hid- 

 den in the clouds. On the banks of Clew Bay I found Erica 

 Mediterranea in the greatest abundance ; I first saw it close 

 to the road, after passing the little village of Molyrhany, — a 

 cluster of some dozen or eighteen cabins, and from this spot 

 as you enter Coraan Achill it is scattered in profusion over 

 hundreds of acres : I speak of the heath known at present 

 by our botanists as E7'ica Mediterranean but I have heard 

 many doubts expressed as to the propriety of this name, 

 and from what I could gather I am inclined to believe that 

 this heath will turn out an undescribed species. In walking 

 among this heath I found it, on the average, up to my shoul- 

 ders in height, some rather higher, and a good deal much 

 lower. Below the heath the bog was thickly sprinkled with 

 Pinguicula Lusitanica. 



At Achill Sound there is an inn lately erected, and here a 



