to Connamara and Joyces Country, Ireland. 123 



growing in small detached clumps of three, four, or even a 

 single flowering stem ; presenting a striking contrast to its 

 appearance in the fens of Cambridgeshire (at Up ware, for 

 instance), where it covers hundreds of acres, to the total ex- 

 clusion of all other plants. In Connamara, also, it invariably 

 grows in the water, or the very wettest bogs, which is far 

 from being uniformly the case in the English fens. 



At about eight miles from Oughterard, the road to Ma'am 

 leaves that leading to Clifden, and, turning to the right, gra- 

 dually ascends a pass between two lofty mountains, from the 

 highest point of which the first view of the inn at Lough 

 Corrib Head is obtained. That house stands upon the bank 

 of a small river, at about a mile above its junction with the 

 lake; it is backed by a lofty mountain range, and commands 

 in front a view over an extensive boggy plain, enclosed on all 

 sides by mountains, most of them forming part of the Ma'am 

 Turk range, and rising to an elevation of about 2500 ft. Sax- 

 ifraga umbrosa is peculiarly plentiful upon all these moun- 

 tains : indeed, it appears to supply the place of all the other 

 species, with the single exception of S. stellaris. 



These mountains consist of mica slate and quartz, the 

 latter predominating tow r ards the summits, which are gene- 

 rally flat, and either bare rock or bog. Their base would 

 appear to assume a granitic character ; but the ground is so 

 much concealed by bog, that it is very difficult to determine. 

 It is worthy of remark, that the bogs are not confined to the 

 valleys and flat parts of the mountain tops, but, in many 

 places, cover their steep slopes, in some instances occupying 

 the shelving top of a crag, or even extending their spongy 

 bituminous masses some inches beyond its verge. 



We ascended a lofty mountain opposite to the inn (called 

 Shanafolia), nearly equal in elevation to Ma'am Turk itself; 

 and our labour was fully repaid by the extensive view 

 obtained from its top. On one side there is a complete dis- 

 trict of mountains ; not a single range, but a succession of 

 lofty summits, following close upon each other, extending far 

 into the county Mayo, and terminated towards the east by 

 Lough Mask and Lough Corrib. In the opposite direction, 

 the scene is totally changed. The country there appears, 

 from this elevated point, to be a dead flat, consisting almost 

 wholly of bog, including a surprising number of small lakes 

 (we counted 175, without being particularly exact), and 

 bounded on the horizon by the Atlantic, on the coast of 

 which there are several rather lofty mountains. The top of 

 this mountain is quite barren, being nearly all bare rock- 



