340 The' Sea-iveeds of Yar-Con7iauyht, {^"Q^y, 



run over to lunishbofin, to remain tLere until driven off by the 

 kelp smoke. This smoke is very peculiar; it does not ascend Hke 

 other smoke, but hangs near the surface, creejiing along the ground, 

 and lying in heavy clouds in the cooms and hollows among the 

 hills. The natives consider it very wholesome ; but strangers 

 generally find it heavy and oppressive, and usually contract a 

 headache from its smell. Visitors might also stop at Mullarky's 

 Hotel in Clifden, from whence they could see the kelp burning 

 to the northward and southward, but the nearest station to the 

 great kelp depots is the village of Eoundstone. 



Koundstone, instead of being a miserable \dllage, ought to 

 be one of the principal ports on the west of Ireland, having an 

 excellent harbour, easy of access and sheltered from all winds; 

 moreover, opening into it, are other land-locked harbours, such as 

 Blackhaven, Bertraghbwe Bay, Cashel Harbour, &c. It may be 

 truly said of it, that " it is favoured by God but neglected by man ;" 

 and this in a great measure seems due to an absentee proprietary. 

 From this village the kelp fires can be seen on all sides, — out on 

 the islands, in on the bays, north, south, east, and west ; and unless 

 there is a good breeze, the horizon will be formed of a heavj' cloud of 

 brownish-grey smoke. The great kelp stores are on Kilkieran and 

 Cashel Bays ; at the former there is a good pier, alongside which 

 the kelp ships can go ; but in Cashel they have to lie out, and the 

 cargo is put on board by boats loaded by girls who carry the blocks 

 of kelp from the store on their backs (see vignette, p. 341), and this 

 exercise so develops them, that they have chests like di'ay-horses ; 

 moreover, it is wonderful what a weight they can carry; some of 

 them thinking nothing of a block two or three hundred- weight. 



Koundstone is also a favourable locality from which to visit and 

 explore the beds and tracts of seaweed, the most favourable time 

 being during calm weather and spring tides. The village should 

 be left in the morning with the tide ; taking a course eastward or 

 westward as the wind suits ; as the tide falls (if the weather is set 

 fair) so will the wind, and by low water the boat ought to be lazily 

 drifting about on a sheet as smooth as a mirror and almost perfectly 

 transparent, so much so that objects, in from twenty to thirty 

 fathoms of water, are quite apparent. Then if an observer leans 

 over the gunwale of his boat he will see the submarine gardens in 

 all their pristine grandeur. If in the deeps of the land-locked bays, 

 there will be groves of the Laminaria bulbosa ; or ])erhaps he may 

 drift in among the cord-like fronds of the Chorda filum, or among 

 the " sea thongs " or Himanthalia lorea. Outside, in the open sea, or, 

 even in the vicinity of the islands, if there arc facilities for a strong 

 tide, will be seen groves of the Laminaria digitata tangled up -with 

 parasite sea-weeds, or perhaps a mass of the beautiful Alaria 



