48 



for several years, and \\ere quite unable to do so by reason 

 of bad seasons and bad prices. What the seasons are like 

 liere may be imagined when I say that the hay harvest 

 has only just begun, in the first week of September, and 

 many of the oat patches are still as green as grass. With 

 regard to prices, they are ruinous to the producer, year- 

 ling calves realising but 30s., whilst mutton wa.s being 

 retailed at 4d. per pound wherever I inquired its price. 

 Geese were a drug in the market at Is. to Is. 6d. each, 

 chicken fi'om 5d. to 7d. apiece, and butter 5d. per ])ound. 

 If it be thought that these low prices are favourable to 

 cheap living on the part of the Irish tenants, let me correct 

 such a grave mistake, for none of these luxui'ies are con- 

 simied by the producer. His diet consists of Indian meal, 

 potatoes, and seaweed, the few pooa* animals he is able 

 to rear being the oidy saleable commodities upon which 

 he reKes to bring him in a bit of money. Pigs aie very 

 scarce throughout the north-west coast of Ireland ; in fact, 

 you will not meet half a dozen in a day's drive, the explana- 

 tion being that there is not sufficient food to keep them. 

 Sheep take the place of " Dennis," and nearly every 

 cottar has one or two little mountain sheep, no biggef 

 that small English lambs, and the selling value of these 

 animals varies fi'oni 10s. to 12s. apiece. Passing through 

 the Rosses, over the moor, from Dungloe to Glenties, I 

 came across vast numbers of the insect-eating plant — the 

 sundew — made famous by Darwin; and I may also men- 

 tion that here, too, the Osmundi fern grows luxuriantly, 

 huge belts, fully four feet in height, being frequently met 

 wT.tli. Xo one can visit this part of the Emerald Isle 

 without feeling curious as to the alleged manufacture of 

 " potheen," as the spirit distilled by illicit means is called. 

 Several important functionaries assured me that the 

 trade had beeai suppressed, fines of £50 and the alten- 

 native of twelve months in prison having stamped out this 

 smuggling trade. I had my doubts upon this subject from 

 the first, and now those doubts are confirmed, for in the 

 fastness of a mountain top, I saw unearthed a store of 

 the " cratur," and, what is more, I tasted of the forbidden 



