BALLINASLOE FAIR. 7 



and uninteresting. At Ballinasloe we enter the county 

 of Galway. 



I was fortunate in arriving here during the week of 

 the great annual fair. Vast droves of fine sheep, which 

 had been sold early in the day, were already some miles 

 on the road from the market, rendering it almost im- 

 passable. Within three or four miles of the town, 

 every hut on the road-side had its table at the door, 

 with a few loaves and apples to sell to the wayfarers. 

 The wife and children presided at this table ; and here 

 and there the lusty patriarch of the household might be 

 seen with his arms crossed and the pipe in his mouth, 

 lounging at the door, and indolently superintending the 

 establishment. Where there was no house, the rudest 

 possible imitation of a tent was made to cover the 

 table, though in many cases even this was dispensed 

 with. These refectories were stationed every three 

 hundred yards or so along the road. Now and then 

 they presented, besides the bread and apples, a bottle 

 of potheen and a glass ; and at one, provided with 

 more than usual care, two plates of large boiled eels 

 graced the board. Nearer the fair, a party, consisting 

 apparently of a father and five children, were seated in 

 a row on the footpath, naked-like and miserable, and 

 all screeching out for charity as the different cars passed 



by. 



The fair at Ballinasloe lasts about a week, beginning 

 with sheep, then horses, and ending with cattle. The 

 stock of the western counties are disposed of at this fair, 

 and generally bought by the great graziers of the eastern 

 and midland counties, to be fattened on their rich pas- 



