20 CONG— SUBTERRANEAN RIVER. 



crops and grass ; and from the level nature of the 

 ground, and its gentle slopes to the sun, well suited for 

 tillage. There are two farm-steadings, lately construct- 

 ed, with threshing machinery, &c. Two or three farms, 

 of from 700 to 1000 acres of land, could be got here, 

 as good land as the average of East Lothian, at a rent 

 of 18s. the imperial acre, and the poor-rate guaranteed 

 not to exceed Is. per £1. The tenant must also pay 

 the grand-jury cess ; but Lord Lucan hands his farms 

 over to his tenants with every permanent improvement 

 executed — so that the farmer may have nothing to do 

 but to stock and work his farm. Wheat and barley are 

 grown on both farms, and lime is to be got on the land 

 at from 5d. to 6d. a barrel, and has been applied with 

 excellent effect. 



These farms are within a mile or two of Ballinrobe 

 — a market-town, at which a canal from Lough Mask is 

 now being constructed, which, in connexion with Lough 

 Corrib, will give a water-carriage to Gal way. 



From Ballinrobe to near Cong, the country is bare 

 and uninteresting. In the neighbourhood of Cong the 

 soil and climate improve ; and when Lough Corrib and 

 the distant mountains of Connemara open on the view, 

 the scene becomes very beautiful. Cong is a small 

 market-town, beautifully situated at the head of Lough 

 Corrib. The principal feature in it is the ivy-covered 

 ruins of an ancient abbey, and three powerful corn-mills 

 turned by the waters of Lough Mask, which here burst 

 out of the bowels of the earth in a mass as broad as the 

 Thames at Richmond, and as clear as crystal. The 



