GAL WAY TO BALLINAHINCH. 47 



that crop to be his ; and it was equally clear that the 

 man himself who owned the crop, if he really knew it 

 to be his, was obeying a very natural impulse in defend- 

 ing it. But the orders of the police were peremptory, 

 and, but for the interference of a gentleman present, 

 who gave his guarantee that the rick would be forth- 

 coming on sufficient proof being exhibited that it really 

 was the one which had been carried off, we should very 

 probably have had a scene of bloodshed arising out of 

 this very simple matter. The whole rick in dispute was 

 not worth more than 30s., and here were sixty men idle, 

 and ten police, with four carts and horses, wasting their 

 time fruitlessly. What a system it is, when tenant and 

 landlord are on such a footing ! 



Returning by Galway, we proceeded to Ballinahinch 

 by the Clifden mail, on 1 7th October. The day was 

 wet, and unfavourable for seeing the country. Ballina- 

 hinch is the mansion-house of the Martin estate in 

 Connemara, now for sale, about which so much has 

 been said. It is some thirty miles west of the town of 

 Galway. After leaving Oughterard, the road passes 

 through this estate for about seventeen miles, keeping 

 along the valleys among the hills, the soil of which is 

 mostly mountain-bog of the poorest quality. There are 

 many lakes by the road, and one or two with pretty 

 wooded islands and banks, which would make excellent 

 sites for shooting or fishing lodges. There seemed to 

 be no stock whatever on the moors, and most of the 

 small patches of land which had been cultivated were 

 deserted and waste. Near the Lough, above " Flinns," 

 the half-way house between Ballinahinch and Oughter- 



