76 PEAT COAL — GLIN — ASKEATON. 



stacks, so placed that lie could command each one of 

 them with a gun from his bed-room window ! 



On the Rev. Mr Fitzgerald's estate here, there is a 

 peat of a hard and compact quality, almost approaching 

 to the nature of coal. It is said to be prolific of gas, 

 and had been tried with much success, in one of the 

 Queen's steamers, for fuel. This gentleman has exerted 

 himself much to encourage the people in habits of 

 industry. 



Returning towards Limerick by land, we pass Glin 

 Castle, a very handsome edifice on the shore, near the 

 village of that name, with a good deal of wood round 

 it, and the fields along the sea-side very improvable. 

 The farmers are said not to be in a prosperous condition, 

 and certainly the appearance of the land indicated some- 

 thing wrong. But it is capable of very great improve- 

 ment, and its situation, a few feet above the level of 

 the waters of the Shannon, makes it a pleasant and 

 desirable locality. A few miles farther east, we pass 

 the grounds of Mount Trenchard ; shortly after which 

 the road descends into the low-lying limestone district 

 at Foynes, through which it proceeds to the river Deel 

 at Askeaton, where are the ruins of an ancient castle 

 of the Desmond family ; and farther down, the very 

 common accompaniment of an old castle in this country 

 — the ruins of an abbey. For the next eight miles the 

 land continues of the same character, light green-crop 

 soil on limestone, capable of much improvement under 

 a better system of management. As we approach the 

 river Maig, a tributary of the Shannon, we cross some 

 of the rich " corcase lands," and rising out of these are 



