ARTERIAL DRAINAGE. 151 



down an increased volume of water, and a fresh accumu- 

 lation of deposit. 



To remedy this state of matters, loans have been 

 granted, to be expended under the superintendence of 

 the Board. Works have been commenced, consider- 

 ably advanced, and some carried on to completion, or 

 nearly so, in 101 districts, extending into or through 

 nearly every county in Ireland. In these, the area of 

 land drained, or in the course of being drained, com- 

 prises 239,922 acres, and a length of 993 miles of 

 rivers or main drains, and 1 72 miles for navigation, at 

 a cost exceeding £600,000. The works having been 

 undertaken for the twofold purpose, 1st, of their own 

 utility as works of improvement ; and 2d, as a means of 

 affording relief, by reproductive employment, to the dis- 

 tressed labouring classes, — as many as 20,000 men were 

 daily employed during part of 1847, and 17,000 a-day 

 during part of 1848. The following extract refers to 

 the works executed in Connaught, and more particu- 

 larly applies to the improvement of a district treated of 

 in the foregoing pages. 



" The works were last year commenced in the exten- 

 sive districts of Loughs Corrib, Mask, and Carra, in the 

 counties of Galway and Mayo. The object proposed 

 is, in addition to the drainage of extensive tracts of low 

 lands, the connexion of Lough Corrib with the sea, by 

 means of a navigable canal through the western part of 

 the town of Galway, and a navigable connexion through 

 a very difficult line of cavernous rocky country between 

 Lough Corrib and Lough Mask — thus making a con- 

 tinuous line of navigation of about fifty miles from the 



