INTRODUCTION. Xlll 



home. It was a strenuous life, and a very delightful 

 one ; they were out all day on the mountains or along 

 the shore ; came back at nightfall with full bags with 

 which to replenish their wild larder ; and if they held 

 something like a carouse after dinner, the long day's 

 exercise in the wonderful air seems to have rendered 

 both mind and body immune from any ill-effects. Be 

 it noted in passing that there was no Eve in this paradise. 



The human aspect of things is always interesting 

 when politics and economics leave us cold ; and it is 

 the scenery, the sport, the legendary lore, the lives and 

 habits of the people that chiefly engage our author. 

 Politics and economics he leaves on one side for the very 

 good reason that they were non-existent in the part 

 of Connaught which he visited ; and people who enjoy 

 playing the game of " Then and Now," of comparing 

 things as they were with things as they are, will find 

 this book a document of great value, enabling them to 

 estimate to what extent a century's march of civiliza- 

 tion has affected the remoter west of Ireland. 



The book teems with incidents of sport, shooting, 

 hunting, coursing, fishing on sea and river, and with 

 many pertinent remarks on the fauna and scenery of 

 the country. How far these descriptions are applic- 

 able to-day is for those who visit the wild west to say. 

 Socially and economically the Connemara of to-day 

 would be unrecognisable to one who visited it nearly 

 a century ago. Good roads now traverse the then 

 unmapped and trackless wilderness, and good hotels 



