1 6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



I have no talent for statistics, but if my memory 

 serve, the interesting portion of the British Empire 

 from which I write is thus laid down by a modern 

 tourist : " It lieth," says this intelligent traveller, 

 " under a dark gray cloud, which is evermore discharging 

 itself on the earth, but, like the widow's curse, is never 

 exhausted. It is bounded on the south and east by 

 Christendom and part of Tipperary, on the north by 

 Donegal, and on the west by the salt say. It abounds 

 in bogs, lakes, and other natural curiosities ; its soil 

 consists of equal quantities of earth and stone ; and its 

 surface is so admirably disencumbered of trees, shrubs, 

 hedges, and ditches, that an intelligent backwoodsman 

 from Louisiana was heard to declare with rapture that 

 it was the most perfectly-cultivated territory in Europe. 



" Further," saith the tourist, " its gentry are a polished 

 and religious race, remarkable for their punctuality 

 in pecuniary transactions, and their freedom from a 

 litigious or quarrelsome disposition. The prevailing 

 mode of belief among the upper classes is anythingarianism 

 that of the people, pure Popery." 



This premonitory sketch will save you and me, George, 

 an infinity of trouble. You have here the country 

 graphically placed before you, as well as the distin- 

 guishing traits of character, for which the pleasant and 

 virtuous community who abide in this interesting 

 department of the Emerald Isle are so eminently dis- 

 tinguished. 



The town of Ballinasloe is seated on a river, the name 

 of which I neglected to inquire. It is much frequented 

 by saints and cattle dealers, carries on a smart trade 

 in sheep and proselytes, and Bibles and bullocks are 

 " thick as leaves in Vallombrosa." The cabins, more- 



