84 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



it as if it occurred but yesterday. She was carried 

 to the old grave- yard of Bunmore the very evening the 

 Paul Jones landed her cargo, and although five hundred 

 men left the house with the corpse, the cook remained 

 over-ground till the following morning, for want of 

 sufficient persons to fill the grave. The fact was, that 

 just as the funeral reached the church- yard, the lugger 

 was suddenly discovered rounding the Black Rock. 

 Instantly the mourners absconded, the bearers threw 

 down the body the priest, who was deeply con- 

 cerned in the cargo, was the first to fly ; and the 

 defunct cook was left accordingly in peaceable posses- 

 sion of Bunmore." 



To arrive at our mountain-quarters we were obliged 

 to cross the river repeatedly. When swollen with rain 

 the stream is impassable, and the communication 

 between the hill country and the lowlands interrupted, 

 until the flood abates. At one of the fords, my kinsman 

 pointed out a little cairn, or heap of stones, erected on 

 the summit of a hillock which overhung the passage 

 we were crossing. It is placed there to commemorate 

 the drowning of a shepherd, and, as an incident in humble 

 life, it struck me as being particularly affecting. 



" In 1822, when the western part of Ireland was 

 afflicted with grievous famine, and when England 

 stepped forward nobly, and poured forth her thousands 

 to save those who were perishing for want, a depot 

 of provisions was established on the sea-coast for the 

 relief of the suffering inhabitants of this remote district. 



" A solitary family, who had been driven from their 

 lowland home by the severity of the relentless middle- 

 man, had settled themselves in this wild valley, and 

 erected the clay walls of that ruined hut before you, 



