284 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



The unlucky owner was eventually obliged to bring it 

 back, and in self-defence to malt and distil it. The 

 process was completed, and the spirits safely brought 

 to the town of Castlebar. There it was seized by the 

 revenue, the proprietor imprisoned for four months, 

 and his cattle and furniture at home canted to pay that 

 rent, which the corn, had it been marketable, would 

 have more than realized. By this accumulation of 

 misfortune, the unhappy man was reduced to the greatest 

 misery, and from having been once an opulent land- 

 holder, he is at this moment a cottier upon what was 

 formerly his farm, with nothing to support a wife and 

 seven children but a limited potato-garden, and occa- 

 sionally sixpence a day, when he is lucky enough to obtain 

 employment at that price. 



