GROUSE SHOOTING IN IRELAND. 129 



We had visited the confines of these mountains 

 about two months before, at the beginning of the 

 grouse-shooting season, but the weather was sadly 

 against us. Taking up our quarters on that occa- 

 sion at the house of an intelligent and enterpris- 

 ing tenant one of the better class of farmers, 

 who, as the first pioneer of agriculture in this spot, 

 had boldly undertaken to reclaim an entire valley 

 from its primaeval state we sallied forth on the 

 morning of the 20th of August, with the in- 

 tention of beating our way across the heart of 

 the mountains in the direction of the lodge ; 

 which, although apparently a rude and unpre- 

 tending cottage, had been lately erected with con- 

 siderable difficulty, in consequence of its almost 

 inaccessible situation in a remote gorge of the 

 mountains and at a great distance from a road 

 of any kind : most of the materials indeed had 

 been procured on the spot ; stones from the 

 neighbouring ravine, heather from the surround- 

 ing hills, and fir-wood disinterred from the bog, 

 and conveyed to its destination on the backs of 

 native ponies, contributed in their turn towards 

 its construction. 



The weather was most unpropitious. A close 

 drizzling rain had set in the evening before, 

 and even the nearest mountains were enve- 

 loped in an Irish mist, which, for persevering 



G 5 



