342 Delightful View of Lough Corrib. 



We have often to regret that we started so 

 late in the autumn, as it compels us to leave 

 much unseen, and to pass what we should 

 gladly notice. The hope, however, of hearing 

 from friends and of home, after so long an in- 

 terruption of intercourse, superseded every 

 other consideration, and made us most anxious 

 to reach this place. I forbear to express how 

 much we were disappointed in finding there 

 were no letters waiting our arrival. 



A few miles from Galway we had a delightful 

 view of Lough Corrib, computed to be twenty 

 miles in length, six miles wide in the broadest 

 part, and estimated to cover a surface of thirty 

 thousand acres. It is much interspersed with 

 islands of different forms, which greatly contri- 

 bute to its picturesque beauty. To the north 

 of this great water, and not far distant from it, 

 is Lough Mask. The gillaroo trout, and the 

 pearl muscle, are found in both lakes. 



The immediate approach to Galway exhibits 

 the most singular appearance of country I ever 

 beheld, bearing the appearance of its having 

 been the seat of volcanic eruption. Blocks 

 of limestone have been showered down in every 

 direction ; on some spots not a blade of grass, 

 or the least sign of vegetation, is perceptible. 



