160 F. R. Coiqjer Reed — Corries of Comeragh Mountains. 



the stream from the uppermost and inner lake having expanded 

 into irregular small sheets of water in its attempts to escape 

 between the confused mounds of moraine which obstructed its 

 direct course, and through which it has not yet been able to 

 establish a regular curve of erosion by cutting out a channel 

 for itself. The inner corrie of Coumgorra faces north-west, and is 

 likewise surrounded by bare craggy precipices with a fairly even 

 skyline ; the tarn lies at a height of 1,818 feet above the sea, and 

 the mountain behind it has an altitude of over 2,400 feet. 



This tarn — CoumgoiTa Lough proper — measures about 180 yards 

 long by 120 yards wide, and is held up by a regular grass-covered 

 bank of morainic material with such a straight course and even top 

 as to present a most artificial appearance. The Avater escapes from 

 the lake underground at the western corner, percolating through 

 the loose material of the dam and flowing thence down to the middle 

 lake. This lakelet lies at a level of 1,671 feet between somewhat 

 irregularly disposed morainic mounds, which do not unite to form 

 a single dam. The lowest lake lies about 100 feet lower down, and 

 is of the same nature and origin ; the mounds which hold the water 

 back rise 50-100 feet above its level, and rest on the corrie-floor at 

 its very mouth. Beyond and outside them the steeper slopes ojt' 

 the mountain descend at once for a continuous 500-600 feet till 

 we reach another more or less level platform or broad shelf, formed 

 by another but more evenly distributed mass of moraine, extending 

 outwards in a roughly crescentic fashion for some distance over the 

 plain, at the base to which it descends by a short steep face. 

 Original irregularity of accumulation and subsequent denudation 

 have obscured to some extent the outlines of this lower moraine, but 

 its main features can be distinctly traced. There is nothing to 

 indicate the existence of a rock-basin in the case of any of these 

 Coumgorra tarns, and the stream from them runs either over or 

 through morainic material in each case. The small erosive power of 

 the stream, owing to the pure nature of its water, is noticeable. 

 The moraines have the usual character of those of valley glaciers, 

 and the large proportion of big angular blocks in their composition 

 and on their uneven and scantily-clad surface gives the ground which 

 they cover a wild and rugged appearance. 



In size the composite corrie of Coumgorra measures about 1,100 

 yards from its mouth to its head, and has a width across its entrance 

 of rather over 900 yards. 



The next corrie to the east is that containing Crotty's Lough, 

 which is an irregularly-shaped piece of water with its longest axis 

 measuring about 350 yards and lying transverse to the mouth of the 

 corrie. The level of the tarn is marked as 1,396 feet above the sea. 

 The corrie faces north-east, and is formed by lofty clifi"s on the 

 west, south, and east sides. On the western side the precipice is 

 vertical for several hundred feet in its upper part, and its top is over 

 1,000 feet above the water's edge. Steep grass-clad screes slope 

 three-quarters of the way up the face of the clifls at the head of the 

 lake ; and at the south-east corner two prominent bare rocky crags 



