xlii 



" It is reported by the boatmen of the lake that a canoe, forty 

 feet in length, made of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, is sunk in 

 the lake, opposite Annadown. This, when our operations in its 

 vicinity shall be in progress, I will, should it be your wish, make 

 it my object to recover. 



" With reference to the fact,* that so few remains of the wea- 

 pons or utensils of the ancient Irish have been discovered in this 

 neighbourhood, I would observe, that few or none of the ornaments, 

 weapons, or utensils of gold and bronze, of beautiful workmanship, 

 which are so frequently met with in other parts of Ireland, have 

 been found here, within the limits of my observation. This cir- 

 cumstance would seem to mark a formerly existing inferiority of 

 population and civilization in this province, as compared with the 

 eastern and central portion of our island. 



" I am, my dear Sir, yours faithfully, 



"(Signed), Samuel Roberts. 

 " W. T. Mulvany, Esq: 1 



* [In this observation there are strong grounds for believing that Mr. Ro- 

 berts is mistaken. I find in the Annals of the Four Masters, for the year 

 1178, the following record: 



" The River Galliv was dried up for a period of a natural day; all the 

 articles that had been lost in it from remotest times, as well as its fish, were 

 collected by the inhabitants of the fortress, and the people of the country in 

 general." 



Again, in 1191, in the Annals of Kilronan : 



" The River Galliv was dried up this year; and there was a hatchet 

 found in it, measuring a hand, from one point to the other ; and there was a 

 spear found in it, measuring three hands and three fingers in breadth, and a 

 hand from the shoulder in length." — See O'Donovan's Annals of the Four 

 Masters, note under year 1199. 



O'Flaherty, in his Iar-Connaught, also states that the river became sud- 

 denly dry on Tuesday, 7th September, 1647; and again on the 23rd Feb- 

 ruary, 1684, during the continuance of a great frost. 



These statements are quite reconcileable with the nature of the district. 

 The lai'ge lakes acting as reservoirs, and the probable stoppage of some of 

 the cavernous passages from Lough Mask and other parts of the Catchment 

 Basin, coupled with the discharging powers of the cavernous passages of 

 Terryland or Castlegar, above the town of Galvvay, might produce the re- 

 sult ; whilst, owing to the existence of Lough Corrib and its expanse, there 

 are in reality no deposits carried down by the river to cover any things that 

 had been lost.— W. T. M.] 



