250 Proceedings of tJte Royal Irish Academy. 



Tlie fish most taken are mackerel, herring, gurnard, cod, ling, 

 glassan, seabream, and a few turbot. Unfortunately there has not up 

 to this been a good market for fish, and it has largely been taken only 

 for home consumption ; some of the bream is roughly salted and dried 

 in the sun, and sold to a local shopkeeper, who finds a market for it 

 in the inland parts of Connemara. The fishermen are almost a separate 

 caste, the kelp-burners fish only for liome use. TJutil this autumn 

 nets were not used by the fishermen of these islands. 



Now two fishing stations have been opened by the Congested 

 Districts Eoard, and nets have been supplied to the fishermen. 

 These stations buy cod and ling, in winter and spring months, and 

 mackerel in season, and cure it, the labour engaged in curing being 

 all local. 



One of the great means of livelihood is the manufacture of kelp, 

 a very large quantity of which is made in these islands. The process is a 

 very hard and laborious one, as the weed has often to be obtained from a 

 distance. '* Eed weed " {laminaria) only is used,* black weed {Fueus 

 Desiculosiis) being looked on as an adulteration in kelp. When the 

 supply of red weed off the shores of the islands fails short, boats go off 

 even to the Aran Islands to cut it there. The weed is cut by an in- 

 strument having a sickle-like blade, on the side of which are three 

 liooks (the blade cuts the weed and the hooks retain it) ; this blade is 

 fixed into a handle of from 15 to 20 feet in length ; curved two-pronged 

 forks are also used. Large heavj' rowing boats are used for weed col- 

 lecting. It takes twelve boat-loads to make one ton of kelp. Tlie 

 weed is spread out in the sun to dry, and then piled in heaps for burn- 

 ing. Much of the Tucus is often gathered and stacked the winter be- 

 fore it is burned. Ilegular kilns are not made here, but a bare, rocky 

 flat is selected or the thin soil pared oif the rock at a suitable spot. 

 It takes two men from three to four weeks to make one ton. The 

 average amount made in one season is about four tons for a family 

 which owns one boat, six or eight tons for one owning two boats. 

 Men with no family may only be able to make one ton, but two men 

 without family often combine forces and make the kelp in partnership. 

 The price obtained varies with tlie quality of the product, from 

 £1 10s. a ton to £4 10s. The kelp is taken by boat to Kilkerrin, and 

 sold to agents. The Lettermullen people are practically all kelp burners. 



Until lately another of the local industries was the distillation of 

 illicit spirits, but this has been largely put down since the opening 

 of the causeways connecting the islands. Garumna had a celebrity 



* See note, p. 268. 



