Browne — Ethnography of Bally croy, Co. Mayo. 75 



census returns as apply to the whole of Erris, taking no account of 

 smaller divisions, are quoted in this Paper. 



Though, in some ways, not at all so primitive in habits and modes 

 of life as the people of the districts previously described, the popula- 

 tion of this district is worthy of notice, as being originally a colony 

 from another part of Ireland, which have remained practically un- 

 mixed with the local peoples until the present day. 



In his extremely valuable and interesting little work on Erris, 

 Mr. Knight makes a statement which even now, after the lapse of 

 sixty years, needs but little qualification, when he says: "I have 

 said that there was a difference between the inhabitants of this 

 district and the other parts of Erris. The Irish Channel scarcely 

 makes such a difference between the inhabitants of the sister islands 

 as TuUoghaan Bay makes between Ballycroy and Erris proper." 



The facilities and difficulties experienced in carrying out the work 

 of inquiry differed considerably from those experienced in other loca- 

 lities, the greatest of the latter being the extremely scattered nature 

 of the population, and the absence of any assemblage of houses large 

 enough to be termed a village or even a hamlet. 



II. PnXSIOGEAPHY. 



Ballycroy has tolerably well-defined boundaries, it lies along the 

 coast-line, about eighteen miles south of the Mullet, and is separated 

 from the rest of Erris ; TuUoghaan Bay and the Owenmore river 

 form its northern boundary; and the mountains of Maamthomas, 

 I'I'ephin Beg, and Gorslieve bound it on the east and south-east. The 

 length of its sea-coast, counting indentations, is about forty- seven 

 miles (this estimate, however, includes the islands of Annagh and 

 Inisbiggle, and some smaller islets which do not belong to Ballycroy 

 proper). 



As a rule the waters are shallow all along the coast, which, 

 though rising in some places to a considerable height, is, as a rule, 

 rather low. 



The surface of the district does not present any very great variety ; 

 it gradually slopes upwards from the sea-coast to the mountains, and 

 has a more or less hilly or rolling surface, with an average elevation 

 of not more than two hundred feet above the sea-level. A large 

 portion of this surface is bog, most of it still in a virgin state. 

 Mr. Knight estimated that of the area of over 30,000 acres, about 

 3075 would be '■'■green acres.^^ The underlying rock is mica slate or 



