110 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



to Ballycroy, in tlie sontli of the barony of Erris, in the county of 

 Mayo, iinder the guidance of Rory or Eoger O'Donnell, the son of 

 Colonel Manus, who was slain at Benburb in 1646, and the ancestor 

 of the present Sir Richard Annesley O'Donnell, of Newport."^ This 

 would place the settlement at about 1640, thus agreeing closely with 

 the traditional number of generations since the families concerned 

 came to Erris. 



More modern history can scarcely be said to exist. Owing to the 

 wildness and remoteness of the region, it became in the last century 

 a resort for smugglers, of whom many tales are told which belong 

 more to legend than to history. 



In the first half of the present century, about 1840, the district 

 was opened up by the construction of the first good road, and brought 

 more into contact with the outer world ; but it still remains greatly 

 isolated and comparatively unknown. 



VIII. — Concluding Remaeks. 



Little remains to be said in conclusion. As this paper, like its 

 precursors, is a record of facts observed, collected as means of forming 

 a basis of comparison between different parts of Ireland, theories and 

 personal opinions are not ventured upon. 



The tradition as to the origin of the greater part of the people of 

 Ballycroy seems to be fiiUy borne out by facts, but it seems probable 

 that all the aboriginal families were not driven out by the colonists, 

 and that some of them, remaining in the district, have become 

 absorbed into the mass. It was stated by some of the people that the 

 familes whose ancestors " came from the North" rather looked down 

 upon some of their neighbours, whose people were there before them, 

 as they do on the inhabitants of the surrounding districts. The 

 physical differences between the Ballycroy people, and those of the 

 rest of Erris, are more noticeable in the casts of features and darker 

 nigrescence than in their physical proportions, though, as before 

 mentioned, some of these are noteworthy. 



IX. — BiBLIOGEAPHT. 



The literature referring to this region is very scanty, but the 

 following make more or less mention of it : — 



Anonxhous. — " The Saxon in Ireland" (London, 1851). 



Bald.—" Map of the County of Mayo " (1813). 



^ His family were hereditary historians to the O'Donnells. 



