WRIGHT — ON THE FLOEA OF THE ISLANDS OF AERAN. 97 



9° 52'. From the town of Galway, the little harbour of Kilronan is 

 distant about twenty-eight miles. The group consists of three large 

 islands — Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer — and of several smaller 

 ones, such as the Brannock Islands, to the north-west of Inishmore. 



The largest island is about eleven miles distant from the nearest 

 mainland, at Cashla Bay, in the county of Galway ; but Inisheer is not 

 much more than five or six miles from the cliffs of Moher, in the county 

 of Clare. 



The village of Kilronan, situated on the west side of Killeany Bay, 

 boasts of a sufficiently comfortable hotel. 



The islands consist of carboniferous limestone, forming on their 

 south-western sides high frowning headlands, which in some places are 

 arranged in a series of terraces, and in some as high precipitous cliffs. 

 On the north-eastern side of the islands, facing Galway Bay, there will 

 be found a series of coarse shingly beaches, interrupted here and there by 

 several sandy bays. The ground rises on Inishmore, near the Ogvil Fort, 

 to a height of 406 feet ; and the cliffs at Corker and Dunsengus rise to a 

 height, respectively, of 234 and 279 feet. The highest point of Inish- 

 maan — the middle island — is 275 feet ; and the south island, or Inisheer, 

 rises to a height of 202 feet. A vast extent of sand hills covers the 

 eastern side of Killeany Bay, running out towards the north-east as far 

 as Illaunatee, or Straw Island. 



A few little streams are to be met with, chiefly in Inishmore ; and 

 wells of good water are not unfrequent. 



The surface of the larger island rises in a series of broad terraces, the 

 level portions of which present the appearance of a vast number of gi- 

 gantic tombstones — some very long and narrow, others broad and short. 

 The interspaces between these layers of stone are never more than from 

 an inch to eighteen inches in width ; but it is in these interspaces, be- 

 tween these immense blocks of stone, and also on the faces of the terraces, 

 that almost all the plants on the islands are to be found. 



Dry stone walls abound everywhere, and are erected chiefly for pro- 

 tection from the winds, which are almost always blowing on these islands, 

 These walls often enclose spaces of but a few yards square, but by their 

 help some small crops are sown and garnered. Potatoes are planted on 

 the bare rock, the tubers being covered over with a basketful of dried 

 seaweed, and then a basketful of earth. In some few places the rock 

 gets by degrees covered over with a thin sod, which, with the help of 

 manure, yields in some seasons a scanty crop of oats or barley, and in 

 other seasons supplies a precarious nourishment of sweet grass to a few 

 sheep brought from the mainland. 



The chief employment of the islanders is in the gathering and burn- 

 ing of kelp, and many of them are engaged in the sea fisheries. 



A good mountain road runs from Killeany through Kilronan, west- 

 ward, as far as the ruins of Templebrecan ; but collecting on any of the 

 Islands is a matter of some difficulty ; for, once off the main road, the 

 abrupt sides of the terraces are often too steep to be climbed, and the 

 constant jumping over wide stone walls becomes particularly trying. 



