208 Rcclfinialion of Bo;/ and Moorland in Gahvat/. 
Company for 180,000/., the greater part of it being of no agri- 
cultural value. By them it has been divided and re-sold. About 
17 miles from Gal way, the post-town of Oughterarde is reached. 
While changing horses, a walk down its single broad street will 
show that it contains many substantial buildings, in addition to 
its enormous Union House, and the visitor will carry away with 
him the impression of its being a comfortable and thriving 
town, unless he stops to look in at the doors of some of the 
smaller houses. His English ideas of comfort may in that case 
be disturbed by finding that the cattle share with the family 
their single living-room. Such cabins are the rule and not the' 
exception in the rural districts of Connemara, but they present 
an incongruous appearance when found amid the modern houses 
and shops of a thriving little town. As reference will be made 
to them further on, a sketch of an interior is given. A is the 
Fig. 1. — Plan of a Connemara Cabin. 
^ ei- » 
> 
E 
B 
D 
B 
c i 
B 
A 
1 1* 
door opening into the living-room, 20 feet by 14 ; 8 feet of its 
length is occupied by cattle, their position being incjicated by 
the dotted lines at B, B ; C is the hearth ; the doorway beyond it 
leads into the bedroom at D, 14 feet by 12, occupied commonly 
by the young folk. At E there is a recess, 6 feet by 4, built out 
from the living-room, and occupied by tlie bed of the heads of 
the family. For 12 miles after leaving Oughterarde there is a 
wide-spread tract of bleak moor, and numerous small lakes, with 
no trees to relieve the eye from the monotonous colour of the. 
peat. The character of the country then changes, the hills in- 
crease in height as the great group of the western highlands is | 
