The above is according to the old survey, which the writer of this account has deemed most advisable to adopt, although it is under that lately made by which the contents of the parish were 2875 acres. The survey seems to have been generally taken, and did not accurately specify the contents of the several denominations.

No. XIX.

PARISH OF

KILMACTIGE,

(Diocese of Achonry, and County of Sligo.)

BY THE REV. JAMES NELIGAN, RECTOR AND VICAR.

I. The name of the Parish, Situation, Extent, &c.

THE parish of Kilmactige, which is a rectory and vi- Situation, carage, is situated in the barony of Liney, county of Sligo, and diocese of Achonry. It is six miles in length Extent. by four in breadth; bounded on the east and south by Boundaries the parish of Achonry; and on the north and west by those of Killasser and Attemass. A long range of Mountains. mountains passes through it, most of which is pasturable: it also contains large tracts of wet bog. No woods are to be met with in the parish; although in former ages a great part of it must have been covered with timber.

There is one lake in the parish, called 'Lough Talt'; Lake. which means the High Lake, as it is situated in the midst of high mountains, that seem to have been thrown up from the valley where the lake lies, by some extraordinary convulsion of nature. These mountains are

Fish.

Bog.

very rugged, and nearly perpendicular, presenting in the summer season, a most romantic and picturesque appearance. There may be seen large herds of goats, some sheep, and a few young cattle, browzing on the sides of these rocky precipices, and in continual danger, (as it would seem to the anxious spectator) of being hurled headlong into the lake which washes their base: accidents of this kind sometimes happen. The inaccessible cliffs near the summit afford a safe retreat to the eagle, who nestles there every year, yet without encreasing his species, as there is never more than one pair known to breed there at the same time. A city alderman might envy this monarch of Crummus his daily fare; his kitchen being well supplied not only with kid, lamb, hares, rabbits, but with every species of game, which is to be found in great abundance on his ample demesne, and within his immediate grasp.

The lake, which is about a mile long, and half that space across, is well stocked with trout of a small size, where a tolerably good angler with the assistance of a boat, may take five or six dozen in part of a day. There are two small rocky islands in this lake, which in summer are thickly covered with gulls of different kinds, that breed there in great numbers, and from their continual noise and incessant flying to and fro afford some variety and entertainment to the passenger, as the road from Ballina to Tobercurry and Boyle passes close to its verge.

In these mountains there is excellent turf, which is the only fuel used by the inhabitants, and which abounds

every where in the country, the bogs being interspersed Bog. with the arable lands in every quarter; and it appears that all these tracts which are now covered with bog, as well as most of the high mountains, were formerly clothed with woods or forests; as the roots of oak, birch and fir are every where found in the bogs, from five to eight feet below the surface. When the turf is cut down as far as it can be found, there is a stratum of gravel, clay, or marl at the bottom; where very large roots of the above-mentioned, and other sorts of timber trees are every where to be met with, in the position in which they originally grew, and extending many feet around. Large trunks of the same sort of trees are often found in the same places, lying horizontally, and one kind of them, namely, the fir, very valuable, affording timber for roofing houses, making joists, and other domestic uses. Trees of this kind would not now grow in such bogs; whence, as also from the quality of the soil, it is probable that the timber originally grew on the earth, where their roots are now found; and that the bog was produced by the waters collecting in the woods, where they have been impeded by the falling leaves and branches, that first formed a kind of moss, and afterwards, through time, assumed the appearance it now has. In a bog where the turf has been cut away, the remains of a stone wall has been seen, extending many perches, and serving to confirm the opinion, that bogs have originated from the cause now mentioned, and did not originally form a part of the surface of the earth. It appears that many of the trees which formerly grew here, and are now found many feet beneath the surface, have been felled by fire, and not cut down;

Bog.

Salmon
Fishery.

as the thick part of the trunks next the roots still retain the marks of the fire, having some feet of them reduced to charcoal; and probably these trees lying on the earth in great numbers, have also been the cause of arresting the waters, confining them to these places, and thereby producing the present bogs. A valuable improvement was made in this place about twenty years ago, through the exertions of a Captain O'Dowdd, who possessed an estate of many thousand acres of these mountains, which were without inhabitants, except those feræ naturæ', and which were nearly impassable to the active and barefooted native. The immense rocks, steep hills, and deep caverns, which every where presented themselves, formed as many insuperable difficulties, as the passage of the Alps did in former days; but this Hannibal, by labour and perseverance overcame them all, and has now formed a road, where a coach passes six times a week, conveying passengers to and from Ballina and Castlerea, and has shortened the line from Ballina to Banada from twenty to twelve miles.

The river Moy, which passes through this parish, in a direction from north to east, towards Foxford, and thence to Ballina in a northern direction, is a beautiful stream, winding its course through a great part of the county of Sligo, where it takes its rise, and falling into the sea near Ballina, in the county of Mayo. This river was some years ago a source of great emolument to individuals, as it contained one of the first salmon fisheries in Ireland; but it is of late much diminished, from the neglect of the present farmers, neither of whom reside in the country. On this account the