Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752 (Author: Richard Pococke)

entry 41

On the 5th I set out with a guide on hired horses for the Barony of Erris and particularly the Mullet. We came in a mile to a rivlet they call the Ford, which falls into the bay by the Abbey, half a mile further we were to the


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east of Lough Furren a beautiful Lake into which the tide comes, tho' we could not see the communication: It is about a mile long and half a mile broad, Lough Rafarn falls into it from the north and is much higher, this is almost as wide and long: on the east side of it, the hills are cover'd with wood, and on the west are high mountains; I observed here a reddish free stone: We went over a hill from which there is a fine view of these lakes and the bay, which appear all like one Lough full of Islands extending for twelve miles to Croaghpatrick. We went to a river which we crossed several times, and another falls into it, which we also crossed often and went frequently along the bed of it, and in my return I observed in it towards the Lough near which I went in another road, several bodies of trees lying in it, which they grew on the spot, and were washed down by the torrent. We past Letikeyn a few houses to the east of the rivlet, called four miles from Newport; we here turned to the west, going up the hill for some way along the bed of the rivlet here I found myself as in an Amphitheater, encompassed with high mountains which made a very Romantick appearance, To the east Bockworth and Billing Carragh, to the north Carnen, and west of that Mamarahty and of that Little Nefin. To the west Crooknegrah (sheep mountain) to the south Furcleogh: We gain'd the top and descending had a small Lough to the right, passed through some very difficult bogs, and ascended on the side of Mamarakty having those high mountains to the south, which stretch towards the Island of Achill to the west and make the northern point of the Bay of Newport: These mountains about five one beyond another have a very curious aspect, the tops of most of them appearing with escallop hollows in perpendicular broken

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rocks; they are full of Red Deer, which are very indifferent food, being never fat, however the hunting of them affords good diversion to those who traverse the mountains on foot, but they frequently escape the dogs. This mountain that I had ascended was of a sort of silver mica, which is not a lime stone, for they have none beyond the first hills we crossed to the river, but there is from that to the bay a vein of blue lime stone gravel which is good manure, they have also in many places about Newport a marle with shells in it, but the land being stiff, it is not a proper manure for it. (We here sprung a cock grouse the only one I had ever seen flying and appeared very beautiful.) Having gained the height on the side of the hill, we turned northward, and dined at a stream which gushes out of the side of it, from which place I had a glorious view of the mountains of the Isle of Achill, of the sea and some fine mountains to the north east; descending for a mile, we crossed four rivlets and ascended along the foot of a mountain called Kormestity, which appears very beautifully like two grand bastions. We travelled on and had to the east another high steep and rocky mountain, and we went by a road which is over a rivlet, and coming to a large vale, in which there is a house and farm, we crossed a mountain torrent and ascending went round the side of the hill for three miles, to what they call the river, in the map it is called the salmon fishery, and the mouth of it is part of the Black Sod Harbour; I here observ'd a stone, a sort of silver mica, which lies very much in the form of the members of Architecture, and one I saw much like a large Cornish: As soon as we had the mountain to the east of us, we had to the west a morass extending to the sea now full of little fords: The most

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dismal looking country I ever saw, and they say, the greater part irreclaimable; here are however not far from the foot of the hills, three or four little farms which chiefly belong to herds. The river we crossed was a rough bottom and very dangerous in time of floods: there is a road by this river to the east into Tirawley which rises out of the mountains near Lough Conn, but it is very boggy and almost impassible, except after that there has been dry weather for some time: We here got into a cabin where they had clean straw and clean blankets;—but the man observing the smoke was very troublesome to me, he made me a low seat near the fire, and I found it was not so inconvenient, the smoke rising up and condensing above. The guide called for an egg, broke off the top and emptied it into a scollop shell, as I thought to dress it, for the poor here use scollop shells for all uses they can, as they do on the Red Sea, but I was surprised when I saw him give a dram about in the egg shell; the woman also melted tallow in a scollop and dipt the rushes in it, and another time they twisted several rushes together, to make a larger light, and stuck it on a slit stick, the base of which was a large turf into which they run one end of it. The common people of the country live too much on these poor wretches when they travel, seldom bringing anything with them; and they were surprised when I distributed my bread and meat and what I had among them, and that I gave them a piece of money when I went away. All their vessels are of wood, most of them cut out of solid timber, their stools are long and narrow like a stilion, and their table is a long sort of stool about twenty inches high and broad and two yards long; their food chiefly oat cakes baked on the griddle and potatoes with their butter milk: they had

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killed a goat and were boiling part of it; but I suppose it was not very good, as they industriously concealed it from me; but they offered to prepare me what they had to eat, which for strangers, is new milk, eggs, butter and oat cake: They have here a french potato with a purple blossom, it is something like an apple, but is watery and not so good as the other kinds. However this potato does best in sandy and I believe boggy grounds, and the cold and moisture of the potato is a good corrective of the heat of the oaten diet. It is the custom for the poor especially the children to come in and sit by the fire of those who are in better circumstances as well as travellers of all kinds, and they give to all, of what is going in their own way.