GALWAY, a county in Ireland, situated in the province of Connaught, within the archbishoprick of Tuam, is bounded on the north by Mayo, on the east by the river Shannon, which separates it from King's County and. Tipperary, on the south by Clare, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. In extent it is next to Cork, the most considerable in Ireland, and contains 2593 English square miles, or 1,659,520 acres, divided into seventeen baronies, and, including the South Arran Isles, three in number, at the en trance of Galway bay, into one hundred and sixteen parishes.
The surface of this extensive district presents great variety and contrast. More than a third of it con sists of bogs, mountains, and lakes, and is very thin, ly inhabited and unproductive. The greater part of this tract is contained in three baronies, on the west side of the county. On the east and south the country is generally flat, though not without a few hills of no great height, and the soil is warm and fertile, in cumbent on limestone; yet much of it is better adapted for grazing than tillage ; and the dry stone walls, with which the fields are inclosed, and the want of trees, give it a rather dreary aspect. This part of Galway contains more gentlemen's seats than any other district of the same extent in Ireland, though few of them are remarkable for their magnificence. Lough Corrib, which, in some measure, marks the boundary between these two divisions, extends about twenty miles in length, its greatest breadth being eleven miles ; but in the middle it is contracted to a narrow channel, which is crossed by a ferry at Knock. The country which reaches from the sea to the Shannon, is well watered by rivers, and contains also several beautiful lakes. Next to the Shannon, the princi pal rivers are the Suck, the Black River, Clare, Galway, and Dunmore. Some of these are sub terraneous in a part of their course ; the Black River, on the bounds of Mayo, dips for about three miles, and the Clare and the Moyne unite their waters un der ground, alternately appearing and retiring from view. Lough Reagh and Lough Contra are fine pieces of water; the latter, in particular, which is situated near the borders of Clare county, is said to possess all the beauties that hills, woods, and islands can impart to water.
Among the landed proprietors of Galway, there are several who hold large estates, affording an in come of from L. 5000 to L.10,000 a year, and up
wards. One of these estates, the most extensive in the British Isles, stretches along the sea coast for 70 miles. Only a small portion is held by absentees. In 1809 the rent of the green land averaged from a guinea and a half to two guineas per acre, or about 22s. 9d. the English acre. A full third of the land is let on partnership leases, to an indefinite number of persons, very often twenty, who by law are joint tenants, and entitled to the benefit of sur vivorship. The leases are commonly for three lives sr thirty-one years. " These people," says Mr Wakefield, " divide the land and give portions to their children, which consist of a fourth or a fifth of what they call a man's share,' that is, of the land which originally belonged to one name in the lease. A certain portion of the whole farm, or lake, as it is styled, is appropriated for tillage, and this portion is then divided into lots, perhaps twenty or thirty. These lots are again subdivided into fields, which are partitioned into email lots, each partner obtaining one or two ridges ; but these ridges do not continue in the hands of the same occupier longer than the time they are in tillage. The pasture is held in common ; and the elders of the village are the legislators, who establish such regulations as may be judged proper for their community, and settle all disputes that arise among them. Their houses stand close to each other, and form what is here termed a village." The cattle of Galway are long-horned, and of an excellent description, fully equal, in the opinion of .Mr Wakefield, to any in England. But sheep form the most valuable part of their live stock ; " some of the finest flocks in the world," says the same writer, " are to be found in this county." The crops are the same as in other parts of Ireland, but potatoes are not cultivated to so great an extent. They plant potatoes on an oat stubble, or on lea that has been burned or manured, and follow with wheat, bear or barley, or oats ; the latter kind of grain is not un frequently taken after wheat and barley. Paring and burning the soil is very common. The greater part of the rent of some of the estates on the shore is paid from kelp, which is prepared in large quan tities.