Cattle
Have Been So High That Hay And Pasturage Were More Remunerative, And The
Laborers Depend For Food On The Imported Indian Meal.
The grassy
condition of every place strikes one while passing along; but Roscommon
seems to be given up to meadow and pasture land almost altogether.
The
hay crop seems light in some places. The rain has been so constant that
saving it has been difficult in some places. I saw some hay looking
rather black, which is an unbecoming color for hay. Roscommon is a very
level country as far as I saw of it, and very thinly populated.
The town of Roscommon has a quiet inland look, with a good deal of
trading done in a subdued manner. There is the extensive ruin of an old
castle in it; the old gaol is very castle-like also. I drove over to
Athleague as soon as I arrived, a small squalid village some four Irish
miles away. The land is so level that one can see far on every side as
we drive along, and the country is really empty. The people left in the
little hamlets have one universal complaint, the rent is too high to be
paid and leave the people anything to live on. It was raised to the
highest during prosperous years; when the bad years came it became
impossible.
I enquired at this village of Athleague what had become of all the
people that used to live here in Roscommon. They were evicted for they
could not pay their rents.
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