It was not possible for him to go in plain
clothes so soon again; so I had the appearance of an obnoxious lady of
the land, protected by a member of the force.
We drove out of Castlebar some seven or eight miles in the opposite
direction from where Pontoon Bridge lies. Our road lay for miles through
the country wasted of inhabitants by the Marquis of Sligo after the
great famine. Here and there a ruin where a cabin has been speaks that
it was once inhabited. The people tell that Lord Sligo's people were
rented the land in common by the settlement. All but two of one
settlement had paid; as those two could not pay, the whole were evicted.
My informant thought the settlement deserved eviction when they did not
subscribe and pay for the two who could not pay. He never seemed to
think they might not be able to do so, nor that it was cruel to evict
all for the sake of two.
Lord Lucan made a great wasting also at that time. Between the land near
the town devoted to private demesnes, laid out for glory and beauty, and
the lands wasted of inhabitants, you can travel miles and miles on more
than one side of Castlebar and see scarcely a tenant; a herd's cabin, a
police station, being the only houses.
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