and ever since that time the black marble of Galway has had númerous admirers and purchasers. The entrance-hall and grand staircase of the Duke of Hamilton's palace near Glasgow, are formed of this beautiful material. The right of quarrying is at the present time leased to certain capitalists, who have extensive stone-working machines at Galway. The process of obtaining the marble is simply as follows:The men first remove a covering of limestone, about twenty-five feet in thickness; it lies in beds or layers from one to two feet thick, and requires blasting with gunpowder to ensure its removal. The black marble, thus exposed to view, lies as flat as a billiard-table, in successive layers varying from six to fifteen inches in thickness. There are joints or fissures in these layers, which greatly facilitate the process of quarrying; wedges are driven into the fissures, and a few blows suffice to separate a complete block-for the different layers seem to be easily detached. Some of the blocks or slabs procured in this way are as large as twelve feet long by ten wide. The black marble here spoken of is a wholly distinct material from the green marble of the Twelve Pins. A visit to the mineralogical gallery at the British Museum will enable us to see a specimen of this beautiful green marble, in the form of a table presented by Mr. Martin, of Galway.

The family of the Martins in Connamara were formerly the owners of a greater number of acres than any other family in Ireland. If the resources of the country were fully developed, the estate would be of enormous value; but the wealth of mountain and bog is of a prospective character. Colonel Martin, the representative of the family thirty or forty years ago, is said to have endeavoured to put the Prince Regent out of conceit with the famous "long walk" of Windsor, by saying that the avenue which led to his hall-door was thirty miles in length. The pleasantry was true to this extent, that the whole distance of thirty miles from Galway to Ballinahinch lay within the Martin estates, while the road from the one to the other stopped short of the mansion, beyond which there was little else than rugged paths. Ballinahinch is the name of a barony, a lake, a rivulet, a village, and a demesne; and the whole form the head-quarters of a family which once possessed almost regal power in this wild region indeed the title of "king of Connamara" has been given almost as much in seriousness as in joke to the representative of the family, by the native Irish around.

But this great estate, like many other great estates in Ireland, has passed from its ancient proprietors. The whole of the Martin estate has been sold, and is now principally in the possession of the Law Life Assurance Company. "Humanity Martin," as the proprietor of these vast estates was called, on account of his persevering exertions for the prevention of cruelty to animals, forgot to extend his humanity to the twolegged animals of his own country; and the squalid misery which his heartless neglect entailed, superinduced

a fearful retribution on him and his family. Whatever regret one may feel, at the sudden reverses that have thus ruined an ancient family, it is impossible not to be sensible of the vast social amelioration which the transfer of those estates is sure to effect in these wild and hitherto most neglected districts. Indeed the change is in many places already apparent. Many English settlers have found their way into these regions, and have brought with them their spirit of enterprise, industry, and love of comfort and order. Miss Martineau, in a recent visit to this district, observing upon the visible improvement, says, "This was noticeable in the neighbourhood of the mansion lately called the Martins' Castle; and pleasant it was to see neat, white cottages upon the hill sides, each with its stooks' of oats beside it."

Another of the centres of power in this district is Clifden, the residence of the D'Arcys, one of the small number of proprietors of Connamara. Clifden is almost at the south-west corner of the district. In 1815 it consisted of one single house: it now contains several hundred. In the former year its site and a large extent of surrounding country yielded no revenues whatever to its proprietor: it now yields several thousands per annum. In 1822 roads were commenced, eastward from Clifden to Ballinahinch and Oughterard, and northward to Westport; these were the forerunners of the town; and an excellent quay, built by Mr. Nimmo at the inner extremity of Ardbear Harbour, gave to the incipient town the means of exporting and importing produce. The formation of this town did not involve any actual outlay on the part of Mr. D'Arcy; he offered leases of plots of ground on advantageous terms, to whoever was inclined to build ; many availed themselves of the opportunity, and the result has been favourable both to lessor and lessees. This town of twenty seven years' existence now boasts of its gothic Parish Church, its Roman Catholic Chapel, its two public schools, its dispensary and workhouse, its three streets of tolerable houses, its import trade from Liverpool and even from America, its trade in curing and exporting herrings, its grain market, its breweries, distilleries, and corn-mills, and its corps of fishermen. The bay on whose shore it stands is so completely landlocked as to constitute a favourite rendezvous for the government cruisers. Mr. D'Arcy has built a beautiful castle at Clifden, in the midst of a scene of natural grandeur-mountain and sea coast forming component parts not easily surpassed in Ireland. There was one piece of flat unsightly bog; but this has been drained and converted into a lawn in front of the castle. Clifden is in every sense a valuable example, to show what may yet be done in the industrial regeneration of Connamara.

Of Joyce's Country, it is doubtful whether so much. will be made as of Connamara proper, on account of the bareness of its mountains and its lesser proportion of sea-coast. Its inhabitants are nearly all Joyces-who have the reputation of being the tallest and largest men in Ireland. "Big Jack Joyce" was for many years a well-known giant among a race of giants. Mr. Inglis

The best route for the tourist from Galway is by Oughterand to Clifden, which can be accomplished either by public conveyance, the Mail, or Bianconi's car, or, better still, by hiring a vehicle. With the exception of an occasional glimpse at Lough Corrib, and one or two seats of resident gentry, and old castles, there is not much to interest or attract. Approaching Oughterand the aspect of the country improves; and while it is not less picturesque, it is more cultivated. Shortly after passing Lemonfield, the seat of George O. Flahertie, Esq., we reach the town, which is extremely pretty, with some good edifices.

larly wild region, and lake succeeds lake in quick succession, amid dreary bogs and wild marshes. At length "the half-way house" is reached, Beyond this is Lough Ourid, along whose northern shore the road winds, while to the right are seen the range of the Mamturk Mountains. Next comes Glendalough, with Ben-y-Gower towering in front; and so on by Ballinahinch to Clifden through bold mountain scenery. From Clifden to the Killeries, by Kylemore, is a delightful drive: and Salrue should not be left unvisited. Thence to Maume is as wild and grand as can well be imagined. If time permits, by all means visit Cong; if not, you can back to Oughterand. Thus an excellent notion of the physical features of this interesting region may be formed by the intelligent tourist. None others will gain much wherever they go.

A WALK THROUGH BRISTOL. Bristol, en ballon, presents features singularly similar to those of the metropolis. The river Avon, which divides it into two portions, north and south, winds along with undulations so corresponding to those of the Thames in its passage through London, that the course of one river might almost be traced as a reduced copy of the other. The two portions of the city bear, also, the same relative importance to each other. The richest, oldest, and most interesting part of Bristol is situated on the north bank of the Avon; whilst the southern segment is another " Surrey-side of the water." The classes of tradesmen, and the general tone which pervades these two sections of the city present as marked a difference to each other as the dwellers of Tooley Street and Blackfriars Road do to those of the Strand, or the loungers of Regent Street. The more dormant portion of the city, if we might so term it, which lies on the Somersetshire shore of the Avon, is vitalized by three long and comparatively busy thoroughfares, Temple, Thomas, and Redcliffe Streets, which converge towards the principal bridge.

To give our reader the best idea in the shortest space of time, of Bristol, past and present, we will ramble with him through the principal streets of the city.

He

is perhaps arrived by the Great Western Railway, which is situated at the extremity of Temple Street, and wishes to proceed to Clifton; the line of route to which place will afford him a more complete view of the various features of Bristol, than perhaps any other. Of the façade of the station itself, which finds accommodation for the Great Western, Exeter, and Birmingham lines, we can say little more than that its size is great, and its style Tudor. We are little accustomed to see originality or fitness studied in such buildings as these, which should, however, as much express the idea of the present age, as ecclesiastical architecture did that of the medieval period; but we know of no style so little fitted to a railway-station as the Tudor. The Egyptian, or the Doric, in lack of some iron style, which is yet to come, might be adopted as emblematical of strength and power; but the Elizabethan, with its scrolls and light tracery, its open and elegant windows, and profuse embellishments, is more fitted for the baronial hall than for the frontispiece of so stupendous a work as a railway, or for the resting and startingplace of the great blear-eyed fire-mouthed monster who devours both time and space. Even forgiving the style the architect has adopted, he has failed to give us a picturesque or pleasing pile, which, with the means at his disposal, he should have done. The design

A sharp bend in the road after we leave the station, brings before us a full perspective of Temple Street, in all its poverty and picturesqueness. It is a street of gable ends, and we question if Queen Elizabeth, could she visit it in its present state, would see much alteration from the time when she passed through it three centuries ago Every here and there some larger than common tenement is seen, leaning down with heavy-hanging brow over the street, and with a profusion of casement which evidences that the window-taxes were unknown when first they were glazed. In most of these houses, of old, the clicking of the weaver's loom might have been heard, plied by the broad-faced industrious Flemings. When Edward III. prohibited the export of wool from the kingdom, a number of cloth-weavers from Flanders were invited over to England, and numbers of them, settling in Bristol, made Temple Street their headquarters, and commenced a manufacture which, for many centuries, remained the staple product of the city. The merry music of the loom has long since fled to the pleasant valleys of Gloucestershire, and the less picturesque but more active north; and squalid rags now hang out to dry from rooms that once sent forth the renowned English broadcloth. Still farther back in the perspective of time, this street possessed a history: the religious element pervaded it before it was made busy by the handicraftsman. A little removed

old tower, one of those piles which puzzle one to know whether it is to the builder or to the destroyer we owe most of their beauties. Honeycombed and stained by time, its old forehead looks stately and beautiful, as it catches the evening sun high over the surrounding houses. What attracts attention to it even more than its imposing form, is the manner in which it leans. Temple church is the Pisan Tower of Bristol: a plummet dropped from its battlements falls wide of its base three feet nine inches; and, viewed from a distance, the inclination of the tower-which is a very high one

-seems even greater. This church at one time, and the quarter surrounding it, belonged to the Knights Templars, by whom it was founded in the year 1118. The utmost stretch of fancy can scarcely imagine the time when, instead of the groups of dirty women who now congregate upon the pavement, these soldiers of Christ, habited in the long white flowing robe of theit order, bearing on the shoulder the red cross, made the "flints vocal" with their measured footsteps. At the bottom of Temple Street is another specimen of a leaning building-the Fourteen Stars Tavern,' an old wooden structure, which overhangs the road so much, that one is almost afraid to pass under it. A short walk brings us to Bristol Bridge, erected in 1762, on the foundations of its predecessor, a very curious old structure, covered with houses, and bearing in the middle a "faire chappel," dedicated to the blessed