In the heart of a stony country beset with high fences and rough copple stones, stands the little town of ~Gort~, The military stationed there now add to its importance. Kilmacduagh, at the base of the Burren Hills, contains a church (seventh century) of St. Colman, the Blue-eyed, and a Round Tower leaning out of the perpendicular. In pre-historic times all this country side at the foot of Burren, from Gort to Loughrea, and for miles apart, is said to have been the favourite hunting-ground of Queen Maev. ~Kinvara~, away on an inlet of Galway Bay, is a fishing village, and the locality is celebrated for the "succulent oysters"--which in the season are to be found in every restaurant in Dublin. The antiquary will find his way easily to Corcomroe Abbey--the church is still in a good state of preservation. Donald More O'Brien, King of Limerick, is commonly believed to have built it in the twelfth century. It subsequently became subject to Furness, in Lancashire. Donough O'Brien, King of Thomond--killed in battle in 1267--is buried here; his monument discloses the rude magnificence of his attire. The effigy is looked upon by scientists as an example of the attire of an Irish King of the thirteenth century. ~Athenry~, as its name, the "Ford of the Kings," signifies, and its ruins testify, was of old a place of renown. The tower is entered by a small gate tower; before it stands the quaint market cross, on one side is the Virgin and Child, on the other the figure of the Crucified. The base is relieved with deer and wolf hounds, and at the corner an angel holds a scroll, the legend of which is defaced. The Franciscan Priory (1464), despite the attempt to modernise it, has still two thirteenth century windows, and the south transept has the remains of a very beautiful window. The Dominican Priory is said to have been erected at the personal request of St. Dominick in 1241. So late as 1644 it was the seat of a university acknowledged by Rome. ~Tuam~ is now of little importance. It is to ecclesiastics, however, of interest, as the centre of an Archiepiscopal See. The statue to John MacHale is worth seeing. He was well known in the first part of the nineteenth century as "John of Tuam." An uncompromising Ultramontane, he translated Homer into Gaelic, and O'Connell in one of his speeches called this great patriot bishop "The Lion of the Fold of Judah." The ancient cross in the square is a good specimen of the Irish stone crosses. ~Galway~ still possesses the evidence of its former greatness. To-day it is simply an old world city in the midst of a sporting county. Of old it was a strong-walled town, ever on the alert against alarm and foray, with its harbour crowded with the warships of Spain and the merchantmen of many a foreign port. There is a famous map of the city, dating back to 1651, when the then Lord Deputy Clanricarde pledged the town to the Duke of Lorraine. It shows a walled-in town with fourteen gates, each guarded by a watch-tower.