ement Society of Ireland, they are confident that every part of
this country affords the opportunity of at once employing the rural
population in the improvement of the soil, and of returning to the
ratepayers a large interest for the capital expended, and thus providing
an increased quantity of food and certain employment for the working
classes in future years."

[180] Letter to Edward Bullen, Esq., Secretary to the Royal Agricultural
Society.

[181] A _weight_ of potatoes in the South of Ireland varied from 21 to
23lbs.

[182] _Times_ of 13th November.

[183] See pp. 214 and 215.

[184] A driver or bailiff is a man employed by Irish landlords to warn
tenants of the rent day, serve notices upon them, watch their movements,
see how they manage their farms, play the detective in a general way,
and supply useful information to the landlord and his agent. They are
regarded with pretty much the same feelings as tithe-proctors were,
until that historic class became extinct. They are called drivers by the
people, because one of their duties is to drive tenants' cattle off
their lands, that they may be sold for the rent. When a peasant wishes
to speak politely of this functionary he calls him "a kind of under
agent." "There are many parts of Ireland in which a _driver_ and a
_process-server_--the former a man whose profession it is to seize the
cattle of a tenant whose rent is in arrear, the latter an agent for the
purpose of ejecting him--form regular parts of the landlord's
establishment. There are some in which the driver, whether employed or
not, receives an annual payment from every tenant." _Journals,
Conversations and Essays relating to Ireland. By Nassau William Senior,
Second Edition, vol. 1, p. 33._

[185] An Irish word, so given in the report, but more correctly
_Creacan_ or _Criocan_. It is used to express anything diminutive, when
applied to potatoes, it means they are small and bad.

[186] Letter of Rev. B. Durcan, P.P., Swinford, Nov. 16, 1846.

[187] The Windmill is a bare rock, or collection of rocks, which is used
as a Fair-field. It overlooks the town. It derives its name from the
fact that a windmill had been formerly in use there. Hence, several
lanes leading to it are called Windmill Lane.--_Letter from Rev. C.
Davis, Administrator of Skibbereen_.

[188] Letter of Rev. K. Henry, P.P., Islandeady.

[189] Special Correspondent of _Cork Examiner_, writing from Skibbereen,
14th December, 1846.