nessed were, he says, scarcely if at all
less harrowing than those which had been reported from the locality of
Skibbereen. This writer, a Protestant, conversed, amongst others, with
the priests of the districts which he visited, and of them he says: "The
Catholic clergy are the only persons who can form a tolerably correct
estimate of the numbers of persons who are now dying of starvation. The
Catholic clergy know all the people of their respective parishes--_no
one else does_; the Catholic priest knows them as the shepherd does his
sheep; he knows them individually; he knows not only every lineament of
every individual face, but he knows, too, every ailment of body--every
care of mind--every necessity of circumstance from which he is
suffering. The Catholic clergy of the West attend every death-bed: the
poor there are all Catholics. The Catholic clergy know, then, to what it
is that the extraordinary mortality now prevalent is owing--_and they
set it down as the immediate consequence of want and starvation_."[225]

One of the priests of whom W.G. asked information told him his whole
time, and that of his assistant, was unceasingly occupied in
administering the last comforts of religion to the victims of
starvation. It would, he said, be an endless task, and he feared a
useless one, to record his sad experiences.

People died in Connaught whilst in full employment on the public works,
just as they did in Munster. Of such cases, the following is one of
which W.G. collected some particulars:--James Byrne, of Barnabriggan,
Brize, parish of Balla, was employed up to his death on the public
works. The last food of which he had partaken was obtained by his wife
pledging her cloak. There was an inquest upon this poor man's remains,
at which his wife deposed that up to the time of his death he was
employed on the public works, and as they had no food she was obliged to
pledge her cloak for one stone of meal. Deceased often said he would do
well if he had food or nourishment. Deponent states to the best of her
belief that her husband died for the want of food. She and her four
children are now living on rape, which she is allowed to gather in a
farmer's field. James Browne, Esq., M.D., being sworn, said he found, on
examination, all the internal organs of the deceased sound. There was no
food whatever in his stomach, or in any part of the alimentary canal.
There was a small quantity of thin faeces in the lower portion of the
l