due to the broadening of the stringers used and the consequent suppression of intervals between them.

Two types of this plank-bottomed design are to be dis-tinguished in county Mayo: (a) the Blacksod and Iniskea type, and (b) the Achil type. The essential difference between them lies in the presence of a single gunwale in those of the first type (PI. 1, fig. 1), whereas in those of the second there are two, an upper and a lower, the two forming a specialized gunwale frame (Pl. II, fig- 3). Both types are characterized by the substitution of comparatively broad-bladed feathering oars for " bull-oars" pivoting on a single pin as used in Donegal, Connemara, Aran, Clare and Kerry.

A. The Blacksod and Iniskea type

The curraghs of this type admirably illustrate an important phase in the course of curragh development. In the simplicity of the gunwale construction it serves, as we shall see, as a link between the primitive design of the Sheephaven type and that of the elaborate double gunwale characterizing all curraghs to the southward of Blacksod Bay, just as the Sheephaven and Mulroy designs elaborate that of the Rosses and Tory Island. The same relationship is expressed in various minor details; these include the use of ribs formed of halved ash branches, of a shoulder cross-bar, of massive blocks as thwart knees and of a loose thwart.

Description. The example measured belongs to a man who had brought it from Iniskea. It is a two-man rowing curragh, 17 ft. 7 in, in length with a beam, outside, of 46 in, amidships, decreasing to 44 ¹/₄

in, at the stern. Height from the ground at the fore-end, 45 in., while amidships and thence to the stern it is 22 in. Depth, 21 in, to top of gunwale.

In general design it approaches closely to the Sheephaven and Mulroy type but its bottom and sides differ by being fully planked in; other points also show minor advances in the curragh-builder's art. The fore-end is sharp, for on each side the two uppermost bow stringers are nailed to a thick vertical board, the stem block, 20 in. long by 1 ¹/₂ in, wide and nearly the same in thickness. Each of these stringers is from 2 to