o it, beyond a small patch in which a few potatoes were
planted. It was so near to the ocean, so exposed to winds from the
Atlantic, that no shrubs would live there. Everything round it, even the
herbage, was impregnated with salt, and told tales of the neighbouring
waves. When the wind was from the west the air would be so laden with
spray that one could not walk there without being wet. And yet the place
was very healthy, and noted for the fineness of its air. Rising from the
cottage, which itself stood high, was a steep hill running up to the top
of the cliff, covered with that peculiar moss which the salt spray of
the ocean produces. On this side the land was altogether open, but a
few sheep were always grazing there when the wind was not so high as to
drive them to some shelter. Behind the cottage there was an enclosed
paddock which belonged to it, and in which Mrs. O'Hara kept her cow.
Roaming free around the house, and sometimes in it, were a dozen hens
and a noisy old cock which, with the cow, made up the total of the
widow's live stock. About a half a mile from the cottage on the way
to Liscannor there were half a dozen mud cabins which contained Mrs.
O'Hara's nearest neighbours,--and an old burying ground. Half a mile
further on again was the priest's house, and then on to Liscannor there
were a few other straggling cabins here and there along the road.

Up to the cottage indeed there could hardly be said to be more than a
track, and beyond the cottage no more than a sheep path. The road coming
out from Liscannor was a real road as far as the burying ground, but
from thence onward it had degenerated. A car, or carriage if needed,
might be brought up to the cottage door, for the ground was hard and the
way was open. But no wheels ever travelled there now. The priest, when
he would come, came on horseback, and there was a shed in which he could
tie up his nag. He himself from time to time would send up a truss of
hay for his nag's use, and would think himself cruelly used because the
cow would find her way in and eat it. No other horse ever called at the
widow's door. What slender stores were needed for her use, were all
brought on the girls' backs from Liscannor. To the north of the cottage,
along the cliff, there was no road for miles, nor was there house or
habitation. Castle Quin, in which the noble but somewhat impoverished
Quin family lived nearly throughout the year, was distant, inland, about
three miles