William Wilde himself described what he hoped to achieve in this book. 'We have endeavored to direct the attention of the reader and the tourist to all that is historic, picturesque, and beautiful in this grand Lough Corrib region, with it's sacred islands, its ancient battle grounds, raths, and tumuli, its splendid ruins of castle and abbey, contrasted with the results of modern civilization, its magnificent scenery of mountain and lake, with the ever changing lights on the purple hills, and the glorious sunsets peculiar to the West - scenes so full of interest for the antiquary, the historian, the poet and the painter, the politician and social economist - for all those who love nature and truth, and like to study national life through its various phases. We have also tried to direct attention to those vast sources of wealth which still lie unutilized in the West and if, while interesting the tourist, we have also stimulated the work of national progress, the chief objects shall have been accomplished for which this book was undertaken to illustrate the past, and to benefit the present. A work merely intended to direct the steps of the tourist through a region hitherto but scantily explored, and to rescue from oblivion, or preserve from desecration, some of the historic monuments of the country'