“Lovely Leitrim,” in northeastern Connaught, is the smallest county in population in Ireland, with only 31,000. Before the Great Irish Famine (1845-50), the population was 155,000, but dropped to 112,000 in five years. Leitrim is a rich area of natural beauty and its lakes are so plentiful, that the locals say they don’t sell land by the acre, but by the gallon.