"And do you countenance and shelter such a character ?"

"What! abandon my own foster-brother for an accident or two?-Pshaw! Frank, you jest. I'll tell you the particulars another time." It was late, and we separated.

LETTER XII.

Angling.-Fish found in Mayo.-Peasantry. Their mode of fishing. The Pooka.-Description and use.—Pike and Trout. Their size.-Perch.-Their fecundity.-- Trout destroyed. Greater Lakes described.

Subterraneous com

munication between them.-Lesser Lakes.-Their fish.Lake of Derreens. Its Trout extinct.- Lake of Castlebar.

IN a country whose surface is covered with numerous and extensive sheets of water like Mayo, it may be concluded that the angler will find ample occupation. Independently of salmon and trout fishing, to those who will employ themselves in killing pike and perch, the lakes and rivers here offer superior amusement. In the greater waters, Lough Mask, Lough Carra, and Lough Conn, the coarser species of fishes are taken in immense numbers, and in the lesser lakes many interesting varieties of the trout-tribe will be found, from the little

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speckled samlet,* to the large and curious gillaroo.†

It is true, that the scientific angler generally confines himself to the use of the fly; for

* The natural history of the samlet, or par, is very doubtful. Some assert it to be a mule produced by the salmon and trout, and as a corroboration of this theory, it is stated that the rivers where the par is found, are always resorted to by salmon. Others conjecture it to be a hybrid of the sea and river trout; and Sir Humphrey Davy mentions, that fishing in October, in a small stream communicating with the Moy, near Ballina, he caught a number of sea trout, who all proved males, and accordingly infers that "these fish, in which the spermatic system was fully developed, could only have impregnated the ova of the common river trout."

The par differs from the small mountain trout in colour, and in having additional spines in the pectoral fin. It has also certain olive-blueish marks upon the side, similar to impressions made by the pressure of a man's fingers.

Great numbers of samlet are found in the upper streams of the Ballycroy river. They will rise voraciously at a fly, provided it be gay and small enough. I remember my friend Sir Charles Cuyler and I amused ourselves on a blank shooting day, when there was neither a sufficiency of wind nor water to warrant salmon fishing, in angling for this hybridous diminutive. We nearly filled our basket; we reckoned them, and they amounted to above two hundred.

+ Pennant says:-"In all these lakes the gillaroo is found. It varies in weight from twelve to eighteen pounds, but sometimes reaches thirty;" and Daniel states these fish to be" esteemed for their fine flavour, which is supposed to exceed that of any other trout. Their make is similar to the common, except being thicker in proportion to their

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salmon and trout, he will forego the commoner department of bait and float-fishing. Hence angling for pike and perch is usually an amusement of the peasantry; and to those contiguous to the banks of the large lakes it yields occupation for idle hours, which might be less innocently dissipated, and occasionally supplies their families with a welcome addition to their unvarying food, the potato.

Besides the established system of bait-fishing, other and more successful methods are resorted to by the lake-fishers. By mesk-nets immense numbers of pike are annually taken; and with night-lines, and a very simple contrivance, called the pooka,* these fish, with

length, and of a redder hue both before and after being dressed. The gillaroo is remarkable for having a gizzard resembling that of a large fowl or turkey." He also says:"It is usual to dress the gizzards only, which are considered as very favourite morsels."

* 66 Among other methods for taking the finny tribe common in this part of Scandinavia, the Längref was very generally adopted. This consisted of a line, running occasionally several miles in length, to which, at certain intervals, many hundreds of hooks were attached; and this, as it extended through such an immense expanse of water, was, as may readily be imagined, very destructive. I have known instances when the Längref has been provided with one thousand or twelve hundred hooks, and to have been eight or ten miles in length."-Lloyd's Northern Sports.

the largest trout and perch, are constantly killed.

This latter implement is formed of a piece of flat board, having a little mast and sail erected on it. Its use is to carry out the extremity of a long line, of considerable stoutness, to which, at regulated distances, an infinity of droppers or links are suspended, each armed with a hook and bait. Corks are affixed to the principal line or back, to keep it buoyant on the surface; and from a weather-shore, if there be a tolerable breeze, any quantity of hooks and baits can be floated easily across the water. The corks indicate to the fisherman when a fish is on the dropper, and in a small punt, or curragh, he attends to remove the spoil and renew the baits when necessary. Two hundred hooks may be used, on the same line, and the pooka at times affords much amusement, and often a well-filled pannier.

There are no waters in Great Britain, with the exception of the river Shannon,* where larger pikes ↑ are caught than those taken in

* "I never remember hearing, in an authentic shape, of a pike exceeding from thirty-five to forty pounds in weight. This a little surprised me, as I should have thought, from the great extent of many of the waters, those fish might have. been much heavier."-Lloyd's Northern Sports.

† Appendix, No. XI.