Page images
PDF
EPUB

through the Marquis of WATERFORD's Park, joins the Suir eight miles above Waterford, are both famous Trout streams.

The BLACKWATER springs from a mountain in the county of Kerry, and receiving many streams, continues its course to the Bay of Youghall*. Other

In the Gardens belonging to Youghall the POTATOE, it is said, was first planted. This improvement is ascribed to Sir WALTER RALEIGH, and with much probability, for this was a part of the Estate he sold to the Earl of CORK. It seems, however, that no proper instructions were given to the person who cultivated it; since, upon its coming up and growing pretty high, he attempted to eat the Apple, which he took to be the Fruit of the plant, but finding it unpleasant, considered his pains as lost, and utterly neglected it. At some distance of time, when the earth was turned up, the Roots were found spread to a great distance, and increased to a large quantity; and from this place the whole kingdom was gradually furnished. POTATOES were also said to be first brought from America by Sir FRANCIS DRAKE, 1586; introduced into IRELAND 1610; into ENGLAND 1650: but GERARDE (who flourished about 1535) speaks of them as "a food, as also a meat for pleasure, being either roasted in the Embers or boiled and eaten with Oile, Vinegar, and Pepper, or dressed some other way by the hand of a skilful Cook.”—Mr. LYSONS, in his Environs, observes, the Potatoe was introduced into ENGLAND about the latter end of the sixteenth Century, and was then cultivated only in Botanical Gardens as a Curiosity: that its taste and Virtues were nearly similar to those of the Batata Hispanorum, then in much esteem in this Country. When PARKINSON published his "Paradisus Terrestris," our common Potatoes, there called Batatæ Virginiana, were become more frequent, and were prepared the same way as the Spanish Potatoes, being roasted under the Embers, and eaten with Sack and Sugar, or baked with Marrow, Sugar, and Spices, or candied by the Comfit-makers; in all which ways, says PARKINSON, the Virginian Potatoe, being dressed, maketh almost as delicate meat as the former.

rivers have this name; one of which falls into the Shannon, another into the Boyne, and a third in the county of Wexford runs into the Sea.

The BANN rises out of a mountain in the county of Down; after flowing northward near thirty miles, and receiving the Tanwagee, it falls into Lough Neagh, and, passing through the Lake, keeps on a northerly course, dividing the counties of Antrim and Londonderry, and reaches the Sea below Coleraine. The Bann is famous for its Salmon Leap near Coleraine, and for its Salmon fishery, which is the greatest in the kingdom. The Salmon spawn in all the streams that run into the Bann, about the beginning of August, when they retire to the Sea, and begin to return to the fresh water in January, continuing to do so until August. The nets are set the middle of January; but by Act of Parliament no Nets or Weirs can be kept down after the twelfth of August. All the fisheries let at 6000l. per annum. The space from the Sea to the rock above Coleraine, where the Weirs are built, belongs to the London companies; the greater part of the rest to the Marquis of DONEGALL: the young Salmon are called Grawls, and grow faster, it is supposed, than any other fish commonly known, for within the year some of them will be increased to sixteen or eighteen pounds; in general the growth is from ten to twelve: such as escape the first year are, at two years old, called Salmon, and will generally weigh from twenty to twenty-five pounds. In 1780, 1452 Salmon were taken at one drag of a single net; the next greatest hawl was in 1758, when 882 were caught. Fish, in ́

VOL. II.

- P

annum.

the former year, sold at a penny and three halfpence a pound fresh, and at 181. and 201. per ton salted; in the latter state they are sent to London, Spain, and Italy: the fishery employs eighty men, and the annual expences, it is calculated, equal the rent. The Eel fisheries at Coleraine let at 1000l. per The Eels make periodical voyages as the Salmon, but instead of spawning in the fresh water, they retreat to the Sea to Spawn, and the young fry return against the Stream; to enable them to do which with greater ease, at the leap, straw ropes are hung in the water for them to adhere to. The Eels here sometimes arrive at the weight of nine or ten pounds.

LOUGH NEAGH is the largest lake in Europe, those of Ladoga and Onega in Russia, and that of Geneva in Switzerland, excepted; it being twenty miles long, and fifteen broad, and the area is computed to be 100,000 acres. It is fed by six large rivers, and four of less note, and having but one narrow outlet for discharging this great flux of water, it frequently overflows the low grounds on its banks. A healing virtue is ascribed to it, and many, by bathing, have experienced benefit from it: it is also celebrated for petrifying wood, which is not only found petrified in the lake itself, but in the adjacent soil, at a considerable depth. This water contains plenty of fine fish; and one sort, called the Dolochan or Buddagh, a species of large Trout, weighing sometimes thirty pounds, is peculiar to it; the Pike are likewise of very great size. Lough Beg is joined to Lough Neagh by a narrow channel at its north

west end, and is four miles in length, and four in breadth. The price of fish is half a crown for a large Pike; Trout twelve inches long a penny each; Eels ten a penny in Summer, three in Winter.

The LEE rises in the mountains near the village of Inchigeela, and about a mile from it opens itself into a fine lake, called Lough Allua; it afterwards has an easterly direction for thirty miles; it then becomes much enlarged by the reception of a number of streams, and, passing by Cork, discharges itself into the Sea. This river produces excellent fish, particularly Trout and Salmon; the latter are always in season, like those of the river WYE in England; the former are very large, and afford the Angler much diversion. In the neighbourhood of Cork are several smaller rivers, abounding with fish.

The LIFFEY has its origin in the County of Wicklow, and takes a circling course through that and the counties of Kildare and Dublin, passing by Leixlip (where there is a Salmon Leap) to Dublin, and discharges itself into Dublin Bay. Some good Salmon are to be found in this river, and plenty of Trout, which, although they will afford the Angler great sport in the taking, are of a very inferior kind for the table. In a small stream that runs into the Liffey, called Castle-Knock river, the Trout are in plenty, and are excellent.

The BOYNE rises in the King's County, and falls into the sea at Drogheda; it abounds with Salmon, Trout, and a variety of other excellent fish. The NURE, SLAINE, and MAY, are rivers in the province of Leinster. The Mox rises at the foot of the moun

tain Knockneshee, in the county of Sligo, and dividing that county from Mayo, and also the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh, after meandering about forty-five miles, and passing Belleek, where the Salmon fishery lets for 520l. per annum, discharges itself below the port of Killala, into the Atlantic Ocean.

LOUGH ERNE, one of the largest lakes in Ireland, has two branches, which extend through the whole county of Fermanagh, dividing it into nearly two equal parts; its length is said to be thirty miles, and to contain near four hundred islands, some of which are inhabited; its breadth is unequal: among the islands that of Belleisle, the seat of the Earl of Ross, is extremely beautiful. The fish in this part of the lake are Pike, to the weight of forty pounds, Trout, Eels, Bream, Perch; and it is extraordinary that the latter fish should have appeared in all the lakes of Ireland, and in the Shannon, at the same time, nearly thirty-six years ago. Mary Island, belonging to Lord ERNE, is equally beautiful with Belleisle; and Castle Caldwell, on the borders of the Lake, vies with either of the former. The Trout, Perch, Pike, and Bream, were at that part of the lake so plentiful as to have no price; and Sir JAMES CALDWELL has taken seventeen hundred weight of Bream and Pike in one day: a fish peculiar to this lake, about the size of a Herring, called Goaske, is taken only in May.

The SUCK divides Roscommon from Galway, and joins the Shannon near Clonfert. The Drosos, a river in the county of Clare, also falls into the Shannon.'

« PreviousContinue »