624 Scenes in the Irish Highlands Cunnetnara. 



had their tongues tinctured with a little English, stated that this picturesque 

 retreat, accompanied with three thousand acres of mountain, had lately been let 

 for the not very exorbitant rent of twenty pounds a year. Loch Inagh is full of tish ; 

 in the course of a few hours two of the party, who were sportsmen, killed 

 several dozen white trout and two or three fine salmon. 



There are no pike in this, or in any of the Cunnemara Lakes, and the trout 

 accordingly multiply freely. The only check to population, to use the Malthusian 

 phrase, are the eagles which abound in the impending cliffs, and occasionally sub- 

 sist upon the inhabitants of the water. They dart their beaks into them the instant 

 they appear above the surface ; and, if the fish is not too heavy, fly with it to their 

 inaccessible eyries ; sometimes, however, it happens that an eagle seizes a salmon 

 which is not to be managed so easily : in such a case (we were informed by the 

 boatmen, who declared they had often witnessed it) his plan is to set up one of his 

 wings for a sail, and in this manner float with his prey to shore. We saw several 

 of these noble birds, but had not the luck to see them display their talents in this 

 odd way ; the story, therefore, rests entirely upon the authority of the original 

 narrators, who, however, told it gravely, as an incontestible fact in the natural his- 

 tory of Loch Inagh. We had a great deal of pleasant intercourse with the boat- 

 men, who were entertaining as well as intelligent fellows ; they gave us (amongst 

 other things) a full account of the habits of the salmon, which, related in their way, 

 was any thing but a dry lecture on icthyology, I cannot detail the whole conver- 

 sation upon this point, but I remember we laughed heartily at hearing that the 

 salmon fry went down to the sea as soon as they could " gather a faction" a mode 

 of speaking so natural to an Irish peasant, and so humorous in its application. 

 But I despair of giving an idea of the scenery. To the left, as we went up the 

 lake from the Derryclare end, was a magnificent chain of mountains, abrupt and 

 stony. The white clouds were impaled upon their sharp summits, and several 

 torrents rushed headlong clown their precipitous and naked sides. On the opposite 

 side the hills sloped gradually from the water-edge, and being clothed with heath 

 had a softer character. The surface of the loch was adorned with some rocky 

 islets, which were nevertheless covered with a dense and flourishing underwood, 

 just beginning to take the deep brown of autumn. Where any of these little 

 insulated woods intervened between the boat and the wild craggy range of moun- 

 tains to the left, it was impossible to imagine any thing in lake or highland scenery 

 more romantically beautiful. But the picturesque did not silence the calls of 

 appetite ; we pushed to shore upon one of the prettiest islands, kindled a fire, 

 roasted some of the trout, and, with the aid of the mountain dew, made a meal 

 that Gods might have envied, enlivened by the discourse of the boatmen, who 

 exhausted their magazine of facts, and then drew largely on their fancies, to make 

 the time pass agreeably, an object in which (it is due to their wit as well as their 

 good nature to say) they fully succeeded. I wish I could add a little about the 

 lake of Derryclare, which was the next lake we visited ; but the hard laws which 

 editors impose on contributors do not allow me to say more, than that it is equal to 

 Loch Inagh in attractions for sportsmen, and little, if at all, inferior in point of 

 scenery. In conclusion let me say of an excursion to Cunnemara, that it will 

 amply repay any one who takes it. If his object be game, the mountains and 

 lakes abound with it ; if the roving of his eye be rather that of the poet than the 

 sportsman, he will meet with equal gratification. In general, too, the dinners are 

 good, and the beds comfortable ; carbonated eels and the entomological museum 

 are extreme cases. 



