IRISH RIVERS. 151 



or, as they are called in Ireland, grauls; and 

 this was in a very bad season for salmon fish- 

 ing. The Bann, near Coleraine, abounds in 

 salmon : but in this river, except in close time, 

 when it is unlawful to fish there, there are few 

 good casts. In the Bush, a small river about 

 seven miles to the east of the Bann, there is 

 admirable salmon fishing, always after great 

 floods ; but in fine and dry weather it is of 

 little use to try. I have hooked twenty fish 

 in a day, after the first August floods, in this 

 river ; and, should sport fail, the celebrated 

 Giant's Causeway is within a mile of its mouth, 

 and furnishes to the lovers of natural beauty, 

 or of geological research, almost inexhaustible 

 sources of interest. The Blackwater, at Lis- 

 more, is a very good salmon river : and the 

 Shannon, above Limerick and at CastleConnel, 

 whenever the water is tolerably high, offers 

 many good casts to the fly fisher ; but they 

 can only be commanded by boats. But there 

 is no considerable river along the northern 

 or western coast, — with the exception of the 

 Avoca, which has been spoiled by the copper 

 mines, — that does not afford salmon, and, if 

 L 4 



