46 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OR, 



able lodgings and make himself at liome. This is my plan, when- 

 ever such a plan is possible. Then the lake is at the door, and this 

 is no small advantage. 



Five miles west of the town is the village of Ballysadere, through 

 which flows a river of the same name. This stream is formed by 

 the imion of the river Awinmore and the Unshin or Arrow, near the 

 town of CoUooney, and falling over a ledge of rocks, which crosses 

 its entire bed, thunders into Ardnaglass harbour. Here the angler 

 may look for sport in the late spring and summer freshes. 



What shall we say of Lough Arrow ? Why, simply this : that the 

 man who cannot be satisfied with this sport in April and May, 

 either with fly or troll, and will not laud it to the skies in June, when 

 the green drakes hover over it like a cloud, must indeed be hard to 

 please. 



Lough Tult, imbedded amid precipices, abounds with trout ; 

 Lough Easkey and Lough Glencar well deserve a visit. If to these 

 attractions be added the fact that he is on the high road to the 

 Drowse, Lough Melvin, and the glorious Erne, I think the tourist 

 will admit that Sligo forms a centre of operations not to be 

 despised. 



Should our friend be a botanist, Benbulben will cheer him : if he 

 be painter or poet, he will feel a still deeper delight on the breezy 

 summit of that noble mountain ; and, on his way home, should he 

 pace the ruined cloisters of the fine old Dominican abbey, I doubt 

 not he will return a better and a happier man. 



We have reached Lough Gill at last, and are gliding along its 

 southern and most beautiful shore. If the lake looked lovely in the 

 early morning, it looked not less lovely now, as we stole over its 

 curling waters, between islands of all sizes, beautiful with rock and 

 wood and shadow. 



The lake, though by no means in the first rank for size, is yet six 

 miles in length by two in breadth, and boasts twenty islands, the 

 largest of which (Church Island) reckons 42 acres, and Cottage 

 Island 14 acres ; both are inhabited, which must prove of immense 

 importance to the hungry angler, Our broad-shouldered guide 



