SALMON ANGLINQ IN IRELAND. Ill 



pursues its course along the border, passing through Lough Corry, 

 Lough Bodarg. Lough Boffin, and Lough Forbes, to Lanesborough, 

 below which it enters Lough Eee. The extent of some of the 

 principal lakes is as follows : Lough Allen, seven miles long by three 

 broad ; Lough Bodarg and Lough Boffin, forming one continuous 

 sheet of water five miles by seven ; Lough Forbes and Lough Eee, 

 seventeen miles long and seven broad ; Lough Qara, five miles by 

 three ; Lough Key (otherwise called Rockingham), about three and 

 a half miles ; and Lough Oakport, smaller, which communicate with 

 the Shannon by a stream called Boyle Wat^r. Seven or eight others 

 might be mentioned, but enough, in all conscience, have been 

 enumerated. Here, indeed, is Vemharras de richesses, for all hold 

 fine red trout ; and, as no one mortal man can fish them all in the 

 month which divides the salmon from the grilse season, it behoves 

 him to take counsel and select the best. It has been shown how we 

 have spent the interval, and the line of march we have taken. Others, 

 holding some of the waters above mentioned in great favour, will, 

 perhaps, maintain we might have chosen more wisely. Very possibly ; 

 but if they are pleased. I am content. Having skimmed like a 

 swallow lightly over the waters of the district, we will perch on the 

 church tower of Boyle and look nearer home. This town lies on the 

 high road to Sligo, on the " Boyle Water," which flows from Lough 

 Gara into Lough Key, and, in the reign of John, a Bernardine abbey 

 of great wealth and importance took the place under its wing. If it 

 continued to grow from that time to the present, it must, in the days 

 of the good friars, have been much too small to go alone. The older 

 portion of the town stands on the northern bank of the river ; the 

 more improved part on the southern ; but, notwithstanding the im- 

 provements, a very matter-of-fact writer observes, " out of about five 

 hundred houses three-fifths are miserable thatched cabins, and half 

 the remainder are little better." The stranger, however, need not be 

 alarmed on the score of his comforts, as he can either stay at an 

 " hotel " sufficiently comfortable, or procure lodgings where, if not 

 too luxurious, he may feel at home. 



I fear my friend the sergeant will be wroth, for he bas been kept 



