SALMON ANGLING IN IRELAND. 125 



and fifty pounds each. This draughting had been going on for hours, 

 yet so great is *' the run " that the last haul seemed to equal the 

 first, and already numbers of new comers are even now leaping at 

 the falls. 



" Ah ! breakfast is ready is it, Willie ? " 'Twill be an idle 

 ceremony, for this sight always spoils my appetite for beef and 

 buttered toast. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



A Piscatorial Republic " The Bank of Ireland" Moss Row The Captain's 

 Throw The Lost Gaff" Luck's All " 



June 17. 

 The Erae flows through the town of Ballyshannon, dividing it into 

 two unequal parts, the principal of which is on the north bank, 

 where the ground rises rather abruptly, showing to great advantage 

 its sunny gardens and pleasant dwellings, whilst a fine old church 

 crowns the summit of the hill. From the east comes the rushing 

 river, whilst to the west stretches a long range of sandhills, guarding 

 the lough from the wild fury of the Atlantic. A solid mass of rock 

 crosses the bed of the stream, which, thundering over the obstacle, 

 drops in an unbroken sheet into the estuary, and is soon lost in 

 the wide waters of Donegal Bay. A finer entrance can hardly be 

 imagined, yet the Erne is not a spring river. Some early fish are 

 taken, but the true run commences about the 1st of June, and 

 consists exclusively of salmon, which are followed by the grilse 

 three or four weeks later. Happy is the man who welcomes these, 

 but thrice happy is he who meets the glorious creatures which 

 throng hither in the first days of summer. 



Every river has some peculiar characteristics, one of the distin- 

 guishing features of the Erne being a decided tendency to remain 

 constantly in good angling trim, in which amiable eccentricity it 



