196 A TEAB OF LIBEETY ; OR, 



and the churcli runs the road to Oostello, crossing the river at its 

 mouth. The view of Galway Bay from the house is very fine, nor 

 need the stranger fear bodily starvation whilst banqueting on the 

 beautiful, for in the village he will find good bread, butter, mutton, 

 eggs, and fowls ; and what more can a sportsman desire ? The 

 length of the Spiddal is about twelve miles, but until very recently 

 a waterfall, situated about three miles from the sea, barred the 

 farther progress of the fish, and so practically reduced the river to a 

 fourth of that extent. Now, however, a passage has been made 

 which gives the salmon free access to the head waters, and the 

 benefit of the extended franchise is already beginning to be felt. 

 The water is well preserved, as the proprietor told me he employs 

 eight keepers a very strong staff considering the length of the 

 property to be watched. The stream of which we are speaking 

 resembles in its physical peculiarities the Costello, Screebe, Furnace, 

 and one or two others on the coast, all of which possess an impor- 

 tance far beyond their extent. Considered as rivers, they would 

 rank very low, being in fact little more than mountain brooks of 

 eight or ten miles from the source to the sea, their high character 

 being derived from a chain of small lakes which offer unrivalled 

 white trout angling and salmon fishing of no mean quality. The 

 scenery on the banks of the Spiddal is very lovely. As I saw it, 

 there was a crystal stream fretting and murmuring at the mighty 

 granite blocks that offered a hindrance to its passage ; blooming 

 heather, pleasant woods, and three miles from the sea a waterfall of 

 exceeding beauty ; then came a lake of considerable extent, then 

 another stretch of rivulet, then another smaller lake, and so on to 

 the source. In wet weather the best angling will be found on the 

 river ; in dry seasons on the lakes ; the fish are fine, the salmon 

 running from 51b. to 181b., the white trout from lib. to 6lb. Four 

 or five of the former and a dozen of the latter would be a fair day's 

 sport on the Spiddal ; the proprietor, however, assured me that as 

 many as eleven salmon had been killed in one day by a single rod. 

 Many of the casts are very large and deep, as the Blue Pool, House, 

 Weir, Wood, and Waterfall pools. The river, though very low, was 



