SALMON ANGLING IN lEELAND. 211 



belonging to the river is one of the most comfortable in Ireland, and 

 its situation is excellent. , Placed at the mouth of the Errive, it 

 enjoys a noble view down the inlet, and is alike suited to command 

 fresh-water angling, boating, or sea-fishing. This river is now in 

 the market. I knew it when rented by a most amiable and warm- 

 hearted nobleman, who, with his accustomed kindness, made me free 

 of the water. As ill-luck would have it, I was then returning from 

 a month's inimitable angling, and a month's nearly absolute starva- 

 tion, in the wildest nook of Mayo, during which time I endured great 

 toil coupled with constant wet, and the upshot was that, on the 

 second morning of my sojourn at Leenane, I was so ill that I could 

 hardly stand, and was glad to make the best of my way to Galway 

 and lay up for three or four days. 



It was a long drive between Leenane and Westport, over a tole- 

 rably level track, rich in wild flowers, and boasting some of the most 

 gigantic boulders I ever saw, under whose shelter the Menziesia 

 polifolia attained its maximum of size and beauty. But though the 

 journey was long we got it over at an early hour, by dint of starting 

 in what Mr. Willie profanely called to his too confiding mistress 

 ** the middle of the night." Still this very matutinal start enabled 

 us, after having deposited bag and baggage at the hotel, to 

 be clear of the last cabin of Westport, on our way to the Reek, soon 

 after noon. I am not one to jest at sincerity, or smile in affected 

 pity at those who worship our common Father in a different fonn or 

 with another tongue. It was in no such idle spirit that we stood on 

 the summit of Croagh Patrick, gazing alternately on the labyrinth 

 of mountains and lakes which make up Murrisk, the hundred isles 

 which deck Clew Bay, or the crowd of devotees performing their 

 devotions on this great "high place." Some were prostrate in 

 silent adoration ; others knelt at the various stations round the 

 stony cairns ; all performed their rounds on bare feet, a few on bare 

 knees. But there was one person, a priest, who enlisted my 

 sympathy amazingly. When JI first noticed him he was limping 

 slowly and painfully roimd one of " the stations," carrying his shoes 

 and stockings in either hand, whilst his trousers were tucked up in 



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