SALMON ANGLING IN IRELAND. 263 



Glen, the stream, the head water of the Claddy ; and happy is he 

 who for the first time stands on the gravelly strand of Dunlewey, to 

 gaze on a picture that may be paralleled but can hardly be sur- 

 passed. The little river (if the weather be fine) tinkles over the 

 stones, and is lost in the long lake, from whose margin Arigle, the 

 loftiest mountain in Donegal, rises abruptly. To the east is the dark 

 glen, whilst westward the valley widens and widens till it meets the 

 sea at Bunbeg. 



Separated from the upper lake by a short stream (it is barely 

 a hundred yards long) is a second sheet of water of considerable 

 extent, on whose northern bank a large brook debouches. Then 

 there is another connecting river joining another small lake to the 

 chain. From this point the Claddy finally breaks away from all 

 restraint, and after lingering for a short space round the hotel, with 

 scarcely a moment's pause, runs its brief race of prodigal riot to the 

 sea. 



Having thus roughly mapped out the scene of our future opera- 

 tions, we will as lightly sketch its sporting qualities. From the 

 latter part of Jime to the end of the season, the Claddy, after rain, 

 is all that man can desire ; pelding salmon, white and brown trout 

 in ample measure. When the water has shrunk, from a continuance 

 of fine weather, the angler will do well to shift his ground and take 

 to the lough, instead of tramping daily over the black and charred 

 peat bog. 



At the bottom of the garden, boats belonging to the hotel are 

 always riding at anchor, and one of these will soon bear him to a new 

 field of operations : while, if there be anything like a breeze, the 

 middle lake will not send him home salmonless. Before reaching 

 this point the stranger will pass through a wide and shallow sheet 

 of water, thickly fringed with bulrushes. The pool is not remark- 

 ably tempting at first sight ; but only try it with three small flies of 

 any shade or pattern. I did so onie, and remained there the entire 

 day, pulling up to windward and then drifting to the lee shore. The 

 number of small but beautifully-shaped trout taken on that occasion 

 I should not like to record ; though I did hear subsequently that a 



