64 WESTERN LAKES. 



subterraneous channel at Cong.* Lough Corrib is largest of 

 all; it stretches twenty miles to its southern extremity at 

 Galway, where, through a bold, rocky river, it discharges its 

 waters into the Atlantic. Its breadth is very variable, ranging 

 from two to twelve miles. Besides its singular connexion with 

 the Mayo lakes by the underground channel at Cong, Lough 

 Corrib produces a rare species of muscle, in which pearls are 

 frequently discovered. Many of them are said to afford 

 beautiful specimens of this valuable gem. 



The smaller lakes, which are so profusely scattered over the 

 surface of this country, vary in the species of fish which they 

 respectively produce, as much as they do in their own natural 

 size and character. Some of them afford trout, others pike 

 only, and many are stocked with both. That this union cannot 

 long subsist, I should be inclined to infer from one remarkable 

 circumstance, and it is a convincing proof of the rapid destruc- 

 tion which the introduction of pike into a trout lake will 

 occasion. Within a short distance of Castlebar, there is a 

 small bog-lake, called Derreens; and ten years ago it was 

 celebrated for its numerous and well- sized trout. Accidentally 

 pike effected a passage into the Lough from the Minola river, 

 and now the trout are extinct, or, at least, none of them are 

 caught or seen. Previous to the intrusion of the pike, half-a- 

 dozen trout would be killed in an evening in Derreens, whose 

 collective weight often amounted to twenty pounds. 



Indeed, few of the Mayo waters are secure from the en- 

 croachments of the pike. The lakes of Castlebar, I believe, 

 still retain their ancient character;! but I understand that 

 pike have been latterly taken in the Turlogh river, and of 

 course they will soon appear in a lake which directly commu- 

 nicates with this stream. J 



* " At Cong, about five miles from Ballinrobe, is a subterranean cave, 

 to which there is a descent of sixty-three steps, called the Pigeon Hole ; 

 at the bottom runs a clear stream, in which the trout are seen sporting 

 in the water ; these fish are never known to take a bait, but are caught 

 with landing-nets." Daniel. 



f " In the lake of Castlehar, near that town, is the charr and the gil- 

 laroo trout, and it is remarked that there are no pike in this and some 

 of the adjacent lakes." Daniel. 



$ The voracity of the pike is strongly exemplified in the following 

 extract from a Provincial Newspaper. Of the truth of the occurrence we 

 presume there can be no reasonable doubt, even in the minds of the most 

 sceptical; but we believe there is no instance of animal ferocity on 



