150 OYSTERS PUNT ADRIFT. 



" a trifle for his honour," would be an offence of passing 

 magnitude ; a basket of chickens, a cleave of scallops, or an 

 ass-load of oysters, harbingered the aggriever and the aggrieved. 

 If these formulse were not duly attended to, the fountain of 

 taw was hermetically sealed ; and a house functionary for all 

 the servants on the establishment were " four pound con- 

 stables" announced that ft his honour would do no justice," 

 and bundled off the applicant to some one more approachable 

 of his Majesty's numerous and poor esquires. 



The oysters found in the bays and estuaries along this coast 

 are of a very superior quality ; and their quantity may be 

 inferred from the fact, that on the shores where they are 

 bedded, a turf-basket large enough to contain six or seven 

 hundred, can be filled for a sixpence. A couple of men will 

 easily, and in a few hours, lift a horse- load ! arid, notwith- 

 standing the numbers carried off by sailing-boats from Clare 

 and Munster, the stock appears to be little reduced by the 

 constant dredging. There are besides these, other shell- 

 fishes greatly prized by the peasantry, but which I had never 

 had the curiosity to eat, such as razor-fish, clams, and various 

 kinds of muscles. These occasionally make a welcome change 

 in the otherwise unvarying potato diet ; and, better still, 

 employ the idler members of the family, whose youth or age 

 unfits them for more laborious exertions. 



We dallied so long among the fairer portion of the sand-eel 

 fishers, that the tide insensibly rose; and when we reached the 

 place where our punt had been secured, we discovered that the 

 water had crept up the sands, and floated the frail skiff away. 

 To hail and get a boat from the Lodge, from the calmness of 

 the night, was readily effected ; and while it was being 

 launched down the beach, my kinsman told me that it was 

 not the first time that the treacherous punt had played truant 

 to its crew. 



' ' On a stormy evening, one of the boatmen was ordered to 

 cross the estuary for spring- water, and set out accordingly for 

 a supply, accompanied by a wild-looking and nondescript 

 animal who infests the premises, who is known to the 

 establishment by the name of ' Achil.' The river was flooded, 

 the evening stormy, and Peeterein, after leaving his coadjutor 

 in strict charge of the skiff, set off to fill his water-vessels, 

 and to return, if possible, before the dusk had fallen into 

 darkness. Achil, as the evening was chilly, lay down in the 



