ANECDOTE. 239 



the " barley bree," it would be a sufficient punishment for 

 the offence. But this is the smallest tax upon the produce 

 of the still ; when the process is complete, much of the pro- 

 duce is expended in drunken hospitality. If, after all these 

 drawbacks, the residue be disposed of in the town, or sold to 

 some itinerant whisky-dealer, the adventure is prosperous ; 

 but the chances of detection, seizure, fine, and imprisonment, 

 are so multitudinous, as to render the vending of this pernicious 

 article a ruinous trade. To succeed encourages him to con- 

 tinue in this hazardous manufacture ; and then upon him who 

 night and day parches in a still-house, certain drunkenness is 

 entailed, with' sooner or later a loss of property, from the 

 casualties incident to the adventure ; and hence, more people 

 have been beggared by this demoralizing traffic, than all the 

 misfortunes which bad seasons, bad crops, and worse still, bad 

 landlords could accomplish. 



Difficult as the task is found of conveying grain from the 

 highlands, the denizens of the coast possess little advantage 

 from their own locality. Want of harbours renders the 

 voyage hazardous, and the arrival of the grain at market an 

 uncertainty ; and many a peasant, from rough seas and con- 

 trary winds, has been ruined. One instance of this was men- 

 tioned, and it so forcibly exemplifies the misfortune, that I 

 shall transcribe it. 



A person of comfortable means, having suffered severe loss 

 from private distillation, determined that he would never 

 " wet a grain during his natural life." He shipped his corn 

 accordingly in a hooker for Westport, it being the nearest 

 place where a purchaser could be found. Bad weather and 

 contrary winds came on, and during eight days, for so much 

 time was occupied in the passage, the grain was exposed to 

 rain and spray eternally, and when it reached its destination, 

 was found to be so much damaged, as to be rendered unfit 

 for sale. The unlucky owner was eventually obliged to bring 

 it back, and in self-defence to malt and distil it. The process 

 was completed, and the spirits safely brought to the town of 

 Castlebar. There it was seized by the Revenue, the proprietor 

 imprisoned for four months, and his cattle and furniture at 

 home canted to pay that rent, which the corn, had it been 

 marketable, would have more than realized. By this accumu- 

 lation of misfortune, the unhappy man was reduced to the 

 greatest misery, and from having been once an opulent land- 



