15 



from r to 12, did not do ample justice to such a feast. Mike 

 has been fed upon trout, salmon, and eels all his life, and he, 

 therefore, preferred to fall hack upon our potted wares. 

 I'lrst he tackled a tin of sardines, and having- disposed of 

 the whole lot satisfactorily, I passed him over a pot of Crosse 

 and Blackwell's highly-seasoned potted game. He toyed 

 with this a hit at first, not being quite sure of his ground, 

 hut eventually, to my amazement, I found that he had 

 raked out the contents into a plate, and was disposing of it 

 in " chunks " about the size of small potatoes. He had by 

 this time eaten about two pounds of bread, but he still 

 looked wistfully at the provision basket, and I, therefore, 

 gave him another course. This time it was an oaten scone 

 of lib. and four hard boiled eggs, two of them being 

 turkey's, and his face expanded with a grin so broad that it 

 made his ears hang down. Mike having finally exhausted 

 the provisions, without having exhausted his appetite, 

 went to the water's edge and, lying down, put his face in 

 the river, and took, a long drink by way of topping np his 

 meal. My faithful henchman, however, is by no means a 

 teetotaller, in fact, he is very frequently much the reverse — 

 in fact, he is an ether drinker. "You are an awful thirsty 

 man," said I to him, at that feast above referred to, and I 

 added, " You must surely have been made of some very dry 

 materials." " Bedad !" he exclaimed, " But your honor's 

 right, 'tis not me own fault at all ; me poor old mother was 

 a Cork woman !" As I have already said, Pat was an ether 

 drinker, and, thanks to his assistance, I have been able to 

 find out many interesting details as to the prevalence and 

 extent of the use of this pernicious spirit. Sixpennyworth 

 of ether will go further — that is, produce more intoxication 

 - — than half-a-crown's worth of whisky. " But it gives 

 you bad heads," Mike assured me, on the " days after." The 

 villages in the North of Ii'eland arc plentifully supplied 

 with ether by wholesale dealers, and I was given the name 

 of a man in an adjacent to^^^l who carries on an extensive 

 trade in this spirit. It is largely used in the adidt^ration 

 of whisky by retail dealers, and those accustomed to its 

 peculiar flavour do not detect its presence in the adulterated 



