APPENDIX, 69 



land, still present their dark fronts to the wide ocean's roar. The 

 unbroken Atlantic rolls its immense mountain waves against these 

 bulwarks of Nature, which, still unscathed, sustain the shock. The 

 deep and thunder-like echoes add to the solemn grandeur with which 

 the whole scene is invested." Id. 



(Y.) 

 Mackerel-fishing off the West Coast of Ireland. 



" It was very evident that the Bay was full of mackerel. In every 

 direction, and as far as the eye could range, gulls and puffins were 

 collected, and to judge by their activity and clamour, there appeared 

 ample employment for them among the fry beneath. We immedi- 

 ately bore away for the place where these birds were most numerously 

 congregated, and the lines were scarcely overboard, when we found 

 ourselves in the centre of a shoal of mackerel. 



" The hooker, however, had too much way; we lowered the fore- 

 sail, double-reefed the mainsail, and then went steadily to work. 

 Directed by the movements of the birds, we followed the mackerel, 

 tacking or wearing the boat occasionally, when we found that we had 

 overrun the shoal. For two hours we killed those beautiful fish, as 

 fast as the baits could be renewed and the lines hauled in : and when 

 we left off fishing, actually wearied with sport, we found that we had 

 taken above 500, including a number of the coarser species, known 

 on this coast by the name of horse mackerel. 



" There is not on sea or river, always excepting salmon-fishing, 

 any sport comparable to this delightful amusement. Spillet and long 

 line fishing are generally tedious and uninteresting, and unless the 

 fish take freely, it is even with moderate success a tame and spiritless 

 employment. 



" He who has experienced the glowing sensations of sailing on 

 the Western Ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a deep green lucid 

 swell around, a steady breeze, and as much of it as the hooker can 

 stand up to, will estimate the exquisite enjoyment our morning's 

 mackerel-fishing afforded." ' Wild Sports of the West.' 



