SPORTING TOPOGRAPHY OF MAYO. 55 



The herdsman and grouse-shooter complain sadly of 

 their devastations ; and notwithstanding numbers are 

 annually dug out for hunting, or destroyed by the 

 peasantry, there seems to be an anti-Malthusian property 

 in the animal, which enables its mischievous stock, 

 maugre traps and persecution, to increase and multiply. 



While the country is peculiarly adapted for field- 

 sports, the extensive lakes and numerous rivers offer 

 every inducement to the angler : the streams are plenti- 

 fully stocked with trout, and the rivers which commu- 

 nicate with the sea have a good supply of salmon. 

 Curious varieties* of the finny tribe are to be found 

 in the mountain loughs ; and in those noble and expan- 

 sive sheets of water, Lough Con, Lough Mask, and 

 Lough Corrib, the largest and finest specimens of fish 

 are easily obtained. 



We have just had a domiciliary visit from the revenue 

 police. Under cover of the night they made a descent 

 upon our valleys from their station, some fifteen miles 

 off. Excepting causing dire alarm a general abduc- 

 tion of stills, worms, and all the apparatus of the craft, 

 and the concealment of malt, and the burying of kegs 

 the consequences of the foray have not been important. 

 One fatal casualty occurred : a distillery had finished 

 its brewing (i.e., distilled the quantity brewed), and 

 principals and accessories were indulging a little after 

 their exertions. Unluckily, the revenue stumbled upon 

 the convivial meeting ; and although the stuff was gone, 

 the still, apparatus, and unextinguished fire were proofs 

 positive that the king God bless him ! had been woe- 

 fully defrauded. Such of the party as could strike a 

 walk escaped without difficulty ; but two unhappy 

 * For example, the Gillaroo and Par. 



