142 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



and at the Farsett as the ford across the estuary is 

 termed the passenger can earliest cross to the island 

 from the mainland. Indeed, the intercourse with 

 Achil was in former days limited enough. Few persons, 

 except those engaged in smuggling, visited this insu- 

 lated district ; and many an islander lived and died 

 without having ever seen a town. 



The fishing-boats and hookers, whose easy draught of 

 water will permit it, naturally prefer a passage through 

 the Sound, when voyaging from Erris to Clew Bay, 

 rather than the longer and more exposed course of 

 rounding Achil Head. To effect it, however, requires 

 some skill, and a strict attention to the tides. On the 

 Farsett, the depth at high-water seldom exceeds eight 

 or nine feet : and as the flow and recession of the oppos- 

 ing waters is astonishingly rapid, the boat must enter 

 upon one and retire upon the other. The passage, if 

 effected, is consequently but very short, and the Sound 

 may be cleared in an hour with the same wind that would 

 occupy an entire day, if Achil Head were doubled. 



In bad weather, both entrances, however, are 

 dangerous in the extreme, and care and seamanship 

 are necessary to pass either with safety. The peasantry 

 are habituated to this voyage, and comparatively little 

 risk ensues. Still, many accidents have occurred 

 small boats have foundered in the attempt and large 

 hookers, when deeply laden, have perished in the con- 

 flicting eddies which opposite winds and tides occasion. 

 The most cautious boatmen are sometimes overtaken 

 by squalls from the surrounding hills and night and 

 drunkenness have, alas ! been more fatal than all besides. 



Yet the Bull's Mouth, like the ordeal of mortal 

 inquietude, leads to its haven of rest. In a gale from the 



