100 A DAY UP THE RIVER. 



The body belonging to that head and 

 shoulders was comfortably disposed at full 

 length upon the rude platform of deals, 

 which served at once for a cover to the 

 stairs, which came up inside the room, a 

 receptacle for innumerable miscellaneous ar- 

 ticles of stray fishing-tackle, a sideboard, 

 and, as in the present case, a sofa or 

 lounging-place. 



The Parson was listlessly watching the 

 preparations for Belleek fair, if indeed watch- 

 ing be not a strong word to signify an act of 

 utter laziness, with which the mind has but 

 little to do ; and, indeed, his half-shut eyes did 

 not evince any very great interest in what was 

 going on around him, though the prepara- 

 tions were made on a somewhat extensive 

 scale. 



Belleek, though but a small place, and 

 not bearing in any very great degree the 

 outward visible signs of commercial pros- 

 perity, exhibiting as it does as fair a share of 

 ruinous buildings as any village in Ireland, 

 is, notwithstanding, a place of some note. It 

 is a sort of lake seaport. It carries on a 

 languid trade with Enniskillen, Pettigoe, 

 and the villages of the upper lake, exporting 



