A DAY UP THE RIVER. 117 



merit of originality, and was not a little in- 

 genious. The scene of action was the eel- 

 weir on the left bank, above Belleek. This 

 eel-weir is an artificial branch of the river — 

 a sort of canal, so contrived as to turn the 

 flank of the great falls, and to afford to any 

 fish disposed to take advantage of it a path 

 apparently safe and easy into the still water 

 above. 



But, like many of the easy and pleasant 

 paths of this world, the path in question 

 leads but to destruction ; for a stout net, 

 hung across the narrowest part of it, which 

 is technically termed the neck, receives the 

 unwary migrator, and retains him in its 

 purse until a sufficient number are collected, 

 when the whole is shovelled unceremoniously 

 into a square stone pit, there to await the 

 leisure of the skinner. 



This contrivance would be as fatal to the 

 salmon as it is to the eel ; for the former, 

 with all his courage and energy, is by no 

 means indisposed to avoid unnecessary trou- 

 ble ; — but Parliament has provided for his 

 safety, the Act forbidding the nets to be set 

 while the sun is above the horizon ; and as 

 the salmon never stirs by night, nor the eel 



