THE ENTOMOLOGY OF THE ERNE. 181 



" So I did, and searched half the day ; 

 but I had broken my line short off, and 

 could never get a glimpse of it ; and as to 

 making another, that was altogether out of 

 the question. I had not the material ; it is 

 not so common as pig's down." 



" By the way, Paddy," said the Squire, 

 " that big Irish rod, the fellow that I used 

 with the pike the other day, did that get 

 much damage? 



" Divel a hapor'th!" said Paddy Moosh- 

 lan. " I did not shorten it three inches at 

 the splice. Your honour might have landed 

 a schoolmaster* with it ten minutes after- 

 wards." 



" I do not above half like those Irish 

 rods," said the Parson ; " they are awkward 

 concerns." 



" They have the advantage of costing 

 about one-third the price of your London 



* Few salmon except the " lost fish" arrive at their 

 native river singly. They cruise in companies tech- 

 nically called schools ; each school is supposed to be 

 under the command of an old and experienced fish, 

 who is called the schoolmaster. In the Erne a school- 

 master seldom weighs less than twenty-two or twenty- 

 four pounds. 



