232 Mr. Patterson on the Common Limj)ei, 



limpet gatherers about Larne. Some of them stated their 

 entire number to be above forty, and none estimated it at 

 less than thirty. One ferryman assured me that nineteen 

 people had in one day crossed in his boat to " Island Magee/^ 

 to collect limpets on the more retired shores of that peninsula. 

 They also seized with avidity any opportunity of visiting the 

 Maiden Rocks, on which, as they are some miles distant from 

 the coast, the limpets were plentiful, and were allowed to at- 

 tain their full size. 



From the greater number of persons employed about Larne 

 and Island Magee, in searching for limpets, they were be- 

 coming towards the end of July difficult to be obtained, and 

 that woman considered herself fortunate who could then earn 

 by collecting them sixpence per day. The average of their 

 earnings at that period would not, I was assured, much ex- 

 ceed fourpence. A rather anomalous circumstance must how- 

 ever be mentioned. Though the limpets were in greater de- 

 mand than ever, the price did not advance ; on the contrary, 

 from the increased competition of the sellers, it fell from two- 

 pence to three halfpence per quart. 



Some persons in the spring of 1837^ were employed in 

 gathering limpets so early as February, but few do so until 

 the month of March is far advanced. In May " the fish" are 

 in their prime, and on some parts of the County Down shore, 

 the plumpness which they assume in this month is with great 

 simplicity attributed to '^ the May dew.^^ The season is over 

 by the middle of August*. It may be regarded therefore as 

 lasting for five months ; or as the beginning and ending do 

 not afford employment to the same number of people as the 

 time when it is at its height, four months may be computed 

 as the period of active exertion. 



It would be difficult, or rather it would be quite impossible, 

 to form any correct estimate of the quantity of limpets col- 

 lected this season about Larne and the adjacent peninsula of 

 "Island Magee.^^ Some rude approximation to the result 

 may however be obtained. 



• On the lOtli of Sept. 1838, when spending a day at Larne, I met one 

 of my old friends the limpet gatherers, with her hag filled with limpets, 

 which she had just been collecting for sale. The trade is therefore carried 

 on later in the autumn than stated above. 



