SPORTING TOPOGRAPHY OF MAYO. 55 



The herdsman and grouse-shooter complain sadly of 

 their devastations ; and notwithstanding numbers are 

 annually dug out for hunting, or destroyed by the 

 peasantry, there seems to be an anti-Malthusian property 

 in the animal, which enables its mischievous stock, 

 maugre traps and persecution, to increase and multiply. 



While the country is peculiarly adapted for field- 

 sports, the extensive lakes and numerous rivers offer 

 every inducement to the angler : the streams are plenti- 

 fully stocked with trout, and the rivers which commu- 

 nicate with the sea have a good supply of salmon. 

 Curious varieties* of the finny tribe are to be found 

 in the mountain loughs ; and in those noble and expan- 

 sive sheets of water. Lough Con, Lough Mask, and 

 Lough Corrib, the largest and finest specimens of fish 

 are easily obtained. 



We have just had a domiciliary visit from the revenue 

 police. Under cover of the night they made a descent 

 upon our valleys from their station, some fifteen miles 

 off. Excepting causing dire alarm — a general abduc- 

 tion of stills, worms, and all the apparatus of the craft, 

 and the concealment of malt, and the burying of kegs — 

 the consequences of the foray have not been important. 

 One fatal casualty occurred : a distillery had finished 

 its brewing {i.e.y distilled the quantity brewed), and 

 principals and accessories were indulging a little after 

 their exertions. Unluckily, the revenue stumbled upon 

 the convivial meeting ; and although the stuff was gone, 

 the still, apparatus, and unextinguished fire were proofs 

 positive that the king — God bless him ! — had been woe- 

 fully defrauded. Such of the party as could strike a 

 walk escaped without difficulty ; but two unhappy 

 * For example, the Gillaroo and Par. 



