^6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



beside us, would be idle : my cousin accordingly 

 recharged his meerschaum, and, between many a pufF, 

 gave me the following memoir of the otter-hunter : — 



" The old man is a character. In his early days he 

 was a travelling pedlar, a dealer in furs and Connemara 

 stockings. He had always an unconquerable fancy 

 for angling and otter-killing ; and, with a pack upon his 

 shoulders and a fishing-spear in his hand, he traversed 

 the kingdom in the double pursuit of pleasure and profit. 



" When he disposed of his merchandise, he returned 

 home laden with the skins he had collected in his 

 wanderings. He has frequently brought thirty furs 

 together to Limerick for sale ; and as they were then 

 a valuable commodity, he acquired, in a few years, a 

 considerable property. 



" In one of his excursions, however, Antony managed 

 to pick up a wife. She was young and handsome ; 

 and, tiring of his unsettled life, persuaded the unhappy 

 otter-killer to forego his favourite calling, and turn his 

 fish-spear into a spigot. In short, he took a house in 

 town, became a publican, got extensive business, gave 

 credit, and soon was drunken and embarrassed ; his 

 wife flirted, his property melted away, and his frail 

 rib at last levanted with an English showman. Antony 

 was astounded, but he bore misfortune like a philo- 

 sopher. Renouncing whisky, except in limited quan- 

 tities, he resumed the otter- trap, which had been rusting 

 in a garret ; and, one fine moonlight night, turned the 

 key in the door, abandoned goods and chattels to the 

 landlord, and disappeared, ' leaving his curse with 

 Limerick.* 



** No Bedouin returned from captivity to his parent's 

 tent — no Swiss revisited his native valley with more 



