334 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



distinctly — and we soon bore down upon the midnight 

 fishers directed by sound, not sight. 



To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty. 

 The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so fre- 

 quent, that much skill was necessary to penetrate this 

 hempen labyrinth without fouling the back ropes. 

 Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay 

 we threaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys 

 and puckawns, found ourselves in the very centre of 

 the flotilla. 



It was an interesting scene. Momently the boats 

 glided along the back ropes, which were supported at 

 short intervals by corks, and at a greater, by inflated 

 dog-skins, and, raising the curtain of network which 

 these suspended, the herrings were removed from the 

 meshes, and deposited in the boats. Some of the nets 

 were particularly fortunate, obliging their proprietors 

 to frequently relieve them of the fish ; while others, 

 though apparently stretched within a few yards, and 

 consequently in the immediate run of the herrings, 

 were favoured but with a few stragglers ; and the indo- 

 lent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful 

 ditty, or in moody silence watch the dark sea '* like 

 some dull ghost waiting on Styx for waftage." 



Our visit appeared highly satisfactory, for the ceade 

 fealteagh, with a lament for *' ould Antony," was univer- 

 sal, while every boat tossed herrings on board, until 

 we were obliged to refuse further largess, and these 

 many *' trifles of fish " accumulated so rapidly, tha^ we 

 eventually declined receiving further compliments, or 

 we might have loaded the gig gunnel deep. 



The darkness of the night increased the scaly bril- 

 liancy which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful 



