IRISH FISHERIES. 201 



narrow battens to serve as flooring. Over this skeleton 

 pieces of tarred canvas are nailed, each strip about two 

 feet wide, and extending round the bottom from one 

 gunwale to the other. Thwarts are fixed in the usual 

 manner, and the canoe is propelled by three or four 

 pairs of light oars. These curraghs float like bubbles 

 on the water when empty, but with four men in them, 

 and each using a pair of oars, they are easily managed, 

 and will go through a great deal of bad weather. They 

 are about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide, and are used 

 for the line fishing. 



On the west coast of Ireland we come among a class 

 of men, a large proportion of whom are in a state of 

 extreme poverty, and whose lives are spent in various 

 occupations, such as farming, seaweed cutting, &c., 

 besides the occasional one of fishing. In very many 

 cases, when the fish appear on the coast, these men 

 have few means of catching them, and when fortune 

 favours the fishermen, there is frequently no way of 

 disposing of their catch to advantage. It seems almost 

 hopeless to expect much development of the fisheries 

 on this coast, although at times fish are abundant 

 there. It is from this part that emigration has done 

 so much to thin the population; but now that the 

 American labour market has been over supplied, and 

 many of the Irish are returning to their homes, it is 

 difficult to say what will be the effect on those who 

 have had little heart or inclination for anything but to 

 follow their friends abroad. 



Gal way has been conspicuous for many years for the 

 greater success of its fisheries. The lawless habits of 



