238 SPORT AMONGST THE MOUNTAINS 



salmou-rod, and a landing-net of portentous dimen- 

 sions, so huge that it looks more suitable for Og, 

 king of Bashan, or Goliath of Gath, than for 

 any modern mortal : but it is not upon record that 

 those large gentlemen ever studied the quaint pages 

 of " The Contemplative Man's Eecreation." Two 

 chairs off me lies my old creel, which had eleven 

 good sea-trout in it yesterday, but now contains 

 only my precious fly-book, its cover shiny with 

 hundreds of rrlitteriniij scales of the beautiful fish, 

 which I shall be at no pains to remove ; for when 

 I am far away from these charming scenes those 

 scales shall remind me of the river and the lough, 

 of the mountains and the heather, of the grouse and 

 the snipe, and of the genial companions it has been 

 my good luck to meet in old Ireland. 



A little beyond my fishing-basket is a sideboard 

 which is littered with central-fire cartridges, tins of 

 powder, and bags of shot. It is also adorned by 

 one or two short clay pipes, and by a " billy-cock " 

 hat, which, like almost every other hat in this inn, 

 is covered with the most approved " casts " of 

 salmon and trout-flies. In the corner, by the side- 

 board, two more rods and another landing-net ; on 

 the floor, sundry and divers pairs of sturdy-looking 

 shooting boots. Next we come to a big salmon- 

 creel, three central-fire guns, and a muzzle-loader ; 



