250 On the Pollan of Lough Neagh. 



bouring pier. They altogether filled five one-horse carts, and were 

 sold on the spot at the rate of 3s. 4d. a hundred, producing L. 23, 

 6s. 8d. From 3s. 4d. to 4s. a hundred, has been the ordinary price 

 this season at the lake side, or directly from the fishermen ; some 

 years ago, it was so low as Is. 8d. a hundred, but at that time the regu- 

 lar system of carriage to a distance, as now adopted, did not exist. At 

 the former rates, they are purchased by carriers, who convey them 

 for sale to the more populous parts of the neighbouring country, and 

 to the towns within a limited distance of the lake. They are brought 

 in quantities to Belfast, and when the supply is good, the cry of 

 " fresh pollan" prevails even to a greater extent than that of " fresh 

 herring," though both fishes are in season at the same period of the 

 year. In the month of June 1834, 50 hundreds (61500 individuals) 

 of pollans and 1251bs. weight of trout were taken at one draught of 

 a net, at another part of the lake, near Ram's island, which was the 

 most successful capture made there for twenty-four years. In 1834, 

 this fish was more abundant than ever before known. Like the 

 gwyniad and vendace, the pollan dies very soon after being taken 

 from the water,* and likewise keeps for a very short time. It is not 

 in general estimation for the table, but is, I think, a very good and 

 well-flavoured fish. 



Though permanently resident, the pollan is very far from being 

 generally diffused throughout Long Neagh, and, unlike the herring, 

 shows but little caprice in the parts of the shore it periodically ap_ 

 proaches, rarely appearing in places bordering its chief haunt, and 

 which offer to our view in every respect a similar character. An ex- 

 ample of this is afforded by a comparison of the beach, between the 

 river Mayola and Toome, where it rarely occurs, and that from the 

 Six-mile- water to Shane's Castle, its favourite resort. A few houses 

 contiguous to the latter locality were, so long as they existed, dig- 

 nified with the name of Pollan's Town ; but within the last few 

 years, they have been pulled down to make way for " the park's ex- 

 tended bounds." t 



In the months of November and December, this fish deposits its 

 spawn where the lake presents a hard or rocky bottom. On the 4th 

 of December 1835, a quantity of the largest pollans I have seen 

 were brought to Belfast market. Several which I obtained for ex- 



* Pennant states this of the gwyniad, and Sir William Jardine of the vendace, 

 (Edin. Journ of Nat. and Geog. Science.) Dr Knox, however, says of the lat- 

 ter species, " that they live as long as most fishes on being removed from the 

 water." — Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edin. Vol. xii. p. 505. 



f Shane's Castle Park, the seat of Earl O'Neill. 



