16 MEMOIR OF THE LATE ROBERT BALL, LL. D. 
“ On our way to this cottage (the Corrib Hotel) several fine Sphin- 
gidse passed us. They were large, and of a bright brown colour, but 
were too smart for me, though, at the risk of my neck, I jumped off the 
car and gave chase.” 
Next morning they started for Corrig, driving along Lough Corrib: 
—“ Arriving near Corrig, we went to see the Pigeon Hole, a cavern, 
the descent to which is by many steps. Through it runs a pure river ; 
it was shown to us by a woman of perhaps seventy or eighty years of 
age. She added much to the wildness of the scene, being a shrivelled 
hag of considerable activity ; in this visit she did not cut as picturesque 
an appearance as when first I saw her, last year. It was late at night, 
and she had her gray hair hanging dishevelled on her back, her body 
almost naked, more concealed by smut and smoke than by clothing. 
As she stood on a dark black rock at the end of the cavern in the foam 
of the subterrene cataract, I thought her more like the witches of ro¬ 
mance than anything I had ever seen, as she waved her blazing wisps 
of straw around her head, rendering the dark depths of the caves 
partially visible. In the river running through this cave are trout, 
which the people call holy fish. To try the effect of the echo, I fired 
a pistol, at which the hag fell flat in squeamish nervousness. A fool, 
who wanders in that region, and had come into the cave, said, ‘ Try a 
shot at the trout.’ I proceeded to load, and had scarcely commenced 
when a dark cloud came over the sun, that had just been shining 
brightly, and prevented our seeing the fish that had, an instant before, 
been very conspicuous. I fired at random, and instantly the sun shone 
out again, and there was the fish with his head to the stream quite un¬ 
scathed. This curious coincidence, I am sure, must have added to the 
faith of the country people who were looking on, and who would 
probably have less compunction in committing a murder than in killing 
one of these fish.” 
Prom this the travellers made their way to Tuam, and thence to 
Dublin, experiencing no greater annoyance than a miserable dinner, and 
the inconvenience of six in a coach, including an old woman with a hen 
under her arm! 
In 1836 Mr. Ball attended the meeting of the British Association 
at Bristol, and there met for the first time Amelia Gresley Hellicar; to 
this lady, the daughter of Thomas Hellicar, Esq., merchant, of Bristol, 
he was afterwards married. In the spring of 1837 he had an attack of 
scarlatina, which left behind it so great a weakness of the eyes as to 
oblige him to abandon all business, and give them total rest. This he 
did by going for a month to his father’s house in Youghal. Later in 
the year he spent some time with scientific friends at Paris ; and, after 
taking part in the Liverpool meeting of the Association, proceeded to 
Bristol. There his marriage took place on the 21st September of that 
year. 
A letter to his father, dated in 1837, mentions that he had been 
appointed one of the Secretaries of the Zoological Society of Ireland. 
Prom that time forward, during all the vicissitudes of the next twenty 
