The approach of the herrings to the bay of Galway is known by various signs, such as the appearance of vast numbers of those fowls that feed on herrings, and their making an unusual noise; by a great take of cod, hake, or black pollock, who follow the herrings; by the luminous appearance of the sea at night, and other signs known to the fishermen. When the appearance of the fish has been ascertained, the admiral of the fishermen dispatches boats to prevent all the boats in the bay from going out until his permission is obtained. Any persons presuming to act contrary to his orders are punished with the loss of boats and nets, and probably a sound drubbing. When it is his pleasure, an evening is appointed, and all the boats in the surrounding bay assemble at the Cloddagh, near Galway, or meet them on the way to the amount of 500 or upwards, and all sail out together, and preserve a profound silence until they arrive on the fishing ground; and a charming sight it is. Upon a signal given by the admiral's boat, they all at once drop their nets. As the great scull of herrings divide shortly after they enter the bay, and fill every creek and inlet of it, much time is lost by this nonsensical and tyrannical parade, for it is well known by the owners of small boats in those creeks many days before the admiral signifies his high and mighty pleasure, but they dare not fish. In my Survey of Clare, I have detailed the same silly regulations by the Shannon fishermen. Government, well aware of this abuse, have appointed an officer to prevent the ill effects of such arbitrary nonsense, and they can now, I believe, fish when it suits their purpose.

The bay of Galway, which extends from Black Head to Sline Head, abounds with fish of various kinds, such as turbot, sole, johndory, plaise, flounders, flukes, hallybut, skate, cod, haddock, hake, ling, whiting, salmon, mullet, bass, white and black pollock (called black

nuns), bream, mackrel, horse-mackrel, red and grey gurnard, nurse, scolobert, rock fish, sand eel, conger eel, silver eel, and lobsters, cray fish, crabs, oysters, cockles, razor fish, scollops, &c. &c. From the great abundance of hakes, this bay has been called the bay of hakes. There are at least 500 fishing boats belonging to this bay, besides those belonging to the Cloddagh fishermen, who have between 200 and 250, employing upwards of 2500 hands, who live almost entirely by fishing of various kinds. Before the year 1790 their boats were small, but since that period they have increased them to fourteen tons, with which they are now able to go to Limerick, Westport, Sligo, &c. Prior to this enlargement they seldom ventured beyond the islands of Arran, and on the appearance of a squall ran into the first sheltered creek they could make, and frequently lost their market. It is generally imagined that the fishing bank extends from Cleggan bay, on the coast of Cunnamara, to Newfoundland, and abounds with cod; but the boats are too small to encounter that part of the sea where the best fish abound. The late Rev. Mr. Russell, who paid great attention to this subject, informed me, that a fisherman that he knew set his lines for ling in the usual place near the island of Bafin ; he had so little success that he removed his lines to a considerable distance further into the Atlantic ocean; the consequence was the loss of almost all his lines by the extraordinary weight of fish. He took advantage of the hint, and made a great deal of money, whilst his neighbours still continued peddling near shore. Vessels from England, Scotland, Cork, &c. wait for cargoes of fish, which they cure and make a great profit of. If the merchants of Galway possessed a proper spirit of enterprize this profit should centre in their pockets, and they would long since have formed an extensive fishing company, and not see themselves

disgraced by frequent advertisements of "Scotch herrings just arrived." This is likely to be accomplished in Cunnamara on an extensive scale, on Mr. D'Arcey's estate; the report of which I have before given.—A fishing company is in a state of progress, under a system of regulations and bounties, that promise to reward the great exertions made for this purpose by the late collector, the Hon. William Le Poer Trench, whose unceasing endeavours to promote every plan beneficial to the town met with frequently an illiberal opposition.

Galway, in the year 1576, had a great import of wines and other commodites from Spain, all paid for in fish. The Spaniards and Dutch also fished on our coasts at a very early period, which caused an act to be made in 1465 to prevent them. Philip II. of Spain, agreed to pay £1000. per annum to the Irish treasury for liberty to fish on the Irish coast. In the time of Charles I. the Dutch agreed to pay £30,000. for a similar license, as a further proof of what value foreigners considered this permission. In 1650, as a great favour, Sweden was permitted to fish, provided she did not employ more than 1000 vessels. At some seasons turbot are in great plenty, and reasonable, and are, or were lately brought by the mail coaches to Dublin; but soles and other flat fish are not in that plenty they might be, if from a ridiculous prejudice of the fishermen, trawling was not prevented in the bay, which abounds with such fish; they say that it disturbs the spawn upon which they feed. If this is correct, they should encourage the disturbance of it to induce turbot, soles, &c. to come after their food, for it is generally agreed that the spawn is mostly of black pollock, a worthless fish. It is well known that on the coast of England, where trawling has been practised for centuries, no diminution has taken place, and the company now so laudably established at Dublin, show the great advantages of the practice, for black soles, that

were formerly very dear, are now to be had for a trifling sum. The Galway fishermen cannot suppose that the spawn of all the fish in the Atlantic ocean is deposited in the bay of Galway. Should they not rather consider it as one of the bountiful dispensations of Providence as a means of providing a delicate and nutritious article of food. It would be probably of much more consequence to enlarge the size of the meshes of their trawls, by which the destruction of the small fish would be avoidedTo fishing in rivers and lakes with nets whose meshes are small, may be attributed the increasing scarcity of trout and salmon: it is a well established fact, either passed over or smiled at (as I shall probably be) by gentlemen, that every countryman, and even their own game keepers, will kill every fish in the net; trouts not larger than sprats, and eels not larger than a straw. They should pay particular attention to the nets of their sportsmen, and never suffer them to kill at any time more than is necessary for use, by way of amusement, and to shew their superior skill in catching fish. In 1811 the fishermen of Galway, (a mulish race, aided by those whose education should have placed them on higher ground, petitioned the lord lieutenant against Captain Morris, commander of the Townsend revenue cruiser, who with several other gentlemen had established a trawl boat for fishing for turbot in Galway bay. It was referred to the commissioners of customs; who, after investigating the business minutely, gave it as their opinion, "That Captain Morris's conduct has been productive of much public good, and that the charges made by the fishermen are unsupported, and that he is a most zealous, active, and attentive officer."

In the Galway Weekly Advertiser we have the following strong proof of the indolence of the Galway fishermen :-" We may consider that our herring fishery is over for this season; our boatmen would not

go out until the take was over every where else, and now that the weather is broke, and the nights getting long, it will be impossible for the miserable craft they go to sea in to stand the heavy seas on this coast. These unfortunate people cannot be persuaded that it would be wise to take herrings during the fine weather in the months of May, June, and July; and even last week, although the weather was favourable, they staid at home; Monday, 4th September, being the fair day, they would not go out, and having got drunk they lost the whole week. In any other part of the world the boats would have gone out on Sunday night, and would have had three or four thousand pounds worth of fish to sell at the fair, and by that means have kept a large portion of the money received here on that day in the town, as many persons from the country would have taken home a load of fish. We have long deplored the loss we sustained for want of a protecting force for the peaceable fishermen of this bay; but it seems in vain, although we have commissioners of fisheries, with all their subordinate officers, aided by new acts of parliament, still the pirates command the bay, and prevent this town and neighbourhood from enjoying the blessings of a free fishing. When we had Captain Morris stationed here, he protected the fishery; and such persons as wished to go out every night were secured against assault; the consequence was, that fish in the greatest abundance were taken, and many square rigged vessels were loaded, and wealth flowed into the town, and no fish were imported here that season; every shop was full of business, and the demand for exciseable goods was very considerable, and the whole population of the town one busy scene of industry."--We do not know in what terms to speak of the ignorance and bigotry of those miserable creatures who follow the business of