CHAPTER IX. Ballymaffey.-Mount Charles.-More about the herring fisheries.Effects of the bounty.-Whale-fishery.-Scenery of Ballyshannon,— A salmon-leap.-Castle Caldwell.-Middlemen.-Juvenile pilfering.Flax-spinning-Scenery around Castle Caldwell.-Lough Earne.-Inniskilling.—The Earl of Ross at Belle Isle, AUGUST 9th, to Convoy,' where I was so unfortunate as to find Mr. Montgomery from home; passing on to Ballymaffey, I met that gentleman's oxen drawing sledge cars of turf, single with collars, and worked to the full as well as the horses. They deserved wheels however. On the other side of Ballymaffey, it is curious to observe, how, as you advance towards the mountains, cultivation gradually declines'; it is chequered with heath, till at last the heath is chequered with cultivation, spots of green, on the mountain sides, surrounded by the dreary wilderness; but there are no inclosures. The waste is exceedingly improvable; all the tract on the left before I came to the lake, and also beyond it, might easily be made excellent; it is bog, with a great fall every where, extends beyond the lake to the mountain foot, and is from 10 to 20 feet deep; rises in perfect hills, yet all bog. Lime is to be had here from 6d. to 1d. a barrel six miles off. I had two accounts, one of 6d. and the other of 8d., but clayey gravel is to be had every where on the spot. The road leads across the bog, and is made of it. I remarked in several places little bogs, forming spots of moss growing on the water, and in some places rotting, with other plants growing out of that. Cars may go three or four times a day for lime, and bring three barrels at a time. I was the more attentive to this bog, because it appeared to me to be one of the most improvable I had seen, and the size of it makes it an object worth the attention of some spirited improver; it is not every where that so decisive a fall is met with for ren 1 Convoy, near Raphoe, co. Donegal. 'Ballymaffey is apparently a mistake for Ballybofey, co. Donegal. dering the drains effective; the distance from lime is advantageous. Suppose a car, 18. a day, and to bring eight barrels, carriage of it then is 1d. a barrel, and suppose the lime 74d., in all 9d., 160, at that price, comes to £6, at which rate I am clear it would answer to lay any quantity on to such bogs as these. I had often heard of roads being made over such quaking bogs, that they move under a carriage, but could scarcely credit it; I was, however, convinced now, for in several places, every step the horse set, moved a full yard of the ground in perfect heaves. Got to a miserable cabbin on the road, the widow Barclay's, which I had been assured was an exceeding good inn, but escaped without a cold, or the itch. August 10th, got to Alexander Montgomery's Esq., at Mount Charles,' Lord Conyngham's agent, by breakfast; found he was so deeply engaged in the fisheries on this coast, that I could not have got into better hands; with great civility he gave me every intelligence I wished; as an introduction to it, he took me a ride to the bays on the coast, where the fisheries are most carried on, particularly Inver bay, Macswine's bay, and Killibeg's bay. The coast is perfectly sawed by bays; the lands are high and bold, particularly about Killibegs, where the scenery is exceedingly romantic, and if the multiplicity of hills upon hills, and rocks, were planted, would be one of the most beautiful spots that can be imagined. The state of the fisheries inay be judged from the number of boats employed in the several stations: For a comparison, I insert the following list of seafaring men in Baltimore Ireland, 1695. Seamen. Fishermen. Boatmen. Total. Papista Donaghadee, whereof In Inverbay only of the above, there is a summer fishery for herrings, which begins the latter end of July, and ends the beginning of September. All the other places are winter fisheries, which begin in October, and end early in January, lasting eight weeks. Every boat costs £18 to £20 and has six shares of nets, at £3 to £3 38. each: the nets all made of hemp, from the Baltic, which cost, dressed, 8d. a pound, fit for spinning: 33 lb. of it in a share of nets: 4d. a pound paid for spinning it, or 11s. a share: weaving the nets 1d. a yard for one sling, or 63 meshes deep, 200 yards running measure, at that depth, in each share. Six hands in each boat, a skipper, and five men. In the common practice, a boat is divided into seven shares, the boat one; each net, half a one, and each man half: in which way they divide the produce, which vibrates between £10 and £100; average £35, or per week 10s. a man. These boats belong, in general, to the common inhabitants of the country, farmers, &c. The other way of carrying the fishery on is, that those who have vessels on the bounty, fit them out at their own expence, and pay the skipper £1 ils. 6d. a month, and the commou men 20s. a month; each a pair of trowsers, at 4s. 6d. feed them with as much potatoes, beef, and pork, as they will eat, and plenty of whiskey, which all together, comes to 20s. a month. The repairs of the boat and tackling are large, for all are built of fir, they come to £3 per annum per boat, and the nets Mr. Montgomery uses two seasons, and then sells them for half price. In this manner of fishing, the boats catch each, on an average, 100,000 herrings, which is 1,600 herrings a night, but the common boats of the country, not so well fitted up, take only 80,000. They are cured in bulk, that is packed into the holds of the vessels, from 20 to 100 tons each, and are sold all over the coast of Ireland. The quantity of salt necessary to the 80,000 herrings, which each boat catches, is 7 tons, at the price of £2 14s. a ton; this is the price at which Mr. Montgomery sells, who has established considerable salt-works, making 450 tons annually, and has by this means reduced the salt, from £3 10. to £5 down to £2 14s. The vessels employed on this fishery, for the bounty, are from 30 to 100 tons. A vessel of 100 tons, carries in bulk 500,000 herrings, or the produce of five boats; these calculations are in reference only to the average of nights and seasons; Mr. Nesbit's vessel, of 60 tons, has been loaded by four boats, in three nights, and Mr. Montgomery has taken 100,000 in one night, with two nets, but these are extraordinary instances. The parliamentary bounty is 20s. a ton, but there must be four men for the first 20 tons, and one for every 8 tons over, the owners of the vessels employ no more boats, than to enable them, by the crews, to draw the bounty; and what these men are not able to get, they buy of the country boats, at an average of 58. a 1,000, which all are clear, answers much better than having boats of their own. Account of a vessel of 100 tons. Building 2 boats, at £19 called 2. Nete. £38 0 0 38 0 0 Carried forward £76 0 0 Brought forward £76 0 0 The boats are 19 to 21 feet keel, 7 feet 4 broad, and 3 feet 4 in depth. The nets are 120 fathom long at the rope, and 7 feet deep. Building, rigging, and fitting out a vessel of 100 tons, £700. Interest of that sum, at 6 per cent. Repairing of two boats Ditto nets 4 10 0 6 0 0 4 10 0 Wages of twelve men, at 20s. two months Board ditto 52 14 0 N.B.-The two boats are supposed to catch, each 100,000, remain therefore Packing, salting, &c., four men, at ls. a day, 48 days If vessels are hired to carry them to markets, the price is 5d. a 100 for freight, or 48. 2d. a 1,000, and £104 38. 2d. per cargo for 100 tons. Interest on that sum for six months, at 6 per cent. At the ports they sell from 10s. to 358. per 1,000, on an average at 23s. a 1,000, 500,000 at that price And this account extends only six months from the first expenditure of the money, to the receipt from the cargo. If the vessel is the merchant's own, then the account will be as |