their countenances.'

'Ah, Teigue; I know

rightly you do not like unco people, for fear that a gauger might be amongst them'- Ah, then, now, is it I fear a gauger ?—Teigue O'Gallaghan, fear a gauger!-no, nor a Commissioner from Dublin Custom-house, barring he had army and guns at his back-not I by my troth, for its little I'd matter just taking one of them by the waistband of the breeches and filluping him, do you see, into the middle of the lake, and there leave him to keep company with the trouts-no, no; but the likes of you-no offence master, the likes of you I mean, not in the inside, but teeth outwards, might come and give information, and put dacent people to trouble, and be after bringing the army here to this quiet place and put us out of our way and all that.'

'Well, Teigue, you know me don't you?'—' I do your honour, and am sartain sure that you are true and of the right sort, and every inch about you honest. Well, Teigue; I want to get this gentleman, who is a friend of mine, on the lake; he desires to get into a

boat to see its beauties more conveniently, besides he has a longing wish to see how the hearty drop is made, can you indulge him?' "That I will, and a thousand welcomes; so away he went towards the point of the rock which jutted out into the water, and putting his finger to his mouth, he sent forth a whistle that sounded over the lake, and thus reverberating, echoed from bay to bay, and multiplied itself through the glens and gorges of the mountains; at the same time he made some telegraphic signal, and in a minute we saw a boat push off from the island of Smoke. While Teigue was absent, I asked my friend who he was?-why, says he, that is one of the most comfortable and independent fellows in all this mountain district-he exerts a muscular and moral influence over the people; he has a great deal of sense, a great deal of determination; a constant view to his own interest; and luckily he considers that interest best promoted, by keeping the country in peace. Those that fall out he beats into good humour, and when the weight of his argument

cannot prevail, the weight of his fist enforces compliance with his wishes. Then he is the 'patron of illicit distillation - he is co-partner in the venture, and is the watchful guardian over its process; there is not a movment of a gauger that he does not make himself acquainted with; there is not a detachment leaves a village or town that he has not under watch, and before a policeman, or a red coat, comes within three miles of these waters, all would be prepared for them; still and worm sunk; malt buried; barrels and coolers disposed of, and the boat scuttled. There is not a man in Ireland lives better in his own way, than Teigue; his chests are full of meal, the roof of his kitchen is festooned with bacon; his byre is full of cows; his sheep range on a hundred hills; as a countryman said to me the other day, "Teigue O'Gallaher is the only man of his sort in Donegal that eats white bread, toasted, buttered, and washed down with tea for his breakfast."

In the mean time the boat came near, and Teigue joined us, and after some difficulty in

getting aboard from the rocks, and adjusting ourselves in proper trim in the most frail bark, that perhaps was ever launched on water, we rowed out into the lake; and here really the apparent peril of our situation, deprived me of the pleasure that might otherwise be enjoyed in the picturesque scenery around; the bottom of the boat was covered with water, which oozed in through a sod of turf, that served as a plug to a hole in its bottom, the size of my head; and Teigue O'Gallagher who sat at the head of the boat surrounded by his dripping dogs, almost sunk it to the gunwale, and every now and then, the dogs uneasy at their confinement, tumbled about and disturbed our equilibrium; if a gust of wind had come, as it often does on a sudden from the hills, we should have been in a perilous state. As it was, the two young men who rowed us, and who it is to be supposed could swim, enjoyed our nervous state, and out of fun told us stories of sudden hurricanes, and of the dangers and deaths that have happened to navigators

on this lake; we, therefore, declined a protracted expedition, and only desired to be landed on the island, where we arrived in a short time, and then had opportunity of witnessing the arcana of illicit distillation. The island that at a distance looked so pretty with its copsewood, its sheeling, and its wreathing smoke, when we reached it, presented as ugly and disgusting a detail as possible; and a Teniers or a Cruikshank, could only do justice to the scene, and present a lively picture of its uncouth accompani

ments.

A half roofed cabin, in which was a raging fire, over which was suspended the pot with its connected head and worm; two of the filthiest of human beings, half naked, squalid unhealthy looking creatures, with skins encrusted with filth, hair long, uncombed, and matted, where vermin, of all sorts seemed to quarter themselves and nidificate; and where (as Burns says,) "horn or bone ne'er dare unsettle their thick plantations ;" these were the operatives of the filthy process which