rod and line throwing the fly, but I did not see them land any fish. Apropos of this salmon-leap. It is commonly said that "there is no accounting for tastes." A sensible and travelled gentleman, who wrote a "Tour in Ireland"-'tis sixty years since,says "the Giants' Causeway is an object which is scarcely worth going so far to see; but the salmonleap at Ballyshannon is a scene of such a singular nature as is not to be found elsewhere, and is as peculiar to Ireland as bull-fights are to Spain."

There is but a single street deserving the name of one at Ballyshannon, in which the hotel is situated. It slopes down to the river, and at the foot of it is the narrow, ill-constructed bridge, close to which, on the right, stands the barracks. There is, however, another street on the opposite side of the river, and nearly parallel to it. The only building that attracted my attention, besides the barracks, was the church, which stands on an eminence just above the salmon-leap, apart from the town. It is a plainlooking structure.

Not far from Ballyshannon, on the sea-side, is a little watering-place called Bundoran, which they say is much resorted to; and such would appear to be the case, as no less than three cars, which passed through the town on their way to Enniskillen at different periods of the morning, were quite full. I could not, therefore, obtain a seat, and was compelled to wait till the afternoon, and then to proceed by the mail; and as it is of some importance to know

"how one travels in Ireland," I cannot do better than give you another specimen of this day's proceedings.

The Enniskillen mail was drawn by three horses, one being driven as a leader, which was not easily managed, as is rarely the case when harnessed with only one leader. He was a violent-tempered, furious kicker, and could only be kept quiet, as to his heels, by dint of flogging and making him do his work. Going down hill, when the traces became slack, and he felt himself somewhat at liberty, he was particularly unruly; and the driver was therefore compelled to flog him into a gallop, at which frightful pace we descended the hills. Just as we had reached the foot of one of them in safety, and were ascending the next, we stopped to receive a bag of letters, and at this very moment it was discovered that the fore axletree was broken in two, holding together only by a splinter, and the fore wheels spreading out on either side; the coach was so disabled that it could not even be moved, but was obliged to be left in the midst of the high road. The guard mounted one of the horses, and rode away towards Enniskillen with the mail, while the coachman, as we afterwards found, mounted another, and went back to Ballyshannon to procure a fresh coach; it being absolutely necessary that one should be at Enniskillen to bring away the mail the following morning.

It was no small consolation to find that I had

escaped with my limbs unbroken, and I may say with something more serious; for, being seated on the box, if the axletree had broken one minute sooner when galloping down the hill, both the coachman and myself must inevitably have been thrown between the horses: of this I can speak from experience, having when a boy, as you know too well, been thrown from the box of your carriage by a similar accident, when both wheels passed over me, and I narrowly escaped with my life.

Leaving our baggage in the coach, three other passengers and myself decided to walk on to the nearest place, where we hoped to procure a car. This was the little village of Belleek, between three and four miles from Ballyshannon. We went to a decent-looking house, a sort of inn, where we had been told that a car was likely to be obtained. It is true there was one; but in vain were our entreaties for the use of it, as it was unfortunately engaged for a certain hour of the afternoon, and could not be parted with. The good woman of the house seemed, as I thought, to waver, and I used all my persuasive eloquence with her daughters, two fine bouncing girls, to assist us in our difficulties, but with no success. It happened, luckily, that one of our passengers was well known in those parts, and through his activity we got a car, and not without great difficulty a horse, one that, by much persuasion, and a valuable consideration, we prevailed on the owner to take out of a cart, in which the

poor creature had been worked, so at least we suspected, all the morning, and on we jogged at a very slow pace towards Enniskillen.

We were not suffered to remain long in making the discovery, how hopeless a case it was that the animal could ever reach Enniskillen; but, after halting on the road to feed him, we contrived to get as far as the place where the mail was to change horses. Here we found two horses, the guard having ridden on with one, and we all used our utmost endeavours to get possession of another; the ostler, however, was determined against us, and argued that if the mail should come up and find only one horse to draw it, he should never hear the last of it, while we, on the other hand, endeavoured to quiet his conscience, and to assure him that there was no chance of the mail coming that evening; in fact, we were not then aware that the coachman had gone back, after we left him, for another coach. However, in the midst of the argument up drove the coach, greatly to the amusement of the ostler, who had the laugh against us; and quitting the car we proceeded on to Enniskillen, where, driving along the shores of Lough Erne, a noble lake, of which I must endeavour to give you some account in my next, we arrived some two or three hours after our time, about sunset.

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LETTER VIII.

ENNISKILLEN AND LOUGH ERNE.

Meet with an Old Friend-Description of Enniskillen-Of the Upper Lough-Of the Lower Lough-Its height above the Sea-Soundings-Nature of the Shores-Objects of the Survey -Castle Coole-Florence Court-Lord Enniskillen's Race

ground · Devenish Island - Round Tower and sculptured Human Head-Ruined Church-Ely Lodge-Lough Derg and view of Take leave of my Friends-And of the Province of Ulster-General View of—Advantages over other Provinces.

Enniskillen, 9th September, 1835.

IMMEDIATELY on my arrival at Enniskillen I learnt from the waiter at the inn, that frequent inquiries had been made after me by my friend Lieut. Beechey, who, in conjunction with Lieut. Wolfe, both of the navy, were employed during the summer months in making a careful survey of Lough Erne. Enniskillen was of course their head-quarters; and on proceeding to their lodgings, I thought myself most fortunate to find them at home, especially as I understood that they were often away for three weeks together in their cutter towards the lower extremity of the lough.

It is a great pleasure at all times to fall in with an old friend, more particularly so when tra