Ward & Lock's descriptive and pictorial guide to the Isle of Man ...

Guide to the Isle of Man.already visited, and passing the Railway Station, but not crossingthe bridge, Ave turn to the left along the North Quay bythe side of the harbour, and so begin an exploration ofThe Old Town,differing widely in aspect from the town of terraces, hotels,and broad thoroughfares, which has grown up by its side.The old houses on the Quay, irregularly built, but picturesquefrom the very irregularity, are separated from the harbour bya narrow road, paved with cobbles. Small trading vesselsand fishing boats lie in the harbour, which is nearly dry atlow tide, and presents a not very attractive display of mud.At high tide a ferry-boat affords means of communicationwith Ihe opposite quay. The most attractive feature of thispart of the town is theMarket Place,which, especially on Saturday, the market day, presents anovel and pleasing aspect. It is very small, and closed inon three sides by dilapidated houses and the little oldchurch, St. Matthew's, There are stalls for the sale of meat,vegetables, fruit, fish and many other articles. Thither manyof the visitors wend to buy their dinners ;and to carry awaythree or four mackerel, with a twig through their gills, israther " the right sort of thing." The fish sold are fresh fromthe sea, and in all the beauty of colour. Mackerel, evenin inland towns, a day after they have quitted "the briny,"are handsome fish, and herrings are silvery bright even inLondon or Manchester ;but the real beauty of mackerel isonly exhibited when they are first taken, and on the stallsof Douglas market they show all their beauty of colour.Other fish, too, in great variety are there, some quite strangeto the visitor from England ; and while the purchaser ismaking a selection, and bargaining with the stall-keepers—not much bargaining is required, for tliey are singularly fairdealing—up comes, in hot haste, a burly snn-tanned fisherman,with a fresh catch, some still wriggling in the deathagony. In the market-place, as elsewhere in the town, wehave abundant opportunity for noting the fact that theherring is the great staple of the island. Here (and stillmore so at Peel, as Ave shall see in good time) the herringis almost ubiquitous. Carts laden with the fish, resplendentin its silver sheathing, traverse the streets ; housekeepersbuy hen-ings by hundreds at a time, for pickling purposes ;in open sheds by the Quay, and in the back streets, dozens of