£ 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 ERRIS AND TYRAWLY, 
 
 ILLUSTRATJVE OK THE 
 
 SCENERY, ANTIQUITIES, ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS, 
 
 AND THE MANNERS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY. 
 
 REV. CiESAR OTWAY, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SKETCHES IN IRELAND," "A TOUR IN CONNAUGHT," ETC. 
 
 NEW EDITION, 
 WITH A MAP AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 THOMAS CONNOLLY, 6, CHANCERY-PLACE. 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, AND CO., LONDON. 
 1850. 
 
47208 
 
 j? AW 
 
 pel 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 The Volume I now offer to the public is, in 
 a measure, a continuation of my " Tour in 
 Connaught," and a fulfilment of an engage- 
 ment to my publishers to supply them with 
 a description of Erris. And here I am free 
 to acknowledge, that, being obliged to make 
 my tour at a certain period of the year, I 
 for two successive seasons found the weather 
 so unfavourable as to preclude me from going 
 as far as I proposed, or observing what, under 
 other circumstances, might have been within 
 my scope. This statement, if it be an apology 
 for not writing a larger work, may be acceptable 
 enough to those who must read ; and it at any 
 rate affords me an opportunity of offering a 
 friendly hint to those who would travel — 
 namely, avoid our Far West in the autumn, 
 for then Mackintosh himself cannot provide 
 you with "appliances and means" to keep 
 you dry and comfortable. No ; the month 
 of June is the tourist's time for Connaught, 
 for then is his best and, indeed I may say, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 only chance of clear skies, dry ground, and 
 smooth seas. I have, in the course of twenty- 
 five years, visited the north-west of Con- 
 naught six times : on five of these occasions 
 circumstances forced me to fix on the months of 
 August and September, and I then invariably 
 found the weather wet and stormy ; on the sixth, 
 which was the time I visited Achill Island, it 
 was the latter end of the month of May, and the 
 season was as auspicious as I could possibly 
 desire. 
 
 For my personal inabilities I have endeavoured 
 to make up by seeking for information from 
 friends upon whom I could rely, and I have been 
 favoured with what I deem worthy of acceptance 
 with the public, and more than sufficient to supply 
 my deficiencies. The information I sought I most 
 readily received from Archdeacon Verschoyle, 
 who has written a valuable paper (published in 
 the Transactions of the Geological Society) on 
 the geology of the north coast of Mayo and 
 Sligo. Of this work it may be said, that in the 
 soundness of its views, the clearness of its state- 
 ments, and the accuracy of its illustrations, it is 
 a model for all future local geological notices of 
 our island ; from him I not only received much in- 
 formation, but also some of the drawings, with 
 wood-cuts of which my work is illustrated. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 From Lieutenant Henri, commander of the 
 coast-guard station at Doonkeegan (a naval 
 officer who has resided in Erris for nineteen 
 years, and who, to an accurate knowledge of his 
 profession, has acquirements, scientific and ge- 
 neral, which I have seldom seen combined in 
 any officer in the service, either military or naval) 
 I have received also large assistance, and more 
 drawings than my publishers thought it neces- 
 sary to engrave. I also am equally indebted to 
 Mr. George Crampton, the agent of Mr. Carter, 
 one of the great landed proprietors of Erris. I 
 have no reason to regret that my young friend 
 has given up his pursuit of a fellowship in Tri- 
 nity College, to settle himself in the wilds of 
 Erris; his taste for antiquarian research, his 
 love for natural history, his inquiries into the 
 traditions of the people, have made him an able 
 auxiliary, and his generosity has been equal to 
 his capability. 
 
 I have no desire to have it supposed that 
 Erris has not been hitherto described. Mr. Max- 
 well, the well-known author of many agreeable 
 and usefid works, has, in his " Wild Sports of 
 the West," given sundry pleasant traits and 
 stories of that southern portion of it called 
 Ballycroy, and has, in his livery manner, called 
 attention to its wild mountain scenery, and to 
 
VU1 PREFACE. 
 
 the red deer and other scarce game that still 
 find retreats in its glens. 
 
 Mr. Knight has also, in a work which only 
 requires to be better known to be more appre- 
 ciated, given an account of Erris, and has 
 brought the knowledge which he as a civil 
 engineer acquired, during a residence of some 
 years, to bear, in showing its unimproved capa- 
 bilities, and supplying many valuable statistical 
 statements. Satisfied that Mr. Knight has 
 executed what he undertook in a business-like 
 manner, I have made no attempt to afford what 
 he has so ably and cheaply supplied. 
 
 Travelling for no object but to enjoy a little 
 relaxation from town occupations, and writing 
 for none but to occupy my evenings, I place my 
 new volume before the public, with the honest 
 wish that my readers may experience some small 
 portion of the pleasure I enjoyed in seeing, and 
 of the pastime in describing the things con- 
 tained in what follows. 
 
 CO. 
 
 Dublin, 18th May, 1841. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Pag* 
 Departure for Erris— State of weather— Tyrawly— Irish climate— 
 Crosmolina — No place for a breakfast — Nephin mountain — Great 
 bog — Mountain ranges — Entrance into Erris — Its principal river 
 —A piscatory paradise— The mountain pass— The swept-away 
 village — The last of his race — Bangor — A church set on a hill 
 —The old road— The old castle— The old tradition— The old 
 Irish similar to the red men of America in their war trophies — 
 The ball of brains— The Irish Ulysses— Christianity by anticipa- 
 tion — Royal devotion ..... .1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The aid and only pass into Erris — The procession of an Englisher 
 along that way — His aid-de-camp — The quagmire — A picture — 
 The difficulty got over — The first night in Erris — The entertain- 
 ment — The man thirsty and yet delicate — The wild woman— The 
 shake-down— The new road— The " gentry"— Bestial ghosts — 
 Smart answer of a ghost to a widower — A faction and a ruxion of 
 dead men — Lough Carrowmore — Worship of an Errisman — Doon 
 Donald described in a geological, antiquarian, and legendary way 
 — The two giants — The Irish Helen and the fairy queen 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Road from Glencastle to Belmullet— Story of a cow's ghost ! ! . r — 
 The two bogs — The Danes — The home sweet home of a poor 
 Errisman — Adaptive powers of the human frame — The newest 
 town in Ireland — A rarity in Erris — A fine day — Old names indi- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 cative of old events — A badly located, contrasted with a well- 
 placed town — Public day of baptism — Gay attire — Ancient 
 taste for yellow colours— A little prejudice— Tourists should not 
 waste their mornings — The features of the Mullet — An importer 
 of bad cattle — The queen of Erris — Its pope and its squireen — A 
 discomfortable parsonage — The cliffs — Adventurous man and a 
 poulnashanthana ; of which you will know the meaning when you 
 read the chapter . . . . . . .43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A further acquaintance with a squireen — His picture — A look out 
 on the Atlantic — Innisgloria — An unfeminine tradition — A 
 priest's liberality — Suspected by one of his own flock — Women 
 and vermin equally excommunicated by St. Brenain — No re- 
 ligious rats can live in Innisgloria — I advise certain dignitaries 
 who are not as poor as church mice to shun this island — 
 Cliff fortifications — The curse of Cromwell — The priest's leap 
 — The miracle — An important fortification of great antiquity — 
 Singular defences — The Tuatha Danaans — A man enticed by a 
 foiw — The adventure and its result — The parson's daughter — 
 amour— Her sojourn with "the gentry"— The work of an 
 11 priest— The condition of her conversion, her marriage, 
 ^x„..ichantment, and death— The enchanted country— The sub- 
 mersion of the land — A curious burying ground — A story of the 
 Irish wars — A faithful follower — The desecration of an holy place 
 —The awful fate of the perpetrators .... 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 An unpleasant pass— A Christian pony— Long legs at a discount- 
 Huge sandhills— Improvement at the wrong end— A case of an 
 animal overleaping instinct, and with what may be called ration- 
 ality adapting itself to circumstances — An ancient battle monu- 
 ment—The place of rest of a restless Munster man— I wish all 
 trouble-the- worlds even from the remotest parts of Kerry were 
 as quiet under a sandhill — Evidence of the increasing inroads of 
 the sea on the coast — A dark superstition— A way to get married 
 —Maids charming, though not fair— Trappists scared away- 
 Holy skins should not be made the devil's ginns — Ancient sepul- 
 chres—Bones half burned like those found under cromleachs— 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Page 
 Phenomena of electricity— The stone of the hag— The legend of 
 the enchanted swans of Innisgloria — Their penance, their piety, 
 and their happy death — Description of Innisgloria — The approach 
 toit — Curious remains — Image of St. Brenain, or rather St. Bren- 
 dan—The Irish the first discoverers of America— Innisgloria in 
 the vicinity of the enchanted land — Monaster Lettera — Island of 
 Inniskea — Its knaveen, when and wherefore he gets a new gar~ 
 ment — Nothing for nothing in this world — The knaveen and the 
 pirate — A broken saint almost as bad as a bankrupt banker — 
 He fails for want of credit . . . .. . .85 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A rough day — A sail up Broadhaven — Coast-guards — A kind recep- 
 tion by an able friend — A dreary ride — Portnacloy — Sea and cliff 
 scenery — Stags of Broadhaven — The crooked old woman — The 
 slipping ladies — Neptune's hall — A glorious cave — A tourist in 
 good luck — A bird caught as you would a lobster — A yarn about 
 " the gentry" spun by a seaman — Opinions of the Err is moun- 
 taineers concerning foxes, and their acts of propitiation towards 
 them— A ludicrous mistake— St. Galligan— Pious and faithful 
 friends — A person discharging many functions — The use of a 
 large telescope— Things fiscally wrong without being morally so 
 —Delights of a journey over a soft country without bridges or 
 roads on a day wet and windy — A way under water and over water, 
 only fit to be undertaken by a wild duck— C. O.'s exodus from 
 Erris .. . . . . . . .110 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Another venture on Erris— Approach to Killala— A fair— The fair- 
 sex's fair— An evening's walk— A guide— A peculiar building 
 material— The " gentry" and their eyes —A charmed churning 
 —A beggar's blessing— A friar's luck— Moyne abbey— Fine posi- 
 tion— Religious difference in the grave— A charitable lady— A 
 pious chief— An uneasy home, and ejectment without the sheriff 
 —A confessional— Too much knowledge— A bold bet— A skull's 
 ghost— A wager won— A riddance without a benefit— A daughter 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 as dutiful as beautiful— A natural curiosity— "Round tower— Has 
 a good escape of the ecclesiastical board — Episcopal good taste 
 — An old title deed — A holy well — A talk about bishops — A 
 good Protestant and good Roman Catholic prelate— A legend- 
 Truth versics tradition— Rebellion of 1798— An old cave— Druidi- 
 cal couches — A singular geological formation . . . 165 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ballycastle — The Laggan — Downpatrick Head — A dreary shore — 
 Want of improvement — Want of desire for improvement — Land- 
 lords, agents, under agents — An old castle and old road— The 
 sacred promontory — A poolnashanthana — A sad story and one 
 still sadder— An anecdote of 1798— Another of a man making a 
 bull on himself — Another concerning a Captain Bold — A digres- 
 sion, being C. O.'s confession of a disposition to shiver in very 
 shaking times— How to prime and load— A dead man's letter- 
 Thought better of it — A colic a security against cold iron— An old 
 squire's good nature and wrath ..... 208 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Downpatrick Head— Seals— A question, are they now caught ?— An- 
 swered by a story — Darby O'Dowd and his grandfather — Better be 
 a seal than a shark — A change of company — Description of the 
 headland of Downpatrick— Holy places— Shoeing of St. Patrick's 
 ass — The saint a teacher of navigation — A stronghold of the 
 Vickingyr — A great convulsion — The broken -off- fort, who was 
 the builder???— A digression about human destructiveness — 
 Anecdote concerning Staffa, a kittiwake, and a cruel smoker — 
 A rather long talk — which of course, reader, you will skip, if 
 disposed to yawn — Arguments of a geologist, an antiquarian, and 
 a legendary — The Paganee king — The Danish captain — Ancient 
 convulsons — Origin of Irish lakes — The Atlantidse — The en- 
 chanted land — A native of it caught — Philosophy inimical to 
 enchantment— The spectre of the mountains— A mermaid— The 
 king of the three kingdoms beyond Ireland — His treatment 
 of Watty O'Kelly 228 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Still at Downpatrick— Two devotees' worship of the anvil, whence 
 were forged the shoes of St. Patrick's ass— My friend Trapdyke's 
 theory comes to a fault— Ballyglen— Fin M'Coul's fingerstone 
 
 An old castle — A high altar — A curiously formed hill — A good 
 
 building material — Old Irish architects no fools — A picturesque 
 view — A poor family's destruction — A widow's lodge — A blessed 
 well^ Speculation about the geological formation of this glen — 
 Setting out on second visit to Erris — Druidical remains peculi- 
 arly abundant along the north western coast of Ireland— Now 
 in possession of " the gentry" — Their cruel treatment of a 
 poor man whose spirit was not equal to his love — Church of 
 Dunfeeny— Pillar-stone— Cliffs of Tyrawly— A tourist taken for 
 a poacher— How to conciliate an old woman 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A boating voyage along the coast of Erris, an auspicious day, 
 
 good appointments and good company — Belderrig — Benmore 
 
 Mountains cut down, height of cliffs — Headlands and bays — Dif- 
 ferent rock formations — Wild goats — Rowing up to a mountain — 
 Pass unexpectedly through a fissure — Moista Sound, description 
 —An explanation— A trap-dyke— Porturlin— Increasing magnifi- 
 cence of cliff scenery— The undertaking of a fisherman— The 
 natural arch — Another trap-dyke — Scenery — Sea birds — Uses of 
 trap-dykes— Interesting natural phenomena, — Loss of a coast- 
 guard galley — Only one saved — His great exertions — C. O.'s Sound 
 — Portnacloy— Cave of Doonminalla, or rather Henri's cave— Dif- 
 ferent appearance now from what it presented on my former visit 
 —The retreat of a loyalist in 1798, his Roman Catholic friend- 
 Ascent of a cliff— A cave of another character — Get to the top 
 
 Grand view — Eagles and their destructiveness — Anecdotes of 
 them — A brave mother — Courage of eagles and intelligence 
 — How Manus M'Grath caught two old ones — An eagle every day 
 supplies an Erris squire with his breakfast — The reasoning 
 powers of an old eagle exercised ..... 282 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Page 
 View from Benwee— A proud man made humble— Erris black mail 
 —A man-hunt and a man-setter— Thief taken in an eagle's nest 
 — Dog's fate— His character as a musician— His harmony in a 
 chapel — Though well intended not approved — Anecdote of another 
 sheep-stealer made as dead as mutton by a sheep — Dunkeegan — 
 Entrance of Broadhaven— Glengad— Cromleach and rocking- 
 stone — Fair sex of an Erris village— A promising instructress— 
 A sick youth not troubled with doctors— Tlje bloody glen— Dun- 
 carton — A giant's grave — Giants find graves in other lands besides 
 Ireland— A little antiquarian anger— Parting from a valued friend 
 —Voyage up Glenamoy river— Are ladies bathing like seals ?— 
 Scenes not very picturesque— Bog timber— How did it grow, and 
 when did it grow ?— Walk across a red bog— Bog mirage— Its 
 deceptions — Instance of a conscientious feeling— A district 
 unimproved very improvable . . . • .313 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 General observations respecting Erris— Its ancient possessors— Its 
 change of ownership— A Protestant colony— Their hardships- 
 Character of the descendants of these colonists— Stock farmers, 
 not improvers— A priest a husbandman, and why shouldn't he be ? 
 —A hint to his reverence and an anecdote— Mullet farming — A 
 gowl gob ? ? ?— Making rent by means of the tail— "Wealth with- 
 out comfort— Craft, bigot's craft— Clergy pleasing to live must 
 live to please — Consequences — 
 
 A house contrived a double debt to pay, 
 A still by night, a place of prayer by day — 
 Hugh Gallagher's stratagem won't do— State of education— Popu- 
 lation — Manners — Arguments about horses' tails, in which horses 
 are not consulted— Materia medica— Bullet bolus— Cheating the 
 devil— A kiss rough but kind— A priest overreached and angry — 
 Phil More's evasion of an oath — An evil eye and its effects, and 
 how cured— Broth as delicate as delicious— A horse cured by an 
 old woman— A cow shot by the fairies— Doctor M'Grath and his 
 drink of three halfpence . . . . • -346 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Page 
 
 Dealings of Errisians with inferior animals — Making court to 
 foxes and care for their comforts — How reynard is made a gossip 
 — An emigrating fox — Gets its passage to a foreign land gratis — 
 Cats, their parliament — Their ways and means — Can raise the 
 wind better than the chancellor of the exchequer, but like him 
 abused for what they are about — And placed in jeopardy — Anec- 
 dote of Catty Kane, her cat, and her courtier — Advice to spinsters 
 in general to take a lesson from Catty Kane — Building castles 
 for the air — Uses of asses various — An Erris trial — The cause, 
 the plaintiff and defendant — Consequences of kissing — A cure 
 —A death and a judgment— Seals— Enchanted men— A young 
 one would make a man of the Mullet his mother — Treated like 
 the hare with many friends — Owen Gallagher's adventure — His 
 arrival at the magic land — Meets one he had injured — One en- 
 chantment neutralizes the other — The seal's advice and Owen's 
 escape — Superstitions not confined to Erris or Ireland — How the 
 cholera was kept from coming by an Errisman— Use of keeping 
 one's hair — Cleanliness — Sea bathing — Observation respecting 
 the improvements of Erris— Village and rundale system— Pay- 
 ments of rent in produce not in money— Nature of Erris bogs 
 —Their capabilities — Instance of attempting to improve an in- 
 capable district — What are waste lands ? — Difficulties of Con- 
 naught landlords, and excuses for them . . . 383 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Map .... 
 
 To face Title. 
 
 Ground Plan of Dunamoa 
 
 69 
 
 Ground Plan of Antique Remains 
 
 . 99 
 
 Chapel of St. Brendan 
 
 102 
 
 Plan and Section of the Thurrows 
 
 . 105 
 
 Druidical Oval 
 
 269 
 
 Downpatrick Head and Dunbrista 
 
 . 277 
 
 Moista Sound 
 
 287 
 
 Inrusmuck 
 
 . 293 
 
 Doonmrnalla 
 
 302 
 
 Singular Shp 
 
 . 306 
 
 Cromleach .... 
 
 326 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 ERRIS AND TYRAWLY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure for Erris— State of Weather— Tyrawly— Irish Climate— Cros- 
 molina— No place for a Breakfast — Nephin Mountain— Great Bog — 
 Mountain Ranges — Entrance into Erris — Its Principal River — A Pisca- 
 tory Paradise — The Mountain Pass — Theswept-away Village — The Last 
 of his Race— Bangor— A Church set on a Hill— The Old Road— The 
 Old Castle— The Old Tradition— The Old Irish similar to the Red Men 
 of America in their War Trophies— The Ball of Brains— The Irish 
 Ulysses — Christianity by anticipation — Royal Devotion. 
 
 I left Ballina early, having an untried road before 
 me ; and the recollection of haps, hazards, and 
 stoppages in previous journeys, undertaken over 
 similar districts, determined me to take time by the 
 forelock, and be off betimes. The country was 
 covered, as is usual in broken weather in the month 
 of September, with a fog that shut out distant 
 objects. Even Nephin, the great mountain of 
 central Mayo, though within a few miles, was 
 invisible. This district, which is called Tyrawly, 
 (one of the finest in the western province, and which 
 has, or rather had, more resident gentry than any 
 of the same extent in Connaught) was now before 
 me, and I was to pass through a part I had never 
 
 B 
 
2 STATE OF WEATHER. 
 
 visited before, yet it was not observable. I could 
 just see that it was hilly, grassy, and fertile ; not 
 unlike some parts of Fermanagh or Monaghan. On 
 either side of the road were well-planted demesnes ; 
 and as the morning partially cleared up, I could 
 catch glimpses of Lough Con, with many wooded 
 promontories stretching out into it, and islands dimly 
 peeping out from the wreath of mist that mantled 
 them in indistinctness. 
 
 From what I could see, I felt convinced that in 
 favourable weather I would have found myself passing 
 through an interesting country. But such forfeits 
 must the tourist often pay in Ireland, and he should be 
 prepared for such uncertainties. To be sure, you fre- 
 quently enjoy an atmosphere delightfully transparent, 
 under which woods and waters smile in all the glories 
 of light and shade ; mountains, so singularly near 
 that you may admire the blue and purple tints of the 
 heath-flowers and campanulas on their sides ; cloud 
 scenery amusing you with its variety, and astonishing 
 you with its gorgeousness. But then, the following 
 day may come, and often the clearness of the one is 
 but a portent of the muddiness of the other ; and as 
 was now the case with me, the tourist may be sur- 
 rounded with misty curtains, hanging over the waters, 
 shrouding the mountains and hiding every thing 
 but the near and but too frequent deformities of the 
 landscape. 
 
 I approached Crosmolina about seven o'clock, and 
 could see before me, on the right, a snug house 
 standing in a green and well-planted lawn, through 
 which flowed deviously, in many a graceful bend, a 
 
CROSMOLINA. 6 
 
 fine river. This, I felt assured, was the glebe house, 
 and I had a letter of introduction to the minister, of 
 whose hospitalities I was well assured ; but I looked 
 at the windows and saw the shutters closed — no doors 
 open — no busy stir about — no smoke wreathing from 
 the chimneys. "The good man," thinks I, "don't 
 like cold foggy mornings, he is not yet risen, and, if 
 I drive up I shall rouse him from his nest, and I will 
 make & pother, and I shall not get my breakfast for 
 an hour at least, and then I must stay for another 
 hour to show I don't play the beggar's part, and quit 
 the door when hunger is satisfied. Besides, Erris audits 
 untried ways are before me, and I must not squander 
 two hours, so I'll run my chance for a breakfast at 
 the inn of Crosmohna — there must surely be one — the 
 town looms well through the mist, it must be respect- 
 able ; I see a church and steeple, a fine old ruined 
 castle hanging over the river, many slated houses — so 
 here's for a good breakfast." 
 
 Well, on I drove, my jaunting car driver asserting 
 that there was a dacent place where the quality do be 
 stopping. So on we rumbled through the dirty street, 
 whose lazy inhabitants had not yet unclosed their shop 
 windows, except here and there a whiskey house 
 open ; and you could see the dirty, lean, and squalid 
 tradesman slinking out after having taken his morn- 
 ing. 
 
 We stopt at one of the dingiest and most disgusting 
 tenements of the whole town ; there was a dark 
 smoke-stained drop coming from the reeking thatch, 
 and a foul puddle festering before the door, out of 
 which came wreathing the dense smoke of a new lit 
 
4 PROMISE OF BREAKFAST. 
 
 turf fire ; and at intervals, as the wind swept the 
 encumbering smoke away, I could see a drab of a 
 woman standing at the half door, who seemed dis- 
 posed to ask what brought me there. 
 
 " So this is the inn ?" said I to my driver. 
 
 "Yes, plaze yer honour, there's none other in the 
 town." 
 
 " Well, good woman," says I, addressing the 
 maritornes at the door, who was certainly the very 
 ideal of unseemliness — her smoke-discoloured skin, 
 apparently unacquainted with soap and water — her 
 dark eyes gleaming from under black lank hair, that 
 had escaped from out a rent in her blowsy cap, and 
 flowed in filthy profusion down her neck. — " Can I 
 get breakfast here ?" 
 
 " Yes, to be sure. What would ail yez from getting 
 it ? or what breakfast do yez want ? Will white bread, 
 butther, tay, eggs, and rashers of bacon do yez ?" 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said I, meekly, seeing she was 
 rather brisk; "but where am I to sit? not in this 
 shop, sure?" looking round ruefully where filthy beer 
 pots, tumblers grimed with last night's punch, or the 
 froth of porter, all in confusion covered a counter ; 
 and where tobacco pipes, bits of blue soap, mouldy 
 bricks of bread, and damp squares of salt, garnished 
 the shop window. 
 
 "Oh, no!" says maritornes; "it's up stairs 
 yez go : come this way." 
 
 So on she went and mounted before me a thing, 
 half stairs, half ladder, that creaked under her broad 
 foot as she ascended, and, as I proceeded with more 
 caution to drag my loftier person up the same ascent, 
 
DISAPPOINTED. 
 
 I heard the woman scolding away at some one in 
 the room she had entered in front of the landing 
 place. 
 
 With disgust mingled with curiosity I hesitatingly 
 entered the open apartment intended for my room of 
 refreshment, and what did I behold ! Why, the woman 
 forcibly dragging bed and bed clothes from a bedstead, 
 cursing and reproving all the while ; and a pair of 
 legs protruded beyond the bed post, being launched 
 with a body attached to them into the middle of the 
 floor. Now, whether those legs belonged to a male 
 or female, deponent cannot affirm — for back I at once 
 recoiled ; the frowsy smell of the apartment, together 
 with my native modesty, quite mastered my curiosity, 
 and utterly renouncing the idea of eating breakfast in 
 an apartment where legs, whether male or female, 
 were just a launching out of bed, down I scrambled the 
 step ladder — out I rushed from the house — up I 
 bounced on my jaunting car, and peremptorily de- 
 sired the driver to get on, thoroughly satisfied that 
 no stomach but that of a wolf could bear to have its 
 first meal for the day taken in such a den as this. 
 
 Having got a little onwards in the street, (for I 
 almost feared that the dingy woman would have pur- 
 sued me,) I asked the driver — " Is there no other 
 place where I can get breakfast ?" 
 
 "No, sir; not one that I know of!" 
 
 I desired him to get on slowly and tried my own 
 observation, but no such thing as a house of enter- 
 tainment presented itself; so off I started for the 
 only town I was to see for thirty-five miles, without 
 the prospect of my breakfast, except the vain hope I 
 
6 NEPHIN MOUNTAIN. 
 
 entertained that I might get a boiled potato on the 
 road. 
 
 Proceeding westward, the country for some miles 
 retained its hilly and grassy character ; and south- 
 eastwards, as the mist occasionally rose but to fall 
 down again, I could see the waters of Lough Con 
 like a white line along the horizon; and though 
 within three or four miles of Nephin it was still 
 unseen, except that every now and then a black line 
 high up in the sky would show itself, and it looked 
 so elevated and so dark that you could scarcely con- 
 ceive it to be the outline of a mountain, but rather 
 the verge of a black cloud that belonged to the cumu- 
 lated masses that rolled eastwards from the Atlantic. 
 
 A little further onward the hilly country ceased, 
 and the great bog district made its appearance, 
 into which spurs of gravel hills threw out their 
 lines, and at once I found myself in that great 
 western moorland that is confined eastward by the 
 chain of lakes, consisting of Loughs Corrib, Mask, 
 Carra, and Con ; and which forms a sort of inclined 
 plane, rising until it meets the great mountain boun- 
 dary, that while it thus falls gradually inland, ends in 
 lofty and perpendicular cliffs seaward — the battle- 
 ments of Europe against the surge of the Atlantic. 
 
 I think with this great and peculiar bog district 
 Erris ought to begin, and Tyrawly end — but it is not 
 so, still I am in Tyrawly — but it is all bog except a 
 line of Esker or gravel ridge along which I am tra- 
 velling ; and the road, though new, is soft and heavy ; 
 and here, where it leaves the Esker and must pass 
 over a quagmire, the gravel must be spread on a 
 
RED BOG. 7 
 
 stratum of brushwood to keep it from sinking alto- 
 gether ; here the road shakes and heaves under you 
 as you pass along, and you are justly apprehensive 
 that the foundation will give way, and down you may 
 go, horse, jaunting car, and all. 
 
 Nothing on the face of nature can surpass in 
 dreariness this great bog land of Tyrawly. Reader, 
 take your map, either the Ordnance one lately published, 
 or that of Mr. Bald, the most beautiful piece of Irish 
 map work I have ever seen — and you will observe a 
 district, quite a blank, extending fifteen miles or 
 more, from south to north, and about ten, from east 
 to west — it is uninhabited, and in its present state 
 uninhabitable. This is the great moor over which I 
 am passing — it is not by any means a fiat, there is 
 much variety of surface — there is, therefore, abun- 
 dance of fall for drainage — there are streams, lakes, 
 tarns, and lagoons. The depth of bog is not great, 
 there is plenty of gravel underneath, and all through 
 are interspersed the roots and stems of the finest red 
 pine — the soundest, the most imperishable, and the 
 most valuable of timber. With an elevation of not 
 more than two hundred feet above the level of the 
 sea, why not bring this desert into cultivation? 
 Why, I am sure I do not know — for the only diffi- 
 culties I am aware of, (and those though great, are 
 surely not insurmountable,) are the want of lime, and 
 the extreme wetness, and windiness of the climate. 
 The waters flow both east and west from this desert ; 
 look, reader, at the map, and you will see lines of 
 -river, — some making their way into the Moy, others 
 into the chief river of Erris, the Owenmore. What 
 
8 MOUNTAIN RANGE. 
 
 a place for a great national, or joint stock improve- 
 ment, so near a navigable river, so near the sea. A 
 canal might be run into the middle of it by means of 
 a very few locks, and thus the great desiderata, a 
 supply of limestone, be obtained from the shores of 
 Lough Con, or of sea-wrack from the coast. 
 
 The day had cleared up while travelling in this 
 moorland. Nephin, one of the finest of Irish moun- 
 tains, now presented itself under a peculiar and very 
 grand aspect. Unlike Croagh Patrick, though not 
 so conical and stack like, it is loftier, and rising as it 
 does, from the lake or bog, it assumes a massive, 
 and at the same time, abrupt altitude — also, though 
 the most eastward, yet it is the commanding lord of a 
 fine Sierra. In this respect, it is like Ben Nevis, the 
 great western spur of the Grampians — though it be 
 the terminus, yet it is the loftiest of the whole range. 
 
 Indeed, as it were instantaneously, Nephin started 
 forth from indistinctness, like a great phantom ; the 
 curtain of fog had broken up, and formed white and 
 semi-transparent cumuli, rolling in packs along the face 
 and down the lugs of the mountain ; and here a 
 cataract was seen leaping down a chasm, and there the 
 sun sparkling on a mural precipice, and the sheep 
 were speckling with white spots this green secluded 
 gorge — while the cairn on its topmost eminence cut 
 sharply upon the blue serene sky. 
 
 Delighted with the whole vision, I should cry 
 out, " this is indeed a lordly mountain." What 
 was it to me, that I was wending my way over the 
 brown bog ? had I not one of the finest amphitheatres 
 of mountains in all Ireland before me ? and I in the 
 
OWENMORE RIVER. 9 
 
 middle of the panorama ; the bog but formed the 
 sombre foreground of a semicircular range, embracing 
 the great moor flat, southward, westward, and north- 
 ward ; to the extreme left, Nephin ; next, Maam Tho- 
 mas, a mass of mountains in itself — in whose glens 
 and corries the only red deer, now to be found in Ire- 
 land, except at Killarney, still have a retreat ; further 
 westward, opens the dark gorge of the Mameratta 
 pass, through whose deep indenture is seen, as closing 
 the gates of Erris, Slieve Glore ; and then, more to 
 the right is Nephin Beg, similar in form, but not so 
 large as Nephin big ; and then Slieve Alp, and the 
 Corslieve, or Loganea mountain, more lofty than 
 any, at least it looks so, it has caught hold of a 
 cirrocumulus cloud, and is converting it into a 
 nimbus — and while all is bright and clear under- 
 neath, you can form no idea of the upper altitudes of 
 this cloud compeller ; then to the right of this there 
 is a declination in the range, and another gap ap- 
 pears, not so bold and distinct as Mameratta,- and 
 this is the glen through which the Owenmore urges 
 its dark stream, and seeks the Atlantic ; then to the 
 right, but not so high or so picturesque, is Slieve 
 Fyogh ; and again, forming the right horn of the 
 crescent, and abutting the sea to the north, are the 
 Tanny hills, round and more graceful in their inland 
 forms, but hanging over the ocean in perpendicular 
 cliffs at Porturlin and Balderig. 
 
 While in the middle of the great bog plain, if plain 
 it can be called, that was as various in its surface 
 (though at a distance it looked continuously flat,) as 
 the Curragh of Kildare, we came to a little esker or 
 
 b2 
 
10 UNSATISFIED HUNGER. 
 
 gravel range, on the side of which the road ran, and 
 here were one or two cabins. My driver prepared to 
 stop here, to give his horse some oats, of which he 
 carried a supply, and I, feeling a rather strong desire 
 to break a fast, flattered myself that, at least, I could 
 get a boiled potato ; but, alas ! I soon found I had 
 reason to rue my delicacy of stomach at Crosmolina ; 
 for, from the inmates I got no comfort. As well as 
 their little English could be understood, I could ascer- 
 tain that there were no eggs — no potatoes in the house 
 — they were yet to be dug for dinner ; the turf was 
 too wet to boil them in a hurry, if they had been at 
 hand ; and I must wait at least for an hour and more 
 before they could be got ready. 
 
 Oh, then, how I repented of my fastidiousness ! I 
 am quite sure I could now have eaten a boiled pratie 
 without salt, even suppose twenty pairs of legs were 
 pushing their extremities out of frowsy feather beds 
 all around me. I see that nothing is better fitted for 
 curing a puny or proud stomach, and making it take 
 what it can, and be thankful, than a tour in Con- 
 naught. 
 
 " Didn't I tell yer honour," says the driver, (an 
 intelligent and humorous youth,) " that you were 
 wrong not to take what God sent you in Crosmolina?" 
 
 We soon arrived at Corrig Bridge. Here you cross 
 the Owenmore, a dark, and now, turbulent stream, its 
 waters the colour of double X porter, the main drain- 
 age of that great bog district. There is but a police 
 barrack and a whiskey house at this place, where you 
 first enter Erris ; and where the Owenmore first at- 
 tempts to force its way through the mountains that 
 
GOOD FISHING. 11 
 
 form the boundary of the barony, the road enters the 
 glen, and you keep along the stream, while it winds, and 
 foams, and wins its rapid way through the long and 
 narrow pass. There is nothing peculiarly picturesque 
 in this natural opening into the western desert. Cor- 
 slieve rises grandly to the left ; and if the clouds would 
 allow you, you might catch many noble changes of 
 aspect, as Gorge, Lug, and Corrie opened out before 
 you while you passed along; but still itwas savage with- 
 out being either sublime or beautiful : no wood, nothing 
 green except a few slender inches along the stream, 
 and the little patches of oats or potatoes that were 
 here and there won from the brown and dreary waste, 
 only made the prevailing boggy desert more sombre. 
 ' Some of the banks whose aspect was southern, and 
 whose declivity not too abrupt, were cultivated, and 
 the corn was assuming a yellow hue ; but far and near 
 the eye rested on desolation ; and the people, their 
 houses, their villages, and their cattle, bespoke unas- 
 sisted and unmitigated poverty. What a fine stream for 
 the angler must be the Owenmore ! I saw a little boy 
 tossing, with his inartificial rod, a large trout from 
 the stream. The occupation of the youth seemed more 
 a matter of business than pleasure ; he was no doubt 
 more intent on killing than playing the fish. The means 
 of getting a relish to his wet potatoes were what he 
 sought. I thought as I saw a hank of trout lying on 
 the bank beside him, what a value would be set on 
 the fishing of this stream where persons would have 
 access to pursue angling as a sport, and not as a 
 means of appeasing hunger. I do not think I ever 
 saw a stream better adapted for the purpose of fly- 
 
12 A SAD EVENT. 
 
 fishing, — the river, a succession of pools and rapids, 
 the water the colour of a buck's back. Old Isaac 
 Walton, could he have got a place to lay his head 
 at night, and any thing else to eat but trout, or any 
 thing else to drink but poteen and dark water, would 
 have found a piscatory paradise in the glen of the 
 Owenmore. 
 
 Ravines, wild and tortuous, each the riven channel 
 of a turbulent stream, sent on either side their tribu- 
 taries to the river ; in some the waters plunged over 
 the stratification of the mica slate, in others they 
 won their way over and under boulders of granite, 
 gneiss, and quartz rock. 
 
 We came to one spot where, between the road and 
 the river, a sort of plateau was formed by the gravel, 
 bog stuff, and clay brought down by two turbulent 
 streams that tumbled from the heights on the right, 
 and joined together before they plunged into the 
 river ; the whole of the flat was covered, as it were, 
 with the spoils of the mountain. 
 
 "There was a village here, plaze yer honour, not 
 long ago," (says the driver,) " and in one night it 
 was all, body and bones, swept away — no, not a 
 taste of it, no more than there is now, was there in 
 the morning — it was over night the greenest spot in 
 the whole glen. A party of highlanders who were 
 sent from Crosmolina to still hunt through these lonely 
 hills, were benighted on their way, and they asked 
 shelter for the night in the biggest house in the 
 village. The night was wild and stormy, the rain 
 came down in tubs-full, the river roared as it swept 
 along, and from every gully and cleft in the hills came 
 
A LOST VILLAGE. 13 
 
 down a moaning, as if death and destruction were to 
 be keened for. No doubt the soldiers were glad to 
 find shelter ; and what they sought was given 
 them, and a thousand welcomes ; for though the 
 people knew that they were going to rack the neigh- 
 bours, and destroy their little poteen venture, they 
 also knew that the poor fellows were under orders, 
 and could not help it, and, maybe, a little civility 
 would make them not so hard or sharp in racking 
 the crathurs and bringing on a ruination. Any how 
 the highlanders were admitted into Jemmy O'Hara's, 
 the tailor's house, and they had share of all the good 
 tratement he could offer ; they had a roaring fire to 
 warm them, lashens of praties and milk, and when 
 sleepy they had the floor strewn with rushes, and 
 there they might sleep their fill, with their feet to the 
 fire, and mighty pleasant before they lay down was 
 the chat ; the tailor had a pair of breeches on his 
 board a making for a boy that was about to make 
 himself double, and there was many a joke cracked 
 between the breeches maker, and those who thought 
 it was pleasant and cool to go as father Adam did ; 
 any how there was fun and frolic within, and the 
 play of honest and light hearts, when a rush and 
 roaring came on, a sweeping surge of waters bursting 
 in, carrying stones, mud, and sludge along, — the 
 walls could not stand an instant ; the whole village 
 was swept off the face of the flat, in the twinkling of 
 an eye ; the cry of the amazed and overwhelmed 
 inmates was lost in the universal roar of flood and 
 storm ; and when the morning sun looked in upon 
 what was overnight a neat and snug village, nothing 
 
14 THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 
 
 was to be seen but what now meets the eye, a waste 
 of sand, stones, and bog stuff." 
 
 The fact was, in consequence of the continued rain 
 in this surpassingly wet climate, a mountain tarn had 
 burst its banks, and heaving the bog that confined it, 
 it came like a liquid wall a-down, forcing every thing 
 along, boulders, bog timber, and sludge, until as it 
 were in an instant, it broke upon the houses, carry- 
 ing all before it — stones, timbers and bodies — and 
 it was only some days after, that at the estuary of 
 this river in Tullohan Bay, the bodies of the poor 
 people were found. But one of the whole family 
 was saved, and he was an only son, — sent the day 
 preceding on a message to his uncle, who resided in 
 a distant village ; the rain had kept him from return- 
 ing that night ; he started early in the morning, and it 
 was his lot to arrive first, and behold, with an astonish- 
 ment that preceded indescribable agony, a strand of 
 stones and rubbish, where, but a few hours before 
 on the warm hearthstone, his mother had kissed him, 
 and sent him forth with her blessing. Mr. Knight, 
 who tells this story in his description of Erris, and 
 who details the circumstances pretty nearly as my 
 driver narrated them to me, for they are of so recent 
 occurrence, and so melancholy, that they are univer- 
 sally known, says that he often saw the young man, 
 a fine looking person, of excellent character, with 
 melancholy marked on his countenance, looked on 
 by his neighbours with respect and sorrow, and 
 known everywhere by the appellation of "the last 
 of the O'Haras." 
 
 The road, running by the side of the Owenmore, 
 
NEW VIEWS. 10 
 
 and through the glen of Ballymonelly, brought me 
 to Bangor. Here is a little town brought into exist- 
 ence by Major Bingham, if town it can be called, that 
 consists only of a police barrack, two or three whiskey 
 houses, a Roman Catholic chapel of mean appear- 
 ance, and the walls of a small church, which was 
 being built by the landlord at his own expense, and 
 was most inconveniently located on a steep and boggy 
 hill to the north of the town, and it would seem as 
 if perched up there to make the attending divine 
 worship by its toilsomeness the more meritorious. 
 
 Here the Owenmore leaves the glen through which 
 it had worked its way for six miles, and now the 
 country opening out to the north and south, the 
 whole south-western district, called Ballycroy, is 
 visible ; and through this comparatively flat and 
 boggy land, the Owenmore winds until it loses itself 
 in the estuary at Tulloghan Bay. 
 
 Here a new amphitheatre of mountains came into 
 view, of which the two great hills of Achiil, Slieve 
 More, and Slieve Croghan formed the most prominent 
 and grand objects ; and between this extreme western 
 range, and the height on which I stood, I could see 
 the noble harbour of Black-sod sparkling under the 
 declining sun, and reaching far away round many a 
 promontory and isle, and forming perhaps as fine an 
 inland sea as any in the British isles. 
 
 The person I was standing with, and who seemed 
 to know the district well, pointed out across the large 
 bog waste stretching southwards, the secondary hills 
 of Knocknadeen and Benmore. To the north of the 
 former is the strand of Augnish, and the ferry across 
 Tulloghan Bay ; more south, and hid from view by 
 
16 AN OLD CASTLE. 
 
 the hill, is the sea lake of Fahy, on the shores of 
 which is the old Castle of Fahy or Doona, which 
 once belonged to Grana Uaile, and which Mr. Max- 
 well has made the principal scene of his novel, called 
 " The dark Lady of Doona." 
 
 The building of tins strong-hold is generally attri- 
 buted to Grana Uaile ; but if I am informed aright, 
 and that I am there can be no doubt, it is much 
 more ancient than the Elizabethan age. No ; its 
 rude rough walls, put together unhammered and un- 
 cemented, in that cyclopean style that baffles all 
 antiquarian research as to its precise age, bespeak a 
 period plunged farther back into by-gone times. 
 
 There are many traditions concerning this grey, 
 moss-covered pile. Some say it was built by a 
 Tuatha Danaan magician, to keep his faithless 
 wife ; and the legend has it, that like all those who 
 call in force to aid jealousy, woman's wile was more 
 than a match for strong walls, or magic devices. 
 Others say it was built by Gal M'Morai, the great 
 rival of Fin M'Coul ; and others again assert, that 
 it was erected by Meidhah, daughter of Eochaidh, 
 Queen of Connaught, who, after some time, granted 
 it to a famous champion of that kingdom, named 
 Ceat, the son of Magach, whose exploits were me- 
 morable both as a man of stratagem and violence, — 
 quite an Irish Ulysses ; and inasmuch as a transaction 
 connected with this Ceat, the son of Magach, may 
 throw some light upon the claims of our countrymen 
 to early civilization, it may be well to state, that the 
 Milesian, improving on the scalping habits of the 
 American Indians, had a much more elaborate, if not 
 more humane and elegant way of preserving trophies 
 
USE OF BRAINS. 17 
 
 of their prowess over a fallen foe. The Irish warrior 
 when he killed his adversary in combat, broke his 
 skull, extracted his brains, mixed up the mass well, 
 and working the compound into a ball, he carefully 
 dried it in the sun ; and when it became, as it always 
 did, exceedingly hard and heavy, it was produced 
 with no small pride as a trophy of former valour, 
 and a prestige of future victory. 
 
 It is a pity that the Tipperary boys, who are so 
 expert at braining a man with a handstone, have lost 
 the art of thus exhibiting what they have done at 
 fairs, patrons, or hurling matches. But to return to 
 the Mayo champion Ceat, the son of Magach. He 
 had heard that Connor, king of Ulster, had a brain 
 ball of great celebrity, — for it was composed of the 
 kernel of the finest and thickest skull that ever bore 
 a blow of a battle-axe in Erin, — Meisgeadhra was the 
 very bully of the island, and when Connal Cearnach 
 contrived to break open his skull, Connal was allowed 
 by all his competitors to be the hero of the land — even 
 Cuchullin himself allowed that the man who could make 
 aball of Meisgeadhra' s brains, bore the bellfor prowess. 
 Now Connal, as in duty bound, laid this ball at the 
 feet of his liege lord, the king of Ulster, and it was 
 a sore thing to the elegant and tender queen of Con- 
 naught that the royal northern should have such a 
 trophy of the superior valour of his champion ; and 
 so she sent her clever and cunning warrior Ceat, son 
 of Magach, to get possession of the brain ball, by 
 hook or by crook ; and it so happened that as Ceat, 
 about this business, was nearing the green hill upon 
 which Armagh is now built, he met the king of 
 
18 A STRATAGEM. 
 
 Ulster's two fools, who were playing at foot ball, and 
 one of them was just in the act of giving over, and 
 saying he would play no more with unlucky Meis- 
 geadhra's brain ball, as with its hardness it almost had 
 broken his toe. 
 
 " What's that you say ? (says Ceat) what ball is 
 that?" 
 
 "Why it's King Connor's ball, he is so proud 
 of, that we just stole for a bit of fun, and maybe 
 we had better have left it alone, and kept to playing 
 with a bladder, or wad of straw, or something softer." 
 
 " Give it to me (says Ceat), and I will give you 
 apples a piece." 
 
 " With all our hearts, (says the fool,) take it with 
 you for a nasty hard thing, bad luck to it." So Ceat, 
 you may be sure, made off with his prize, and he 
 never stopped until he was across the Shannon, and 
 saw his queen's palace rise before him. 
 
 Now Connor, king of Ulster, should go to war to 
 recover this trophy ; his honour, his happiness were 
 involved in the undertaking. So he assembled a 
 mighty army, and invaded Connaught ; and Meidhbh 
 and her general, Ceat, were not slow in opposing the 
 invader ; but as Ceat depended as much on his cun- 
 ning as on his force, and moreover, as his army was 
 not as great as that of Connor's, he collected all the 
 pretty women of the Western Land, with their bright 
 red hair and brilliant eyes, set off by their red petti- 
 coats, yellow chemises and brown boddices, and know- 
 ing Connor was all tender and soft to the ladies, he 
 got the womankind to send an imitation to the hos- 
 tile king to come and have a palaver with them 
 
A PERFORATED SKULL. 19 
 
 before lie resorted to the extremity of battle. Connor 
 too easily fell into the snare, and it is well seen how 
 Ulster has in the latter days changed its dwellers, 
 for it would not be easy now for a Connaught man, 
 with all the red petticoats in the province at his back, 
 to take in John Ulsterman. 
 
 Connor, confiding in the honour of the ladies, 
 mounted the green hill, alone, without guards or army, 
 bowing and scraping, and saying soft things to all 
 the pretty ones around him, when the knave Ceat, 
 who had clad himself in woman's attire, approached 
 the king, and having the terrible ball of brains in a 
 sling, he winds it about his head, and prepares to 
 hurl it at his victim. In vain the monarch fled down 
 the hill at sight of the whirling of the fatal weapon ; 
 Ceat pursued, launched the fatal ball, and hit Connor 
 at the side of his head, where it made an entry, and 
 half in, and half out, appeared like a great wen. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Ceat makes off, joins the 
 Connaught army, and retreats rapidly, content with 
 having given a very pretty bump to his northern 
 majesty, who, of course, returned homewards to his 
 own country, repossessed, 'tis true, of the ball of brains, 
 but not as an increase that was either useful or 
 ornamental ; and, when at home, the cleverest surgeon 
 of the Irish College was consulted, and it was 
 declared that the ball had better stay where it was. 
 It was almost as good as a silver plate ; the only 
 thing needful was, to keep his majesty as quiet as 
 possible, for if he fell into any of his heretofore 
 accustomed passions, the ball would fall out, and his 
 own softer brains follow. 
 
 Accordingly Connor was kept at ease, and though 
 
20 RELIGIOUS ANGER. 
 
 Ceat M'Magach often invaded Ulster, and brought 
 off prey and plunder of different sorts, and stowed 
 them in his stronghold in Erris, yet King Connor 
 must hear nothing of it, and so he lived for seven 
 years, until the Friday on which our Saviour was 
 crucified. The king was surprised at the dreadful 
 eclipse that took place on that occasion, and in horror 
 at the supernatural darkness, he sent for one Bacrach, 
 a Leinster druid, to know from him the cause. The 
 pagan prophet replied, that the cause of this fearful 
 phenomenon arose from the barbarous murder at that 
 hour committed by the wicked Jews on a most inno- 
 cent and divine person. 
 
 On hearing this, Connor's passion got the better of 
 him, he stormed and called for his sword, declaring 
 he would be avenged on these cursed Jews. Demented 
 by his fury, he took a grove of trees for the crucifiers 
 of the Lord, and away he hacked, declaring he would 
 be avenged on such murderers. But in the midst of 
 his rage and fury, and by the violence of his exer- 
 tions, out fell the ball of brains from the hole in his 
 head, and out therewith, in feverish ferment, came 
 his own cerebrum, and as kings seldom can spare 
 the brains they have, he, of course, fell down dead. 
 
 Further, I have nought to say of Ceat, the cruel, 
 cunning Connaught man, but that he gave his Castle 
 of Fahy to Phelim, a great ollamh in those days, and 
 that he went to live with, and advise Queen Meidhbh, 
 who reigned over the trans-Shannonite kingdom for 
 ninety years, and wielded her sceptre over the hills of 
 Cruachan in the county of Roscommon.* 
 
 * See Keating's Ireland, p. 93. 
 
21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Old and only Pass into Erris— The Procession of an Englisher along 
 that way — His Aid-de-camp — The Quagmire — A Picture — The 
 Difficulty got over — The first night in Erris— The Entertainment — The 
 man thirsty and yet delicate— The Wild Woman— The Shake Down— 
 The New Road— The " Gentry"— Bestial Ghosts— Smart Answer of a 
 Ghost to a Widower — A Faction and a Ruxion of Dead Men — Lough 
 Carrowmore — Worship of an Errisman — Doon Donald described in a 
 geological, antiquarian, and legendary way — The two Giants — The 
 Irish Helen and the Fairy Queen. 
 
 Stretching away southward along the mountain 
 side, the old and only pass into Erris was pointed out 
 to me, — indeed, without any one to inform me I could 
 have recognised this as an ancient pace — for so the 
 Hiberno-English called their ways ; but which in these 
 quarters was recognised by the rale Irish as the Bal- 
 lagh gorrue bridle, not carriage road, it should be 
 called, for no mortal made carriage could have ever 
 exercised wheel upon its track. But it did for the 
 district in the days it was in use ; for who resorted to 
 this land of no promise? or who would venture on its 
 unpleasant ways, but the smuggler or the outlaw? 
 Yes, I knew one who had to come here, cruelly against 
 his grain ; but he was a military man, and he was 
 ordered. It seems that amongst the once Protestant 
 settlers on the Shaen estate, and especially in the 
 Mullet, a small yeomanry corps had been raised in 
 the year 1/96, and placed under the command of 
 Major Bingham ; and to inspect this corps Brigade- 
 
22 AN ENGLISHMAN 
 
 Major B was instructed to proceed. Now, Major 
 
 B was an Englishman, and therefore, though a 
 
 good officer, a finished (according to Dundas) disci- 
 plinarian, and quite au fait to the routine of duty of 
 inspecting and reporting in ordinary cases — he neither 
 understood Irishmen nor as yet had learned to bend 
 to the circumstances of a wild country. Subsequent 
 campaigning in the Peninsula and elsewhere has 
 taught our staff officers to adjust themselves more 
 readily — but for a major who worshipped Dundas in- 
 stead of Wellington, there was no possibility of reach- 
 ing Erris mounted on his big grey charger, with his 
 stiff orderly sergeant trotting high on heavy horse be- 
 hind him — he might as well have trotted to the moon ! 
 So it was suggested by some one who wished him 
 well, that he should take some person with him in the 
 way of a companion — not exactly an aid-de-camp, for 
 brigade-majors of yeomanry were not entitled to that 
 — who could speak Irish, knew the character of the 
 mountaineers, and in case of difficulty, could resort to 
 means of extricating him. Luckily he had in the 
 neighbourhood where he dwelt, a young man, the 
 son of his parish minister, who was as fit an aid as 
 
 he could desire. J. G , from whose verbal narrative 
 
 I take the following account, was the major's drago- 
 man on this occasion. About twenty-two years of 
 age, six feet two inches in height, powerful in frame, 
 and yet possessing great activity — a capital horseman 
 — an expert swordsman — a sure shot ; he had seen much 
 service during the preceding year when the French 
 invaded Connaught ; and his sabre and his pistol had 
 done such work, that no Spanish guerilla — not II Pastor 
 
JOURNEYING TO ERRIS. 23 
 
 himself, — need have been shy to call him brother. 
 Speaking Irish like a native, he had also that free 
 hearty spirit — that bold rollicking demeanour calcu- 
 lated to win or impose on man or woman. He was 
 but too free with his whip or his Jist, as the young 
 squire of that day always was ; but if he knocked a 
 peasant down, he took the poor fellow up again, and 
 smiling, said some relenting or humorous thing that 
 made the blow to be forgotten ; his blow was not half 
 so dangerous as another's sneer. "Master John 
 (God bless him) every day he gets up is good, even 
 when he strikes ; and he flings a shilling so good 
 nathurdly at a poor divil he has knocked down." 
 Such was the bold blade — a character not uncommon 
 some forty years ago — who consented to attend Major 
 
 B into Erris. They set out from the county of 
 
 Sligo in the autumn of 1/99, and proceeded to New- 
 port, then the nearest civilized place, and near where 
 commenced the mountain pass on which they were 
 about to enter. Here they were told that it was out 
 of the question, their being able to reach their desti- 
 nation, mounted on their own large horses, that they 
 must procure ponies accustomed to bog-trotting and 
 to the ins and outs of the country. Accordingly, 
 
 J. G took care to procure such, and, leaving their 
 
 cavalry in charge with the man from whom they pro- 
 cured the nags, they set out and had just reached the 
 entrance of the first mountain pass when they saw the 
 horsekeeper following them, and when he came up, 
 being asked what brought him, he replied that he 
 came on just to see how their honours were doing with 
 his little crathurs. 
 
24 HIS CHOLER. 
 
 " And with whom have you left our horses V* 
 
 " Troth, Molly the wife will give them wather and 
 a lock of hay until I come back." 
 
 " And how far will you go ?" 
 
 " Och, then, what for shouldn't I follow yez into 
 Erris?" 
 
 Now the major was the most choleric of men, and 
 like a good cavalier he was most particular about his 
 horses — and to think that his good charger was left 
 in the grooming care of Molly for sundry days, was 
 too bad. He drew his sword, rode at the fellow, and 
 would certainly have cut him down (for military men 
 would do violent things in those days), had not the 
 man leaped over a ditch, where, while the major was 
 cursing at the Hirish scoundrel, his friend expostulated 
 with the man and satisfied him that if he did not 
 return and take good care of such a great man's 
 horses until they were called for, he would certainly 
 be hanged. And now they took to the mountains, 
 the major still chafing at the neglect and probable 
 loss of his charger ; and, as long as the road kept the 
 mountain side where it was hard, though rough, all 
 was pretty well ; but when they descended into the 
 boggy glens and flats, full as they were of springy 
 quagmires, whose surface, though green and smooth, 
 yet was most treacherously quaking and soft ; their 
 tempting verdure only enticing biped or quadruped to 
 come in and be swallowed up quick. Across such 
 treacherous flats — and there were many such on this 
 road — what is called a togher was in most places 
 laid, that is, a hurdle formed of interwoven brambles, 
 hazels, furze, or even heath — this, as a foundation, 
 
HIS PREDICAMENT. 25 
 
 was thrown on the quag ; and turf sods being laid 
 on the surface, ponies and black cattle who knew how 
 to tread lightly, contrived to pick their way — but woe 
 be to the poor beast whose weight broke through the 
 hurdle — down he went and was seen no more. 
 
 Well, on our travellers got for some miles, now 
 riding, now alighting, and the ponies showing their 
 agility in a way honourable to Erris, until they 
 reached a broader glen (or rather valley,) than usual, 
 where the mountains opened on either side, and there 
 was a grassy slope connecting the upper grounds 
 with the flat : then commenced a bog, and in the 
 middle of the bog there was a lake, and on the 
 eastern side of the lake there was one of those green, 
 smooth quagmires, leading up far into the hills ; and 
 there had been once a togher over this, but now there 
 were but the remains of it, — the rest had sunk down ; 
 and as the ponies looked at it, they drew back, and 
 snorted, as much as to say, "we dare not step there." 
 
 What's to be done now ? Why, J. G gave a 
 
 whistle, for he saw a village not far off, on the side of 
 the hills, and the people saw the difficulty, and down 
 they came ; they had suggawns in their hands, and 
 were naked from their middle, downwards. With these, 
 as they arrived, the major's friend entered into a parley, 
 
 and the proceeding was soon arranged. J. G set 
 
 the example ; his pony was unsaddled, and the saddle 
 and portmanteau were fixed on the animal's side, — 
 they then fixed their suggawns (straw ropes) round 
 the creature's neck, and they dragged it as fast as 
 ever they could ; for if they went slowly, he would 
 sink and be smothered : this the pony patiently bore, 
 
26 HIS EXTRICATION. 
 
 it being the nature of the beast, — and so the first 
 animal was got over. Its rider in the meantime, 
 being agile and accustomed to bog-trotting, could 
 leap from tussock to tussock, and when that was 
 wanting, it was only cutting a scraw with a gowl 
 gob, and throwing it before him ; and so on it he 
 stepped, lightly, and before it or his foot sunk, he 
 was on another, and thus he proceeded — hop, step, 
 and leap, until he got to firm land. 
 
 Not so the major : a tall, stiff, non-elastic man, 
 who might be defined homo valde perpendiadaris, 
 cased in tight cavalry jacket, tight buckskin breeches, 
 tight over-knee boots, how could he skip from tus- 
 sock to tussock; he might as well skip from the 
 planet Saturn to the Georgium Sidus. Well, there 
 was much reasoning with him ; and his friend taking 
 no small pains to assure and convince him, at length 
 he consented; still he chafed much, and was astonished 
 because the wild Hirish did not speak English ; 
 and they just as much despised the Sassenach be- 
 cause he could not say a word they understood. And 
 now his pony was cast down, and the saddle and other 
 appurtenances placed on his flank, and thereon was 
 the major placed, sitting sideways ; and he groaned 
 in spirit as the Paddies uttered a wild cry, and 
 fastened the suggawns about the animal's neck, and 
 rushed onwards through the quag, and " a long pull, 
 a strong pull, and a pull altogether " was made, 
 and the pony slid along, he had not time to sink, 
 and the feat was performed ; the boys rejoicing in 
 their success, gave a joyous shout, which rang 
 through the hills, and as it reverberated in multiplied 
 
A SKETCH. 2/ 
 
 echoes, the wild bulls bellowed in the gorges, the 
 red deer started up and snorted in the corries, and 
 the eagle soared aloft above its eyrie, and from his 
 pride of place, looked on admiring how a brigade-major 
 is transported into Erris. If ever this my narrative of 
 journey, not a tour, undertaken forty years ago, into 
 this far west, shall be published, I hope that my 
 bookseller will procure some Cruikshank to draw my 
 Saxon soldier getting over a pace in Erris ; and 
 before he takes pencil in hand, I wish him to see the 
 wild scenery, the costume, the gestures, the group- 
 ings of the people, and then let him contrast my 
 Armadillo of a major, with his equally stiff and 
 wooden orderly, all covered as they are with mud, 
 the bog begriming the pipe-clay ; and then the loose, 
 
 little, jocund figure of J. G , looking on with 
 
 most malicious glee at the transit of his commander ; 
 and just, sir, if you please, fix the group as the 
 major is half way across the quagmire, sitting so 
 dolorously, while the spalpeens are tugging most 
 determinately at the poor, patient pony's head. 
 Reader, would it not make a good group ? I opine it 
 would. 
 
 This was not the only pass of the same character 
 that they had to encounter before the evening closed 
 on them, and they had not yet got near the Mullet, 
 and now stop they must, for who dared proceed along 
 such a road in the dark. It, therefore, was well for 
 them that, just in time, a village was at hand, and at 
 its best house they applied for shelter. Had its te- 
 nants been a little more civilized, perhaps they would 
 have refused, convinced, as they must have been, that 
 
28 ERRIS HOSPITALITY. 
 
 no proper accommodation could be afforded; but not 
 at all aware of the comforts such quality wanted, they 
 said " come in, and a thousand welcomes." This best 
 house consisted of a cabin without a door ; two low 
 orifices there were, one in front and the other opposite 
 to it. According as the wind blew, one of these was 
 built up with loose sods, taken from the upper sur- 
 face of the bog, the other was closed with turf creels 
 to keep the cattle from entering. Within, this habi- 
 tation consisted of two rooms, — one the general recep- 
 tacle for all animals that might enter, the other was 
 behind the hob, or fire-place, and was divided from the 
 other by a long straw mat that hung from the low 
 ceiling, and served for a door. On the hearth was 
 burning, though it was summer, a large bright turf fire, 
 and over the fire hung a pot in which a quantity of 
 potatoes was boiling. The inner apartment had one or 
 more truckles that served to keep beds and bedding 
 from resting on the damp floor. Some few wooden 
 vessels of the rudest construction were deposited on a 
 dresser in the outside room, — and this was the house 
 and its furniture. Luckily, the night promised to be 
 fine, and the ponies were picketted along a dry ditch 
 where they could get grass. Potatoes, eggs, and 
 butter, such as it was, could be got for supper ; and 
 in those days, good poteen was almost as plentiful 
 as bog-water. The inner room being resigned to the 
 major and his friend, all was done that hospitality 
 could supply, for it was all that the owners could give 
 or knew to be requisite. 
 
 Now, J. G was quite aware of all this, and, 
 
 sporting on the mountains, he had often put up with 
 
MORE LIQUOR" THAN CUPS. 29 
 
 no better ; but what was the field-officer to do ? no 
 table-cloth, no plate, no knife ; he must hold his 
 potato in his hand, and peel it with his nails ; he 
 must manage his egg as he best might. "Well, all this 
 was possible, but what was he to drink out of? The 
 vessels were overhauled, and nothing was forthcoming 
 but a wooden meather, carved out of a block of soft 
 wood, and capable of containing about a gallon, and 
 two smaller vessels called noggins, also made of wood 
 but composed of small staves, and bound together 
 with hoops. These utensils seemed never to have 
 been washed ; the vestiges of sour milk adhered in 
 yellow curdy matter to the sides, and they had such 
 a heavy cheesy smell, that, when paraded before the 
 major as his banquetting cups, he swore he would go 
 and lap water out of the next ditch like a dog, rather 
 than put his lips to such abominations. Here, again, 
 his friend cast about, and in the most pleading terms the 
 Irish tongue was capable of, entreated some one to go 
 and look through the village for a glass or earthen- 
 ware cup. Now the people, who really were anxious 
 to oblige, set on the inquiry, and a boy was hurried 
 off to the sea-shore, where lived Paddy Lavalle, who 
 had dealings with smugglers, and maybe he had a glass. 
 Off the gossoon went, and in no time returned with 
 the bottom of a broken Dutch decanter, but so en- 
 crusted with filth and sediment, that it took J. G 
 
 some time before it became in such a state as to suit 
 the mouth and nose of his commander. And now, 
 suppose the potatoes are boiled, and they are emptied 
 out from the pot on the well-scoured table, — and 
 eggs, whose insides are not dirty, are boiled so hard as 
 
30 
 
 SLIP BETWEEN CLP AND LIP. 
 
 to be held safely in the hand, and J. G and the 
 
 orderly condescend to discuss a roll of butter so full of 
 cow's hairs that it matted in their teeth,— but still it is 
 kitchen for the praties. But the majorwouldn't touch a 
 morsel of it ; and he cursed the Hirish and their nasti- 
 ness, and here it was well for him that he was not 
 understood ; and now, after the metal pot had done its 
 duty in cooking the potatoes, it was rinsed and put 
 down again over the fire, filled with spring water, and 
 fragrant poteen is procured from a keg taken from a 
 corner, so sweet in itself, that it required no sugar, 
 and punch with the boiling water was about to be 
 made to wash down the meal, and the major — nothing 
 loathe to quaff the only acceptable thing he saw, for 
 his residence in Sligo had made his mouth acquainted 
 with the peat reek of poteen, and he had learned to 
 love it well ; — and now he was preparing to charge 
 his uncouth glass with an ample supply of the cor- 
 dial liquor, and while telling over the day's adven- 
 tures, he was just thinking whether it might not be 
 best for him to put both his hands to the vessel as he 
 lifted it to his lips, when a female, who had entered 
 unobserved, as all comers may do into any cabin; the 
 filthiest, most ragged, most squalid of her sex, her 
 dark hair streaming down her smoke-browned neck, 
 her black eye bright with partial madness, her face 
 sharp, sickly, and wrinkled, her skinny lips not quite 
 covering the teeth, that stuck out prominently as the 
 fangs of some carnivorous creature, — slided on behind 
 the feasters, and, with a demented woman's astute- 
 ness, cowered behind the major, and, while he was just 
 preparing to lift his grog, she snatched the glass from 
 
PUNCH IN A NOGGIN. 31 
 
 under his arm, and ran off into the obscure part of 
 the apartment, where she was heard laughing and 
 jabbering Irish in that joyous tone that denotes 
 great triumph. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the utter as- 
 tonishment, the dismay of the major, which was 
 worked into an intensity of wrath, when an instant 
 after the glass vessel was heard to fall on the floor, 
 and shatter to pieces ; for the wild woman having 
 secured her prize, of course proceeded to enjoy it, 
 and she never having drank before out of any thing 
 but a wooden vessel, and, moreover, seldom if ever 
 taking any hot liquor, when the very warm glass 
 touched her lip she flung it from her in terror, and 
 while it broke to pieces on the floor, she escaped from 
 the house as rapidly as she had entered. 
 
 Now what was to be done with the major ? he had 
 started up and made for his sword, swearing that he 
 was insulted, and let what would happen he would be 
 revenged ; he would cut the head off the man of the 
 house, he would show that the king's officer should 
 not be treated that way — and it was no easy matter 
 to appease and satisfy him that it was a poor demented 
 creature, who roamed the world and had access, as is 
 the case with all such, to every house, who had done 
 him the wrong. Eventually our major was coaxed to 
 put up with one of the noggins well scoured, with 
 which to make his potations of poteen punch, which 
 were not unfrequent, until drowsiness came on. 
 
 And now for the sleeping. I have said there was 
 an inner room, in which were what served for bed- 
 steads, and something like bed-clothes. Of course 
 
32 A LARGE BED. 
 
 our soldier would have nothing to do with aught but 
 the bedstead, on which he directed fresh heath to be 
 strewn, and thereon he and his young friend slept 
 until daybreak, wrapt in their military cloaks. And 
 now both started up ; no dressing, no toilet. It was 
 expedient as soon as possible to move into the open 
 air, and they had to pass through the outer room, and 
 this was indeed a novel and curious sight. My friend 
 assured me he never was more amused in his life 
 than at such a display of human snorers, covering the 
 whole floor as with a living carpet. This was the 
 first time he, though accustomed to cabin habits, had 
 witnessed the primitive but not promiscuous mode of 
 sleeping'; he has however often seen it since ; this is 
 what is called sleeping in stradogue, and is regulated 
 as follows : — the floor is thickly strewed with fresh 
 rushes, and stripping themselves entirely, the whole 
 family he down at once and together, covering them- 
 selves with blankets, if they have them, if not, with 
 their day clothing, but they lie down decently, and 
 in order ; the eldest daughter next the wall farthest 
 from the door, then all the sisters, according to their 
 ages ; next the mother, father, and sons in succession, 
 and then the strangers, whether the travelling pedlar, 
 or tailor, or beggar ; thus the strangers are kept aloof 
 from the female part of the family, and if there be an 
 apparent community there is great propriety of con- 
 duct. It is not my purpose to describe further the 
 brigade-major's route through Erris. It maybe sup- 
 posed he did not confine himself to a single inspec- 
 tion, for there is a saying amounting to an adage, that 
 he vfho visits Erris once will certainly come again ; 
 
THE GENTRY. 33 
 
 the reader can but judge whether the major had 
 reason. 
 
 Proceeding from Bangor, the road goes straightly 
 on over an ugly tract of moorland, which declines 
 southward to where the Owenmore creeps through the 
 desolate bog flats, and rises northwards towards the 
 mountains that skirt the coast, which mountains, though 
 forming magnificent mural precipices facing the At- 
 lantic, have neither height nor form to render them 
 interesting, as they descend gradually inland. Alight- 
 ing in order to save the horse, as he struggled up a 
 long hill and heavy road, and chatting to the driver, 
 the boy — a shrewd and pleasant fellow — says, " Oh, 
 sir, this is a great country for the 'gentry.'' " 
 
 " Gentry," said I, " not a single house can my eye 
 light on in which a gentleman could reside." 
 
 " Oh, yer honour, I don't mane squires, I mane 
 the ' good people.' " 
 
 " A fair distinction," said I, smiling, " when we 
 talk of Mayo, for I have yet to learn that they are spe- 
 cially entitled to the distinction of being good people." 
 
 " Why, it's by no manner of manes that I intend 
 gintlemen ; I mane the fairies." 
 
 " Well, what do you know of them ? " 
 
 " Why, sir, I'll tell you what I heard a man say 
 one day, not long ago. I was bringing some Erris 
 people on this very jaunting-car from the fair of 
 Ballina. They were talking, as they walked up this 
 very hill, of accidents happening their cattle, and one 
 of them tould what I am now going, as well as I can 
 remember, to say to your honour. ' There was a neigh- 
 bour of mine,' says he, f coming one evening, as we 
 
 c 2 
 
34 BESTIAL GHOSTS. 
 
 now are, from a fair in the " Arable" — that, your ho- 
 nour, is the name the Erris mountaineers give the 
 good land in our country about Ballina and Crosmo- 
 lina — and just on this very road he met a concourse of 
 people and cattle coming along as if returning from a 
 fair, and as he cast his eye on the drove of bastes, 
 sure enough he saw, though he could scarcely believe 
 his eyesight, two bullocks of his own which some time 
 before were drowned in a beg hole. 'By dad,' says he, 
 1 this is quare ; but any how here are my cattle — I'd 
 swear any where to my own brand ; I'm in the best 
 of good luck this night, and home I'll drive them.' 
 So with his stick he tould off his two bullocks from 
 the rest, and giving them a good welting to force 
 them on, he was hastening away with his recovered 
 property, when he hears a man following and shouting 
 after him, i Where are you going with my bastes 1 ' 
 So he stopt a little, and up comes a man he knew 
 once very well, but who was long ago dead and buried, 
 and that he had good rason to know, for he was first 
 husband to his own wife (Paddy being married to a 
 widdy). ' Och then, Paddy M'Cormick, where are 
 
 you going, you thieving son of a , with my 
 
 cattle ?' 
 
 " ' They're, not yours I'd give my Bible oath, but 
 they're my own. Wouldn't I swear to them any 
 where, and my own brand on them ? And why should 
 you, Terry Barrett, be after claming them, seeing as 
 how you are long ago dead and buried, and I am mar- 
 ried to your widdy V 
 
 " ' What's that to you, you ignoramus, you ? what 
 call has the likes of you to know the ins and outs of 
 
EXCHANGE OF PROPERTY. 35 
 
 these matters? and, at any rate, I have as good a 
 right to your dead cattle, who died honestly in the 
 boghole of Poulshesare, as you have to my living 
 wife. I won't say, Paddy, who has the best of the 
 bargain, but any how I'll have the cattle ;' and with 
 that he hits him .a polthoge with his cudgel, and 
 Paddy was not backward you may swear ; but they 
 were not left long to themselves, for up comes a fac- 
 tion of Terry's people, and what was strange all out, 
 every one of them Paddy knew to be long ago dead — 
 shouldn't he know it, when he was at their wake and 
 berrin' — and they fell to a beating of Paddy until 
 down he went, the senses knocked out of him, and 
 there he lay until morning, and you may be sure 
 when he awoke there was neither man nor baste to be 
 seen, but all around his head was a crop of fairy 
 musheroons growing. ' Och, then, if ever I look/ 
 says Pat, ' afther dead cattle, may musheroons be my 
 bed instead of the best of feathers.' Paddy did not 
 do much good after this ; he is alive still, but he is 
 not himself since he had to do with his wife's dead 
 husband and his own dead bullocks." 
 
 We now came in sight of Lough Carrowmore, the 
 largest lake in Erris ; it is one of the three lakes which 
 Partholan, if we are to believe Keating, discovered 
 on his inspection of Ireland after his landing thereon 
 — others had not yet been formed. But though it 
 be old, it is ugly ; the eye looking northward from 
 the road we are travelling on, taking in nearly its 
 greatest length, about four miles ; and it is far from 
 beautiful — the surrounding hills are neither grand nor 
 varied in their forms, the desolate log comes down 
 
36 AN UNLOVELY LAKE. 
 
 on all sides, and surrounds it with its melancholy 
 cincture ; the islands are few and flat, and not even 
 a furze, or bramble bush decorates their stony and 
 wave-washed shores, over which the cormorant urges 
 its slow and ungainly flight, and from whose rocks 
 the curlew sends its melancholy pipe. I have not 
 seen since I left the borders of Lough Derg, (where 
 superstition disgraces what nature has made but ugly,) 
 a more desolate, and at the same time unpleasing 
 water, than Lough Carrowmore. By-and-by, passing 
 westward, I crossed the Munhin, the drain of this 
 lake — which erives its name from the faithless wife 
 of Dhomnel, the giant of Glencastle, having been 
 drowned here by her paramour. This considerable 
 stream falls into Tullohan Bay, after a short course 
 of two miles. Certainly, the country affords great 
 facilities for inland navigation, which might be readily 
 and cheaply resorted to. Here is a lake not more 
 than fifteen feet above the level of the sea — at its 
 northern extremity within three quarters of a mile of 
 Broadhaven, and at its southern, sending its waters, 
 after a course of two miles, into Blacksod Bay ; but 
 who are to navigate, and what is to be conveyed, 
 when there are neither commerce, manufactures, nor 
 agriculture ; neither intelligence, industry, nor capi- 
 tal ; when the great territorial owners seem to brood, 
 as it were hatching, over the desolation all around ? 
 Proceeding westward, the road ascends, and appears 
 as if it would top an eminence, and then keep the 
 line of a mountain-ridge, when all of a sudden, it 
 takes a turn, and descends rapidly between a steep 
 bank of loose and disarranged rocks, which show 
 
DOON DONALD. 37 
 
 that they hare undergone a disruption and change as 
 if by fire, and a trap-dyke protrudes from below, 
 and declares itself to be the cause of the changes in 
 colour and texture of the adjoining rock formations. 
 This fine specimen of a trap-dyke runs, as it ought 
 to do, according to the accurate geologist of this 
 section of Ireland, Archdeacon Yerschoyle, from west 
 to east ; and now the road sinks down into a yery 
 pretty glen, whose steep banks are fringed with 
 hazels, birches, and other brushwood, that might show 
 something like wood, if allowed to grow, and which, 
 eyen as it is, are most acceptable to the eye, as the whole 
 of Erris is without the least appearance of a tree — so 
 much so, that it is said some Errisians when they first 
 saw a tree in Tyrawly, knelt down, and would have 
 worshipped it as something super-earthly. 
 
 In the centre of this green and well-sheltered oval 
 vale, rises an oblong eminence, which nature seems 
 to have intended for a fortress, for it rises on every 
 side to the height of about one hundred feet — per- 
 haps this is part of a huge trap-dyke that has been 
 uprisen, intersecting the mica slate. On the top of 
 this picturesque eminence, whose sides are not now 
 so steep as to be deprived of grassy verdure, are the 
 remains of a doon or cassiol, whose mounds run con- 
 formably to the oval formation of the eminence, and 
 which bear evidence of being one of the most ancient 
 and important strongholds in the district. This glen 
 is called Glencastle, and the fortress, Doon Donald. 
 This cassiol put me in mind of the Old Doon, near 
 Dundalk, which, because erected on a rock of an ob- 
 ong form, like this here, and having the appearance 
 
38 ANCIENT RACE. 
 
 of an upset hull of a ship, General Yallencey and 
 Governor Pcwnel, together with other imitative anti- 
 quarians, have called it, a Ship Temple ; and, in- 
 deed, neither one nor the other was any more a 
 ship temple, nor any other sort of temple than 
 General Vallencey's nose. Glen Castle, or rather 
 Cassiol, is an ancient Doon of the Tuatha Da- 
 naan, who possessed Ireland, and while using it, 
 did not abuse it like their hectoring successors, the 
 Milesians or Scots. This is the race that their more 
 stupid but ferocious successors called Magicians and 
 Giants, because they were more clever and civilized ; 
 and who could not understand how such religious and 
 military works could be executed except by super- 
 human intelligence and strength. - They were unac- 
 countably exterminated by a far inferior people, just 
 as the existing races of American red men have de- 
 stroyed the more intelligent people that flourished before 
 them, and who have left incontestable traces of their 
 existence in the remains of their arms and their 
 buildings, as now found along the Ohio, and in other 
 central parts of the North American continent. In 
 the same way the Tuatha Danaan have here left 
 the cromleachs, the giants' graves, the stone circles, 
 the doons and cassiols, the Cyclopean walls, and the 
 crypts and covered caves, that are to be found under 
 our moats, and raths, and cairns. The head and foot 
 stones of what has been called a giant's grave still 
 remain here, near the Doon — it is about forty feet 
 long — also a cromleach — but as this lay in the 
 way of the new road, the iligant engineer ordered 
 it to be upset, and there the ruin lies, and may lie, 
 for stones are cheap, as a monument of a projector's 
 
A PAIR OF GIANTS. 39 
 
 taste, who would not deflect his road half a perch, in 
 order to preserve it. Of course, the Doon of this 
 glen has its legends, and as I am not one, as all who 
 know me are aware, to pass any thing of the kind 
 without narrating it, I shall now, as briefly as may 
 be, record how this fortress which in old time was 
 considered to be the gate of Erris, as commanding 
 the only practicable pass into the arable district of 
 the Mullet, was called Doon Donald. 
 
 Donald Doolwee was a giant, as all Danish kings 
 were in the days when they conquered Ireland — 
 surely they must have been strong and big entirely, 
 or how could they have kept the valiant Milesians in 
 subjection for two centuries ? — and was not Ogier Le 
 Danois, immortalized in French romance, a giant ? — 
 hence the name Ogre. But be this as it may, our giant 
 ruled with his strong hand all this fine tract of moun- 
 tain and bog, and having such a fortress, a Doon 
 Donald, he was not only stout, but rendered also 
 unconquerable by the incantations of a witch, who, to 
 make him invincible, came from the Ocean Isles. 
 One would think that all these natural and acquired 
 excellences might have made Doolwee capable of 
 holding his own ; but not so, for he had a pretty wife 
 — and he himself, it seems, though stout, was not 
 made for lady's love. And now came the trial of his 
 powerful means. A potent northern, a giant also, 
 entered the mouth of Broadhaven, landed his dark 
 multitudes, and seized on Doolwee' s fortresses of 
 Dooncarton and Doonkeegan. The two armies met 
 in the bay of Inver — they fought en the sands — -and 
 Doolwee, though unconquerable himself, was unable 
 
40 AN IRISH DALILA. 
 
 to conquer the Vickyngr ; and, what is worse, Dool- 
 wee's wife saw the stranger fighting in all the pride 
 of his beauty with her ordinary husband, and love got 
 the better of loyalty in her bosom. Well, the battle 
 was a drawn fight — the Vickyngr returned to Doon- 
 carton, and Donald retired with his false wife, Mun- 
 hanna, to the Doon of the glen ; and here the Irish 
 Helen, urged by curiosity and love, used all her wily 
 art to induce her good man to propose an armistice, 
 which he acceded to, and a white flag was hung out 
 from his Doon, which was responded to by another 
 from one of the enemy's strongholds. This brought 
 about a treaty of peace — a division of territory — and 
 an invitation of the Vickyngr to the fortress of Doon 
 Donald. Why need we particularize ? — enough it is for 
 vs to state, that Munhanna fell, disgraced, and then 
 betrayed her husband. In moments of dalliance with 
 her paramour, she was tempted, as Dalila was, to 
 disclose the secret of her husband's invincibility. 
 This, however, she could not do at once, and for the 
 best of reasons, because, though she was aware that 
 he had a charmed life, she yet knew not in what that 
 charm consisted. But now she resorted to Dalila' s 
 tricks, and fondled her strong man and coaxed him to 
 divulge his secret ; but this he must not do without the 
 consent of the enchantress, and still the wife 
 wheedled, and, to please this false one, he muttered 
 the wild rhyme, by means of which he could bring 
 the powerful one to his presence ; and lo ! she came, 
 the awful Morna, with a human skull in her hand, 
 and cried, " Donald Doolwee, here I am, from the 
 caves of the roaring sea. What is your pleasure?" 
 
A BROKEN OATH. 41 
 
 "I have called you," said the giant, "to tell this 
 wilful wife of mine the secret of my invincibility." 
 
 " Daughter of the Lord of Crohan Aigle," cried 
 Morna, " I comply with your unhappy request ; but 
 (stretching forth her hand, wherein was held the 
 skeleton head) you must swear, placing your hand 
 on this, that the sins of the soul that animated this 
 body and of all his forefathers, may rest on yours at 
 the terrible day of doom, and blast you to perdition, 
 if ever you reveal the secret." The wife laid her 
 hand on the skull — what will not love, ay, unhal- 
 lowed love do ! ! ! — The skull gave out a moan as if in 
 warning ; but in vain — she invocated the curse — she 
 swore. And then the enchantress rose as a wreathing 
 mist into the air, and, when high above, she cried — 
 " There is a ringlet of my hair surrounding the loins 
 of your husband — until the knot which ties it be 
 separated, no weapon can affect his life." Saying 
 this, she vanished as in wrath, and the thunder 
 rolled and the lightnings flashed, and an earthquake 
 opened that ravine which winds now so picturesquely 
 about Glen Castle. 
 
 "What need we proceed to narrate in detail the mis- 
 deeds of that Connaught Dalila. Donald was made 
 drunk — he slept in sottishness — his knot was cut — 
 the Yickyngr admitted — he drew his sword, and Dool- 
 wee's head was severed from his body, and sent roll- 
 ing in all its ghastliness down the steep sides of the 
 Doon ; and the morning sun, as it rose over the 
 eastern hill, saw the raven banner of the sea-king 
 floating over the ramparts of Dooncarton. 
 
 How long did the false woman enjoy her new 
 
42 THE FALSE ONES FATE. 
 
 lover ? Just so long as her paramour's fancy was 
 steady — and where is that ever secure when there is 
 not virtue and respect to keep it from veering ? The 
 Vickyngr must go to visit his other dominions — he 
 must mount the dark rider of the ocean to go to the 
 northern isles ; and he commands his black steed to 
 be brought out to take him to the seashore, and Mun- 
 hanna implores to be taken along with him, and he 
 condescends to listen to her entreaty : she is mounted 
 up behind, and on the sea-king rides till he comes to 
 the broad and turbulent stream that flows from Lough 
 Carrowmore, and the flood is high and loudly rushing 
 on in red fury between its rocks — the sea-king plunges 
 in — the steed struggles and swims — the false fair one 
 shrieks and clings to her lord — and now he ruth- 
 lessly shakes her off and down she goes : the boiling 
 surge whisked her along and engulphed her, and she 
 was no more seen.* 
 
 Onward went the cruel northern, glad to be rid of 
 one who might yet betray him in his sleep ; and a 
 crane was now seen flapping its heavy wings over the 
 roaring waters, and it shrieked with a voice that 
 sounded like the word revenge, and then she urged 
 her flight towards the cliffs of Inniskea, where, 
 according to O' Flaherty and other chroniclers, she 
 stands and will stand alive and solitary until the end 
 of time. 
 
 * I am indebted to Miss Knight for this legend, -which is 
 to be found more at large in Mr. Knight's work on Erris. 
 
43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Road from Glencastle to Belmullet— Story of a Cow's Ghost ! ! .'—The 
 Two Bogs— The Danes— The Home Sweet Home of a poor Errisman — 
 Adaptive Powers of the Human Frame— The Newest Town in Ireland 
 —A Rarity in Erris— A Fine Day — Old Names indicative of Old 
 Events— A badly located, contrasted with a well-placed town— Public 
 Day of Baptism— Gay Attire— Ancient taste for Yellow Colours— A little 
 prejudice — Tourists should not waste the mornings — The features of the 
 Mullet— An importer of Bad Cattle— The Queen of Erris— Its Pope 
 and its Squireen — A discomfortable Parsonage — The Cliffs — Adventurous 
 man and a Poulnashanthana ; of which you shall know the meaning 
 when you read the chapter. 
 
 The road from Glencastle to Belmullet is for the first 
 two miles interesting, because, ascending an eminence, 
 you get a sight of Blacksod Bay, which, at this 
 moment, under a partial sun-gleam, (for the day was 
 most uncertain, now shower, now sunshine,) showed 
 off all its great extent, as it flowed away between the 
 mountains of Achill and Bally croy. And now I rose 
 a little higher, crossed a ridge, and saw another fine 
 inland sea northwards ; Broadhaven, with all its 
 magnificent accompaniments of the conical islets, 
 called the Stags, and the lofty cliffs of Benwee and 
 Erris heads, that protect its entrance on either side. 
 I was very fortunate in having a clear hour, just now 
 at the point where I could see these magnificent 
 bays, coming north and south to meet each other, 
 and the declining sun gilding with all its splendour 
 enormous banks of clouds, and underneath them 
 casting its softened light on the curious and variously- 
 formed cliffs that rose so boldly on every side. Oh, 
 what a glorious day I shall have to-morrow and the 
 
44 PHELIM BARRETT 
 
 next, surely the weather will, and must take up, and 
 give me an opportunity of seeing, during the limited 
 time I can command, these interesting shores. . 
 
 I travelled along the ridge that divides Blacksod 
 Bay from Broadhaven. On the left of the road, about 
 a mile distant, is Tourglas, where are some subter- 
 raneous apartments, excavated, as the people say, by 
 the Lochlinne, (the Danes,) and near which have 
 been found some celts of bronze and stone ; here also 
 is a rath where the natives say they see the ghosts of 
 the cattle they have lost ; or which, according to 
 their conviction, the " good people" have carried 
 away. That this is not a mere fancy of the imagi- 
 nation, I have a fact to adduce which has general 
 credit, and which, if there be any truth in the adage 
 of "vox populi," should be relied on even beyond 
 "Erris Bounds." 
 
 Phelim Barrett, a man well to do in the world, 
 was getting on like all his neighbours, that is, just 
 as their fathers before them did. He was married, 
 of course; had his cabin full of children in one 
 end of it, leaving room for the cow and two pigs 
 at the other, not to say any thing of a goat, a dog, 
 and a cat. But Phelim' s course was not all along 
 fated to run smooth, for his cow fell over a precipice, 
 and her leg was broken, and there was nothing for 
 him to do but to cut her throat, and though she was 
 any thing but fat, yet making the best of a bad 
 bargain, and as half a loaf is better than no bread, 
 Phelim salted the carcass, and if he was short of 
 milk, at any rate he and his had plenty of beef while it 
 lasted, barring that it was the least taste in life tough. 
 
AND HIS COW. 45 
 
 Well, Christmas time was over, and Lent coming 
 on, and Phelim was very lavish of his meat, seeing 
 that it wonld be of no use after Shrovetide ; when one 
 evening, long after the sun was set, he hears a noise 
 at the door ; just like the lowing of a cow, so thinking 
 it was one of the neighbours' cattle that had got into 
 his potato garden, he went out, and sure enough he 
 saw by the light of the moon a beast standing at his 
 door, for all the world like his own brindled cow ; he 
 felt her left horn, and found his own brand, he saw 
 the same round white spot on her right hip, and her 
 tail was short as was his own cow. "Och, thin, 
 Nanny Yoe, my jewel, I'd swear that you were your 
 own self, barring that I have been eating you these 
 five weeks ;" with this expression of hope and doubt, 
 he called on his wife to come out and help to verify 
 the fact ; and, in the mean time, Phelim began to 
 pull underneath, to ascertain whether Nanny Voe 
 had any milk in her teats, and while doing so, off 
 the cow bounced. Phelim, not liking to part with 
 her, made a grasp at her tail, which catching, and 
 still the cow proving too strong to be stopped, off 
 both man and beast went as fast as a cow could 
 canter, and hither to this very rath she came with 
 Phelim clinging to her tail. Now there is a round 
 hole in the centre of the rath, about as wide as 
 would admit a man's body ; to this the cow made, 
 and down she went, and Phelim would have gone 
 with her, only that before he was sucked in, he dis- 
 entangled himself from the tail, and home he went 
 very thankful to the Virgin, and all the saints, who 
 saved him from being taken by "the gentry," who, 
 
46 DRY LODGINGS. 
 
 no doubt desired, as they had the ghost of his cow, 
 to have his own also, to have and to hold till the day 
 of judgment. 
 
 Now the road takes the northern side of the 
 ridge, and skirts the extreme shallow end of the 
 Estuary of Broadhaven, where it flows up to Bel- 
 mullet ; like all such shallows, this is ugly, parti- 
 cularly so here, where the brown bog comes down 
 and meets the water's edge, and it is hard to say 
 which is the ugliest, the muddy waste of a wide 
 estuary, now that the tide is out, the sea gulls 
 screaming, and the curlew piping dolorously, or the 
 dreary bog banks, along which the road passed, at 
 whose sides were here and there constructed some of 
 the most wretched hovels that in all my wanderings 
 in my poor native comitry it has been my lot to 
 observe. 
 
 I have seen and described the oval huts of the 
 natives of Achill, where art had not arrived at the 
 craft of raising a gable-end, but still these were over- 
 ground, they were constructed of stones, and their 
 inmates, whether squatting or reclining therein, might 
 be dry as well as warm. 
 
 But the dwellers here were bog troglodytes — the 
 foundations of their dwellings are sunk eight feet or 
 more below the surface of the surrounding black bog, 
 the walls are constructed of wet sods, cut off from 
 the surface of that bog ; there is no door or door- 
 case, no chimney ; the orifices by which the people 
 enter, and through which the smoke should issue, 
 are filled up as suits the wind, with bundles of heath 
 or turf-kreels, filled with potato-stalks ; a drain 
 
ANCIENT CABINS. 47 
 
 comes out from under the floor of the dwelling, 
 from which the superabundant moisture escapes, or 
 else it would be a common bog hole ; but, by its 
 means, the water that springs abundantly from the 
 sides and bottom, flows away, and the people sitting 
 or standing within, are free from actual overflow. 
 Observing, as I did, the prattling, lively urchins play- 
 ing about these cabins, and the certainly not un- 
 healthy aspect of the adults, I could not but admire 
 that wonderful adaptiveness of the human constitution 
 that could enable people, both young and old, to 
 remain healthy in the midst of superabundant mois- 
 ture, which, in consequence of the constant and large 
 fire necessarily kept up on their hearths, must be in 
 a state of misty smoky steam, a sort of perpetual 
 vapour bath ; and, on inquiry, I do not find that 
 pulmonary complaints, or even rheumatism are espe- 
 cially prevalent in this district ; I believe there is not 
 much longevity, which is seldom the case when the 
 diet is low, I also have reason to consider that there 
 is not much premature decay.* 
 
 * The cabins all through Ireland in the 17th century 
 were not unlike these Erris dwellings, as would appear from 
 the following poetic description published in the year 1689 : — 
 
 Built without either brick or stone, 
 
 Or couples to lay roof upon, 
 
 With wattlets upon wattles ty'd, 
 
 Fix'd in the ground on either side, 
 
 Did like a shaded arbour show 
 
 "With seats of sods and roof of straw. 
 
 The floor beneath with rushes laid — 'stead 
 
 Of tapestry, no bed or bedstead, 
 
 No posts, nor bolts, nor hinges in door, 
 
 No chimney, kitchen, hall, or windor, 
 
48 A YOUNG TOWN. 
 
 I now had got to Belmullet, the youngest town in 
 Ireland, and like all young things, it is comparatively 
 fresh and fair, though, as I have just stated, the 
 approach to it was deformed by these wretched bog- 
 huts I have just described ; the town itself contains 
 few thatched cabins, but consists of small streets of 
 moderately sized slated houses, branching off from a 
 little square, or market-place ; the shops looked to 
 be well furnished with not only necessaries, but arti- 
 cles conducive to comfort and convenience. Buildings 
 are going on, and speculation is progressing. When it 
 is considered that fifteen years ago there was not a 
 trace of a town here, it may be supposed that Mr. 
 
 But narrow dormants stopt with hay 
 
 All night, and open in the day. 
 
 On either side there was a door, 
 
 Extent from roof unto the floor, 
 
 "Which they like hedgehogs stop with straw, 
 
 Or open as the wind does Mow ; 
 
 And though they reach from top to floor, 
 
 The man crept in upon all-four. 
 
 Betwixt the doors there was a spot 
 
 P th' middle, to hang o'er the pot, 
 
 And had an engine in the nick — 
 
 For pair of tongs a broken stick. 
 
 Where in one end the parted brother 
 Was laid to rest — the cows in t'other. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The custom of sleeping stradogue, as described in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, was, it appears, common all over Ireland 150 
 years ago, for the same elegant rhymer thus describes a dor- 
 mitory : — 
 
 Under a plad* which did extend 
 'Cross the whole floor from end to end, 
 On litter laid, like horse at manger, 
 W hich served for family and stranger. 
 
 * Blanket or covering. 
 
BELMULLET. 49 
 
 Carter, the landlord, has made a good speculation, 
 and has reason to rejoice in the prosperity he has, in 
 a measure, given birth to.* 
 
 By inspecting the map it will be seen that this 
 town is situated on the eastern side of the very 
 narrow isthmus that connects the peninsula of the 
 Mullet with the mainland. The arm of Broadhaven 
 that flows up is shallow, and is only navigable for 
 light craft ; the arm of Blacksod Bay is much more 
 important, and a commodious quay is constructed, 
 along which vessels of some tonnage can discharge 
 
 * In 1825, when Belmullet was commenced, there was not 
 a tradesman residing there ; they were obliged to be brought 
 at great inconvenience from the interior of the country, Bal- 
 lina, Castlebar, Westport, and Newport. A few were then 
 in Bingham's town, but chiefly engaged by Major Bingham. 
 At present, thay find plenty of employment where they reside, 
 and in the country. Since the separation of the religious 
 duties of the two parishes, a clergyman of the Church of 
 England resides in Kilcommon, until lately at Bangor, but 
 now has taken ground for building a house in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Belmullet. The increase of arable land in 
 and about the town since its erection is most extraordinary. 
 On a map lately made of it and the townlands next east for 
 2g miles, this is shown, and the lands divided into pieces, so 
 that each individual lives on and improves his own holding ; 
 the whole system of commonage being entirely abolished in 
 those parts, as well as in the direction of the peninsula. On 
 the whole, it is one of the most gratifying spectacles of im- 
 provement that can be seen any where, considering its state 
 ten years ago, compared to what it is at present ; and if we 
 look to the future, we can have no less pleasing anticipations: 
 and considering the position of the town itself for trade, and 
 that it forms the nucleus from which improvements in agri- 
 culture will extend, by its influence and example, to the more 
 remote quarters of the country. This will be greatly facili- 
 tated by the late division of property between the principal 
 proprietors, Messrs Cai'ter and Bingham. — Knight's Erris, 
 p. 148. 
 
 D 
 
50 bingham's-town. 
 
 or load. But I am not going to write statistically of 
 this promising young thing of the west. Near the 
 quay is a very pretty cottage, in which resides Captain 
 Nugent, commander of the Coast Guard and a 
 magistrate. Having the privilege of his acquaint- 
 ance, I found a ready home at his house, where his 
 excellent wife did not disgrace the hospitable charac- 
 teristics of Caledonia, her native land. 
 
 Here I staid nearly three days, the first was 
 Sunday. There is no church as yet built in this 
 town ; of course there is a Roman Catholic chapel. 
 Divine service was performed in an unfinished school- 
 house, and there was a small but very respectable 
 congregation. I was given to understand by the 
 minister, a man well calculated to raise the character 
 of his church in a new place, that the attendance 
 would have been larger, but that the fineness of the 
 day tempted most of them to go to the regular and 
 long-established church at Bingham's-town. 
 
 Captain Nugent having some magisterial business 
 at that place, about three miles off, proposed to take 
 me there in his gig, after divine service. This I was 
 glad to do, it giving me the opportunity of seeing 
 Mulleteers in their Sunday dress and appearance. 
 Nothing could be finer than the evening ; it was 
 really a pet of a day. A calm quietude pervaded the 
 heavens, and air called on ocean to repose, after the 
 turmoil of many a stormy day ; nothing indeed could 
 be more transparent and balmy than the atmos- 
 phere, the mountains before us of all forms and ele- 
 vations, and giving the varieties of their outlines and 
 sunaces with singular distinctness. 
 
ASPECT OF THE MULLET. 51 
 
 As we drove into the Mullet, along an excellent 
 road leading to Bingham' s-town, I asked my com- 
 panion what meant the word Mullet ? He said he 
 could assign no other etymology, than that the 
 peninsula was like a fish of that name ; and, reader, 
 if you take up the map, you will observe that this 
 tract, comparatively low and sandy, is fish-like in 
 its form ; the large head and shoulders northwards, 
 the southern end terminating in a sort of tail. 
 How the Ocean could have spared this low tract, 
 when it carried away or submerged so much of the 
 western territory, is to me unexplainable. If names 
 are at all indicative of ancient events, it would ap- 
 pear that the peninsula was separated as it now is 
 from the mainland, since Ireland became inhabited, 
 for Blacksod Bay is called the new sea (Gloss Ar- 
 ragah,) in contradistinction to the Atlantic, which is 
 called the old sea (Shan Arragah,) — I am not sure 
 of the spelling ; but as in other places I shall say 
 more of this matter, I now proceed with my friend 
 the captain. 
 
 As we proceeded along the road, sometimes passing 
 through a boggy tract, oftener through a sandy one, 
 the corn was just beginning to turn in the small 
 fields on either side of the road. Here the tillage 
 was bad, the ridges such as I have described in 
 Achill, the fences miserable, and the ground almost 
 as productive of weeds as crops ; yet, after all, the 
 barley and oats were abundant, owing no doubt to 
 the quantity of sea-weed that can be here procured. 
 
 We drove into Bingham' s-town along an excellent 
 road. A small church is on the right hand, and on 
 
52 A SAD TOWN 
 
 the left a large unfinished building, intended by the 
 landlord for some manufactory, but now, roofless and 
 dilapidated, it stands a monument of a failure, as in- 
 deed is the whole town, or rather village, which ap- 
 pears to have been originally unhappily located, 
 and is now sinking fast into decay in consequence 
 of its too great proximity to its younger sister, Bel- 
 mullet . I cannot well conceive what Maj or Bingham' s 
 motive was for this location, on a property where the 
 sea was every thing and the land comparatively no- 
 thing ; where no town could be expected to thrive 
 that had not a ready and commodious quay for the 
 purposes of the com export trade and fishery. Why 
 build this long street inland ? No wonder that it is 
 going to decay. No wonder Dean Lyons, who it 
 appears loves not the landlord, calls it Beggar' s-town 
 instead of Bingham' s-town ; and, indeed, the good fa- 
 ther's own house, though originally a large and 
 commodious concern, has been so wrecked by the last 
 January storm, that it and other tenements presented 
 an appearance as if the town had been bombarded by 
 an hostile fleet. The place was full of people, dressed 
 in their best attire ; the service of mass was over, but 
 hundreds were crowding around the chapel, for pub- 
 he* baptism was going on, and all the parents and 
 
 * I think in a religious, social, and (if I may be allowed to 
 say) a picturesque view, that the institution of public bap- 
 tisms at stated periods, is a great improvement in the Roman 
 Catholic Church. It restores to this initiatory Christian 
 Sacrament its ancient and ecclesiastical solemnity; it substi- 
 tutes for the unholy frivolity of a christening the sacredness 
 of a dedicatory rite ; and, when accompanied by a pulpit 
 address, calculated to inform the understanding and affect 
 
AND GAY PEOPLE. 53 
 
 gossips in their best attire were awaiting the cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Were I to judge from the crowds of people I saw 
 in good and new attire, I should suppose that the 
 people of the Mullet were by no means in great and 
 squalid poverty, and it surprised me not a little, ob- 
 serving the miserable hovels that on every side pre- 
 sented themselves, how they could turn out so many 
 well-dressed people. I suppose it is the case, that the 
 people have acquired a taste for personal adornment 
 without the desire for household and house comforts ? 
 The women all wore highly-flounced muslin caps ; 
 they seemed to affect greatly red and deep yellow 
 colours, and some of the dresses, almost approaching 
 to orange, put me in mind of Archbishop M 'Hale's 
 anger against the Achill women, when they came to 
 meet his grace in what he conceived to be orange 
 garments. 
 
 We drove through this miserable and abortive 
 town, dying away as it is within sight of its more 
 prosperous neighbour, and proceeded in the direction 
 of Bingham Castle. As we came out of the street 
 wretched hovels presented themselves on all sides, 
 some huddled together, and apparently ready to 
 tumble, with the thatch almost all torn off by the 
 preceding winter's storms, and the walls melting away 
 under the protracted summer's rains ; water running 
 
 the heart, it must have a most beneficial effect on the con- 
 gregation. Baptisms in the church, are now almost exclu- 
 sively used in the Established Church, but it would be a 
 great improvement if they were held at stated times, and in 
 the face of the congregation. 
 
54 A PUBLIC WORK. 
 
 round and from under the house. No human habi- 
 tations, I believe, in the broad earth so wretched ; 
 and yet, as I have before observed, the children that 
 played around these hovels were happy healthy things. 
 Just before us, about half a mile from Bingham' s- 
 town, and where an arm of Blacksod Bay came in, 
 my companion showed me a rather handsome but 
 small pier, constructed, no doubt, to serve as the port 
 of this city of the Mullet. This pier, constructed at 
 the public expense, is placed, as my companion 
 pointed out, at the wrong side of the inlet, and when 
 the prevailing winds blow it is utterly of no value. 
 No wonder that not even a fishing boat lay alongside 
 of this very useless public work. There is a large 
 house near this pier which, though inhabited, is 
 much out of repair ; a field of about four acres sur- 
 rounded in a great measure this building, which, 
 though capable, from its dry position and vicinity to 
 the sea, to be either a good pasture field or meadow, 
 3 r et from the way in which it was treated seemed to 
 be altogether unproductive. It appeared to have 
 been ploughed, from the lay, a considerable time ago, 
 and there the upturned sods remained just as the 
 plough had left them, and it seemed to be the pigs' 
 good pleasure to keep continually rooting away 
 amongst these upturned sods, so as to hinder any 
 new verdure from attempting to cover again this de- 
 plorable field. Struck with its appearance, I asked 
 my companion how the owner, in a country where 
 grass land was so scarce, could allow so valuable a 
 tract to lie useless. 
 
 " Oh," said he, " I'll explain that to you. Some 
 
AN ACCOMMODATION. 55 
 
 few years ago a stipendiary magistrate was sent down 
 here by government, and he came to reside in that 
 large house, and wanting grass for his cattle he ap- 
 plied to the landlord* to let him have this field at any 
 rent he might please to demand. Now the landlord, 
 not agreeing in politics with said magistrate, and 
 moreover feeling persuaded that such a functionary 
 had no business in the Mullet, instead of complying 
 with his request, on the following day sent down all 
 the ploughs he could command, and before long turned 
 up the grass field, and there it has remained, just as 
 you now see it, ever since." 
 
 Though urged by my friend to proceed further and 
 see the improvements at Bingham Castle, as it was 
 Sunday, I declared I was content to see it at a dis- 
 tance of about two miles, where, upon a large and ap- 
 parently a green fertile lawn, it presented a long front, 
 ornamented with turrets and crenellated, so as to give 
 it a half-military appearance. Now, though there was 
 not a tree to be seen, and though the peninsula of 
 the Mullet, take it altogether, is as ugly a piece of 
 Irish land as I have yet visited, yet, at the distance 
 from whence I viewed it, backed as it was by the moun- 
 tains of Achill and by the fine range of the Corraan 
 and Maam Thomas groups, while, through a gap in 
 the latter Croagh Patrick could be seen rising in its 
 beautiful conical altitude, this castle looked well 
 
 * It is not necessary here to state who the landlord is : it 
 is to be understood that there are more landowners than one 
 in the Mullet, and there may be many and just reasons too, 
 why at certain times a man may do what he likes with his 
 own. 
 
56 WALK ACROSS THE MULLET. 
 
 from the point where I now observed it, and seemed to 
 have been thus located by a man capable of knowing 
 where a mansion house should be erected. 
 
 The following da}' an excursion was arranged for 
 me in which I was much interested. I was to walk 
 across the peninsula to the glebe house of the Protes- 
 tant clergyman, and he, providing a boat, we were to 
 proceed from a little bay called French port and reach 
 the island of Innisgloria, where I was informed that 
 there were some very curious old buildings and 
 remains, that were full of interest to the antiquarian. 
 The morning was fine, and it would have been well 
 for me in pursuance of my views, if I had taken 
 advantage of that morning ; but, unfortunately, I 
 did not do so, nor leave Belmullet until near noon. 
 As I proceeded on my walk of about five miles, the 
 day began to change, the sky began to look muddy 
 in the south western quarter, the wind to rise, and, 
 when I arrived at the glebe house, I received the 
 agreeable information that it would be out of the 
 question at that time of day and the present state of 
 the wind, to reach Innisgloria and return before 
 night. This walk across the Mullet was certainly 
 not very interesting ; except here and there a small 
 patch of corn and potatoes won from the moor, all 
 else was either bog or sand-hill ; and certainly, the 
 former, though ugly enough, was not so unpleas- 
 ing as the dreary waste of sand which bespoke the 
 march of desolation and barrenness every day on the 
 advance. It is said that about a century ago, one 
 Gamble, a tenant of Sir Arthur Shaen, introduced 
 
THE QUEEN OF THE WEST. 5/ 
 
 rabbits into the Mullet from Westmeath. No doubt 
 he thought he was doing a great good. Time has 
 shown he was a great evil-doer. 
 
 Approaching the western coast, our way lay through 
 one of the largest villages ; like all the rest it was an 
 irregular congeries of huts, but they, standing as they 
 did high and dry, did not exhibit so much damp dis- 
 comfort as the bog cabins. One or two dwellings 
 were of a better sort, and one was shown as the habi- 
 tation of the Queen of Erris ; or, in other words, a 
 Miss M'Donnell, who, having some education, some 
 property, and much good sense, has been dubbed by 
 Priest Lyons (as a Hildebrand crowned an emperor,) 
 her Majesty of the Mullet. I certainly had a desire 
 to enter into the presence of this western Victoria — 
 but the honour was denied me, inasmuch as she was 
 making a royal progress amongst her lieges in the 
 mountains. I, as a sort of set off against this dis- 
 appointment, was brought into the house of an Erris 
 squireen — one who once was a considerable land- 
 holder, but, from profuse hospitality and other causes, 
 is now reduced nearly to the level of a common pea- 
 sant, and who lived principally on the goodwill of his 
 neighbours. Mr. Michael Anthony O'Donnell (which 
 fine double Christian name is abbreviated into Mister 
 Mickletony,) was not in the house, but he was not 
 far off, and would be sent for. His house, or rather 
 cabin, though not larger than the others around, was 
 clean and water-tight — the floor was swept — there was 
 an air of tidiness and decency around. I observed a 
 book or two on a shelf, and one appeared to be a New 
 
 d 2 
 
58 A PITIFUL PARSONAGE. 
 
 Testament. As this man was decidedly a character, 
 and had much to tell of old lore and legend, a mes- 
 sage was left for him, requesting he would follow us, 
 and we proceeded to the glebe house. And such a 
 position for a glebe house, within three hundred yards 
 of the Atlantic Ocean— nothing between the sea cliffs 
 and the rear of the house but a dreary down, on 
 which a blade of grass dare not start up lest it should 
 be cut off by the driving blast fraught with salt 
 spray, and where only the sea pink and the bent had 
 the means and power dwarfishly to vegetate. What 
 a wide difference between this Erris glebe, and one of 
 the sheltered, garden environed, placid, picturesque 
 glebes in wealthy England, the very emblem of old long 
 established comfort, and this horrid house, with its 
 interior walls all green with the mildew of indomi- 
 table damp — its windows shattered with the last 
 winter's blast, and for panes of glass, boards, canvass, 
 and all manner of ugly make-shifts substituted. I won- 
 der how an Oxford or Cambridge Fellow would like 
 to be sent here, as the settled retreat of his latter days. 
 Why, the very sight of it would give him a quartan 
 ague. But not so our Irish parson. The worthy 
 divine was out amongst his workmen, trying to make 
 a little hay, not while the sun shone — for the orb was 
 not visible — but while the wind blew, without carrying 
 wet on its wings. I have seldom seen a healthier 
 looking young man, and his appearance convinced me 
 that this land of storm and sea damp is not inimical 
 to the human constitution : he looked as healthy and 
 as happy as if he were the incumbent of a golden 
 
A POTJLNASHANTHANA. 59 
 
 prebend. His reverence convinced me that I had 
 lost my opportunity of visiting Innisgloria, but he 
 was kind enough for a short time to accompany me 
 in a walk along the cliffs at the rear of his dwelling. 
 He also showed me what he considered curious 
 though I had witnessed the same often before, namely, 
 the luxuriant growth in his garden, which was only 
 sheltered off from the adjoining downs by a low wall, 
 (but that low wall was every tiling,) of some very fine 
 hydrangias and carnations. Indeed, I don't think I 
 ever saw anywhere such vigorous specimens of these 
 flowers. 
 
 The walk along the cliffs between French port and 
 Scotch port, two narrow inlets, was interesting 
 enough ; the cliffs, though not high, were very per- 
 pendicular, and here and there a portion distinct from 
 the rest formed either a peninsula or island, (and 
 some of these islands have the traces of ancient 
 buildings, &c. &c.) : or where the softer rock or the 
 disturbing trap dyke gave the sea opportunity to 
 force its way, there a cave was formed, in which 
 the waves were growling and the stones rolling, mak- 
 ing the wild music of the coast. And here was shown 
 me where adown the perpendicular cliff a venturous 
 man went with perfect safety to recover a sheep 
 that had fallen from above ; and not far off, and 
 about one hundred yards inland from the face of the 
 precipice is what is called in Irish a Poulnashanthana; 
 that is, a cave that has worn its way far in, and has 
 widened as it advanced ; and the roof has near its 
 inland extremity fallen in, and there is a deep chasm, 
 
60 ITS FURNITURE. 
 
 at the bottom of which the green translucent waves 
 are growling, and the sea weeds are covering the 
 rocks below with their manifold vegetations, and 
 above, the lichens and iron tinged waters as they 
 trickle down the sides, tint them with various and 
 finely contrasted colours. 
 
Gl 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A further acquaintance with a Squireen— His picture — A look out on the 
 Atlantic— Innisgloria— An unfeminine tradition — A Priest's liberality- 
 Suspected by one of his own flock — Women and vermin equally excom- 
 municated by St. Brenan — No religious Rats can live in Innisgloria — 
 I advise certain dignitaries who are not as poor as Church mice not to shun 
 the island there— Cliff fortifications— The Curse of Cromwell— The 
 Priest's leap —The miracle— An important fortification of great antiquity — 
 Singular defences — The Tuatha Danaans — A man enticed by a Fairy — 
 The adventure and its result — The Parson's daughter — Her amour — Her 
 sojourn with "the gentry" — The work of an Achill Priest — The condition 
 of her conversion, her marriage, disenchantment, and death — The 
 Enchanted country — The submersion of the land — A curious burying 
 ground — A Story of the Irish wars — A faithful follower — The desecra- 
 tion of an holy place — The awful fate of the perpetrators. 
 
 I confess that when the parson wished me good 
 morning, and his place was supplied by Mr. Mickle 
 Tony O'Donnell, I was not sorry for the exchange, 
 for, without desiring to disparage his reverence, either 
 as a clergyman or a gentleman, I must say that I, for 
 "the nonce,'' preferred the garrulous and credulous 
 Milesian to the matter of fact minister. What a per- 
 verted taste! Now, I was prepared by the young 
 friends who accompanied me from Belmullet, for what 
 I was to expect in Mr. Mickletony, and he did not 
 do discredit to his character. The man is tall, thin, 
 and rather narrow shouldered. He stoops a little, I 
 should suppose from frequent bendings of his body 
 as he enters the cabin doors of his many friends : he 
 has a little shuffle in his gait, arising, I should sus- 
 pect, from the over use of whiskey — the commence- 
 
62 AN ATLANTIC PROSPECT. 
 
 ment of what may end in delirium tremens. He has 
 a round face, a keen hlack eye, and, if all he true 
 that is said of his drinking propensities and practices, 
 he shows a constitution that has hitherto well with- 
 stood the poison of a continual stimulus. Mr. O'Don- 
 nell's accost has the ease and confidence of one who 
 felt he was of the better sort, and he entered at once 
 into free and familiar conversation. Where we stood 
 there lay before us the great ocean, which was heaving 
 under a wind that was sending from the south-west 
 heavy clouds that portended a speedy fall of rain, and 
 along the wild cliff-embattled coast, the waves were 
 boiling and surging and sending up their spray on 
 high, with moanings amongst the caverns, that fore- 
 told the coming storm. To the north was Eagle island, 
 lofty and abrupt, with two picturesque lighthouses, 
 which were just being erected. Southwards Innis- 
 gloria, and farther down towards Achill, Inniskea. I 
 desired to gather what I could from Mickletony 
 about Innisgloria, and accordingly asked was he ever 
 there ? 
 
 " Yes, to be sure I was. Do you think I would 
 not often be where all the people of any gentility do 
 be buried?" 
 
 I asked him if it was true that the bodies buried 
 there did not corrupt ? He said he did not believe 
 it was true, for he saw bones thrown up as loose and 
 rotten when a grave was opened as anywhere else; "but, 
 be that true or not, this I can say, there is a well 
 dedicated to St. Brenain, the water of which, if any 
 woman dare to drink, while in her mouth would 
 turn blood-red, and be full of little red worms : they 
 would do her great mischief for a year and a day." 
 
 
A FALSE REPORT. 63 
 
 On this assertion of O'Donnell's, one of my yonng 
 companions, a relative of Captain Nugent, exclaimed, 
 
 " Oh, that's all nonsense ! there's not a word of 
 truth in it ; for, not long ago, the captain, his wife, and 
 one or two other ladies, accompanied by Dean Lyon's 
 went on a pleasure-party to the island ; and, though 
 they were all aware of the superstition just alluded to, 
 yet, as the well was a fine one, full of clear cold 
 water, the day sultry, and a drink most desirable, not 
 only the gentlemen but the ladies drank plentifully of 
 the living spring, which became, not certainly wormy, 
 on the occasion, though it might have become a little 
 red, from the infusion of port wine thrown in to 
 qualify it for the stomach. And here the good sense 
 of the worthy Roman Catholic clergyman could not 
 stand out against such proofs of the well not being 
 inimical to womankind ; for, as no ill consequence 
 followed from the promiscuous drinking, he declared 
 that on the next convenient opportunity, he would 
 bring his sister to the island, and make her take a 
 drink out of the well, in order to disabuse his parish- 
 ioners of this absurd old prejudice." 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, let me ask you," says O'Don- 
 nell, "has the priest been as yet as good as his 
 word? I'll take a bet with any of you, that he will 
 take care to forget that he ever promised any such 
 thing. But be this as it may, believe you me, that no 
 rat will live in that holy island ; and, what's more, 
 if any of its earth is brought into a house where rats 
 or mice do be, not a tail or tidings of one of the var- 
 mints will you ever hear of afterwards ; and there are 
 curious places in that same island, caves under- 
 ground, built, they say, by the old magicians, who 
 
G4 A FORTIFICATION. 
 
 kept the country in ancient days, and into one of 
 which, if two persons go down together, and if, when 
 they get there, they don't break a piece of bread, 
 both holding it with their right hands, and then eat 
 of it, one of them will certainly die before a year and 
 a day are over. But come, sir, as you have travelled 
 so far to see our wild country, I must show you its 
 curiosities. Here are plenty of old fortifications ; we 
 are now very near one." 
 
 So we proceeded towards the cliff southwestward 
 from the glebe-house, andO'Donnell pointed out what 
 certainly required some accurate inspection to prove 
 to have been a fortification : a wall about three feet 
 high ran across a promontory from sea to sea. There 
 are very indistinct traces of a gate, and some side 
 lodges ; however, within this inclosure there seems to 
 have been extensive underground places for conceal- 
 ment. They were now choked up. Mr. Dawson and 
 others made some attempts not long ago to open them, 
 but it would seem that they did not persevere, so as 
 to arrive at any satisfactory information respecting 
 them. As far as I could observe, they did not seem 
 similar to those artificial caves that are to be found 
 over Ireland in our raths. The country people call 
 the place Porth ; Mr. O'Donnell could not tell me 
 whether it was an English or an Irish word. 
 
 Scotch Port is the name of an inlet not far off. 
 The last tenant of this strong place, according to Mr. 
 Muckletony, was one Shawn Gill, a desperate tyrant 
 of course ; whose cruelties the people could bear no 
 longer, so they surprised him one night and cast him 
 into the boiling ocean. 
 
 Proceeding further north, and just in the rear of 
 
a priest's leap. 65 
 
 the glebe house, is another fortification erected on a 
 little promontory, lower than the rest of the cliff — 
 which seems as if it had sunk down, and which is with 
 great difficulty accessible : a ditch or mound runs all 
 round this, and there are traces of stone buildings and 
 stone walls defending the mound ; the place is called 
 " Doon a Derrig," or " the fort of the red man," and 
 there was pointed out to me a little square apartment 
 in which the said red man, an outlaw of more modern 
 times, had fixed his abode, and to which he had some 
 means of access, where no one else would dare to ven- 
 ture. Farther northward again, is another insulated 
 rock, whose face is so conformable in stratification 
 with the adjoining cliff, that if joined they would 
 make an exact fit. The same convulsion that broke 
 down Slieve Crohan hi Achill, that severed Dunbrista, 
 and has left evidences all along this western coast of 
 the submersion of forest and field* — must have caused 
 the separation now before me. But there is, in the 
 opinion of the people, a better and more satisfactory 
 account of the separation of this now inaccessible 
 island cliff, which account has given rise to its name 
 — the Priest's Leap. 
 
 "When the curse of Cromwell, sweeping all Ireland, 
 did not even spare this remote district, and his black- 
 mouthed troopers, greedy of gain and prodigal of 
 blood, broke the mountain barrier of " Irris Bounds," 
 and made their appearance in the Mullet, a priest was 
 celebrating mass at the abbey of Termon Carra, when 
 
 * Though not a tree dare now shew its top above the 
 shelter of a stone wall in the Mullet, there are abundant 
 remains of timber in its bogs, and under strands now covered 
 by the tide. 
 
66 . THE ESCAPE. 
 
 a panting messenger ran in and told him to escape, 
 for the heretics were at hand. So the holy father thrust- 
 ing the pix and chalice into his bosom, and clad in 
 his flowing vestments, flees towards the cliff, hoping 
 to reach some cave or sheltering rock beneath which 
 he might secrete himself for a time. But his pur- 
 suers are hot foot after him — their victim is in 
 sight, and now he has reached the nearest cliff, and 
 down it goes perpendicular to the blue ocean ; and 
 behind are rushing the dismounted troopers, the iron 
 scabbards of their swords rattling amongst the rocks 
 as they came on : he has but a choice of deaths, and 
 he will fall into the hands of Providence rather than 
 of men ; and in an instant he will make the spring 
 from the precipice. — Ay, down he goes ; but if he 
 does, down goes the cliff along with him — it falls 
 under him slanting, and he is safe on an instantaneous 
 island — which not only stands separate from the 
 mainland, keeping the surging sea between him and 
 his foes, but protected from their murderous shots 
 by its slanting position and its sheltering rocks. It 
 is to be assumed that when the Sassenachs retreated, 
 disappointed as they were of their prey, some friendly 
 Corragh came and took him off from this rock, on 
 which nothing but a puffin or a sea mew could remain 
 for any time without perishing. 
 
 Farther northwards is another fortified island, or 
 rather promontory, called Doon a Neana, or "the 
 Fort of the One Man." I have heard nothing con- 
 cerning this. So proceeding northwards under the 
 guidance of Mr. O'Donnell, we passed the little inlet 
 or harbour of Scotch Port, on whose rough beach 
 
DTTNAMOA. # 6/ 
 
 some few boats and corraghs were lying high and dry, 
 and again ascended the cliffs, which became, as we 
 advanced northwards, bolder and loftier ; and, when 
 at the highest elevation, a promontory pushed out its 
 sharp shoulder seawards, forming a fine headland, and 
 connected but by a narrow isthmus with the adjacent 
 downs. Here, as a more important position, there were 
 much more important fortifications, and a wall about 
 ten feet high, but evidently the ruin of a much 
 loftier erection, ran across from cliff to cliff ; protected 
 outside by a. fosse cut in the rock, and, in the centre, 
 there was the gateway, protected by outworks con- 
 taining caserns and covered ways of a singular and 
 elaborate construction. This wall and the ruin bore 
 marks of remote antiquity, their stones large and 
 cyclopean in their construction, were mantled over 
 with the long grey lichens that seem to be the pecu- 
 liar vesture of buildings belonging to the one ancient 
 race. Indeed, I did not at all expect from the other 
 places I had visited, to find any thing so very inte- 
 resting as the spot I was now admiring. It is called 
 Dunamoa. The fosse, the wall, the singularly curious 
 outworks, the interior lodges, which, though now 
 unroofed, still gave evident proof that they were 
 apartments covered in an exactly similar way to those 
 in Innisgloria and Innismurry. The promontory 
 indeed, besides these strong defences, bore traces of 
 being fenced all round, like that of Downpatrick, with 
 an earthen mound. Near the seaward front of the 
 promontory and inclining to the south, there are the 
 foundations of a square building of some size, but this 
 was so dilapidated by man and the elements, that its 
 
68 « CURIOUS DEFENCES. 
 
 exact form I could not trace ; but the most curious 
 circumstance of all, and which marks its importance 
 and antiquity, identifying it with the oldest military 
 work in Ireland, Dun Eangus, in the island of South 
 Arran, (and I believe the circumstance I am going to 
 state is only observable in those two places,) is, that 
 in front of the wall and besetting the whole plain by 
 which the fortress can be approached, a great number 
 of sharp flaggy rocks are fixed on end, and so dis- 
 posed as not only to hinder chariots from driving, but 
 horsemen from riding, up to the fortification.* Mr. 
 O'Donnell said that "he remembers stones here not 
 only much larger, but much more thickly set in the 
 ground than at present, but as they were good and 
 handy for making quoins and window sills, &c. &c. 
 they were taken up and brought down to build the 
 adjoining village ;" those still upright are from one to 
 three feet high, and evidently have a connection with 
 and are of the same date as the wall. The tradition 
 of the people as reported to me by O'Donnell respect- 
 ing this dim, was any thing but satisfactory, sinning 
 not only against chronology, but against internal tes- 
 timony and probability. He said it was erected by 
 the Burkes, and was besieged and taken by the 
 Danes. Now, besides having no resemblance what- 
 ever to a fortress that would be erected by a Norman 
 de Burgo, coming as he would from the interior — it 
 
 * Annexed is a hasty sketch of the defences of Dunamoa. 
 A, the wall ; B, the fosse ; T>, the defences of the gate ; FGH, 
 the lodges in the thickness of the wall ; K, the ruins of inte- 
 rior buildings; N, the sharp stones besetting the ground in 
 front of the fortification ; the perpendicular cliffs are on 
 either side of the isthmus. 
 
A PRIMITIVE RACE. 71 
 
 bore to me satisfactory traces of being even anterior to 
 the Danish invasion of the ninth and tenth centuries. 
 I would suspect it to be thework of a much more ancient 
 I would say of a primitive race ; of that people who 
 constructed Dun Eangus in Arran, Dun Bristha in 
 Tyrawly, and the Cassiol of Innismurry, off the 
 coast of Sligo ; that people who, besides those mili- 
 tary works, erected either for sepulture or worship, or 
 perhaps for both conjoined, the cromleachs, the giant's 
 graves, the circles, and artificial caves, with which 
 the whole north western coast of the island abounds. 
 Be this opinion well founded or not, it is quite evi- 
 dent that these monuments belong to a people that 
 came by sea from the north — whether these Yickyngr 
 or Kings were the Danaans of an era long prior 
 to the introduction of Christianity, or of the Danes 
 of the tenth century. They must have belonged to 
 those who came from the sea and desired to remain in 
 connection with it ; for, besides these fortresses so 
 desirable for defence and retreat in time of disaster, 
 and for stowing plunder in time of success, there are 
 numerous sea caves along the coast that are dry 
 (except in extraordinary cases,) in the interior ; — these 
 are called Danes' Cellars — "Celiaima Lochlain" — 
 in which it is said those sea rovers stowed their 
 plunder. I should much like to explore accurately 
 some of these " cellars," perhaps I would find some 
 remains of what these " paganiee kings" (if they 
 were the latter Danes) tore from the ancient churches 
 and ccenobia of Ireland. 
 
 Returning from Dunamoa, Mr. Mickletony di- 
 rected our steps towards an ancient burial-ground, 
 
72 THE GENTRY. 
 
 called Termon* Carra, which, as I take it, means the 
 quarter of the bishop's townland — which, indeed, 
 it is, being part of the estate of the See of Killala, 
 standing, as the old cemetery did, on the verge of 
 the sand-hills. I was desirous of examining some 
 old graves, and some remains of ancient crosses, 
 which, I was told, were to be found there ; and it 
 being hinted to me that our Milesian companion was 
 well acquainted with the fairy superstition of the 
 country, and had allowed that he, himself, had 
 actually been with the fairies ; as we went along, I 
 took occasion to lead, as it were, unintentionally to 
 the subject, and was not a little surprised and satis- 
 fied at finding that I had at length come across a 
 man, and that of the better sort, who had seen the 
 "good people;" and so here I had before me one 
 who was neither ashamed nor afraid to allow his 
 acquaintance with "the gentry," who said he had not 
 only seen and heard, but had felt them ; and though 
 they were, it is true, rather scarce in these degenerate 
 days, yet they were still in the neighbourhood. And 
 now it was the point to get our friend to particularize, 
 and leaving loose generalities to narrate some of his 
 haps in the land of " Faerie." So not in the slightest 
 manner appearing to doubt his veracity, or to throw 
 ridicule, or *any discredit on the existence of the 
 " good people," I requested O'Donnell to give me 
 his experience, which, with great assumption of 
 veracity, and keeping a most solemn countenance, he 
 proceeded to do as follows: — 
 
 * These ecclesiastical lands were marked off in ancient 
 times by crosses, set up as termini — hence termon lands 
 
AN ADVENTURE. /O 
 
 " One evening, about seven years ago, I had been 
 
 supping with an old friend at , and quiet and 
 
 sober enough we were. I could take my davy (affi- 
 davit) that I had not drunk more than four tumblers 
 of punch, and the moon rising, I said it was time to 
 go home, and so I started, but had not gone far, 
 when a cloud coming thick from the west, shut out 
 the light of the moon, and I had to grope my way 
 down the Boreen and over a Togher, which I knew if 
 I left one inch, I'd go down nobody knows how far, 
 and I might be choked before I could say a pater- 
 noster. So do you see, I was picking my path along 
 as if I was treading upon eggs, when what should I 
 see stand up under my nose, but a manikin, with a 
 little body, and a long face, with eyes as green as a 
 goat, and a nose long, black, and crooked, like a 
 carman's grease horn, and my little fellow had a coal 
 o' turf in a clip stick in his hand, which he every 
 now and then blew upon, and brought up a blaze that 
 gave a light, which showed well enough the way we 
 were going on. * "Why then, my dacent gossoon,' says 
 myself, it's well we're met at any rate, wherever you're 
 going, or wherever you're coming from ; maybe you'd 
 keep blowing your sod, avic, a little longer, untill I 
 get off this place, that's so soft entirely, and get on 
 the hard road, that '11 lead me to my own house in 
 Court Clough.' * Why then it's myself that '11 do that 
 and welcome.' And so on he goes before me, and me 
 after him — but not one o' me, though I'm smart 
 enough at all times on my pins, could keep up with 
 the little fellow at all, for he neither seemed to walk, 
 or run, or hop, or leap, but on he went as smooth as 
 
74 A DOUBT. 
 
 a shadow on the water, or as a cloud in the sky. f Och 
 then/ says myself to the little fellow, ' be asy, ma 
 bouchal ; if you're strong, be marciful, and don't kill 
 me all out in keeping after you so' — with that he 
 seemed to move slower, and we got upon what I 
 thought was dry ground, and on we went, and myself, 
 in the mean time, thought to be chatty with the 
 little chap, but divil a word he'd say, but every now 
 and then he'd give his coal a puff, and 'pon my 
 conscience, sometimes I thought I saw out on the 
 edge of the darkness, little quare faces that kept grin- 
 ning at me, and amongst the rest I thought one put out 
 his tongue, and said, ' A nate way it is you're going 
 home, Mr. O'Donnell.' Well, thinks I to myself, I'm 
 not far off from my own house at any rate, for sure 
 I hear the sea roaring to the right on the shore be- 
 yont, under that star that's now peeping out from the 
 black cloud, and don't I see too the hill that our 
 village is under 1 ' Maybe now,' says myself to the little 
 fellow, (for to tell Heaven's truth and shame the dive 1 , 
 I began to desire his room as much as his company,) 
 ' it's time for you to be going about your own busi- 
 ness, whatever it is — you may safely leave me where 
 I am, for I know my way now, the road is straight and 
 hard, and I'll be at my own door in Court Clough in less 
 than no time.' * Oh, by no manner o' manes,' says 
 the little man, mighty cavil, ' it '11 go hard with me if 
 I don't see you home.' So on we went farther and 
 farther until myself got tired, and I saw the sand 
 hills all around. ' Where are you bringing me, little 
 boy?' says myself ; ' sure we're getting amongst the 
 holes and hollows where nothing can be safe, not even 
 
AN ESCAPE. 75 
 
 a rabbit.' ' Oh, be asy,' says the little fellow, ' I 
 tell you for once we're in the right way' — 'Well, any 
 how, right or wrong, I'm all out tired, and to com- 
 fort my heart, and as the coal is at hand, I'll, in 
 in God's name, just light my dudeen, seeing as how 
 I've a cut o' tobacco in my pocket' — so with that I 
 came near my companion to catch a hold o' the coal, 
 when he sets up a shriek that sounded through the 
 hills like the cry of a curlew, and off he went like a 
 blast o' wind, coal and all, and there was myself in 
 the middle o' the yellow hills without knowing on what 
 side to turn, or what to do ; so I sat down, said a 
 pater and an are, cut the sign o' the cross between me 
 and harm, and fell fast asleep, and there I lay till 
 the morning smi arose to tell me how far I was from 
 home, and show me that it was God's mercy that 
 the wind did not rise in the night, for if it did, 
 I'd have been buried alive where I lay by the flying 
 sand, and certain I am that it was the wicked intui- 
 tion o' that phouca to bring me to harm, and leave 
 me there." 
 
 "Well now, Mr. O'Donnell, perhaps all this was 
 but imagination ; possibly your head was light, and 
 you were led astray by the spirit of poteen rather 
 than by the phantom of a sheeoge." 
 
 " Oh by no manner o' manes ; how could I be any 
 thing but sinsible and sober, when I was trusting to 
 four tumblers o' punch? But maybe you don't 
 believe what happened to myself; if so how will you 
 believe what I know fell out to another?" 
 
 "Oh, Mr. O'Donnell, I assure you I do not desire 
 to throw discredit upon any assertion of yours, and I 
 
76 a parson's daughter. 
 
 hope you will tell me whatever more you may know 
 concerning the * good people.' " 
 
 This reliance on his veracity opened him, and he 
 said, "why shouldn't the sheeoges mislead me, when 
 they brought to a bad end the parson's daughter?" 
 
 "How was that?" says I. 
 
 "Why, it was in this way, I remimber the matter 
 well — it was the talk of all the neighbours when I 
 was a little boy ; at that time there lived in the glebe- 
 house beyond, a parson o' the name o' M , and 
 
 he had as pretty and clane a slip of a girl for a 
 daughter as any in Erris — her eye was as dark as 
 a blackberry, and her skin as white as the feathers 
 under a gull's wing. The squire's sons were all 
 a courting her ; and my own father, I could hear, liked 
 her better than the one he took afterwards to wife, 
 meaning my own mother. But none o' the neigh- 
 bours, sir, would she look upon at all kindly, and she 
 was proud and stately, and wary as a wild swan, for" 
 they say she had fixed her love upon the skipper of a 
 French lugger, that used to anchor in Blacksod Bay, 
 and often land and go up to the glebe, for they say 
 too, that the minister used to have dealings with the 
 Frenchman, and plenty o' brandy, claret, and fine 
 silks and laces were stowed away in a cave under the 
 parson's parlour. So you see two kinds of exchanges 
 were going on, and Monsieur had his own dealings 
 with the father and the daughter ; and some time 
 after this the lugger left the coast, Mounseer was no 
 more heard of, and it was a melancholy time for poor 
 Ellen M . 
 
 "About this time people began to say that she used 
 
A DISENCHANTMENT. 77 
 
 to be out at night, and keep company with the ■ good 
 people,' and it wasn't for one night only, but for 
 weeks and months she'd stay away, and every time 
 she came back the more silent, sad, and useless she 
 was — her colour went, her flesh wasted — nothing but 
 the wild movements of her large eyes, which, though 
 formerly black, were now, as it were, red as a coal, 
 full, as one might say, of faiiy fire. 
 
 " In this state her father, who loved her fondly, did 
 not know what to do ; the neighbours told him that it 
 all came of her being with the good people, and that 
 nothing would take her from their power, if it wasn't 
 a holy priest that lived in Achill, and who could do 
 wonders with those that were fairy-struck ; with that, 
 
 and losing no time, parson M sends for friar 
 
 Cook, who made no objection in life, but came in the 
 minister's wherry, and the only bargain he made, 
 when consenting to relieve Miss Ellen from the fairies 
 was, that she should never darken a church door 
 again ; that being settled, to work he went. It is 
 not so easy to take back a body from the fairies, and 
 one too that staid a month with them, and of course 
 must have ate of their victuals, and being a Protes- 
 tant moreover, she didn't know well how to cut the 
 sign o' the cross. But still Father Cook didn't give 
 over, and at length having her in hand for more than 
 half a year, during all which time he had free quar- 
 ters with the minister, and if they didn't pray, maybe 
 they did ate and drink together, — but at the end 
 o' that time, Miss Ellen became quite well; her 
 spirits, her flesh, and her good looks returned ; she 
 behaved herself like a rasonable creathure; and not 
 
78 A HARD HUSBAND. 
 
 long after the priest went away, one Teeling came, 
 and made his proposals for her. He was a Protes- 
 tant from Sligo, had much substance in land and 
 stock, and as the father was anxious, and the girl 
 seemingly not unwilling, the match was made, they 
 were married, but indeed they didn't live long 
 happily together. Teeling was a drunken baste ; he 
 was naming hot in his religion, and would have his 
 wife go his way. Now she had sworn to Father 
 Cook she'd never darken a church door, and what 
 could she do — break her oath she wouldn't, and 
 more especially as she had taken to the ould religion. 
 So once Teeling, in his liquor, began to abuse her, 
 and in his passion he chanced to catch hold of a 
 gospel which Father Cook, when going away, had 
 tied round her neck, and now Teeling pulled so hard, 
 seeing that Ellen endeavoured to resist, that the 
 string broke, the gospel fell to the ground, and that 
 
 instant down dropped poor Ellen M as dead as 
 
 a herring. Such are the consequences of having to 
 do with the good people." 
 
 "Well, but, Mr. O'Donnell, sure it cannot be true 
 
 that this parson M was a smuggler, as what 
 
 you have just said seems to infer." 
 
 " Indeed he was, sir, and many more parsons that 
 succeeded him; and to this day there is a cave down 
 under the parlour in which they used to stow 
 goods." 
 
 "And were they, in other respects, proper and 
 well-conducted men?" 
 
 " Oh, as to that it's not for me to speak, but this I 
 must say, that neither priests nor parsons were as care- 
 
THE ENCHANTED LAND. /V 
 
 ml about themselves as they are now. M was, as 
 
 I hear, amighty asy and peaceable man — he never took, 
 to be sure, much trouble about his parish ; and when 
 his wife and his daughter died, he was lonesome, and 
 by consequence took up with a woman, by whom he 
 had two children. Well, 'twas one Scarlet that came 
 after him, and he, as I said before, was a smuggler, 
 too ; I believe he knew more o' that business, than o' 
 preaching, for I could hear a joke about him, that 
 once, when he was at college, his examiner finding 
 he couldn't answer a word, asked him his name, 
 ' Scarlet, sir,' says he. c That' s a wonder entirely,' says 
 the doctor, ' for it's asy seen you're not deep red.' " 
 
 Having heard so much, while in Achill, of the 
 enchanted land, that is occasionally visible, as rising 
 out of the Atlantic, I asked Mr. Mickletony if he 
 ever saw it. 
 
 " Yes, sir, often. I saw upon a clear day, reaching 
 along from the Saddle of Achill, and covering all you 
 now see before you as the dark and boiling sea, a 
 delightful green land, with illigant hills and valleys, 
 woods, rivers, and pretty bays. One day I saw the 
 houses, and some o' the people plainly — one woman 
 especially, I saw come out o' the back door of her 
 house, walk into her garden, and cut cabbage for her 
 dinner." 
 
 Upon my smiling at this particularity, he imme- 
 diately added, — 
 
 " Do you doubt, sir, what I say? I know twenty 
 people from my own village who will swear they saw 
 the same. Why, sir, I know one Barrett, who is yet 
 living, that went out in his boat carrying a coal of 
 
80 AN ENCHANTED MONASTERY. 
 
 fire along with him, knowing, as we do, that if he 
 could but cast a bit of fire on it it would be for ever after 
 disenchanted ; and so he followed the island for 
 forty days, it retreating as he rowed on, and ever and 
 always just keeping out of reach of his arm, and I 
 believe he'd have followed it still longer, had not his 
 coal gone out." 
 
 Upon my remarking that the enchanted island 
 which he saw might be part of the land which by some 
 great convulsion was torn off from the rest of Ireland 
 and now lies sunken. 
 
 " I believe, sir, what you say is right ; for besides 
 often hearing of a rock far out seaward, beyond the 
 island of Inniskea, which rises every seven years out 
 o' the sea, and is covered with church buildings, and 
 has a belfry and a tower, and is therefore called Mo- 
 naster Lettera — don't I myself know that there are 
 bogs and bog timber down below the sands, and under 
 where the sea always flows — there was a ship stranded 
 not long ago on the sandy beach off Terran point ; 
 in order to raise her, or at any rate to save her tim- 
 bers, the people dug all around her during the ebb of 
 a spring tide, and cutting as they did down through 
 the sand, and where the sea came in on them so that 
 their labour was vain, yet still at the bottom they 
 found nothing but bog and large pieces of bog fir." 
 
 " That may be very true," says an intelligent 
 coast-guard, who was just now in our company, " for 
 I have often seen in Blacksod Bay of a clear day, when 
 the sea was smooth and as transparent as spring 
 water, fathoms down, the roots of trees that seemed of 
 the same sort as what are every day dug out of our 
 bogs." 
 
A FORD. 81 
 
 Having satisfied myself that I had seen all that was 
 worth observing along the shore within the compass 
 of a few hours' walk, it became a natural desire to- 
 wards the decline of the day to turn my face in the 
 direction of the hospitable house of the Rev. Mr. 
 Stock, the incumbent of Kilcoleman parish,- where I 
 was invited to dine, and in order to reach it and save 
 a round of four miles, it was necessary to hasten to 
 pass across a strand that only was dry at ebb tide. I 
 had more than one motive to gain the pass ; first, the 
 desire to be saved a walk of four miles, and let me 
 tell you, gentlemen readers, that it is no unpleasant 
 saving at the end of a day's ramble ; then I would go 
 by a curious burying gromid called Termon Carra ; 
 and, moreover, amongst the sand hills on the other 
 side of the estuary I would see some very ancient 
 places of sepulture, where bodies are deposited in 
 stone cysts, and which lately, in consequence of the 
 blowing of the sand, had been exposed to view. It 
 was a pleasure to me that my communicative com- 
 panion, Mr. Mickletony, still accompanied me. I 
 was desirous to ascertain from him what families were 
 the most ancient in the district, and especially whe- 
 ther his own, the O'Donnels, was of long establish- 
 ment. " Sir," replied he, "I am no great scholar, 
 and my memory isn't safe regarding these matters ; 
 but this I often heard from one that knew a great 
 deal about my people, that we came originally from 
 the north, and that we can count sixteen generations 
 since we came here ; and isn't that long enough to 
 prove that we're of an ould stock : but I'll tell you what 
 I heard my father say, that in the time o' Cromwell 
 
 e 2 
 
82 ' A FOSTER SISTER. 
 
 there was a troop commanded by one Ccote came into 
 this quarter, and they racked, ruined, and cut down 
 all the poor Catholic people. My ancestor was at 
 that time rich and prosperous, and he knew that if he 
 staid he would find no mercy. So he gathered all his 
 money, put it in a crock, and in the presence of a 
 foster-sister, who was his maid, he buried it under his 
 kitchen hearth, and then he departed into Donegal, 
 leaving the girl in care of his home ; and by-and-by 
 the troopers came, and they having got the hard word 
 that the man was rich and that he couldn't have car- 
 ried all away with him, commanded the woman to 
 tell where the money was. Of course she denied all 
 knowledge, and then they had her lashed with their 
 bridles, and yet she wouldn't tell ; and then they half 
 hanged her, and cutting her down pressed her to dis- 
 close, and still she said nothing ; and then they 
 spread out the coals of fire on the very hearth under 
 which was the gold, and placed her sitting on the 
 burning embers ; and what did she do then — why in 
 the middle of her great pain she bit off her tongue 
 and spit it in their faces ; and then they set fire to 
 the house, and left the poor colleen to wander tongue- 
 less about the world : and so it was until the curse of 
 Cromwell was removed and better times came on, and 
 Catholics could live at home, and my ancestor re- 
 turned to find his gold safe and his poor fosterer a 
 dumb wanderer, going from house to house." 
 
 By this time we had reached a burying ground 
 which stands on the edge of the sand hills, and which 
 is in danger of being shortly overwhelmed by the en- 
 croachment of this great evil of the western coast. 
 
A SACRILEGE. 83 
 
 Here are the remains of an ancient church : this is 
 the Tarmon Carra alluded to in the Monasticon Hiber- 
 nicujn, and was the retreat of one or more monastics. 
 It must, in its best state, have been a small place, for 
 vestiges of the wall still remain, and Mr. Mickle- 
 tony showed me an upright stone, evidently the re- 
 mains of an ancient cross, and in the upper part of 
 which were two holes. 
 
 " Here, sir," says he, " the holy saint, Colman, 
 used to creep on his bended knees and say the whole 
 psalter of David from beginning to end, and when he 
 got so tired that he couldn't keep erect upon his two 
 knees, because of the pains in his back — do you see 
 these two holes — here he used to put his two thumbs, 
 and supporting himself with them he'd get through 
 his duty. Well, do you know what happened to this 
 very stone not long ago ? three fellows of the coast 
 guard, having one evening been drinking in Bingham' s- 
 town until they got wild mad, were passing by the 
 place, when what should the devil tempt them to do but 
 to come and throw down this holy stone ; and that 
 wasn't all. I'd be ashamed to tell you, sir, what more 
 they did to defile the place where a man of God left 
 his mark. Well, not long after the great archbishop 
 M'Hale came into the Mullet about a matter concern- 
 ing dean Lyons — but that's neither here nor there ; 
 but what I should say is, that his grace heard of what 
 the Protestant coast guard did, and in his anger, for 
 his soul was stirred, he pronounced that before a vear 
 and a day should pass over the fellows' heads from 
 the time they did the sacrilege, every one of them 
 would come to such an end, that all would say, ' This 
 
84 A JUDGMENT. 
 
 is God's vengeance.' And so it was. One of them, 
 in the height of his health and strength, was taken 
 with a great and inward pain, and died in an hour. 
 Another was out at sea, and asleep during a calm 
 night on the deck of a cutter ; suddenly he started up, 
 sprung overboard, and never rose again. The third 
 was crossing, along with another coast-guard on horse- 
 back, a shallow arm of the sea when the tide was in, 
 and as they both were on the one horse, and the water 
 up to his belly, and the beast was beginning to 
 plunge and swim ; while the foremost was doing his 
 best to manage the horse, the other fellow fell off be- 
 hind, and his comrade never missed him until he got 
 to land. His corpse went out to sea, and he was never 
 heard of afterwards. Thus the three sacrilegious fel- 
 lows came to their bad end, and thus was the saying 
 of our great archbishop verified."* 
 
 * Upon inquiry from others, I find that this most unbe- 
 coming act was committed, and that the perpetrators actually 
 met their deaths in a sudden and appalling way before the 
 termination of a year, but not by the invocation of Dr. M'Hale. 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 An unpleasant pass — A Christian pony — Long legs at a discount — 
 Huge Sandhills — Improvement at the wrong end — A case of an anima! 
 overleaping instinct, and with what may be called rationality adapting 
 itself to circumstances — An Ancient Battle monument — The place of 
 rest of a restless Munster Man — I wish all trouble-the-worlds even from 
 the remotest parts of Kerry were as quiet under a Sandhill — Evidence 
 of the increasing inroads of the Sea on the Coast — A dark superstition 
 — A way to get married — Maids charming, though not fair — Trappists 
 scared away — Holy skins should not be made the Devil's ginns — Ancient 
 Sepulchres — Bones half burned like those found under Cromleachs— 
 Phenomena of Electricity — The Stone of the Hag— The Legend of the 
 enchanted Swans of Innisgloria — Their penance, their Piety, and their 
 happy death — Description of Innisgloria — The approach to it — Curious 
 remains— Image of St. Brenain or rather St, Brendan— The Irish the 
 first discoverers of America — Innisgloria in the vicinity of the En- 
 chanted Land — Monaster Lettera — Island of Inniskea — Its Knaveen, 
 when and wherefore he gets a new garment — Nothing for nothing in this 
 world — The Knaveen and the Pirate— A broken Saint almost as bad as a 
 Bankrupt Banker — He fails for want of credit. 
 
 Leaving the old cemetery, we came to a strand 
 which is dry and passable when the tide is out, but 
 which was, when we arrived, covered with water for 
 nearly a quarter of a mile, and the sea stream rushing 
 in with the force of a rapid river. Talking to Mr. 
 Mickletony and lingering along, we had missed our 
 time ; and now the alternative was before us of taking 
 backwards a round of four or five miles, or somehow 
 getting across this water. Boat there was none ; horse 
 not to be procured ; and the question was, " shall we 
 go round or wade ?" In this difficulty, a strong low- 
 set young fellow, who was digging potatoes in an 
 adjoining field, came up and offered, without attempt- 
 
86 A TRANSIT. 
 
 ing to ask any payment, to carry us all over — there 
 were three of us. His offer was too acceptable to be 
 refused. So, consider me, reader, mounted on what 
 we used to call at school " a Christian pony," and I 
 astride on Paddy's broad shoulders, with my long 
 legs protruded at right angles to his breast — some- 
 what in the way an elephant carries his tusks. Now 
 the man is up to the middle, the stream is strong, 
 and Paddy, top-heavy as he is, totters ; and it is now 
 for it tide, and now for it, Paddy ; the water kelpie 
 looks on, we may suppose, in suspense, and I tremble 
 and quake, and yet we have not got to the centre of 
 the stream — a nice place this for a female tourist, 
 Mrs. Hall or Lady Chatterton ; and now the tide is 
 rising to the sturdy fellow's breast, and spite of all 
 my caution, my heels are dragging along the water ; 
 one false step of Paddy's, and I am a soused tourist. 
 
 " Courage, master alanna," cries my Erris boy ; 
 "we'll give a little to the current, and go down the 
 stream; up with your heels, now; don't give the 
 running sea a purchase against me : so, master 
 honey ; steady now ; that'll do, the water's shallower. 
 Och, but your legs, God bless them, are long and 
 heavy. 
 
 In this way, encouraging himself and me, he bore 
 on gallantly, and we reached the further shore, I only 
 with wet feet ; and every body says, what I know to 
 my cost is not true, that sea water don't give cold. 
 In this way this fine fellow carried my two friends 
 also across, but not with such difficulty, as they were 
 neither so long nor so heavy. Never was a shilling 
 given more readily, or received more thankfully than 
 
A DESERT. 87 
 
 on this occasion by a man who I really believe ex- 
 pected no more than thanks for a labour of civility, 
 which very few would have had strength enough, 
 combined with activity, to perform. 
 
 Besides the object of making a short cut to where 
 1 was to dine, I also desired to cross this sea stream 
 in order to inspect the ancient graves, which I was 
 told lay uncovered in the midst of the sand hills that 
 stretched out before us. We therefore plunged into 
 this waste in search of these remains. And here, 
 certainly, was a desert of great extent, of unmitigated 
 desolation, and at the same time, of a very pic- 
 turesque aspect. I have seen sand hills on different 
 shores ; and those who have been at Malahide, nine 
 miles north of Dublin, may, if they cross the har- 
 bour, get amongst hills and hollows, that may give a 
 good idea of such scenery, but inasmuch as the 
 Atlantic Ocean is greater than the Irish Channel, as 
 the western cliffs are more lofty than those of Howth 
 or Lambay, so are the sand hills here of greater size 
 and extent, their elevations much loftier, their hollows 
 deeper and more abrupt ; and all is so changeful, 
 what to-day is a hill, to-morrow may be a deep dell. 
 I could here find what met my idea of an African 
 desert — here some such place as a demoniac would 
 resort to, to howl and suffer torment. 
 
 Major Bingham had made a causeway through this 
 district, in order to enable his tenants to get from the 
 eastern side of the Mullet to its western coast. Just 
 enough of the remnants of the road still exist to 
 prove the futility of the undertaking. He ought, 
 previously, to have planted this his desert, with 
 
88 REASONING HARES. 
 
 Bent grass, as Lord Palmerston has done at Chiffony, 
 in the county of Sligo, and so give a firm surface to 
 the waste, before he attempted road-making. It is 
 only in calm weather that sheep and cattle can be 
 allowed to graze here. Rabbits, as I have already 
 said, were some years ago most injuriously introduced, 
 and they have, of course, while doing incalculable 
 mischief increased, so that now, when attempts are 
 making to banish them, it has hitherto been found im- 
 practicable. Major Bingham, whilst desirous to de- 
 stroy the rabbits, and still wishing to have game, in- 
 troduced hares here, and for a time had them carefully 
 protected, supposing that they, as they do not bur- 
 row, would not create the mischief that rabbits do ; 
 but here he was mistaken, for the creature has been 
 obliged to make its habits conformable to circum- 
 stances, and has given a proof how instinct can ascend 
 towards rationality, and resort to those adjustments 
 which good sense finds necessary ; and so the hare, 
 that in other places lies in her form, and never at- 
 tempts to burrow, here dare not rest for a night on 
 the shifting surface, therefore she has seen the neces- 
 sity of burrowing, and she perforates a horizontal hole 
 in a narrow sand hill, with an entrance on either side 
 generally east and west, and she lies to the windward 
 side of her hole, still retreating backwards as the 
 storm blows , and ready to make a start when the 
 danger is impending of her hill being carried away and 
 dissipated altogether. 
 
 Our search for the graves was unsuccessful, the 
 closing day and the shadowy gloom impending over 
 these deep hollows, would not allow my young friend 
 
A BATTLE FIELD. 89 
 
 to be guided by his land marks. This I at the time 
 regretted much, but I have since, by the aid of my 
 friend Mr. G. Crampton, been able to make up my 
 own default. And so ends my day in the Mullet of 
 Erris. The following is supplied by my friend, who 
 takes up the ground where I left it, and says : 
 
 " About half a mile to the south-west of Binghams- 
 town, in the sand hills, stands a rude conical pillar of 
 stones, called Leacht waar Erris, or the Monument of 
 the Slaughter of Erris. It is remarkable of this mo- 
 nument, that although about thirty years ago it was 
 entirely concealed by the encroaching sand hills, and 
 that beyond the memory of the oldest man, yet a 
 tradition respecting such a monument existed amongst 
 the people, and they could point out pretty nearly the 
 spot where it ought to be. A storm at length un- 
 covered it by removing a sand hill, and confirmed the 
 almost wavering faith of the people, as to the truth of 
 the stories about it. The general belief on the subject 
 is, that it was erected to commemorate a great battle 
 fought on the spot where it stands, and where the in- 
 vading army, which came from Munster (and why 
 they should come from fair and fertile Munster to 
 such a place as this, I am sure I don't understand ; 
 they must have loved battle and conquest much when 
 they came so far to gain a tract of sand hill and bog) . 
 At all events, the invading army and their king were 
 utterly destroyed ; a hollow in the sandy banks, called 
 Lug na Fullagh, or the hole of blood, is shown near 
 the pillar, where the greatest slaughter was perpetrated, 
 perhaps where the prisoners were butchered. Human 
 bones are found in quantities, not only in the hollow 
 
90 A DARK SUPERSTITION. 
 
 and about the pillar, but in most parts of the adjacent 
 sand hills, thus pointing out the scene of extensive 
 slaughter ; and a semispherical mound, about a mile 
 and a half distant, is still called after the king of 
 Munster, and perhaps is the spot where he fell and 
 was buried. This mound was opened some years 
 ago, and the skeleton of a man standing erect was 
 found in it, and some say a stone was found therein, 
 with an inscription on it : the latter statement I 
 doubt. The people, with the reverence they retain 
 for the bones of the dead, restored the mound and its 
 contents to their old state. Farther on, nearer to the 
 sea shore, stands the ruin of what is called for dis- 
 tinction sake, the " new church of Cross." This old 
 new church exemplifies the rapid inroads of the sea 
 on this coast. Old men recollect when a carriage 
 could have driven between the steeple of the church 
 and the bank, but now half the steeple has fallen 
 away, the bank having been carried off from under 
 it, and more is giving way day after day. 
 
 " It was in tins church that not long since three 
 young women were discovered taking the spancel off 
 a corpse. This spancel, called in Irish "stheioul 
 dhrum agustharragh," signifying the skin of the back 
 and of the belly, consists of a continuous band of 
 skin taken from round the length of the body, viz. 
 from the sole of one foot, up the outside of the leg 
 and side, over the head and down the other side to 
 the sole of the other foot, up the inside of that leg 
 and down the inside of the other, until the stripe 
 meets where it first set out ; it is used as a love- 
 charm, and its power is believed to be irresistible, it 
 
FORTUNES OF A TRAPPIST. 91 
 
 being only necessary, in order to secure the affections 
 of the victim, to tie the spancel round him while 
 asleep ; if he does not awake during the operation all 
 must turn out to the wish of the operator ; if he does 
 awake, he dies before the end of the year ; so the poor 
 desired one has no escape. 
 
 " This disgusting and dark superstition is not only 
 believed in here and reverenced, but even yet is 
 sometimes practised, and it is confidently asserted 
 that not very long ago it was resorted to, and with 
 success, by persons far above the common sort, and 
 in this way three young women, far from rich, or 
 beautiful, or possessing any mental or bodily attrac- 
 tions that would be likely to secure the affections of 
 young men, got very good matches, in every way far 
 above their own position in life. This family have 
 not yet given up the spancel, nor, as I am told, the 
 intention of using it.* 
 
 * I have heard a circumstance, for which I shall by no 
 means vouch, connected with this superstition, which goes to 
 prove, if it have any foundation at all, how the best intentions 
 may be frustrated by causes very unforeseen. The Very Rev. 
 
 Dean L , hearing of the wonders effected by the silent 
 
 fraternity of Trappists, in the county of Waterford, felt desi- 
 rous to introduce the brotherhood into Erris, and to that 
 effect invited one of them to come and see the nakedness of 
 the land. Accordingly he came, but, alas for himself and his 
 cause, he did not return ; — for he fell sick — of what disease I 
 know not, died, and was buried. Now, as the spancel is the 
 more efficacious the more chaste and holy the body is from 
 which it is stripped, of course the hide of a Trappist was 
 invaluable ; and accordingly the remains of the poor ascetic 
 were disinterred and rifled of its skin ; and the fact having 
 transpired, it has unfortunately deterred (and why shouldn't 
 it ?) the Trappists from venturing to settle in such a 
 charming place as Erris. Of this dark and disgusting super- 
 stition, which, as reported to me, has been practised even by 
 
92 STONE COFFINS. 
 
 " This old church stands on the nearest point to 
 Innisgloria, of which I shall speak by-and-by. 
 Going southwards we pass again by the mound of 
 " Ree Mooni," or the mound of the king of Mun- 
 ster, to where the stone coffins are to be seen in the 
 sand hills. This grave yard is supposed to have 
 given the name of Kilmore (the large church) to the 
 parish, which is co-extensive with the Mullet, and 
 like the Leacth waar Erris, it had until a few years 
 ago, remained deeply covered with sand, even yet but 
 little of it is uncovered. From the appearance of it 
 
 Protestant females, and of the better sort. It may be said in 
 the words of old Hey wood: — 
 
 " Of such like miscreants 'tis in Esay said, 
 We have strooke hands to league with death, and made 
 Covenant with hell. 
 
 Of such compacts and practices we find 
 Many most blasphemous in their kind, 
 When holy ceremonies (through the malicious,) 
 Are made idolatrous and superstitious. 
 When linen never washed is used, and he 
 Must hold a wand that's cut from such a tree, 
 With Avhich he strikes the east and then the west, 
 The north and south, as to his purpose best : 
 That all his hair shorn off by night or day, 
 Thinking thereby to drive the devil away ; 
 That takes dust from a sepulchre to use, 
 Or from the grave the dead's bones to abuse ; 
 Or aught besides that shall seem retrograde 
 To reason's course, or what's by nature made." 
 
 These were some of the superstitious practices resorted to in 
 England in the sixteenth century, as recorded by that curious 
 old poetaster, Master Thomas Heywood, in his " Hierarchie 
 of Blessed Angels ;" but none of them come up to the horrid 
 audacity of this love charm of the spancel stripe. The prac- 
 tice is not confined to Erris. Mr. Archdeacon, in his very 
 amusing and well-written "Legends of Connaught," relates a 
 very awful anecdote respecting its application in a more civi- 
 lized part of Mayo. 
 
ANCIENT MODE OF SEPULTURE. 93 
 
 in different places, an idea may be formed of its size, 
 which gives it ample claim to the epithet of more or 
 great — the coffins, or rather cysts are formed of flags, 
 one flag forms each side, one at the head and foot, 
 and the sepulchre thus formed, is covered with one 
 or more flags. As far as I have seen these repositories, 
 they lie in groups of three, thus — 
 
 i i 
 
 the side stones are parallel, both in the groups, and 
 from group to group. The coffins (unlike that of our 
 friend in Glengad, eighteen feet long by four wide) 
 are rather skimpy for able-bodied men, I have not 
 seen any exceeding five feet in length, but from the 
 appearance of charring in the bones, and other evi- 
 dences of the action of fire in and about the coffins, 
 we may be led to the conclusion, that the bodies were 
 burned previous to their being deposited in these 
 cysts.* Some stones polished (which might have 
 been large flat beads), and portions of rings of stea- 
 tite (which might have been the handles of small urns, 
 no other part of the urn, however, being found here), 
 were taken up. 
 
 " These sandhills of the Mullet are of great extent, 
 
 * It would seem that the remains of human bodies found in 
 the ancient repositories in Ireland, under the cromleachs and 
 in cysts under ground, were subjected to incremation before 
 they were deposited. In two such depositories lately exposed 
 to view in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, the bones, accom- 
 panied with rude urns, beads, shells, and other barbarous 
 relics, were found half burned in receptacles so short as not 
 sufficient to contain an unburnt human body. 
 
94 ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA. 
 
 they are daily increasing, and must, if effectual steps 
 are not taken to arrest their progress, eventually 
 overwhelm the greater part of the peninsula. The 
 phenomena of electricity in these hills during stormy 
 weather are remarkable : a lambent flame runs up 
 the steep sides of these eminences, and fills the deep 
 dells, as it were, with lakes of flame. This lambent 
 and mantling flame often continues stationary for a 
 considerable time, I never heard of its doing injury. 
 One evening last winter, just as dark was approaching, 
 Mr. Stack (the Protestant clergyman,) and I, were 
 riding across these hills, when suddenly the wind 
 arose, we were overtaken by a sand storm, and while 
 desirous to escape from the hurtling of this most 
 disagreeable of hurricanes, I was in the midst of 
 my annoyance surprised with the sudden change from 
 dusk to bright light, and a moment after was asto- 
 nished still more to see not only Mr. Stack and his 
 horse, who were before me, but also the head and 
 mane of my own, and also the top of the stick in my 
 hand fringed with fire. However, the storm soon 
 blew over, and we suffered no otherwise than in the 
 surprise and terror from the enveloping electricity and 
 the peppering from the sand hail.* 
 
 * The phenomena of meteoric electricity seem to be of 
 frequent occurrence, and very interesting in this western 
 land. What Mr. Crampton has observed amidst the sand- 
 hills of the Mullet, Mr. Henri has frequently seen in his im- 
 mediate district. One fine night not long ago he observed a 
 globe of fire settle on the top of his flag staff, and thence 
 throw off innumerable pencillings of brilliant rays. He says 
 that while cruising in the Mediterranean, he has seen such 
 globes settle on the mast head of the vessel he was on board ; 
 they are there called St. Elmo's lights. I have also h^ard, 
 by means of a young clergyman who has lately made Erris 
 
THE HAG S STONE. 
 
 95 
 
 " About half a mile to the southward of the other 
 graves I have just spoken o£ on the sea shore, is a 
 sepulchral monument called the Leacht na Calliagh, 
 or the stone of the hag. Its plan is 
 
 a is the grave, b a square of about four feet, 
 surrounded by a double row of stones, and evi- 
 dently once covered with a large single flag, some- 
 thing like a cromleach. The calliagh, or hag, is 
 said to have been a powerful enchantress ; she 
 transformed the three sons and daughters of her 
 husband, a king, (to be sure these step-mothers 
 are cruel) by a former wife, into swans, whom she 
 compelled to resort to "the strongest streams of 
 the ocean ;" but she could not hinder them from 
 coming every Sabbath day, what time the holy bell 
 sounded from the sacred csenobium of Innisgloria, to 
 attend mass at the altar there, otherwise their enchant- 
 ment would have been perpetual, and to this day 
 they would have continued breasting the " ocean 
 stream," as continues the solitary crane his standing 
 on Inniskea, but for the merits of St. Brenain, who 
 was propitious to them ; and so these graceful birds 
 were seen Sunday after Sunday sitting with protruded 
 
 the scene of his ministry, and who, while devotedly given to 
 his clerical duties, has a taste for natural history — that the 
 bogs of Erris abound in luminous insects ; so much so, that 
 when walking through them after the sun sets, the feet of the 
 bog traveller are covered with light. 
 
96 
 
 PIOUS SWANS. 
 
 necks on the collar beams of the roof of the Teampul 
 na Farr, and each time as the host was raised, these 
 ecclesiastical creatures, by the drooping of their wings 
 and the bending of their necks, attested before the con- 
 gregation of the faithful, that in humility and devo- 
 tion they responded to the solemnity of the mystery. 
 Such devotion could not go without its reward ; the 
 prayers of St. Brenain prevailed, and they were dis- 
 enchanted ; they were no more swans, but human 
 beings. But even the saint could not retain on earth 
 spirits that but for the enchantment would have been 
 long since called to their eternal rest ; therefore, on 
 being restored to humanity, the touch of a sinful 
 mortal caused the restored princes and princess to 
 moulder with slow but visible decay into dust. 
 An ancient Irish poem, of which but a part now re- 
 mains, records their sufTerings, their changes, their - 
 restoration and manner of their dissolution. The 
 princess, who seems to have been the most musical of 
 these dying swans, makes a long speech as she is in 
 the act of decomposition, and is quite particular in di- 
 rections as to her burial. The oration is directed to 
 the cleri aigh, the holy clergy, and she entreats of 
 them that her two brothers, Conel and Con, should be 
 buried on each side of her, but her favourite Hugh in 
 her arms. The literal translation of her dying direc- 
 tions is as follows : — 
 
 " In this way arrange our graves, — 
 Conel and Con the strong 
 On my two sides, 
 
 And on my bosom between my two arms 
 Oh Cleri. — place my Hugh (or Hy) ! 
 
 The streams of ocean in which Con and his bro- 
 
DISENCHANTMENT. 97 
 
 ther were condemned to serve out their enchantment, 
 is still called Straffoda Con, or the long rough stream 
 of Con. It is at the mouth of Broadhaven, not far 
 from the point of Rinroe (which we will hereafter 
 have occasion to mention). Other traditions have it, 
 that the enchantment of this royal family was not to 
 terminate until a man came from the east and fought 
 for the swans ; the battle took place not far from the 
 present town of Belmullet, adjoining Mr. Carter's 
 house at Shaen Lodge, and is still called " Tholler na 
 Amloodheer." Unable to proceed tolnnisgloria myself, 
 I commissioned my friend, Mr. Crampton, to go and 
 report for me, and he has done as follows, as much, 
 I hope, to the satisfaction of the reader, as to 
 mine : — 
 
 " Somewhat to the southward of the old church of 
 Cross runs (at low water) a long point into the sea, 
 which reaches within a short distance of the island 
 of Innisgloria. Tradition says, that once this point 
 was above high water, and extended so near the 
 island, that, a plank completed the connection. In 
 process of time a ferry boat was used, in which 
 passengers could pass and repass by means of a rope 
 stretched from shore to shore ; the island was a 
 favourite place for interment, but has not, of late, 
 been much resorted to, in consequence of the increas- 
 ing difficulty of approach ; however, even yet, pious 
 individuals who are desirous that their bodies should 
 rest in 'glory,' and, for the sake of their souls, 
 insist on being buried in this island of saints ; the 
 funerals always approach the island along the point 
 mentioned above ; and it is very interesting to see 
 
98 ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the solemn procession slowly pursuing the retreating 
 tide, and to hear the wild cry of the mourners 
 mingling with the murmurs of the ocean. This 
 custom still continuing, seems to corroborate the 
 tradition as to the near junction of the mainland 
 and island. The remnants of antiquity here are two 
 churches, viz. 'Tempel na Far' and 'Tempel na 
 More,' the Chapel of St. Brenain,* the seven 
 
 * Having made some scrutiny in Colgan, Messingham, 
 Lanigan,and other Hibernian liagiologists for this St. Brenain, 
 I can find no such name. I therefore feel assured that it is 
 St. Brendan who is held in worship here, — the famous 
 Bishop of Clonfert, the most interesting of Irish saints, — the 
 incidents of whose life are so romantic as to be the theme of 
 many a legend and holy poem. He who, in fact, was the 
 vei'itable discoverer of America, nine hundred years before 
 Columbus set his sail. We are informed that Brendan, 
 hearing of the previous voyage of his cousin Barinthus in the 
 western ocean, and obtaining an account from him of the 
 happy isles he had landed on in the far west, determined, 
 under the strong desire of winning heathen souls to Christ, 
 to undertake a voyage of discovery himself. And aware that 
 all along the western coast of Ireland there were many tra- 
 ditions respecting the existence of a western land, he pro- 
 ceeded to the islands of Arran, and there remained for some 
 time, holding communication with the venerable St. Enda, 
 and obtaining from him much information on what his mind 
 was bent. There can be little doubt that he proceeded 
 northward along the coast of Mayo, and made inquiry 
 among its bays and islands of the remnants of the Tuatha 
 Danaan people, that once were so expert in naval affairs, and 
 who acquired from the more stupid Milesians or Scots that 
 overcame them, the character of being magicians for their 
 superior knowledge. At Inniskea, then, and Innisgloria, 
 Brendan set up his cross ; and, in after times, in his honour 
 were erected those curious remains that still exist. Having 
 prosecuted his inquiries with all diligence, Brendan returned 
 to his native Kerry ; and, from a bay sheltered by the 
 lofty mountain that is now known by his name, he set 
 sail for the Atlantic land ; and, directing his course towards 
 
ANTIQUITIES. 101 
 
 leachtas, the well, the ' aigh,' and the three 
 thorrows, none of which seem of pagan origin, the 
 very names seem to indicate their Christian character ; 
 the first two are, the church of the men and the 
 church of the women — that of the men seems the 
 older, exhibiting traces of Cyclopean architecture in 
 one of its walls. Perhaps it was some time before 
 the good friars discovered that the persuasive voice 
 of woman was necessary to ensure the efficacy of 
 
 the south west, in order to meet the summer solstice, or what 
 we would call the tropic — after a long and rough voyage, 
 his little barks being well provisioned, — he came to summer 
 seas, where he was carried along without the aid of sail or 
 oar for many a long day. This, it is to be presumed, was the 
 great gulf stream, and which brought his three vessels to 
 shore somewhere about the Virginia capes, or where the 
 American coast trends eastward and forms the New England 
 states. Here landing, he and his companions marched 
 steadily into the interior for fifteen days, and then came to a 
 large river flowing from east to west: this evidently was the 
 river Ohio. And this the holy adventurer was about to 
 cross, when he was accosted by a person of noble presence — 
 but whether a real or visionary man does not appear — who 
 told him he had gone far enough ; that further discoveries 
 were reserved for other men, who would in due time come 
 and Christianize all that pleasant land. The above, when 
 tested by common sense, clearly shows that Brendan landed 
 on a continent, and went a good way into the interior, met 
 a great river running in a different direction from those he 
 heretofore crossed ; and here, from the difficulty of transit 
 or want of provisions, or deterred by increasing difficulties, 
 he turned back ; and no doubt in a dream he saw some such 
 vision which embodied his own previous thought, and satisfied 
 him that it was expedient to return home. It is said he 
 remained seven years away and returned to set up a col- 
 lege of 3000 monks at Clonfert — and he then died in the 
 odour of sanctity. May not the three graceful swans men- 
 tioned in the legend of Innisgloria, be the three vessels 
 with white sails that carried Brendan and his family over the 
 
102 
 
 ST. BRENDAN. 
 
 their prayers. The chapel of St. Brenain (who is 
 said to have erected all the buildings in the island) is 
 a very rude structure, about fourteen feet long by 
 eight or nine wide, and from the inclination of the 
 upper part of the walls, it would seem that formerly 
 it had a stone roof. It contains the statue of the 
 saint (of which I send the sketch), and the altar. 
 
 The statue seems to have been once a good specimen 
 of carving, and is said to have been painted, but 
 
 western main ? and may not their condemnation to go forth 
 and breast the strongest stream of the ocean, be a dark 
 announcement of the long voyage on the bosom of the Florida 
 Gulf stream ? The wonder is, that that most ingenious of 
 antiquarians, General Vallancey, did not make as much of this 
 legend and allegory, as he has done of others not half so 
 beautiful or so substantial. * * * See the Life of St. 
 Brendan in the MS. Codex Kilkenniensis in Marsh's Library. 
 
AN ANTIFEMININE WELL. 103 
 
 time and weather have sadly defaced it. It is re- 
 garded with great veneration, and worshipped by 
 devotees who come here to perform stations, and it 
 is regularly kissed by every Roman Catholic visitant, 
 whether on a station or not. The stations are per- 
 formed round the seven leachtas, or monuments — 
 the penitent going round each, on his knees thrice ; 
 and upright, thrice. The most respected of these 
 leachtas is that called ' Leachta rillik Wurragh/ or 
 the monument of the reliques of Mary ; this is seated 
 on a mound which seems artificial, and in which I 
 am strongly of opinion there are more of those 
 * thurrows.' Indeed, this leachta, besides its cog- 
 nomen of f rillik Wurragh,' has also that of ' thur- 
 row.' If this opinion be the correct one, it would 
 seem to argue that these * beehive' structures were 
 merely sepulchres. That containing the remains of 
 the saint, having a monument raised over it, and 
 called the ' monument of the Thurrow of the reliques 
 of Mary/ — besides the statue of the saint in the chapel, 
 are the remains of his altar, of timber also, once painted, 
 but now loose and clumsily put up, so as to look like 
 a stool. The well, ' tubber,' is remarkable for growing 
 bloody whenever a woman goes to draw water from it. 
 As long as that idea holds, no Roman Catholic girl will 
 cause its waters to blush. The ' aigh' I don't know 
 what to make of; it has greatly the appearance of a 
 kiln, very circular, and having a small door into it on 
 a level with the ground. The princess, who was the 
 swan, calls upon ' cleri aigh' to obey her injunctions ; 
 cleri is a clerk, but of ' aigh' I do not know the mean- 
 ing (quere agios, holy). But the most extraordi- 
 
104 AN ISLAND WITHOUT RATS. 
 
 nary of all the antiquities are the ' thurrows,' like 
 enormous beehives : the base of the * thurrow 
 more ' (or great) is an irregular circle, whose diame- 
 ters vary from about fourteen to sixteen feet ; about 
 twelve feet in height, with an aperture at top of about 
 three feet diameter; its sides are composed of layers, 
 or courses of stone, or rather flags, pretty regularly 
 laid, so that after the height of about three feet, 
 each succeeding course projects over that immediately 
 under it, and so on to the top. The ' thurrow beg* 
 (or small) which opens from the large one, is a more 
 irregular circle, its diameters varying from about ten 
 to seven feet ; and its height about eight feet : it 
 seems greatly inclined to fall. The ' thurrow 
 mhule' is still more ruinous — its roof is entirely 
 fallen in : the plans I send you will give you a better 
 idea of these buildings than any description ; people 
 seem to have no idea as to their use. There exists 
 still a curious custom of breaking bread ; people 
 going there always bring some bread with them, and 
 in the ' thurrow more' each person breaks with the 
 person next him. 
 
 I have noticed every thing in the island now but 
 some stone graves or 'corp teacth' similar to those 
 in the sandy banks, and situated as marked in the 
 plan. No rat or mouse has ever been found in the 
 island; — people say they would not live if put on 
 it, and that the clay of the island would destroy 
 them elsewhere. This seems decisive against this 
 island ever having been actually attached to the 
 main. There is a family living on the island, which 
 is the property of Major Bingham. The enchanted 
 
INNISKEA. 107 
 
 land or ' Thalow tha whaoy Dhruidliaigh,' is once 
 in seven years seen from it.. It is described as a fine, 
 arable, and wooded country — not like Erris. There 
 exists an opinion that a coal of fire would break the 
 enchantment and restore the land, as it did Innis- 
 boffin. There is also seen a large building called 
 1 Monaster Ladhra,' described as adorned with tur- 
 rets and battlements, fortified with a'moat and draw- 
 bridge, and inhabited. Horsemen fully caparisoned 
 being seen to issue from it. It is situated between 
 Inniskea and Innisgloria." 
 
 The information I have been able to collect from Mr. 
 Crampton and others, concerning Inniskea is limited 
 (Mr. Crampton not having had any opportunity, more 
 than I had, of landing there) . There are two ancient se- 
 pulchral mounds on it, and it contains a few inhabitants, 
 who know nothing of the fated crane that old writers 
 say is to stand there until the "crack of doom." He 
 may be there, but no one in these days ever saw him ; 
 but they have what is better, called by some the 
 Neevoge, or, as others pronounce it, Knaveen; 
 both mean " the little saint," and I prefer the latter 
 pronunciation, which may not be a bad derivation 
 for the English word knave, Latin, gnavus — a know- 
 ing fellow. For the knaveen of Inniskea must be a 
 knowing one indeed, for, by his instrumentality, the 
 natives consider they can raise or allay a tempest ; raise 
 a storm when a ship nears the island, and so they may 
 get in a wreck ; or allay it when their own boats are 
 out at sea in a gale of wind. The knaveen is a stone 
 image of the rudest construction, attired in an undved 
 
108 THE KNAVEEN. 
 
 flannel dress, which is every New Year's Day renewed. 
 Of course the knaveen has his annals, one event of 
 which may be worth stating: — Some years ago, a pirate 
 happening to land on the island, amused himself by 
 setting fire to the houses of the people, all of which 
 burned but too readily, save one ; and the ferocious 
 leader thus seeing one house untouched, urged on 
 with menaces his followers to consummate their 
 destructive doings by burning this also ; but they 
 could not ; as often as they applied fire to it out it 
 went : they might as well burn one of the ocean 
 rocks. Observing this, he ordered the house to 
 be diligently searched, and finding the " knaveen," 
 he commanded that the holy image should be smashed 
 to pieces with a sledge. Perhaps he was told of the 
 " knaveen' s" power not only of arresting fire, but of 
 raising wind, and, as he often roved along the coast, he 
 of course did not desire to leave the storm compeller 
 in the hands of those to whom he had been so cruel. 
 Thus, having had his wicked will, the pirate sailed 
 away, it is hoped never to return. But the natives, 
 the moment he was gone, collected the fragments of 
 the saint, bound them together with thongs of sheep- 
 skin, and to keep him warm and pleasant, dressed 
 him out in a suit of flannel, which, as we have already 
 stated, is renewed from year to year. It is, however, 
 considered that the "knaveen" has never fully re- 
 covered the treatment he received from the pirate's 
 sledge-hammer, nor are they quite so sure of his 
 power over the elements. Perhaps, after all, this is not 
 so much the fault of the idol as of their failing faith. 
 
AN IDOL KISS. 109 
 
 He still, however, is fervently kissed, and had in 
 reverence by all. 
 
 Thus ends my day in the Mullet of Erris. I am 
 almost ashamed to present to the public the results 
 of so short and superficial a visit to a district that 
 not only requires but deserves a much longer and 
 closer inspection. 
 
no 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A Rough Day— A Sail up Broadhaven— Coast-guards— A Kind Reception 
 by an able Friend — A Dreary Ride — Portnacloy — Sea and Cliff Scenery 
 — Stags of Broadhaven — The Crooked Old Woman — The Slipping 
 Ladies — Neptune's Hall — A Glorious Cave — A Tourist in Good Luck — A 
 Bird caught as you would a Lobster — A Yarn about " The Gentry" 
 spun by a Seaman - Opinions of the Erris Mountaineers concerning 
 Foxes, and their Acts of Propitiation towards them — A Ludicrous 
 Mistake— St Galligan — Pious and Faithful Friends — A Person Discharg. 
 ing many functions — The Use of a Large Telescope — Things Fiscally 
 Wrong without being morally so — Delights of a Journey over a Soft 
 Country without Bridges or Roads on a day wet and windy — A Way 
 under Water and over Water, only fit to be undertaken by a Wild 
 Duck — C. O.s' Exodus from Erris. 
 
 On the following day, which was stormy and rainy, 
 I took advantage of a coast-guard's boat which was 
 going from Belmullet to another station at the mouth 
 of Broadhaven, to pay a -visit to Lieutenant Henri, 
 the commander of the station at Dunkeegan, to whom 
 I had a letter of introduction, and through whose 
 means I hoped, in spite of the weather, to be enabled 
 to see some of the cliff scenery at the northern point 
 of Erris, of which I had heard much, and indeed 
 it was in the hope of seeing it that I ventured into 
 Erris at all. 
 
 Captain Nugent, my kind host at Belmullet, kindly 
 accompanied me part of the way, and under the power 
 of a wind, which a landsman would consider a storm, 
 but which was dirlctly in our favour, under a small 
 sail closely reefed, our well-appointed galley went 
 
COAST GUARDS. Ill 
 
 with the smooth velocity of a sea bird. It appeared 
 to me to go so fast that it would not allow the angry- 
 waves to overtake her, and with changeful promptitude 
 we passed hill, headland, and inlet. 
 
 No where is motion so apparent, and at the same 
 time pleasurable, as when in a small, but well 
 trimmed and appointed boat ; you scud along without 
 any visible exertion of human or mechanic power : 
 the threatening elements, the subdued means of ve- 
 locity, made subservient to your cool and well-ordered 
 volitions. I like the placid firm countenances of these 
 veteran coast-guards, they look so calm and yet so 
 prudent ; I have their fine English features in my 
 mind's eye, every line denoting hardship endured, 
 vigour at command, and a sense of duty superior to 
 every feeling of difficulty and danger. I consider the 
 coast-guard establishment one of the greatest blessings 
 ever conferred on Ireland — a positive blessing in not 
 only putting an effectual stop to. smuggling, the nurse 
 of profligacy and crime ; to wrecking, the stimulus to 
 dishonesty and cruelty, all around our shores ; but 
 also, in locating prudent, honest, humanized, and 
 often religious men, with their nice wives and children, 
 and all their clean and decent habits amongst a dirty, 
 ignorant, and careless people. I have never visited a 
 coast-guard station on any of Ireland's shores, that 
 I did not observe the wonderful contrast exhibited 
 in the dwellings and the habits of the inmates to 
 all around, and that I did not entertain the rational 
 expectation that in due time such examples of a more 
 excellent way would have an effect in civilizing the 
 surrounding natives. 
 
112 A ROUGH RIDE. 
 
 I arrived at Lieutenant Henri's house at Dunkeegan, 
 about four o'clock, and was received with the kindest 
 welcome, and desire to promote my wishes, which 
 were, if possible, to see the cliffs and caves at the 
 entrance of Broadhaven that evening. 
 
 " You have (said he) but an hour and a half s light ; 
 you have a ride of three miles over a momitain be- 
 fore you can take boat — but let us at once set out, it 
 rains and blows, but the wind is favourable, it blows 
 off the coast. I think we may get into the cave, 
 and if so you will be in luck, for I do not think that 
 for these two months past you could have succeeded, 
 or shall we even now succeed if the wind veers a 
 point or two from whence it now blows." 
 
 So in a few minutes we were on horseback, and 
 through rain and mist urging our rough way over a 
 mountain path, that scarcely any but a mountain 
 pony could have trod in safety. 
 
 This ride was dreary and exceedingly unpleasant ; 
 the mountain mist would not allow us to see any thing 
 at a distance, and what was near at hand was made 
 more deplorably desolate by the state of the atmos 
 phere. We passed a wretched village, and then taking 
 the bed of a stream, as our best and safest road, we 
 at length got to the little inlet of Portnacloy, 
 which appears to be formed by the mountains on 
 each side, being riven, and a straight chasm formed 
 of nearly equal breadth for half a mile, and then 
 terminating in a steep and narrow beach covered with 
 rolled stones of large dimensions, up which the waves 
 dash and shiver into foam. 
 
 Here a boat was in waiting for us, and in a minute 
 
PORTNACLOY. 113 
 
 we were afloat and rowing rapidly down this little 
 harbour, which resembles the Killery Bay in its 
 narrowest parts, and is wild and grand indeed. The 
 cliffs rose on either side like walls, and here and there 
 a trapdyke either protrudes like a great spur, or 
 decomposed, as in one instance, it is worn away 
 by the waves, and the place where it was is now 
 vacant, and forms a cave as upright in its sides, 
 and straight and horizontal in its roof, as if it were 
 formed by art as the adit of a mine, or the door-way 
 into some subterraneous apartment. But more of 
 this by-and-by. We were in a few minutes, under 
 the influence of four as well urged oars as I ever saw 
 handled, at the mouth of Portnacloy, and certainly 
 of all the sea scenery I had ever witnessed, what I 
 now enjoyed was incomparably the most varied and 
 most grand. 
 
 The evening had in a measure cleared up ; the rain- 
 fraught nimbus, that had heretofore swept low and 
 drizzling, had burst asunder ; a patch of blue ether 
 every now and then became visible, and rays from 
 the declining sun, dim to be sure and tearful, sent 
 their slanting and fitful lights on cave and cliff, on 
 islet and headland ; and while all on the higher emi- 
 nences was cloudcapped, and Benwee, involved in gloom, 
 and out at sea beyond the influence of the mountain 
 shelter, the whole ocean was one scene of boiling 
 turbulence, and the leaden sky and the leaden waters 
 seemed mingled together; under the land and be- 
 neath the influence of the partial sunbeam, every 
 thing was absolutely grand and yet quite beautiful 
 — the many remnants of the dispersed nimbus, in 
 
114 CLIFF SCENERY. 
 
 broken packs came down from Benwee, and rolled 
 off seawards — indeed these misty wreaths, white and 
 tissue like, under the illuminating sun were sweetly, 
 beautifully adventitious, and there was one of the 
 most picturesque of cliff gorges opening out east- 
 ward from the entrance of Portnacloy, its disturbed 
 ranges rising from beneath the sea in most fantasti- 
 cally waving hues, and covered with all sorts and 
 shades of vegetation, upon which the evening sun's 
 rays were sparkling, and bringing out all their tints ; 
 and here a waterfall came tossing down a precipice : 
 and there an absolutely perpendicular chasm of a 
 dark and horrid lug, with all the debris of shattered 
 shingle below, evinced that some recent disruption 
 had taken place, and as yet had not allowed time and 
 moisture to clothe it with any vegetation. Then to 
 the westward of Portnacloy' s entrance, what a variety 
 of cliff scenery. I never saw any thing at all like it. 
 Away about a mile off were what are called the stags, 
 I assume that they should with more propriety be 
 called stacks. These are seven islets in a group, that 
 have the appearance of gigantic corn stacks, rising 
 with singular uniformity of structure, and ending in 
 points, which points were now illuminated by the set- 
 ting sun and surrounded with myriads of white-winged 
 sea fowl. 
 
 Near us to the right, rose another islet, evidently 
 detached from the main by some great convulsion, 
 and conformable as it is in its stratifications with the 
 opposite cliffs, it rises from the water in curious irregu- 
 larity, and every turn of your boat and change of 
 position gives it a new aspect, and you find many 
 
THE CROOKED HAG. 115 
 
 resemblances for it. The name it is called by, is the 
 crooked old woman (Calliagh Crom). Yes, you may 
 fancy her head (the perch of the unapproachable sea- 
 fowl) decorated with a white cap, and she has a brown 
 corrugated nutcracker nose and chin turned witch-like 
 to her native north, and the red iron-stained whinstone 
 represents clothes, her broken back clad in a red bod- 
 dice like a true Connaught woman, and her brown pet- 
 ticoats flounced with the green sea vegetations, that 
 envelope her feet ; under the Old Woman we steer, and 
 I could shoot a gull, which I would not do for the 
 world, as he sits so confidingly on the adjoining 
 mainland cliff, and we steer on through the magnifi- 
 cent chasm, and turning from Calliagh Crom my 
 attention is directed to what is really curious on the 
 mainland. 
 
 At one spot the cliff ceases to be perpendicular, 
 and assumes the form of an inclined plane ; you might 
 conclude that were you placed sitting about five^hun- 
 dred feet above, you would slide down easily, and 
 with great rapidity, as on what is called a " Montagne 
 Russe " and the smooth and shining moisture trick- 
 ling along the plane, might be supposed to aid your 
 descent by communicating the necessary lubrication. 
 Now imagine, two masses of rock, each as large at 
 least, as any poor man's house in Erris, that evi- 
 dently at some time or other had been detached from 
 the summit, when wemay suppose that on some fine day 
 they were resolved to enjoy the pleasure of a " Mon- 
 tagne Russe." Well, down they slide, and lubricated 
 in their passage by the aforesaid moisture, they come 
 gracefully and en suite, as we may imagine would 
 
116 A PAIR OF BOULDERS. 
 
 do a pair of Parisian girls ; but, not to the bottom. 
 No ; after performing four hundred and fifty feet of 
 their slide there they stop, about fifty feet from 
 the sea level, and why they stopped, or how they 
 could stop, I am sure I cannot tell, but there they 
 are arrested in their course, a kick of a foot you 
 would suppose must send them down to the bottom, 
 and yet there they have stood ever since the convul- 
 sion that launched them from their original site, and 
 there are likely to stand until some future shake sends 
 them into the deep. 
 
 Now we have rowed through the strait, or rather 
 chasm that divides Calliagh Crom from the moun- 
 tain, and the scene opens out a little ; and off west- 
 wards, smiling under the uncertain sun, another and 
 a larger islet makes its appearance. This is Kid 
 Island, just at the entrance of Broadhaven; and 
 Benwee, still nearer, rises its perpendicular wall nine 
 hundred feet from the deep sea, and its top is wrapt 
 in mist, and nearer now, and within a cable length, 
 we have the object of our evening's excursion — and 
 the cave of Doonminulla opens out its stupendous 
 and regular arch — ay, as regular as if an architect 
 had just withdrawn his centres, and left it a specimen 
 of his taste and science. As I have said, the 
 weather, owing to the range of the wind, was favour- 
 able, and therefore there was no real difficulty in 
 gaining with our well-appointed crew and boat, an 
 entrance — but still it was a nervous thing, and 
 required watchfulness and expertness in the helms- 
 man and rowers — for the heave of the sea was truly 
 stupendous, owing to the heavy gale that was blow- 
 ing out of shelter of the land. I am sure that the 
 
THE HALL OF NEPTUNE. 117 
 
 boat rose and fell with a difference of, at least, fifteen 
 feet ; it was, therefore, essential to keep in the centre 
 of the arch as we passed in — and truly it was a 
 glorious span — but when entrance was made, when 
 the enormous apartment was gained, and we rose 
 and fell so slowly, placidly, grandly, in the centre of 
 a dome seventy feet in diameter, and forty feet in 
 height; and there was a fine lateral light thrown 
 into it, exhibiting all the tints that lichens, mosses, 
 and its mineral stainings gave it — the whole was 
 magnificent. 
 
 Far away in the interior, there seemed a mysterious 
 recess, and something plunged yonder, it must have 
 been a seal, and the plash sent its ringing rever- 
 berations all around, and then a black ominous- 
 looking cormorant rose on slow wing out of the dis- 
 tant gloom, and retreated where none could follow. 
 Our commander "was well supplied with fire-arms, 
 and determined to show off all the wonders of the 
 cave, which, I may say, he has invented — for he 
 was the first that brought educated admiration to 
 beam upon it, and called other than the dull fisher- 
 man in his corragh, to come and admire this Hall 
 of Neptune. "Well, off went the fowling-piece, and 
 echoes there were multitudinous, and shrieks of sea 
 birds, and moanings amongst recesses, far and near fell 
 off in lower and lingering cadences. There certainly 
 was sublimity in all this — but owing to the state of 
 the weather, the foaming state of the far off sea, 
 the rolling of the partially dispersed rain clouds, the 
 heaving of the ocean swell, the tossing of the water- 
 falls as they came down roaring angrily off the cliff, 
 
118 A LUCKY HOUR. 
 
 and now and then a sudden flash from the setting 
 sun, throwing a partial prismatic streak on the dark 
 eastern clouds — not quite a rainbow — but a weather 
 gall, an acknowledgment that the coming storm was 
 prevailing over the departing orb — this transient and 
 sad smile, as I may say, of the weeping heavens, 
 called up sensations of the melancholy sublime — was 
 full and sufficient warning then given to our ex- 
 perienced crew, to put about and hasten our retreat 
 from a scene so full of grandeur and of danger. 
 
 Mr. Henri assured me, and I could well believe 
 him, that nothing could be more beautiful than 
 this cave, and all its concomitant scenery on a 
 placid summer's eve, when the sun's strong clear 
 beams are sent slantingly into this noble grotto, and 
 thus all its vegetable and mineral tints are brought 
 out — when the windings of all its recesses are just so 
 far exposed that you may exercise your imagination as 
 to their multitude and immensity ; when looking 
 out seaward the regular arch forms the dark fore- 
 ground of a sparkling picture, on which it is drawn as 
 on a plate of silver; far away a sail making her offing 
 for America ; nearer, the pretty minute corragh of the 
 fishermen ; and nearer again the picturesque stags and 
 the Calliagh Crom — oh, how I should like to be 
 here on such an evening. 
 
 " Indeed, sir, (says my friend,) you might be here 
 for months, and not hap on such an auspicious 
 hour. I have been often for three months, even 
 in summer, watching to catch such a favourable 
 opportunity and without success, and I must say, 
 that with such weather as we now are vexed with, 
 
A SUBMARINE BIRD. 119 
 
 and at such a short notice, you have been singularly 
 fortunate in getting a sight of it even under present 
 circumstances." 
 
 Having landed at Portnacloy, and mounted our 
 ponies, on our return home we had to take the bed 
 of a mountain torrent, the usual way in wintry 
 weather of getting through this wild district, and of this 
 I shall have more to say by-and-by. Proceeding 
 along the .water course, one of these pretty birds, 
 called water blackbirds, rose and skimmed its short 
 quick flight along the surface of a pool. My re- 
 mark, that I had heard this was the only bird 
 that is known to walk at the bottom of the water, 
 called forth an observation from Mr. Henri, which 
 appears to me a curious ornothological fact. 
 
 " I know another bird (says he) that walks under 
 water ; for some time ago, in a lobster pot, sunk in 
 four fathoms water, I caught a cormorant. The 
 fellow must have walked into it as do the lobsters." 
 
 u I suppose (said I) the curiosity of the circum- 
 stance compensated you for your bad substitute for 
 the best of shell fish." 
 
 Rising now up the face of the hill, and passing 
 through a tortuous ravine, my companion pointed to a 
 little green hillock that rose on the side of the stream, 
 and its softer and brighter surface contrasted prettily 
 with the sombre heath that mantled all around. 
 
 "There is a story connected with this Fairy Hill, 
 which I must tell you, it will beguile the tediousness 
 of our dreary road. 
 
 " On a dark gloomy day in the month of Novem- 
 ber, I made a visit of inspection to the coast-guard 
 
120 A COAST-GUARD OFFICER'S YARN. 
 
 station at Doonkeeghan, situated about two miles to 
 the westward of ' Benwee,' and some article being 
 required for the use of that station that could be sup- 
 plied at Portnacloy, I started homewards, accom- 
 panied by one of the crew. My companion, a rough 
 curly-headed northern, and myself ascended the 
 ridge of mountain to the southward of Benwee, en- 
 tered a dark cloud that hung over it, and, after poking 
 a couple of holes through it, descended on the oppo- 
 site side, and skirted the western side of the hollow as 
 before described, till we came to the side of the glen 
 immediately over this Fairy Mount ; we here scram- 
 bled down, and stepping from one rock to another, 
 crossed the rivulet where its waters washed the rocky 
 base of the sward-covered little hillock. 
 
 " On reaching the opposite side, the wild beauty 
 of the scene arrested my steps for a few minutes ; for 
 the outline of Benwee faintly appeared at the upper 
 end of the precipitous glen, through a cloud of mist 
 that hung about its sides, and the rivulet, swollen by 
 late heavy rains, dashed impetuously from ledge to 
 ledge, giving the spot, at all times wild in the ex- 
 treme, an appearance of dreariness and solitary gran- 
 deur I had never before remarked, and which called to 
 my recollection the numerous marvellous tales I had 
 heard from the country people respecting this, said to 
 be, haunted glen. Turning round, therefore, to my 
 companion, I said, * That hillock is, I believe, called 
 Cruickeen na Shehoge, is it not?' ' It is, sir,' an- 
 swered he. * I have heard many accounts of the 
 " shehoga," or "gentry,"' (a name given to the fairies 
 by the country people,) resumed I ; ' pray have you 
 
BRYAN O'DONNEL'S NAP. 121 
 
 ever seen any of them?' ' Na,' replied my curly- 
 headed companion, in his broad northern dialect ; ' I 
 ne'er ken'd ony thing uglier than myseF, sir.' ( Nor 
 will you ever, in all probability,' returned I, smiling 
 at the double meaning conveyed in my reply, which 
 my attendant appeared to take in the sense most com- 
 plimentary to himself, as he laughingly replied, ' The 
 de'il a bit I think I e'er shall, sir.' We then as- 
 cended the opposite side of the glen, and on reaching 
 a boggy level, were too busily occupied hopping from 
 tussock to tussock, otherwise ' bog trotting,' to ex- 
 change another word about the 'gentry,' and shortly 
 after we reached Portnacloy. 
 
 " About four o'clock in the afternoon, Bryan 
 O'Donnel, for I shall call him so to avoid giving of- 
 fence, having been supplied with such articles as his 
 station stood in need of, left Portnacloy on his re- 
 turn home. A close day had been followed by a foggy 
 evening, but as he was well acquainted with the 
 country, I did not entertain the slightest doubt of his 
 reaching Doonkeeghan in safety, therefore was not a 
 little surprised when, at about ten o'clock, my door 
 was violently thrown open, and my late travelling 
 companion rushed in with as much precipitation as if 
 pursued by a legion of imps, exclaiming at the same 
 time, ' Oh, it's a' true! it's a' true!! it's a' true!!!' 
 To add to my astonishment, his countenance betrayed 
 evident signs of fear, for his curly hair appeared as if 
 it had been operated upon by a wool card ; his jacket 
 was turned inside out, and his clothes were covered 
 with mud, as a sailor would say, ' from clew to 
 earing.' 
 
 G 
 
122 
 
 THE FAIRIES MOCKERY. 
 
 " Displeased at his unceremonious entrance, which I 
 could not account for, and puzzled at his reiterated 
 exclamation of 'It's a' true! it's a' true!' for our 
 morning's conversation never entered my head, I an- 
 grily demanded, 'What is it that's true, sir?' To 
 this crusty interrogatory, however, I for some time 
 received no other reply than 'It's a' true, sir;' and 
 anger had nearly given place to pity, for I really began 
 to suspect the poor fellow was bereft of his senses, 
 when, to the horror of my domestics who had been 
 drawn to the spot, he added in awfully solemn tone, 
 1 I ha' been with the gentry.' The real cause of his 
 terror now flashed across my mind. I ordered a 
 servant to give him a glass of the 'native* — the 
 mountain remedy in those days for all ailments, — and 
 when he was sufficiently recovered to do so, I directed 
 him to relate what had occurred to him since his 
 departure in the evening, which, with many an uneasy 
 look at the door, he did, to the astonishment of all 
 those around him, who open-mouthed listened to his 
 narration. It was in substance as follows : — 
 
 " Night, it appeared, had overtaken him before he 
 reached the Fairy Mount glen, and he was descending 
 the side nearest to Portnacloy, and was within a short 
 distance of the spot where our morning's conversation 
 took place, when he suddenly observed through the 
 fog several pale lights in the direction of the ' Cruic- 
 keen na shehoge,'' which he at first supposed proceeded 
 from a village called ' Cariatyge,' which lay about a 
 mile off in the same fine. At this moment he made 
 a false step on a ' tussock,' and fell headlong into the 
 mud and water that surrounded it, when peals of 
 
WHY BRYAN IS A TURNCOAT. 123 
 
 laughter, shouts, and clapping of hands immediately 
 resounded in every direction around him. Astonished 
 — but by his own account not at all frightened — he 
 had endeavoured to gain the rivulet, but all his endea- 
 vours had been ineffectual, and he had wandered about 
 he knew not whither, but believed he had been on the 
 top of ' Benwee,' as he thought he had at one time 
 heard the sound of the sea beneath him. During the 
 whole of the time, from the darkness of the night and 
 the unevenness of the ground, he had scarcely been 
 able to keep on his legs a minute together, and he had 
 only extricated himself from one bog hole to take pos- 
 session of another ; which floundering had appeared 
 to cause infinite merriment to his mischievous and 
 invisible companions, as every fall had been followed 
 by obstreperous sounds of mirth, which bore a very 
 marked proportion to the depth of mud and water the 
 poor northern had been accommodated with, while to 
 add to his perplexity, numerous pale lights danced 
 around him occasionally in every direction. At length 
 fully convinced that he was the sport of the 'gentry? 
 whose existence he had hitherto disbelieved, and 
 having heard in his childhood that the turning of 
 clothes was a charm against their power, he formed 
 the resolution of turning his jacket, which he had 
 scarcely accomplished ere he found himself at the 
 back of my house, and within a few yards of the spot 
 he had started from six hours before, and fearing a 
 prolongation of his disagreeable nocturnal ramble, he 
 had bolted into my dwelling in the unceremonious 
 manner already described. 
 
 " The report of the mischievous trick that had 
 
124 fairies' partialities. 
 
 been played on poor Bryan O'Donnel by the gentry, 
 with all its attendant circumstances, spread like wild- 
 fire in the country. That it had been inflicted on 
 him as a punishment for his expressed disbelief in the 
 morning — for our conversation had got wind — no one 
 in the neighbourhood for a moment doubted ; in fact, 
 the short interval of time that had elapsed between 
 his expressions of doubt and of his having been forced 
 into a conviction of the existence of such beings, to- 
 gether with his having felt the effects of their power 
 on the very spot where those doubts had been ex- 
 pressed, were circumstances, in the opinion of the old 
 folks, quite conclusive, and apparently afforded them 
 much pleasure, which was not a little increased by the 
 consideration that O'Donnel was a Protestant ; for 
 whether it be that shehoges, pookies, ghosts, and 
 hobgoblins of every description have an aversion to 
 heretical company and observations, I really will not 
 pretend to say, but this much I believe must be 
 admitted, that their visits are principally confined to 
 holy Romans: a piece of complaisance, by-the-by, 
 not much to be regretted, when the annoyance and 
 strange tricks they play their friends are taken into 
 consideration. That the persons so honoured also 
 swallow with the greatest facility tales that would 
 choke their less favoured and naughty neighbours, 
 cannot be denied ; and that the capability of my 
 friends in the neighbourhood on that point was put 
 to the test, will shortly appear from what follows. 
 
 " Two or three days after the circumstance I have 
 just related took place, one of the Portnacloy men, 
 whom for the reason already mentioned I shall take 
 
ANDREW M'NEIL. 125 
 
 the liberty of christening Andrew M'Neil, a very well 
 conducted, inoffensive, but rather timid man, was sent 
 according to custom to the next station to the eastward, 
 called Port Turling, in order to bring any letters or 
 orders that might arrive there from 'head-quarters' 
 for the western stations ; and as in so backward a 
 place the return of the orderly was an event all felt 
 interested in, his arrival was anxiously looked for by 
 every person at the station. The usual time of the 
 orderly's return, however, had passed, the day had 
 closed some hours, but no Andrew M'Neil had made 
 his appearance, and I was endeavouring to assign 
 some plausible reason for his absence — at one time 
 attributing it to his having lost his way, for the night 
 was foggy, and at another, to his having been pre- 
 vented from leaving Port Turling by the closeness of 
 the weather — when my door slowly opened, and in 
 tottered the unfortunate orderly, a tolerably good re- 
 presentative of the gentleman ' who drew Priam's cur- 
 tain at the dead of night.'' I cannot exactly say, 
 with the strict regard to truth that pervades my nar- 
 rative, that his hair was erect, for this simple reason, 
 the poor man was a candidate for a wigship, but his 
 eyes were fixed and disagreeably protruded from their 
 sockets, something like a lobster's ; the blood ap- 
 peared to have deserted his cheeks and to have con- 
 gealed in his lips, the dirty whiteness of the one 
 forming a remarkable contrast with the blueness of 
 the other, and the perspiration trickled down his cada- 
 verous countenance in drops almost as large as horse- 
 beans, and, for aught I know to the contrary, quite 
 as cold as ice ; in short, he was terror personified. 
 
12G HIS ADVENTURE. 
 
 (< While I eyed poor Andrew with the greatest horror 
 — for fear is very catching — the watchman, who had 
 seen him pass the watch-house, and suspected from his 
 appearance that something uncommon had taken place, 
 which suspicions a peep in at the door had fully con- 
 firmed, communicated his ideas on the subject to those 
 nearest to him, and the report having spread all over the 
 station with the rapidity of lightning, long before the 
 poor fellow had sufficiently recovered himself to utter 
 one syllable respecting the cause of his fright, every 
 person was as fully convinced he had seen 'the gentry' 
 as if in possession of the particulars. Curiosity, 
 therefore, got the better of all etiquette on the occa- 
 sion, and my house was shortly taken by storm by a 
 motley group, who, open-mouthed, open-eyed, and 
 with fingers as stiff and as straight as the carbine ram- 
 rods of the station, regarded the terror-stricken 
 orderly with countenances as fear-fraught as his own. 
 
 " When I recovered from the surprise the melan- 
 choly appearance of the poor fellow had thrown me 
 into, I ordered, as in O'Donnel's case, the mountain' 
 panacea to be administered, the good effects of which 
 exceeded my best wishes and expectations, as in a few 
 minutes poor Andrew M'Neil recovered, in some de- 
 gree, the use of his tongue ; the first use he made of 
 which was, most devoutly to return thanks to all the 
 saints in the calendar for his happy deliverance, which 
 act of devotion added not a little to the terrors al- 
 ready depicted on the countenances of those around 
 him. The administration of a second dose of the 
 1 crathure' followed the first, and he so far shook off 
 his fears as to be enabled to relate pretty intelligibly 
 
A MILKY WAY. 127 
 
 the following extraordinary account of what had oc- 
 curred to him on his return from Port Turling. 
 
 " The orders it appeared had not arrived from the 
 eastward till late, he had consequently been unable to 
 leave Port Turling before dark. And here, in justice 
 to the man let me observe, that men of stronger nerves 
 than he possessed would, I feel assured, have felt a 
 sensation far from agreeable on the occasion ; for the 
 two places were four miles asunder — he had nothing 
 to direct him but a clew of white stones placed on 
 sods at equal distances — an invention of mine to pre- 
 vent accidents in fogs, and extending from one station 
 to the other ; his path skirted two bleak boggy moun- 
 tains, crossed two glens — one in particular, called by 
 the inhabitants the ' granny,' wild in the extreme — 
 and then led over the top of a mountain about eight 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea. Not a hut, 
 even of the most wretched description, lay within 
 miles of him on either side, and to add to all this, the 
 night, as has already been mentioned, was so very 
 foggy that he could scarcely distinguish the milk- 
 quartz directing stones, although they were only five 
 yards apart. 
 
 " Notwithstanding, however, the dreary walk he 
 had before him, the attendant probabilities of encoun- 
 tering pookies on his journey, and of sounding the 
 depth of every bog-hole in his route, he left Port 
 Turling, according to his own statement— which, by- 
 the-by, I very much doubted — no wise intimidated ; 
 and he had cleared one half of his journey with no 
 other accident than an occasional fall, when, on de- 
 scending the west side of the deep granny glen, he, 
 
128 THE CASTLE OF THE GENTRY. 
 
 to his great surprise, found himself suddenly sur- 
 rounded by numerous pale lights that appeared to 
 dance around him. This occurrence, if it had no 
 other effect, seemed in a great measure to have shifted 
 his centre of gravity, for he immediately commenced 
 floundering in his boatmate O'Donnel's best style, 
 though his performance did not appear to have af- 
 forded similar amusement, for, with the exception of 
 the splashing he himself made in the water, every 
 thing around him was as silent as death. 
 
 " Thus accompanied by lights, and falling every 
 minute, what with scrambling, crawling, and rolling, 
 he contrived to reach the bottom of the glen, and had 
 just crossed the little stream that ran through it, 
 when to his utter amazement and dismay he found 
 himself at the gate of a magnificent castle, which im- 
 mediately flew open, and displayed a hall most bril- 
 liantly illuminated. Numerous servants, also, made 
 their appearance most splendidly apparalled, who 
 with one accord saluted him with ' You are heartily 
 welcome, Mr. O'Neil, to this castle of the "gentry;"' 
 and leading him forward to a large folding door, 
 which likewise flew open at his approach, a sight 
 presented itself that surpassed in magnificence any 
 thing he had ever heard or thought of before. 
 
 " In a magnificent apartment, the sides of which 
 shone with all the brilliancy of the noonday sun, and 
 glittered wn*n all the hues of the rainbow, and seated 
 round a table that appeared to groan beneath the 
 weight of the costly vessels of plate and delicious 
 viands that covered it, he beheld a large party of 
 ladies and gentlemen superbly attired, and surpassing 
 
Andrew's welcome. 129 
 
 in beauty any he had ever beheld, and who were 
 busily employed dispatching the good things before 
 them, while they made the whole castle resound with 
 the noise of their mirth. With them also, as with 
 the grosser sons of clay, ' good meat' seemed to de- 
 serve ' good drink,' for he observed servants occupied 
 in all directions in handing crystal vessels to the com- 
 pany, the contents of which sparkled like dew drops 
 at sunrise on the purple bells of the heath blossoms, 
 and were quaffed off by all with the greatest apparent 
 delight. On his appearance, however, a general ces- 
 sation of hostilities against both solids and liquids 
 took place ; the sounds of mirth suddenly subsided ; 
 the whole party rose and welcomed him in the most 
 affectionate manner, while the domestics bowed most 
 respectfully on all sides, and in an instant after the 
 castle appeared to shake to its very foundation, with 
 the shout of ' You're heartily welcome, Mr. Andrew 
 M'Neil ; come and partake of our cheer.' 
 
 " Thus welcomed by all, and observing nothing but 
 joy and festivity around him, and the most evident 
 expressions of good will towards himself, his terror, 
 occasioned by the sudden appearance of the castle, 
 gradually abated, but his astonishment at all he saw 
 still so far got the better of his good manners, that he 
 found himself totally unable to utter a single syllable 
 in reply to the salutations that came from all quarters. 
 While he thus stood endeavouring to stammer out 
 something ' genUde' to the ' quality/ a gentleman who 
 appeared of more consequence than the rest ap- 
 proached him, and in the kindest manner first wel- 
 comed him to the castle and then led him to a vacant 
 
 g 2 
 
130 
 
 A TEMPTING BIT. 
 
 seat at the head of the table, a piece of condescension 
 that M'Neil would most willingly have dispensed 
 with, as, notwithstanding the good nature manifested 
 by all, he felt himself far from being at home on the 
 occasion, for he was well aware of the mischievous 
 propensity of the ' gentry,' and had the greatest dread 
 of partaking of their cheer, from an impression that 
 is pretty general among the lower orders in Ireland — 
 and, for aught I know to the contrary, elsewhere — that 
 whoever partakes of fairy food becomes subject to 
 their power seven years, and may consequently bid 
 adieu to his earthly acquaintances during that period. 
 " He was, however, scarcely seated, before he 
 found his prejudice against the good things around 
 him rapidly giving way to the pressing solicitations 
 of all around him, to which the savoury smell that re- 
 galed his olfactory nerves contributed not a little ; 
 and the wing of a goose (strange food for fairies, by- 
 the-by) that was opportunely placed before him, so 
 effectually completed what politeness and a good 
 smell of ' kitchen' had already sapped, that in a few 
 seconds he felt as irresistible an inclination to ' join 
 the mess' of his new acquaintances, as he before did 
 extreme horror at the bare thoughts of doing so. 
 Without further ceremony, therefore, he was on the 
 point of commencing hostilities in good earnest on the 
 dainty morsel that lay before him, and the first mouth- 
 ful that would have doomed him to a seven years' 
 transportation, was on the point of entering his lips, 
 when the castle suddenly appeared to rock to its very 
 foundation, a noise resembling that of a whirlwind 
 was heard, the folding-doors of the apartment, that 
 
A GOODY AND A MUDDY MADAM. 131 
 
 had closed on his entrance, violently flew open, and a 
 middle-aged woman of prepossessing countenance, 
 with her clothes tucked up towards her hips, and as 
 completely covered with mud as if she had been drawn 
 through the bog of ' Allen,' rushed in, and addressing 
 poor Andrew M'Neil in an earnest and affectionate 
 manner, exclaimed, 'Don't taste it, M'Neil.' She 
 then turned to the party that had risen most re- 
 spectfully at her entry, and added with an air of au- 
 thority, ' I am come with the speed of the mountain's 
 blast from the mountains of Donegal to this poor 
 mortal's relief. He is harmless and well conducted ; 
 he has, also, a large family dependent on him for 
 support. I therefore command you on no account to 
 molest him, but let him go home to his family and 
 children, who are anxiously awaiting his return.' 
 
 " The commands of the mud-covered dame had an 
 immediate effect on all present, for M'Neil — to make 
 use of a vulgar phrase — instantly dropped the dan- 
 gerous morsel • like a hot potato,' and his dread of 
 fairyland became greater than ever. His companions, 
 also, at the same time respectfully bowed obedience, 
 and the gentleman who appeared master of the cere- 
 monies advanced towards him, and taking him kindly 
 by the hand said, ' I am sorry, Mr. M'Neil, we can- 
 not have the pleasure of your company any longer, as 
 we expected to have passed a merry night ; and,' 
 added he, as poor M'Neil was backing very willingly 
 out of the chamber, ' I hope your boat-mate O'Donnel 
 liked his ramble the other night. Pray be good 
 enough to present Captain Green's compliments to 
 Captain ,' (would that Captain Green had been 
 
132 A SUSPICIOUS INVITATION. 
 
 first lord of the Admiralty, and clapt such a handle 
 to my name,) ' and tell him, he hopes to have the 
 pleasure of his company before many nights shall 
 have passed.' The castle with its inmates then va- 
 nished in an instant, and Andrew M'Neil found him- 
 self in total darkness at the edge of the Granny 
 stream, and with the greatest difficulty he contrived 
 to finish the remainder of his journey, and finally 
 reached my house in the miserable plight already 
 described. 
 
 " Here his narration ended. The effects of it on 
 his hearers, from its commencement to ' Captain 
 Green's' invitation, had been to draw them into an 
 extraordinary small compass, and, on the honour of 
 an officer I assert, the door was not the point of at- 
 traction. No sooner, however, had he finished that 
 part of the story that related to myself, than every 
 eye that had hitherto been fixed on him was rivettcd 
 on me ; and if, from the expression on every coun- 
 tenance, I had had any doubts as to the desperation of 
 my case, those doubts must have given way, the mo- 
 ment he ended the recital of his adventures, before the 
 general lamentation that arose at the bare thoughts of 
 the melancholy catastrophe that was about to befall 
 me. After the first burst of grief, real or pretended, 
 had subsided, advice from all quarters flowed in most 
 liberally on the momentous occasion. Every person 
 present, with the exception of one or two stupid En- 
 glishmen, had some sovereign charm against the 
 ' gentry,' that I was earnestly recommended to adopt. 
 To be out after sunset was considered a crime little 
 short of suicide, and was prohibited by all ; that is to 
 
A DOOMED MAN. 133 
 
 say, if I had the slightest regard for my body or soul : 
 and after having been treated to a general glance of 
 commiseration, that said as plainly as a glance could 
 say, ' You're not long for this world, poor gentleman,' 
 I was left in quiet possession of my lately invaded 
 apartment, with the above consolatory piece of in- 
 telligence. 
 
 " With the first peep of dawn the following morning, 
 that gossipping personage Dame Rumour, took the 
 field — bog I should say ! — in good earnest ; and, as I 
 believe the good lady has never yet been accused of 
 either want of diligence or inclination in enlarging on 
 any subject she may have felt disposed to amuse her- 
 self with, it cannot be a matter of surprise, that 
 M 'Neil's adventures, with a few trifling embellish- 
 ments ! should have travelled in a very short space of 
 time, a most extraordinary distance in eveiy direc- 
 tion from Portnacloy — that of the sea, for a pretty 
 good reason! alone excepted. One of the conse- 
 quences attending the chatty lady's activity was, that 
 the opinions advanced the night before by my imme- 
 diate neighbours respecting my approaching and in- 
 evitable departure for fairyland, received additional 
 weight and importance from the concurrent opinions 
 of all the aged persons in the neighbouring villages ; 
 and so general was the belief that I was on the point 
 of making my exit, that whenever I met any of the 
 country people I was eyed by them with as much 
 dread as if I had already had the burial-service read 
 over me. Once or twice I saw, or fancied I saw, 
 those I passed in the act of crossing themselves ; and, 
 certainly, on one occasion, on feeling an unusual 
 
134 PRECAUTIONS FOR HIS JOURNEY. 
 
 weight in my coat-pocket, I was not a little surprised 
 to find a half-pint bottle of holy water therein, that 
 one of my domestics had deposited, either from a kind 
 regard to myself, or through fear of losing a quar- 
 ter's wages. In short, had I been either a nervous 
 or a superstitious man, I feel assured the conduct 
 of my neighbours would have either driven me over a 
 cliff or into a boghole ; for which the poor ' gentry/ 
 no doubt, would have been blamed, and my melan- 
 choly history would have been handed down to the 
 ' Doghertys' and ' Gallaghers' of future ages, as 
 a convincing proof of the existence of such beings, 
 and the fatal consequences attending a disbelief of 
 their power. 
 
 " Fortunately, however, for my peace of mind — al- 
 though, by-the-by, it spoiled a very marvellous story, 
 that would have handed my name to posterity ! — my 
 nerves were none of the weakest, and of superstition 
 I had little or none in my composition. The woful 
 forebodings, and rueful countenances of my neigh- 
 bours, therefore, afforded me amusement instead of 
 uneasiness, and I should have treated the whole 
 affair with the contempt I considered it merited, had 
 not a report reached my ears, that, in my humble 
 opinion, called for a different line of conduct. For 
 a day or two after I had good reason to believe the 
 dread of the * gentry' was not confined to the coun- 
 try people, but had spread among many of my own 
 men, — a circumstance not much to be wondered at, 
 as they were chief^ of the same country, and origi- 
 nally of the same class, consequently, well acquainted 
 with the legends of the former, and deeply imbued 
 
THE INVITATION ACCEPTED. 135 
 
 with the prejudices of the latter. I had also ob- 
 served a very evident dislike on the part of many at 
 being out alone after dark ; and I was shortly after 
 informed, that one of them had actually hired a man 
 to accompany him with orders from Port Turling to 
 Portnacloy, through sheer dread of being caught 
 alone on the mountains. I had no sooner received 
 this latter piece of information, than I considered it 
 absolutely necessary for the good of the service— the 
 duties of which were principally confined to the night 
 — to endeavour to crush such a feeling before it gained 
 farther ground ; and after some little consideration it 
 appeared to me that the best method to effect my 
 object was to accept Captain Green's polite invi- 
 tation ; and thus, by exposure of my generally be- 
 lieved ill-fated person, convince my men of the folly 
 of entertaining such ridiculous notions. 
 
 " I had no sooner conceived and digested my plan 
 — which had for its laudable object the banishment of 
 the mischievous * gentry,' and the consequent right 
 of all his majesty's liege subjects in the neighbour- 
 hood to cross the mountains after dark, without let, 
 hindrance, or molestation — than I resolved to put it 
 into execution. The following day, therefore, I pro- 
 ceeded on a visit of inspection to Port Turling, care- 
 fully concealing my intentions from my neighbours 
 and domestics, lest our parting, on the occasion, 
 should be too much for their feelings and mine ! On 
 my arrival there I made the chief officer acquainted 
 with my design ; and, with the assistance of a good 
 dinner, contrived — notwithstanding the awful under- 
 taking before me — to pass the time very agreeably, 
 
136 THE EXPEDITION BEGUN. 
 
 till night threw her sable mantle over the mountains, 
 and gave me a gentle hint that it was time to proceed 
 to business. I then armed myself with a supernu- 
 merary warm tumbler and a tuckstick, and left the 
 snug cottage of my hospitable host, attended by the 
 good wishes of himself and family, after they had 
 vainly endeavoured to dissuade me from undertaking 
 the dreary journey. 
 
 " Thanks to the clew of stones, already alluded to, 
 I succeeded in skirting the two mountains that lay on 
 my route, and crossed the first glen in gallant style, 
 without meeting with any other mishap than an oc- 
 casional plunge, that in a very short time made me, 
 in one respect, a very suitable companion for M 'Neil's 
 mud-covered protectress. On my arrival, however, 
 on the spot immediately over the ' Granny,' my 
 acquaintance with bog became disagreeably familiar ; 
 and, for the first time since my departure I began to 
 feel a little queerish on the occasion. My situation, 
 indeed, was cheerless in the extreme. The deep, 
 dark glen now lay beneath me, and the obscurity of 
 the night kindly left my imagination to stock it with 
 as many horrors and hobgoblins as I thought proper. 
 The silence of death, also, reigned around me, — for 
 my elevation placed me beyond the sound of the 
 murmuring little stream beneath, and not a breath 
 of wind swept the face of the mountain ; while to 
 add to the general gloominess, a dark and in appear- 
 ance very badly disposed cloud mischievously placed 
 itself over the glen, beneath which cloud appeared 
 the black profiles of the surrounding mountains. In 
 short, my prospect was confined to one or two con- 
 
COURAGE AT A DISCOUNT. 137 
 
 sumptive-looking stars, black sulky-looking clouds, 
 and still blacker mountains — objects possessing no 
 great charms for a lonely traveller on a pathless bog. 
 
 " Whether it were that my cheerless situation, coupled 
 with Captain Green's invitation, conspired to affect 
 my nerves, or that the virtue of the hot tumbler had 
 evaporated through all the tossing and tumbling I 
 had undergone, I will not pretend to say ; but certain 
 I am, as I have already observed, that I began to 
 feel a little queerish. I felt inclined to admit, from 
 a feeling that I could not account for, that there 
 might be such beings as the 'gentry ;' and the pious 
 Mr. Wesley's argument in favour of ghosts, ' that 
 a man having never seen a murder committed, is no 
 proof that murders never take place,' — now rushed 
 very officiously, and I may say impertinently and un- 
 welcomely, to my recollection. c Captain Green's' 
 invitation — O'Donnel's ramble — and M 'Neil's fairy 
 castle were also viewed in quite a different light ; and 
 my conduct and undertaking began to appear fool- 
 hardy and ridiculous in the extreme. In fact, I 
 felt that, like ' Bob Acres,' in the comedy of the 
 1 Rivals,' my courage was oozing through my fingers' 
 ends ; and the ' gentry' would have readily had 
 my permission to retain their possessions, and amuse 
 themselves at the expense of my neighbours* in ex- 
 change for a free and unmolested passage through 
 the haunted glen, and an assurance that I should 
 have been allowed to take peaceable possession of my 
 old moorings at my fireside at Portnacloy. 
 
 " It was, however, now too late to retreat. So, 
 screwing up resolution to the tightest pitch, I com- 
 
138 WHISTLED AS HE WENT, 
 
 menced my descent, and at the same time struck up 
 ' Nancy Dawson,' though for what reason I know 
 not, except that from the beauty of the air, and the 
 natural sweetness of my voice, much improved by 
 sixteen years bellowing against tempests in various 
 parts of the world, I imagined that in keeping off 
 intruders, it might answer the purpose of a clapper 
 mill in a cherry-tree. Be this as it may, my descent 
 had a marvellously strange effect on the strength of 
 my lungs, and the consequent height of my voice ; as 
 the latter, unlike orderly and well-conducted quick- 
 silver in a barometer, on such an occasion, fell rapidly 
 as I decreased my elevation ; and before I had got 
 two-thirds of the way down the mountain, * Nancy 
 Dawson,' * unknowrfst to me,' as we say in Con- 
 naught, gave place to ' Cease rude Boreas,'* and 
 ' The Galley Slave.' And these melancholy airs 
 were given in a strain so tremulous and doleful, that 
 they would have melted the heart of any well-dis- 
 posed flint ; and, indeed, forbidding as it looked, ap- 
 peared to have a very sensible effect on the sulky- 
 looking cloud already alluded to ; for, after dropping 
 a few tears, as if deeply affected by grief, it retreated 
 slowly and sorrowfully towards the east, leaving a 
 space, comparatively speaking, luminous, between its 
 lower heavy, black edge, and the top of the mountain 
 over which my road lay. 
 
 " Somewhat cheered by the bright prospect before 
 me, I continued my descent, and had nearly reached 
 the bottom of the glen, when I unfortunately tript 
 over a ' tussock,' and, in my endeavours to save 
 myself from falling, acquired, as a sailor would call 
 
FOR WANT OF PLUCK. 139 
 
 it, so much ■ headway? that I lost all command of 
 my legs, and eventually pitched head-foremost over 
 the boggy bank that bordered the rivulet, and fell 
 plump into a swamp near its edge. Not at all ac- 
 commodated to my satisfaction, I, of course, lost no 
 time in extricating myself; and in so doing had 
 scarcely raised myself from the soft, but disagreeable 
 bed, accident had condescendingly supplied me with, 
 when I observed, with the greatest astonishment, 
 what appeared to me to be pale lights, flying from 
 me, as the centre, in every direction. My fall had 
 already * clapt a stopper? as we say at sea, on the 
 1 Galley slave,' surprise now nearly did the same to 
 my breath ; and I remained on all-fours in the mud, 
 anxiously expecting every moment to be favoured 
 with the presence of the dreaded ' Captain Green? 
 and his mischievous companions ; and, not being one 
 of the country, I had little to hope for or expect 
 from the friendly interference of the Donegal lady. 
 I remained, however, in this miserable plight only a 
 short time, when, thanks to my prostrate situation, 
 I was fortunately enabled to account very satisfactorily 
 for the phenomenon before me, or rather around me ; 
 for on getting one of the ' pale lights' between my- 
 self and the sky — an old manoeuvre of smugglers at 
 night — I had the indescribable satisfaction of observ- 
 ing a tolerably correct outline of that useful and 
 harmless animal, called by Jack ' a woolly bird,' 
 abas, a sheep ; and as the feet of the said animal 
 appeared to me to rest od the edge of the bank above 
 me, I very naturally concluded the body of it was 
 composed of earthly mutton, and that it was one of 
 
140 WOOLLY BIRDS. 
 
 a flock of sheep my sudden splash had alarmed. The 
 mystery of the ' pale lights'' was now, in my opi- 
 nion, cleared up, as I made no doubt the luminous 
 appearance of their snowy fleeces — which here let me 
 observe, I have frequently noticed in dark damp 
 weather since ! — contrasted with the black background, 
 had deceived O'Donnel and M'Neil as well as myself. 
 My fears, consequently, vanished in an instant, and 
 I anticipated much pleasure from the hearty laugh 
 that would be raised at the expense of my two lions 
 on my reaching home. 
 
 " With my ' steairt once more well up — and I very 
 much doubt whether half a dozen of my late host's 
 hot tumblers would have created a greater elevation 
 of spirits — I proceeded most manfully on my jour- 
 ney; and setting pookies and hobgoblins of all di- 
 mensions at utter defiance, and chirping ' Nancy 
 Dawson' again, in a voice that would have broken 
 the heart of a ballad-singer, I crossed the glen in as 
 gallant style as I had done the first that lay on my 
 route. Alas ! my exultation was of very, very short 
 duration ! For on my reaching the foot of the oppo- 
 site bank — and at the very identical spot where poor 
 Andrew M'Neil had seen the fairy castle — I beheld 
 a sight that instantly arrested my progress, or, in 
 other words, ' brought me up all standing? Al- 
 most immediately over my head, in the bright space 
 between the heavy cloud and mountain already al- 
 luded to, and apparently moving through the air with 
 the greatest velocity in a direction to cross my path, 
 I plainly distinguished the figures of what appeared 
 to me to be a giant and an attendant dwarf. To add 
 
GIANT AND DWARF. 141 
 
 to my horror, they seemed riding through the air on 
 long poles, in the manner witches are represented on 
 broomsticks ; and my dismay was not a little in- 
 creased, as may be easily imagined, when on appear- 
 ing to gain a footing on the verge of the bank imme- 
 diately over me, they suddenly converted their steeds 
 into offensive weapons, and commenced thrusting in 
 every direction beneath them, as if determined to 
 oppose my passage. 
 
 " Thunderstruck at the sudden appearance and 
 menacing attitude of the figures above me, in that 
 particular sjiot, I at first endeavoured to persuade 
 myself that what I saw was merely an optical decep- 
 tion, and, consequently, moved my head in every 
 direction to get them in a different point of view. 
 This experiment not answering my hopes and expec- 
 tations, I next imagined they might be merely phan- 
 toms of my own imagination ; and I therefore closed 
 my eyes for a few seconds, hoping — with what good 
 will I did so ! — that on my opening them, I shoidd 
 see no more of the giant and his aid-de-camp. Here 
 again I was disappointed ; for on raising my eyelids, 
 the ill-matched pair instantly appeared above me, 
 thrusting their weapons more violently than before. 
 This unprovoked appearance of hostility on their 
 side, added considerably to my perplexity ; and as a 
 last resource, I covered my eyes with my hands, 
 pressing forcibly on them at the same time ; and while 
 thus in darkness, using every means I could think of 
 to convince myself that what I had just seen was 
 nothing but an illusion ; while I at the same time 
 endeavoured to shame myself out of the idea by thus 
 
142 MULTIPLICATION 
 
 politely addressing myself, ' you ass ! are you 
 
 as big a fool as the resj V Moving my head, how- 
 ever, shutting my eyes, covering them, squeezing them 
 nearly out of their sockets, these polite addresses, 
 were all thrown away. In fact, my last experiments 
 were more unsuccessful than my first ; for on re- 
 moving my hands, I found that fear had either given 
 my eyes a multiplying power, or that a strong rein- 
 forcement of giants and dwarfs had arrived during 
 the interval, as a legion of them now appeared on 
 the brink of the bank, all thrusting their poles in 
 admirable time and order ; and what added still more 
 to my amazement was, that while the giants ap- 
 peared rapidly to increase in size, the dimensions of 
 the dwarfs decreased as rapidly. 
 
 " This completely upset me. All doubts respecting 
 * Captain Green' and his companions now scam- 
 pered off before this unexpected reinforcement, much 
 quicker than the French did before the allies at the 
 ' heel of the hunt ' at Waterloo ; and, as appear- 
 ances promised me any thing but the hospitality and 
 kindness experienced by M'Neil, my late-raised cou- 
 rage now rushed impetuously through every pore of 
 my skin, like steam through the safety valve of a 
 steam-engine, instead of oozing modestly through 
 my finger-ends as during the ' pale light* adven- 
 ture — fear very unceremoniously rushed in to fill the 
 vacuum. I felt a sensation that I can only compare 
 to that of being enveloped by cobwebs ; and my hair, 
 although it did not * twine like a knot of serpents on 
 my brow,' a la Byron, nearly occasioned the loss of 
 my hat, by standing erect, * like quills upon the 
 fretful porcupine.' 
 
IS A VEXATION. 143 
 
 " How long I should have remained breathless, 
 open-mouthed, and open-eyed, straight-haired and 
 straight-fingered, I will not take upon myself to 
 say ; the chances are, however, daylight would have 
 found me in that enviable situation, had not a change 
 in the manoeuvres of the gentlemen above, both 
 large and small, brought the affair to a speedy ter- 
 mination. At times, thrusting their spears, or poles, 
 downwards most hostilely, and at other times ap- 
 parently floating in the air, and crossing each other 
 like gnats — rather large ones though ! — in the rays of 
 a summer sun, they for some minutes continued 
 hovering over the verge of the impending bank ; but 
 at length, in appearance weary of merely acting on 
 the defensive, and concluding — very justly too ! — as 
 I supposed, that I had no intention of forcing a 
 passage, they commenced their descent, with the ap- 
 parent intention of bringing me to action. 
 
 " Now whether it were that at the approaching crisis 
 pride fortunately came to my relief, attended by the 
 recollection of my good grandmother's advice, her 
 favourite tortoise-shell coloured cat ' Spot,' and her 
 bright copper coal-scuttle already alluded to ; or that, 
 like Ensign O'Dogherty — as humorously described in 
 one of Blackwood's Magazines — I ran headlong 
 into the danger I wished to avoid, I am not quite 
 positive ; in justice to myself, however, I must add, 
 that as I drew my tuck-stick most manfully, and like 
 a good general, prudently directed my attack against 
 the diminutive division of my opponents, I am inclined 
 to give myself some little credit ; more particularly 
 as I have a confused recollection of having muttered 
 
144 A BOLD PUSH AND A FINISH. 
 
 — in a very low and tremulous tone, I admit — 
 * Angels or devils, I'll try what you are made of!' 
 
 " Be this as it may, hostilities no sooner appeared 
 doubtful and unavoidable by the descent of my ill- 
 matched opponents, than I drew my tuck, and, like 
 one possessed, commenced scrambling up the face of 
 the bank, in the direction of the division of dwarfs, 
 which, in a most unaccountable manner, melted into 
 one on my approach. Not at all displeased, as will 
 readily be believed, at this phenomenon, I quickened 
 my pace ; and having succeeded in getting, as I 
 thought, within arm's length of the consolidated 
 legion, I drew back my arm to try the eifect of cold 
 iron on the dwarfish figure before me, when a shriek 
 of terror, so wild and shrill that it pierced the 
 deepest recesses of the glen, was echoed on all sides 
 by the surrounding mountains, thrilled through every 
 nerve in my body, and went to my very heart, ar- 
 rested my uplifted arm, and rivetted me breathless, 
 motionless, and horror-stricken to the spot."f * * 
 
 f My friend made a full stop in his narrative, I suppose in 
 order to let my imagination work upon all the horrible possi- 
 bilities of his position, and I could not induce him to pro- 
 ceed; but 1 think I could gather from him afterwards, that as 
 his servants at home did not find him return at his usual hour, 
 they became alarmed, and this spread amongst the coast- 
 guard and the villagers, and they immediately called to mind 
 Captain Green's kind wishes respecting him. Therefore, in 
 hopes of finding his body, a general search was proposed, and 
 the giant and the dwarf were two of the searchers, namely, 
 his little servant-boy and his tall brother, who with long poles 
 were searching amongst the tussocks for his cold remains. 
 By accident, these two fell in with their master in the en- 
 chanted glen, and while the master was concealed from them 
 
MAKING FRIENDS OF FOXES. 145 
 
 I asked Mr. Henri if there was much game in 
 these wilds ; he said not, the eagles and foxes were so 
 numerous that they made sad havoc with the hares 
 and grouse. This gave occasion to his mentioning 
 some curious facts respecting the superstitious 
 respect the women of the country have for foxes, 
 and the desire they have, holding them to be intel- 
 ligent but mischievous beings, to propitiate, and, if 
 possible, turn their destructiveness from their doors. 
 For this purpose, some of the housewives leave wool 
 on the bushes in the winter season, which it is 
 expected they will carry off to their burrows, and 
 make themselves snug. Others actually knit little 
 woollen stockings, or, as they call them, mittens, 
 which they leave in the fox's path, expecting that 
 reynard will wear them, when he roams at night in 
 the hard weather, and, in gratitude for the comfort, 
 leave untouched the cocks and hens. 
 
 He mentioned a ludicrous circumstance that had 
 occurred some time ago, bearing upon this super- 
 
 in the bottom of the gully by the darkness of the night, 
 they, standing on the bank above with a clear starry sky be- 
 hind them, appeared as moving through the air; and the 
 captain, thrown oif his centre by the unexpected sight of 
 such figures, their poles made admirable spears, and the 
 multiplying power of fear easily enlisted recruits, and turned 
 the boy and his tall brother, into legions of dwarfs and 
 giants, which vanished on his mustering pluck enough to 
 attack them. It was well he did not run away, or faint 
 through fear, for if so, he no doubt would have been a staunch 
 supporter of " the gentry " to his life's end. But as it 
 turned out otherwise, (amongst the coast-guard at any rate,) 
 there has been less credit given to the power of " the Phouca " 
 ever since. 
 
146 A CUNNING CONVERSATION. 
 
 stitious respect of the people. Great depredations 
 having been committed on the poultry belonging to 
 the coast-guard families of Doonkeegan, the injured 
 English, not so respectful, determined to stop the 
 thief; so they baited a trap, formed for the occasion 
 of a deal box, and sure enough, next morning, a red, 
 sharp-nosed, broad-cheeked, bright-eyed little fellow 
 was found occupying the interior, and vainly doing 
 his best to get out ; and very shortly it was noised 
 abroad, through the nearest villages that the fox was 
 caught, and the whole population poured forth to 
 behold the mischief-maker; and, as might be sup- 
 posed, to satisfy their revenge and their curiosity. 
 Suppose, then, the trap brought out into an adjoin- 
 ing field, and amongst sundry groups surrounding it, 
 one composed of elderly women, with their red petti- 
 coats, brown boddices, and the kerchief drawn tightly 
 over the head. 
 
 " And is he there for sartain? — wurra, wurra, glory 
 to God." 
 
 " He's there, (says another,) but I'm sure and 
 sartin he'll get off." 
 
 " I wouldn't put it past him, (says another,) he'll 
 then play the puck with all our young geese — if he 
 do, he'll never forgive this hand's turn." 
 
 "Oh, (says another,) he's a dear dacent fox, he 
 hasn't the heart to do us mischief. No, he's a clane, 
 conscionable crathur — he's content with hares, rab- 
 bits, and young sea-fowl. He's not like that long 
 stinking-tailed fox over the wather at Inver, that does 
 be destroying all the poor people's cocks and hens. 
 
A PYRAMIDAL CEMETERY. 147 
 
 No, our fox never does the neighbours a hand's turn 
 of harm — when the erathur is hungry, he goes 
 from home, not like the grey thief at Inver." 
 
 In this way, under the confident assurance that 
 the fox in the trap heard and understood, they used 
 flattering words on the possibility that even yet he 
 would escape from the hands of his captors. In the 
 mean time the owner of the trap had been busy in 
 procuring all the dogs in the vicinity to bait, worry, 
 and kill reynard when let loose from durance, and 
 fine sport was expected, and all was shouting, 
 and barking, and great excitement, when, lo! the 
 lid of the trap was lifted, and out bounced a 
 trembling caitiff of a red cur-dog, certainly not 
 unlike a fox, and whose grandfather or grandmother 
 might have been of the vulpine race. 
 
 Having now crossed the high land dividing Port- 
 nacloy from that part of Broadhaven on which is the 
 village of Doonkeegan, we came to a curious sort of 
 burying-ground, called Kilgalligan, situated on a 
 sandy eminence, which is liable to increase or dimi- 
 nish according to the prevalence of the wind ; and, 
 therefore, in process of time, as the surface has risen 
 by the accumulation of sand, so also have the graves, 
 until a sort of pyramid has been formed, that, at a 
 distance, has a curious effect, with the head stones 
 and small crosses covering on all sides its conical 
 surface. There did not appear, upon the cursory view 
 I took of this burying-ground, any vestiges of a 
 church of any sort ; but tradition goes that there was 
 a cell here, in which resided a holy and lonely friar, 
 named Galligan, who, to beguile his solitariness, 
 
148 RELIGIOUS FRIENDS. 
 
 and to hold sweet counsel with another ascetic who 
 resided far away over the dreary hills at Ballycastle, 
 used to set out every Friday, whether in sunshine or 
 in storm, to meet his brother, who also started at the 
 same hour from his cell. They met at Belderig. As 
 iron sharpens iron, so did the love of these holy friends, 
 and they took sweet counsel together, and their 
 spirits rejoiced in heartfelt edification ; and then they 
 returned, mutually supported and strengthened, to 
 their lowly resting places. But it happened that the 
 holy man at Doonkeegan in his latter days became 
 blind, and still the piety of the people was watchful, 
 and he had no lack of needful food ; but never did 
 he cease from his customary weekly excursion. 
 Friday after Friday, for ten long years, the blind 
 friar, with staff in hand, made his way along the 
 accustomed track, over the bog and mountain, nor 
 ever failed his friend until the time when he was 
 summoned to his everlasting rest. 
 
 I spent the evening under the hospitable roof of 
 my very intelligent friend, and we had some very 
 interesting conversation on subjects connected both 
 with time and eternity ; and I was much pleased to 
 find that he took a lively interest in the spiritual 
 state of the different coast-guard stations along this, 
 at times, inaccessible coast, where Protestant seamen 
 are located with their families in places far from any 
 sort of road, and where, from the high winds pre- 
 vailing along these dangerous shores, there can be 
 little or no communication by sea in winter between 
 station and station. At these times my friend has 
 acted the part of baptizer to the infant, catechist to 
 
A GOOD TELESCOPE. 149 
 
 the young, and lecturer to the old — he is their 
 surgeon, physician, and apothecary — their adviser, 
 umpire, and justice of peace. Being, as officer, 
 employed for the prevention of smuggling, whether 
 on sea or land, he has had, of course, much to 
 do in the way of detecting and destroying illicit 
 distillation, and he told me some amusing anec- 
 dotes of the people's opinion of his superhuman 
 power, and of the terrible thing he had that enabled 
 him to see the distilling out of sight. By this they 
 meant a good telescope he possessed, by means of 
 which he could observe, from his well-chosen station, 
 the smoke far away, curling up from some lonely 
 ravine, or corrie, or ditch ; or their carrying on 
 horseback over the hills loads of whiskey or 
 malt. 
 
 There was one circumstance that confirmed their 
 opinion of his magic power. He was one day walk- 
 ing amongst the sand-hills in search of a hare, when 
 he saw protruding from an eminence upon which a 
 recent gale had so operated as to carry off much of 
 its surface, the end of a large beam of foreign timber. 
 He at once saw that this was secreted here for some 
 improper purpose ; so covering the timber up again, 
 and marking the spot, he proceeded on his excur- 
 sion, and said nothing of what he had observed. But 
 shortly after this he was applied to for a search- 
 warrant, by persons belonging to a vessel that was 
 wrecked on the coast, in order to recover some of its 
 cargo that had been carried off by night, and secreted 
 by the country people. " Perhaps (says Mr. H.) I 
 may be able to find it for you without much trouble. 
 
150 SIGHT THROUGH A SAND-HILL. 
 
 In which direction was the timber stranded ?" The 
 place was accordingly pointed out to him. So taking 
 up his large telescope, and directing it with great 
 carefulness of adjustment towards different positions 
 in the -vicinity of the point where the timber came to 
 shore, he at once, when levelling in the direction of 
 the sand-hills, cried out, " I have it," and closing up 
 his telescope, he said, "come now, follow me, and I 
 will show you the timber." So walking off directly 
 to the spot he had previously marked, he rooted 
 with his stick, and soon uncovered the pine log. 
 "Now, gentlemen, (says he,) here's one — need I 
 take the trouble to go back and spy out the rest." 
 " Och, then, yer honour need not be at that trouble, 
 (says one of the common people present, endea- 
 vouring to make a virtue of necessity,) what's the 
 use of consaling, when you have at home them what 
 will see into the very ground ? Sure there was no 
 harm for us, poor crathurs, to take a few sticks 
 that we thought belonged to nobody; but as there 
 are now owners for them, why shouldn't they have 
 them." So, without delay, every other log that was 
 concealed through the sand-hills was uncovered, and 
 the owners were allowed to bring them down without 
 any obstruction to the shore. 
 
 Though employed, and that actively and usefully, 
 in putting a stop to the mischievous manufacture of 
 poteen whiskey, Mr. H. could find excuses for the 
 people who were almost constrained to have recourse 
 to it in consequence of the state of the country ; for 
 being forced to pay their rents in money, no matter 
 how low that rent was, and there being no roads by 
 
FISCAL CONSISTENCY. 151 
 
 means of which they could bring their com to market, 
 they felt obliged to resort to the only method within 
 their reach of making their corn portable, and that 
 was, by converting it into whiskey, which, in a small 
 space and on a horse's back, could be carried to where 
 a price could be procured for it. 
 
 It certainly does not argue much paternity in a 
 legislature to enact the strongest fiscal laws against a 
 people, and tell them they shall be punished for what 
 is not morally wrong, without affording them facilities 
 to avoid the evil which is visited with punishment. 
 In this way, it must be allowed, that the people of 
 Ireland have been brought to hate the law, because it 
 has been often unattended with moral sanctions, and 
 because it too often said, " cease^o do what we say is 
 evil," without putting them in the way of " learning 
 to do well." The landlords and the government ought 
 to have made roads through Erris before the one said, 
 you shall pay me your rent, or the other said, you 
 shall respect my revenue regulations. 
 
 On the following morning I had arranged to set 
 out from the hospitable home of my coast-guard 
 friend, and for that purpose I had directed my jaunt- 
 ing-car driver to set out from Belmullet early in the 
 morning, and wait for me at a certain bridge on the 
 new road that has lately been opened between Bel- 
 mullet and Ballycastle. Upon inspection of the map } 
 it will be seen that this road runs in a valley at a dis- 
 tance of about ten miles from the sea-coast, which rises 
 in a mountainous elevation of about a thousand feet 
 in height, from which there is an inclined plane in- 
 land. Now, in coming from the sea-coast at Doon- 
 
152 A FERRY-BOAT. 
 
 keegan to meet this road, I had, in the first instance, 
 to skirt along the south-eastern shore of Broadhaven 
 bay, then cross a ferry, then ascend the side of a 
 mountain, then cross numerous glens, ravines, and 
 moory elevations, and then an inclined plane of a bog, 
 and that without the aid or accommodation of any 
 road whatever. Now my good and kind host had ac- 
 commodated me with a horse and a guide, saying at 
 the same time, " You are welcome to take the horse 
 the whole way to where you will meet your jaunting- 
 car, provided you can get him across the ferry ; but 
 that I fear you will not be able to do, for the boat is 
 not large enough, and in the present flooded state of 
 the river, increased as it is by the outflowing tide, he 
 never can be got to swim across ; take, however, the 
 bridle and saddle, and perhaps on the other side you 
 can get some pony to hire, which will carry you on." 
 With these good deeds, and with a warning, that was 
 but too well fulfilled, that the day would be tremen- 
 dously wet, I set out on my sad and unusual expedi- 
 tion, and it was well for me I had not foresight to 
 apprehend all that I was to undergo. 
 
 Arriving at the ferry of Rossduagh, there were, to 
 be sure, a boat and a ferryman, but the boat was a 
 small tub of a thing, totally unfit to receive the freight 
 of a horse or even an ass, and I think I never saw so 
 rapid a stream. No animal could be swam across ; so 
 taking my guide, my saddle and bridle, I committed 
 myself to the care of as wild a Charon as could be 
 imagined — a red-haired, blear-eyed, big-mouthed bar 
 barian, who could not speak a word of English. Just 
 as we had loosened from shore, a woman appeared on 
 
AN ERRIS PONY. 153 
 
 the height above us, and signaled that she wanted to 
 pass across, whereupon Charon backed his oars, and, 
 without attempting to return to the shore, he held to 
 in about two feet water, and in Irish informed the 
 woman that if she wished to get across she must wade to 
 the boat ; accordingly, without making much ado, this 
 short, sturdy, broad body of a middle-aged woman 
 tucked up her garments as high as possible, and waded 
 up to and strode over the gunwale of the boat. Whether 
 she made any excuses to her modesty in Irish I am 
 not prepared to say ; I, of course, was looking out all 
 this while seaward, observing the gulls with their 
 white wings floating in the murky atmosphere, and 
 contrasting their snow-flaked bosoms with the dark 
 nimbus that came driving on from the south-west. 
 So strong was the current, that it took two men with 
 all their force to stem in twenty minutes a stream not 
 two hundred yards across. 
 
 Landing on the other side, my guide went up the 
 hill towards a village, to procure, if possible, a horse 
 to hire. The bargain was to be made, the horse sought 
 for and caught on the side of the mountain, and I, in 
 the meantime, for two good hours, was condemned to 
 wait under a bank at the side of the water, the rain 
 coming down and the storm driving on, very much, it 
 would appear, to the enjoyment of the gulls, gannets, 
 and kittywakes, that were careering and screaming 
 all around, but very much to my discomfiture, as I 
 contemplated a journey, perhaps on foot, across moor 
 and mountain for ten miles. 
 
 At length when my patience had nearly all oozed out, 
 my guide appeared, dragging a white shaggy creature, 
 
 h 2 
 
154 A WILD WAY. 
 
 hard to tell whether horse or ass, for it was very little 
 larger than the latter ; and if considerate, there ought 
 to have been a doubt whether, in any difficult emer- 
 gency, I should not rather have carried the pony in- 
 stead of the pony carrying me. However, encouraged 
 by my companion, who assured me, "he was better nor 
 he looked," I allowed him to be caparisoned, and with 
 my feet almost touching the ground, off I set, as cu- 
 rious an equestrian as ever the kingdom of Connaught 
 exhibited. Our way at first was a merely practicable 
 bridle-road, skirting the sides of the mountain that 
 rises south of the ferry ; we then, after going about a 
 mile along the margin of the estuary, which in the 
 map is laid down under the denomination of Strafodda 
 Con, entered a glen, passed through a miserable vil- 
 lage, and then through the farm-yard of a better sort 
 of farmer, who seemed, though possessed of many 
 out-houses, much fuel, and quantities of cattle, to live 
 in the midst of dirt, meanness, and discomfort. 
 We then began to ascend a mountain, which in the 
 map is called Aghoos, and here all traces of a road 
 vanished, and we had to struggle across as well as we 
 might, and now I began to find the value of my 
 guide. In all my life I never saw a man take such 
 pains to accommodate another; never a man who 
 brought such intelligence, activity, and alacrity to 
 bear, to help on one who he knew was in a bad case. 
 In common seasons, and after a summer's drought, 
 this mountain might be passable enough, for the bog 
 was not more than from two to three feet thick, and 
 underneath it a hard gravel. On this occasion, after a 
 summer and autumn, wetter even than a common 
 
A WATER COURSE. 155 
 
 winter, the whole surface was almost as soft as mud, 
 and the pony, which belied his appearance very- 
 much, to my satisfaction showed all his powers of bog- 
 trotting in hopping from tussock to tussock ; while I, 
 sometimes riding, often walking, or rather leaping, and 
 stepping, got on ; the guide in the mean time sound- 
 ing before, and tracing with his staff the way I could 
 take with more safety. In this way we worked away ; 
 but at times, in spite of all our caution and the pony's 
 agility and circumspection, down the little creature 
 would sink up to his breast, and I had, on these oc- 
 casions, to slide off my saddle as quickly as possible, 
 over the creature's head; then the poor little brute 
 would collect his forces for a plunge, and with our 
 aid, one pulling at his head and the other his tail, he 
 would be extricated. And so we got on. 
 
 And now, having attained the summit of the hill, a 
 long inclined plane of bog lay before me, through 
 which a stream, drawing its sources from the gullies 
 of the mountain, urged its tortuous way ; and into the 
 bed of that stream, as the only footing across the bog, 
 I had to ride ; and while the stream took its down- 
 ward and shallow course along the mountain side it 
 was practicable enough, and the sure-footed little 
 animal picked its way with surprising safety; but 
 when we came to the flat where the streamlet became 
 a river, by addition of multitudes of noisy torrents that, 
 under the hourly increasing rain, came down dark and 
 frothy, like Guinness' s xx porter — when the river be- 
 came a series of deep foam-covered pools, connected 
 by rapid and stony fords — when I had, under the di- 
 rection of my guide, now to cross this rapid, and then 
 
156 
 
 A PICTURE. 
 
 that, turning my horse's head to every point of the 
 compass — when at times the river became deep and 
 still, and the sides high, I was obliged to alight and 
 force the pony up the bank, and urge him, plunging 
 and sinking in the bog — when, added to this, the 
 heavens sent down not only torrents of rain, but sheets 
 of lightning, the thunder meanwhile rattling amongst 
 the mountains, and then losing its loudness amidst 
 moanings that came from every gorge and glen — I 
 really never was in such a position ; wet from heel to 
 middle with the waters of the river I had forded at 
 least one hundred times — wet from the crown of the 
 head to flank with torrents that came from above, and 
 which no mackintosh could repel — there I was — I 
 could have cried with apprehension and vexation. I 
 believe I would have sat down and given over, satisfied 
 that I could do no more or get no further, were it not 
 for the courage and encouragement of my admirable 
 guide, who told me that I was now but a short way 
 from the high road, and that a few more for dings of 
 the river and a few more plunges through the bog, 
 would bring me out of my trouble. 
 
 Now that the aifair is all over, and I can look 
 back upon my moving accidents by flood and bog, I 
 can fancy a picture of myself and all my accom- 
 paniments a fit group for a Cruikshank — my poor, long, 
 lank, dripping self, the shadow of a half-drowned Dr. 
 Syntax — my mackintosh torn from nape to skirt, 
 and flapping in the driving gale — cheeks sunk and 
 sallow, nose blue, mouth half open to show a set of 
 chattering teeth, hands so livid with cold as scarcely 
 able to hold a rein — a cudgel in my weak grasp with 
 
A CRUEL DISAPPOINTMENT. 157 
 
 which, ere cold mastered me, I would belabour the 
 sides of my over-cautious nag — beside me, the said nag, 
 once white, but now coated to the ears with bog mud, 
 and sunk up to the chest in the mire, its nose resting 
 on a tussock, my guide, ruddy with exercise, his health 
 and strength beyond the power of storm, now tugging 
 first at his head, and then pulling at his tail — beside 
 us the roaring river, carrying down on its turbulent 
 surface masses of bog stuff, and roots of bog fir — 
 every now and then a fitful flash of lightning, and 
 then an additional torrent of rain — all this, Mr. 
 Cruikshank, I beg you will draw in your best manner, 
 and style your picture, "C. O.'s Exodus from Erris." 
 But I was not yet out of my troubles, for though 
 my guide, when I was almost reduced to my last hope, 
 and my physical powers at their lowest ebb, pointed 
 out the bridge towards which I was tending, looming 
 through the mist, yet when I saw no jaunting-car in 
 waiting, my apprehensions were all alive, and I made 
 my last plunge into the river, and forded the last 
 shallow, full of terror lest my driver should have 
 deserted me in this desolate spot. Well now I am 
 at last on a road, a beautiful new road, and there is a 
 bridge spanning the river, and there are three cabins 
 adjoining; but not a human being appears — the pelting 
 storm has driven all to their smoky fire-sides, and, 
 positively, there is no sign of the jaunting-car, and 
 here I am deserted, without a dry stitch from head 
 to foot, and no means of obtaining a change of dress — 
 what shall I do 1 — not a human behfg in these three 
 cabins speaks a word of English. The guide, by my 
 direction, inquires did any one see a jaunting-car 
 
158 A HAPPY SIGHT. 
 
 pass in the course of the morning ? All say no, 
 except an old man who stated that about breakfast- 
 time (that was about five hours ago) he saw a car at the 
 bridge, but which way it was going, whether towards 
 Belmullet, or eastwards, he could not tell. Well 
 now, what was I to do ? To go back the way I came 
 was impossible — return to Belmullet — why do that, 
 when in all likelihood my driver, a boy of fourteen 
 years of age, would, more probably, choose to make 
 his way homewards. 
 
 " I think, sir, (says the guide,) you had better get 
 onwards, there is a coast-guard station at Belderig, 
 about ten miles onwards, I can get you a comfortable 
 night's lodging there, and I can also stop with the 
 pony, and make my way home to-morrow." 
 
 To this proposal I acceded, and was encouraged in 
 the resolution by looking closely at the track of the 
 jaunting-car and horse on the road, which, though in 
 a great measure obliterated by the strength of the 
 rain, yet here and there showed the shoe-track as 
 proceeding onwards. So giving my young friend the 
 pony to ride, I set out running to put warmth into my 
 shivering frame, and this exercise was invaluable to 
 me — in half an hour I was as warm and as limber as 
 I need be, and I have to thank a good Providence 
 that, at my advanced period of life, I had energy and 
 activity to run for an hour in this way, the pony 
 keeping up to me in a jog-trot. 
 
 We now neared another bridge, and through the 
 driving rain I thought I saw something black — it 
 might be a turf-car — it might be my jaunting-car. 
 In a few moments it became joyfully certain that it 
 
A WARM WELCOME. 159 
 
 was the latter, and upon expostulating with my young 
 rascal of a driver for neglecting my orders, and 
 deserting me, his reply was, that he waited for some 
 hours, that he could get no shelter for himself or 
 horse, that he could bear the storm and rain no 
 longer, and that he came on here where he could get 
 shelter, under the supposition that I also, when I 
 found he had gone on, would follow him. And now I 
 am under shelter, in a small cabin, a sort of public 
 or shebeen house, where you can be refreshed with 
 whiskey ! ! ! The apartment was small, and there was 
 a great fire on the hearth, from which the smoke 
 floated in volumes all around, and if you don't keep 
 your head low down near the floor, you will be 
 suffocated. This room was as full as it almost could 
 hold. There was my jaunting-car horse, and an ass, 
 and a calf, and a pig, and a goat, and four or five way- 
 faring men, taking shelter, and watching for a clear 
 moment to proceed to Belmullet ; and there was a 
 child squalling in a box which an old woman was 
 rocking ; and an old man sitting in the chimney 
 corner ; and the woman of the house bustling about, 
 wiping a stool for me to sit down, scolding the boys 
 to get out of the way, kicking the pig, driving out the 
 goats, and doing all she could, in her Irish way and 
 language, to be civil to the gintleman. In this every 
 one seems to take a part ; one holds my shoes to dry, 
 another my stockings, in the mean time I retired be- 
 hind a turf-kish, extracted from my carpet bag dry 
 clothes, and made myself as comfortable as the heat 
 of the apartment would allow me. 
 
 And now to supply another want. Eight hours of 
 
160 NO TEETOTALLER. 
 
 such trouble as I had gone through must have gene- 
 rated in a healthy man no small appetite. I know 
 there are potatoes, I am sure there is whiskey, maybe 
 there are eggs, perhaps butter — I'll have a dinner in 
 no time. Commend me to a Connaught woman for 
 boiling potatoes. In a quarter of an hour I had the 
 murphys beautifully bursting from their skins, fresh 
 eggs, butter to be sure not very temptatious. Who cares 
 for a table-cloth, or an egg-cup ? I confess that on the 
 15th of last September I had not gone to Father Ma- 
 thew — I wore no temperance medal, and I had suffered 
 so much, the storm still blew, the rain was driving, and 
 I had twenty miles to go ; here's for a tumbler, a hot 
 tumbler of punch — I don't ask questions whether it 
 be parliament or poteen — who would refuse it to me 
 after such moving accidents by bog and stream. I'll 
 take it for my stomach's sake, even suppose the priest 
 was by to frown me into purgatory. 
 
 It was not likely that in the presence of so many 
 good-humoured, pleasant, accommodating people, I 
 would eat alone or drink alone. No, the potato-pot 
 was ample, and so was the black bottle — but with 
 that, gentle reader, I do assure you there was tem- 
 perance, if not teetotalism ; and eating as I did, and, 
 to a certain extent, drinking with these poor people, 
 I never enjoyed a repast more, never was amongst 
 people more good-natured and yet humble, and whose 
 conversation, as far as I could interpret it through the 
 means of my guide, who acted as dragoman, was more 
 full of intelligence, good-humour, good-nature, and 
 savoir faire. 
 
 Parting with my excellent guide, who, I believe, 
 
BOG TRAVELLING. 161 
 
 staid with my enduring pony for that night in the 
 shelter of the public-house, I proceeded on my jaunt- 
 ing-car onwards, intending, to reach Ballycastle. I 
 can give no adequate description of this journey of 
 twenty miles ; the first part of which was through a 
 dreary bog glen, along which the still unmitigated rain 
 poured from the west, shutting out every distant view, 
 and rendering what was near indistinct and desolate 
 in the extreme. Towards sun-setting the clouds be- 
 gan to disperse, so as by the time I had passed Bel- 
 derig and approached the sea-coast, I had occasionally 
 peeps of grand cliffs and bold headlands ; for this is, 
 no doubt, the grandest cliff coast (extending from 
 Downpatrick Head to Erris Point) in Ireland. But 
 now the dusk came on, the clouds still hung on the 
 highlands, an indistinct haze obscured even what the 
 departing light might otherwise have at times allowed 
 me to observe, and the remainder of the journey to 
 Ballycastle was slow and full of apprehension ; for the 
 latter part of the road was extremely rough and bad, 
 the bridges in some places dangerous ; more than one 
 ford was so deep with the turbulent stream roaring 
 and foaming from the hills, that I was warned by the 
 foot passengers I met to be on my guard. On this 
 occasion I met with what I consider as very rare in 
 Ireland, an instance of avaricious selfishness and desire 
 to make money out of you. 
 
 There is a considerable stream of water crossing 
 the road without any bridge, about two miles west- 
 ward of Ballycastle ; it comes from large glens in the 
 interior, and though the ford is generally shallow and 
 to be crossed by foot passengers on stepping-stones, 
 
162 A FORD. 
 
 yet occasionally it rises after rain to be a foaming 
 torrent, whose subsidence is almost as rapid as its 
 rise. Aware of this ford, I happened to meet a 
 respectable man on horseback proceeding westward, 
 and, on accosting him, I found that he had been at 
 the market of Ballycastle, and that he had with great 
 difficulty crossed the ford, being obliged to take a 
 man wading on before him to lead his horse, the 
 water meanwhile being up to the beast's breast ; but 
 he said that the flood was evidently subsiding, and 
 that by the time I reached it, it might be quite pas- 
 sable for a car ; " and I'll tell you," says he, " how you 
 will know. Look out for the stepping-stones ; if you 
 see them uncovered, then you may drive on ; but if 
 the water be over them, then some one must strip 
 and lead the horse ; and you, unless you are content 
 to stop somewhere for the night at this side of the 
 ford, must expect a good wetting, even suppose 
 nothing worse should happen." 
 
 You may suppose with what fear and trembling I 
 approached the ford ; the rain had ceased for two 
 hours ; the night, though dark, was clear, and, in 
 order to give more time for the water to subside, I 
 made the driver get on slowly. At length, from the 
 dip of the road, and from other signs, I knew I was 
 approaching the river ; and just at this spot I heard 
 the voices of men upon the road, and stopping, I 
 accosted them and asked as to the practicability of 
 the ford ; whereupon one man stepped up to my side 
 of the car and said in a sort of alarmed tone, that the 
 water was very high — that it was extremely dangerous 
 for a stranger who did not know the place to venture 
 
AN OVERREACH. 163 
 
 to cross — that he knew the ford as well as any man 
 alive, and why shouldn't he, seeing as how he lived 
 convenient, and that he would come with my honour 
 and pass me safe over. Quite delighted at the lucky 
 meeting, I replied, " come along, my good fellow." So 
 on we went for about a hundred yards, when the man 
 suddenly took the horse by the rein, stopped the car, 
 and, just as we were in sight of the ford, said, " And 
 what will your honour give me for bringing yees 
 across ?" This was so unusual a proceeding on the part 
 of the man, for in general the people, when you make 
 use of their services, lave it to your honour, that I 
 suspected a trick. I therefore bounced off the car, 
 approached the edge of the water, and could plainly 
 see the whole line of stepping-stones ; I therefore 
 knew that the pass was practicable, and that I might 
 drive on. So, coming back, I said to the fellow — 
 
 " Well now, I see the stream is broad, and there 
 may be danger in passing ; so, my honest fellow, 
 what will you take to strip and lead the horse 
 across?" 
 
 "Why, your honour would not be after giving me 
 less than a two and sixpenny, seeing as how I'll have 
 to come back again." 
 
 " Oh, you're all out too dear, friend," I said ; and 
 with that taking the reins and whip out of the driver's 
 hand I lashed the horse into the water, kept along 
 parallel with the stepping-stones — let the horse get 
 on at his leisure, and without the water getting at 
 any time above the footboard of the car, I got safely 
 to the other side, not without hearing some pretty 
 
164 AFTER TROUBLE COMFORT. 
 
 strong Irish curses from the fellow who had over- 
 reached himself in driving a bargain. 
 
 About ten o'clock I got to Bally castle, where with 
 a very worthy man, with whom I had scraped ac- 
 quaintance in May last, when I attempted to reach 
 Erris, I got every accommodation I had reason to 
 expect — a good dinner, a good glass of wine, an ex- 
 cellent bed, and every possible attention. 
 
165 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Another Venture on Erris— Approach to Killala — A Fair— The Fair Sex's 
 Fair— An Evening's Walk — A Guide — A Peculiar Building Material — 
 The "Gentry" and their eyes— A Charmed Churning— A Beggar's Bless- 
 ing -A Friar's Luck— Moyne Abbey— Fine Position— Religious Differ- 
 ence in the Grave— A Charitable Lady— A Pious Chief— An Uneasy 
 Home, and Ejectment without the Sheriff— A Confessional— Too Much 
 Knowledge— A Bold Bet— A Skull's Ghost— AWagerWon— A Riddance 
 without a Benefit— A Daughter as Dutiful as Beautiful— A Natural 
 Curiosity — Round Tower — Has a Good Escape of the Ecclesiastical Board 
 —Episcopal Good Taste— An Old Title Deed— A Holy Well— A Talk 
 about Bishops— A Good Protestant and Good Roman Catholic Prelate- 
 Legend— Truth versus Tradition— Rebellion of 1798— An Old Cave— 
 Druidical Couches — A Singular Geological Formation. 
 
 In my last chapter I gave an account of all I could 
 gather by eye and ear during my excursion to Erris. 
 It Jias been said, and I am not sure of the why or 
 wherefore; that he who goes into Erris once will 
 certainly go there again. The reader may judge 
 whether I had reason to make the second venture ; 
 but so it was, I certainly did set my face towards 
 " the lovely land" a second time, and the following 
 chapters are the result of my enterprise. 
 
 I entered Mayo from the county of Sligo at Bal- 
 lina, but of that town and its vicinity I do not mean 
 now to speak, though there is much of noticeable 
 matter there ; for, if spared, and not anticipated by 
 some more expert tour-writer, such as Mrs. Hall and 
 her not better half, I mean to venture on another 
 
166 KILLALA. 
 
 volume on North Western 'Connaught. I, therefore, 
 shall begin with Killala, which I approached on a fine 
 summer's evening-, and the sight pleased me much : 
 green hills, with intervening flats of rich pasture and 
 meadow land, meet your eye : there is some timber 
 and no bog. You get frequent peeps of the bay, 
 which to the north-east is locked in by picturesque 
 sand-hills, on which the western sun was sparkling ; 
 and these hills by overlapping, shut out the view of 
 the harbour's mouth, and so the bay looked like a 
 circular and placid lake. About a mile on the Bal- 
 lina side of the town, and just on the border of the 
 bay is Moyne Abbey. Nothing of it is visible from 
 the road but the slender square tower, perhaps the 
 loftiest and prettiest in Ireland. In front is the 
 town on an eminence, with its church, steeple, and 
 its conically capped round tower. Almost on every 
 eminence in the vicinity is a circular rath, of more 
 than the usual height and dimensions — altogether, I 
 have seldom neared a Connaught town that lookecl so 
 well. To be sure when you enter, things are not so 
 satisfactory ; but, after all, though a poor unbusiness- 
 like place, what with the bishop's palace and its trees, 
 the church, the round tower, the sheltered bay, the 
 encircling green hill, all give it respectability and 
 create interest ; and I believe I would like to live there 
 if I was content to eat, drink, and be quiet. No 
 doubt I saw it to advantage ; the weather was dry, 
 the evening sunny, a fair was going on, the cattle 
 business all over, and the humours of such a concern 
 were just beginning — rows of booths were ranged on 
 either side of the street, and flauntingly dressed 
 
HUMOURS OF A FAIR. 167 
 
 females were either busy making purchases, or chat- 
 ting and laughing in groups. 
 
 I love to look on at a fair, it delights my heart to 
 witness the cordial meetings and greetings of the 
 kind-hearted people, to see the hearty kiss given, to 
 hear the noisy laugh passed round. I wish I had the 
 art of fixing on canvass this or that most picturesque 
 group, when I could pourtray not only the round and 
 jocund faces — blessings on them — of my country- 
 women, but also the rich contrasts of colour in the 
 costumes, which I wish they would not change — the 
 scarlet mantle, the madder red petticoat with its 
 many plaits, the brown boddice, the yellow kerchief, 
 the sky blue stockings. Talk not to me of Swiss or 
 German costumes, rather give me a Connaught lass 
 attired as I have just said, with her fair skin, her 
 ruddy cheek, her mirthful black eye, and her white 
 teeth almost sparkling from her half opened, good 
 natured, and large mouth. She is no beauty to be 
 sure — her head and form are Celtic, and not Grecian ; 
 but there she stands before a tent, a kind laughter- 
 loving amiable crathur. I see her there coquetting 
 most intensely, with Pat on one side, and he's a clean, 
 comely, broad shouldered, light limbed, springy fel- 
 low ; he could run to Sligo and never draw breath ; 
 he could hurl or fight till the cows came home. On 
 the other side of her is a sailor in his many buttoned 
 and well-fitting blue jacket ; he wears a white dimity 
 waistcoat and a red bandana tied carefully careless 
 about his neck ; he is a specimen of manly vigour, a 
 little weather beaten to be sure. Sally, the deceiver, 
 is dividing her smiles and pleasantries between her 
 
168 SALLY OF u OUR" ALLEY. 
 
 two admirers ; an old wrinkled body (Sally's aunt 
 no doubt,) is standing behind — she is watching the 
 lively colleen ; she would rather that Sally was not so 
 particular with Jack tar; Paddy with his bit of 
 ground and his decent cabin would do better for her. 
 Such groups you may jot down in your sketch book at 
 a fair in Killala. With such groups I occupied my 
 eye and amused my mind while walking up to the inn 
 where I was to get my night's lodging. Of this 
 entertaining place I am not desirous to say much — 
 much ought not to be expected where there is no 
 thoroughfare, and where mine host only consents to 
 accommodate the public as a secondary consideration, 
 made subservient to his more important functions of 
 baker and shopkeeper. 
 
 Having a fine evening at command, I procured an 
 idler, who, for the sake of a shilling, was content to 
 forego the humours of the fair, and to accompany me 
 in a walk to Moyne Abbey. So off we set, and 
 bustled through the fair, through which I passed 
 quite unnoticed ; had I walked through the unbusi- 
 nesslike town at any other time, all eyes would have 
 been on the stranger, and all mouths open to ask who 
 is he? but now, all parties were so engaged in their own 
 cosherings that the stranger was not regarded. 
 
 Taking a direction eastwards through some very 
 fertile fields, and then along the border of the bay, 
 I came upon a great quarry, where I had the oppor- 
 tunity to observe the beautiful and very useful stone 
 peculiar to this vicinity, for in no other part of Ire- 
 land is it to be found ; it is a calcareous formation of 
 the oolite or roestone character, of considerable hard- 
 
A BUILDING STONE. 169 
 
 ness and great unity of structure ; it takes a polish as 
 fine as marble ; it rings when struck like metal ; it is 
 quite unchangeable by weather, and can be raised in 
 blocks of any size, infinitely harder, and more com- 
 pact than the oolites of England or France, as raised 
 at Bath, the Island of Portland, or in the Paris dis- 
 trict : its perfect indestructibility is evidenced in the 
 Round Tower of Killala, which has stood for twelve 
 centuries at least, bearing the storms and spray driv- 
 ing against it from the Atlantic Ocean, and there it 
 stands, as soimd and fresh, except where scathed by 
 lightning, as when the mason made his finish to the 
 mysterious building. Moyne Abbey also, to which I 
 am going, is built of the same material, and there the 
 architectural ornaments are as angular and as sharp 
 as the day they came from the chisel of the stone- 
 cutter. 
 
 Proceeding onwards we came to a beautiful pas- 
 ture field, on which many cows were feeding ; this 
 gave me occasion to remark on the productiveness of 
 dairy husbandry, whereupon my companion observed 
 that it was all very well if the sheogues did not 
 do the owner a bad turn, for then it would have 
 been well for him if he had never meddled with butter 
 making. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" said I ; " who are the 
 sheogues?" 
 
 " Why, plase yer honour, what else would I mane 
 but ' the gentry,' for can't they, or those who have to 
 do wid the likes of them, stop when they plase all 
 the butther in a dairy ? you churn away till Tibb's eve 
 
 i 
 
170 
 
 AN EVIL EYE, 
 
 and not a taste ; no, not the bigness of a cherry stone 
 will gother in the churn." 
 
 " Well, now," says I, " did you ever know this to 
 happen?" 
 
 " Och, then, it's I that did. Sure it happened to 
 my own mother, rest be to her sowl. She had two 
 as kind crathurs of cows as any in Tyrawly, antl as 
 fine a pasture for them as ever crow flew over, and it 
 was the plentiful month of June when there was 
 grass galore, and when, if nothing was unnathral, 
 the tub would soon have its fill of butther ; but, as it 
 was, mother churned and churned, and not a taste 
 would come to the top but froth, the milk would 
 crack, the butter would always appear as just a coming, 
 but there it would stop. So do ye see me, one day 
 as the whole house were kilt working at the dash one 
 after another, in comes an ould beggarman. ' God 
 save all here,' says the dacent spoken crathur. ' Sure 
 you'll give for the love of Mary a bit of fresh but- 
 ther off the churn, which I'm tould is good for a pain 
 I have about my heart that is afther killing me in- 
 tirely.' 'Why, thin, honest man,' ses my mother, — 
 for the heavens be her bed, she was always kind to 
 the poor, and she had the prayers of many who went 
 away warm and full from her door, — * it's I that would 
 give you the full of your fist of butther, with all the 
 veins in my heart, if it was for you, but here we are 
 the whole morning working away until we are down- 
 right kilt, and not a taste the size of a nut can we 
 gother.' So with that, out went the old man, and 
 the churning had to be given up for that day at any 
 rate. Well, about a week after, mother took heart 
 
A DISENCHANTMENT. . 171 
 
 again, and away the whole house churned, but with 
 no better luck ; and just as they were in the middle 
 of the trouble, in comes the same beggarman again, 
 and says, * Well, mistress, any betther forthen the 
 day V ' None in life,' says mother ; * the thing's not 
 nathral. I see,' says she, ' an evil eye is on me and 
 mine, God help me.' 'Well, mistress,' ses the ould 
 man, 'more's the pity that any thing unlucky should 
 come over yon or yours, for you were always good to 
 the poor, and you ought to have their blessing attend- 
 ing you, and if this be from an evil eye, with the 
 help of Heaven I'll show you how you will get over 
 it. Lave over the churning this day, it's no use in 
 life ; but Monday come eight days, begin again, and 
 ye won't be after eb inning long till an oidd woman 
 will come and sit down, and begin to convarse very 
 neighbourly, and by-and-by she'll offer to take a 
 hand at the churn-dash, and then she'll wish you a 
 good morning and go about her business. Now mind 
 you me, do you take the dash in hand, and just as 
 the woman is stepping over the threshold, plunge the 
 dash down to the bottom of the churn and keep it 
 there, and then see what'll happen.' You may be 
 right sure mother minded what the man tould her ; 
 and sure enough the ould woman came in on the 
 churning day, and by-and-by took a turn at the 
 dash and then went out ; but if she did, the dash 
 was kept at the bottom of the churn while she was 
 crossing the door, and as I'm a sinner, from that day 
 forth my mother had as good a run of butther from 
 her milk as any woman in Tyrawly. Maybe yer 
 honour doesn't believe this ('for he saw me smile) i 
 
1/2 J. CLEAR-SIGHTED FRIAR. 
 
 why then, as I'm a Christhen, it's as thrue as you're 
 there;' but if what I've tould you won't make you sin- 
 sible, I'm in hopes what I'm now going to tell ye, will. 
 I knew a friar some twenty years ago, — Heaven be 
 your home now, Father Hennessy, for yer riverince 
 was a holy man entirely ; — well, he was returning one 
 morning from where he had gone, as was his way, in 
 troth, every morning, to a high place forenint his house, 
 to pray there, and to go through his intentions ; and an 
 ould church yard he had to pass, where they do bury 
 children that die before they be christhened, and there 
 he saw an ould woman creeping along the long wet 
 grass that grew rank over the little graves, and she 
 was gothering all the butthercups and putting them in 
 the praskeen (or apron) before her. So, says the 
 friar, 'Bright morning to ye, honest woman, and 
 will ye give me a share of your gothering V ' That 
 I will,' says the hag, ' since ye ask it civilly, and 
 much good may it do ye, and maybe when you go 
 home you won't be sorry.' So home goes the clargy, 
 and if he did he found his niece just done churning. 
 * Och then, uncle sir,' says she, ' come and look at 
 our great luck this morning, the churn is as full of 
 butther as it will hould.' So with that the holy man 
 smelt a rat ; he saw it was the hag of the church- 
 yard' s doings. So, sis he, 'Biddy jewel, don't for 
 yer life use that butther; it's not natural; it's not 
 sent in grace, nor is it lucky. No, give it me.' So 
 with that, he orders all the butther to be taken off 
 the churn, and he has it taken out of the house and 
 put into a dirty herring hogshead, and he calls for a coal 
 of fire, and he with dry turf soon makes a blaze 
 
MOYNE ABBEY. 1/3 
 
 about the barrel, and then he kneels down, says a 
 Latin prayer, cuts the sign of the cross betiuie him 
 and the vessel, and behould ye, in a hand's turn, the 
 barrel, instead of houlding butther, was full of ugly 
 crawling things called doulduffs.* You may suppose, 
 sir, the barrel was let to burn away." 
 
 With this kind of conversation, we beguiled our 
 way until we arrived at Moyne Abbey, which is cer- 
 tainly finely situated on a fertile slope, that reaches 
 down in all its rich verdure to the sea shore, and 
 through which a clear babbling stream runs, passing 
 under the inclosure of the abbey, supplying it with 
 the purest water; and then, after urging its way 
 through what were once plentiful fish-ponds and after 
 forming a mill pond it tumbles into the bay, which here 
 protected from all winds, offers a safe harbour for 
 boats, and where the monks in old times could unlade 
 in perfect security, the produce of the several granges 
 which they owned along the river Moy and the sea 
 coast. I think I never saw a more eligible or beau- 
 tiful site for a monastery; and surrounded by its fertile 
 parks, its walls casting their massive shadows over 
 the placid bay ; its lofty and slender tower sending 
 its solemn vesper summons over land and sea, it 
 must have been a noble religious establishment when 
 peace was within its walls, and pensive contemplation 
 within its cloisters. Even now it is a most interest- 
 ing and beauteous ruin. The massive whole so pic- 
 turesquely defined by the lights and shades of its 
 
 * Irish name for a black coleopterous insect, which is held 
 in great horror by the people, and always killed when pos- 
 sible. Black devil is the English of the name. 
 
174 • AN ABBEY TOWER. 
 
 numerous angles, its multitude of pointed gables, its 
 many ivy mantled chimneys, its particularly lofty and 
 slender tower, springing with a lightness and elegance 
 of construction (I have seldom seen surpassed) from 
 the arches leading to the choir ; all this makes Moyne 
 what an architectural painter might delight in trans- 
 ferring to his canvass, ^ith all its landscape accom- 
 paniments ; and it is the sight of such places, and the 
 sense of my own utter incapacity in delineating them 
 that makes me mourn over my ill-directed education. 
 Why not make drawing the sine qua non of a gentle- 
 man's education to fit him for his future walk through 
 life? 
 
 The elevation of the Abbey Tower here was made 
 purposely great to obviate the inconvenience of its 
 low situation, and to enable the watcher to see afar 
 off, who and what were approaching the sacred edifice. 
 The building, composed as it is, of the durable oolite 
 I have just spoken of, has permitted time to encroach 
 but little on its walls, but the hands of the original 
 devastators, and the year after year dilapidations 
 perpetrated by those who inter their friends within, 
 have made it like most other Irish abbeys simi- 
 larly used — an ugly and disgusting scene. Bones, 
 skulls, and pieces of broken coffins, the remnants of 
 those who are disinterred, to make room for fresh 
 occupants, lie in revolting disorder all around. Still 
 there is a door to this abbey, but it seems to open to 
 all that please to enter. From what I could gather 
 from my companion there are distinct places of sepul- 
 ture for the Roman Catholics and Protestants. The 
 following anecdote was narrated as bearing upon the 
 fact : — 
 
A WASTEFULLY GOOD WOMAN. 1/5 
 
 " Mary B — was the wife of Sir R. P — , and if ever 
 there was a good woman in the world she was wan, 
 some people say it was her that purtended to long for 
 the good woman's bit (a portion of the gristly part at 
 the shoulder blade), and got her husband to have so 
 many fat cows kilt for her to get a meal of that part 
 every day. But that was all holy chate — for her 
 purpose was that all the offals and coarse parts might 
 be given to the poor. But sure they could afford it, 
 hadn't the good man all as one as a quarter of the 
 county, at any rate of the barony. Well, wan time, 
 their big house took fire, and every part of id was 
 burnt down, barrin' where the lady kep the blankets 
 and clo'es for the poor. But in spite of all her good- 
 ness, as heaven was ready for the likes of her, she 
 took sick and died one day — ske was a Catholic by 
 coorse, but her husband was a Protestan' — and what 
 would the black-mouthed Cromwellians say if she 
 
 was not buried afther their manner. So Sir R 
 
 to keep his own sort in good humour and do the thing 
 grandly, had in the broad day, a mighty great berrin 
 entirely, and he filled a corrin full of stones, and put 
 it down with the parson standing over it — here in the 
 Protestan' part of Moyne — and then he brought her 
 rale corpse by night to Straid Abbey. * So the Friars 
 
 * Straid Abbey is on the Moy in the barony of Gallen. I 
 have not seen it. Archdall, quoting Pocoek's Journal, says 
 that the church was singularly beautiful, and adorned with 
 many Gothic ornaments. In the centre of the altar is a 
 Virgin and child, of excellent workmanship ; there is also 
 a tomb, on which are rich bas reliefs of four Kings, and of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. In 1434 the Pope enriched the 
 monastery with numerous indulgences. 
 
1/6 PARSON OVERREACHED. 
 
 were all on their knees, when behould ye, all the 
 bells of the steeple began to ring with might and 
 main of their own accord. Well, the cl#rgy ris in a 
 fright till they heard she was coming to be buried, 
 and then they knew as how it was a miracle ; so she 
 was really buried in Straid, the heavens be her bed as 
 it surely is this night." I know not what foundation 
 there is (if any) for this story. I repeat it to show 
 how the people feel and think on these matters. 
 
 This religious house, founded for the Franciscans 
 of the strict observance, was in great repute and pros- 
 perity, and it would appear that it remained longer in 
 the unmolested possession of its inmates than the 
 religious houses in the eastern part of the kingdom, 
 and even after it was suppressed and its property 
 consigned to some Government favourite, the friars 
 lingered about their beloved cloisters, and were per- 
 mitted in sufferance to dwell therein. In these latter 
 days, as my companion informed me, a man who had 
 made some money in a way that was not praiseworthy, 
 and who, as he made it without heaven's fear, desired 
 to increase his store without its blessing — seeing the 
 richness of the surrounding land, and the strength of 
 these old walls, took a lease of the place, and set 
 about to turn the refectory, dormitories, kitchens, &c. 
 &c. of the Franciscans into a dwelling. " He was a 
 Protestan' by coorse ;" and having thus fitted it up, 
 hither he removed with his family. So he and they 
 were all mighty proud and happy entirely while the 
 day lasted, but when they lay down to rest at night, 
 not a wink of sleep could their eyelids get ; for just 
 as their eyes were closing and their minds falling into 
 
AN EJECTMENT. 1/7 
 
 forgetfulness, moanings as of those in agony, wailings 
 as of those in despair, would arouse them, and all 
 the livelong night they had to listen to what murdered 
 sleep : all this to be sure, was by the stern head of 
 the family attributed to fancy, misapplying the hoot- 
 ing of the owl from the ivy-mantled chimneys, or the 
 sighing of the sea as the night wind swept over its 
 rising tide ; but another night came, and still no rest, 
 and then another. Still the avaricious man was ob- 
 stinate : why in spite of man or devil should he not 
 as the owner of the place, dwell in what he had made 
 his own ? But this could not last — unmitigated watch- 
 fulness produced madness — the man himself, before 
 a week expired, became a maniac, and he and his 
 people removed from the sacred edifice, and left it to 
 repose ever since in its own undisturbed solitude : 
 better to remain a ruin (so said the people) than to 
 suffer the daily defilement of a heathen and a pub- 
 lican. 
 
 Proceeding to ascend the tower of the Abbey that 
 springs with such light elegance from the arched nave 
 under which you enter into the choir, my guide 
 pointed to a small closet constructed elaborately of 
 smooth and accurately jointed stone, with a hole on 
 each side, by means of which a person sitting within 
 might hear persons addressing him from without — 
 this was the Confessional — well was it adapted for 
 the purpose — right was it that the being whose duty 
 it was to sit inside should be cased in stone — for to 
 such surrounding hardness should he assimilate his 
 heart, who was doomed to listen to all the varieties of 
 crime, and error, and folly that should be poured into 
 
 i 2 
 
178 A CONFESSIONAL. 
 
 his ear. Oh ! how horrible it would be (if sympathy 
 could long bear it) to be day after day the depository 
 of all that makes social life so unhappy, of all that 
 makes the child of fallen Adam so mischievous, 
 without the power of reposing in one helping advising 
 bosom the dreadful facts with which the mind is full 
 even to bursting. But sympathy cannot last long 
 with the confessor — as with the medical, so must it be 
 with the religious practitioner — the feelings must be 
 blunted — callosities must incrust the finer sensations ; 
 yes, as with the doctor, so with the priest, while ap- 
 pearing to feel with all, they in fact feel for none. I 
 thank Providence I am not a Roman confessor. I 
 would consider the power such a person undoubtedly 
 possesses dearly earned, indeed, by having such hor- 
 rible knowledge accumulated upon me (and here I 
 speak of the matter in a worldly and prudential point 
 of view, leaving the divine authority of auricular 
 confession quite out of the question) ; I would fear 
 that such knowledge would make me stern, hard, 
 tyrannical, contemptuous. I conceive that such 
 knowledge is too wonderful for any man, and he 
 only should have it who is all good as well as all 
 knowing. 
 
 Having viewed all that I thought was likely to in- 
 terest me in this fine ruin, I was proceeding in com- 
 pany with my guide to take my departure, when on 
 lifting up a skull somewhat remarkable for the bumps 
 developed on its surface, and which of course would 
 have been a good subject in the hands of a phreno- 
 logical lecturer, and as in this respect valuable, and 
 likely to be abstracted by some curious person, I 
 
AN UNEASY FRIAR. 1/9 
 
 asked were the people disposed to come near the 
 Abbey by night ? 
 
 " Och then, yer honour, there's not a man in the 
 barony, no not his riverance the priest himself would 
 come here in the dark, for there be the terriblest 
 noises by night here, that ever mortal man heard : 
 people in the broad day, and when they can afford, 
 as I may say, to be stout, tell you that it's only the 
 owls and wild cats ; but them that knows it, hould 
 out fur it that it's one of the ancient friars. I'm sure 
 myself forgets his name, though I once heard it. 
 But he broke his vow, sold his soul to the devil, and 
 in the midst of his divilry was drowned crossing the 
 river Moy. Any how the noises are heard as sure as 
 any thing, xlnd now as we're leaving the place, I'll 
 tell yer honour a story as thrue as you're there : — 
 
 " Not many years ago there was a set of jolly boys 
 one night drinking and carousing in Killala, and 
 amongst the rest was Peter Cumming, the chapel 
 clerk. Now, when they were all pretty well I thank 
 you, they all got valiant intirely, and one said he 
 wouldn't be afeard to do this, and another swore he 
 had done, and would again do that. " I'll tell ye what 
 I'll do," says Peter; "I'll bet any one a golden guinea, 
 and here it is under my hand on the table, that I'll 
 go this very hour to Moyne Abbey and bring here a 
 skull out of it in my pocket handkerchief, and lay it 
 down on this table." So all thinking it was an impos- 
 sible thing, — that no man alive would dare to go for to 
 do such a thing, — to put an end to Peter's brag, 
 sure and certain it was only boasting he was, they all 
 said done to the wager ; and Peter's golden guinea 
 
180 
 
 PETER CUMMING S BRAVERY. 
 
 was covered in a moment with twenty-one white shil- 
 lings. So Peter for his courage sake and the money, 
 and besides having the spirits in him, sets off for the 
 Abbey — and troth I don't envy the scape-grace as he 
 went whistling along, putting out of him the wind, as 
 a body may say, to give the more room for his courage. 
 And now my joker gets near the place, and he sees 
 the tower lifting its tall self and cutting on the blue 
 sky, and one star bright entirely is sparkling like a 
 cat's green eye, just over yonder pinnacle where the 
 sea eagle now and then comes and sits (by-the-by 
 there is a story about that). Still Peter's bravery was 
 not put aback — there was as yet no occasion — all was 
 silent in the air, on the land and out at sea, except 
 now and then the dash of the swelling tide as the 
 easy wave came in, and shattered in foam amongst 
 the shore pebbles. And now Peter passes the door, 
 which as you see lies continually open, and he has no 
 light to guide him except one or two stars, that sent 
 down but a cold, green, good-for-nothing twinkle — the 
 walls and ivy darkening more and more all around. 
 So he turns to the right, and down he goes on his 
 hands and knees, and he makes to the very spot 
 where you and I now stand, creeping on and on, for he 
 knew right well that in that corner forenenst you, there 
 was, as there is now, a heap of skulls. Yer honour, 
 wasn't the mad fellow morthal brave ? Well, he gropes 
 and gropes for a skull, and he has just got a grip of 
 one, and is fumbling in his pocket for the handkerchief 
 to tie it up in, when he hears all at once a slow sickly 
 voice, half groan, half growl, as a body may say, — just 
 what you'd hear from a dying crathur that was saying 
 
his grandfather's ghost. 181 
 
 his last words, with the rattles in his throat ; and 
 this was what was said, — 'Och, Peter Cumming, you 
 bad boy, what's this you're about? bad luck to ye! 
 what are ye doing with my skull ?' With that, up rises 
 Peter, his hands off the ground, but still standing on 
 his two knees, and sure enough he was all of a trimble, 
 and well he might ; for, looking towards that very 
 corner now before us, he saw what he had reason to 
 remimber to his dying day ; for there stood his own 
 grandfather, Phaarig Cumming, surrounded by a light 
 that came, of a blueish colour, from out of the earth, 
 like what comes in September out of the reeds along 
 the river ; and there old Phaarig stood just as he was 
 before his last sickness, in his frieze coteen and his 
 sheepskin breeches, all smoth and greasy, and his 
 bay-wig, and the very tobaccy running down from the 
 two corners of his mouth, and staining all his rough 
 chin. Heaven's rest be with you, Phaarig ! but there 
 ye wor, the picthur of what ye looked the week before 
 the death sickness came on ye. ' Och then, Pethereen, 
 (sez the ghost, for it was nothing else,) ye unlucky 
 boy, what brings ye here, and what are you doing 
 with my skull? What for would ye have your 
 grandfather stand up at the day of judgment without 
 a head, ye divil-may-care, drunken, irreligious black- 
 guard ?' Now, all this while that the grandfather 
 was scolding, Peter was a getting up off his knees, 
 and, as the ould fellow kept on abusing without killing 
 him, he takes courage, and he ups and says to the 
 ghost, ' Ah then, grand-daddy dear, is that yourself? 
 and why are ye walking, and what makes ye unquiet ? 
 Maybe it's masses ye want for yer poor sowl ; and 
 
182 A SILENT CONSENT. 
 
 sure I'm a good warrant to get them sed for ye ; for 
 I'm the chapel-clerk, and it will go hard with me if 
 I don't coax his riverance to say a dozen or two for 
 ye, besides always keeping you in his intintions. 
 And now, daddy dear, don't be angry,' says Peter, in 
 a voice mighty sweet and coaxing; ' don't, alanna, 
 grudge me the use of yer skull just for one bit of an 
 hour, while I make a guinea out of it ; sure it's not 
 every night a poor fellow the likes of me can turn a 
 penny this way. Stay, then, where you are till I 
 come back ; I'll be here in no time, and I'll lave the 
 skull, God bless it, just where I found it ; and, daddy 
 dear, I'll tell ye what's more I'll do if it be plasing 
 to vou, now that I know for sartin it is part of your 
 self, and that you can't do without it at the day of 
 judgment, I'll come here to-morrow and put it under 
 the clay, in the very spot where father and mother 
 are buried, and where I myself will be put when I'm 
 buried, glory be to God, and won't that plase you ? 
 do, heaven's rest attend ye, and don't say against my 
 having an hour's loan of your skull.' With that 
 Pethereen cast a fond but fearful look towards his 
 grandfather, but now he saw nothing, the light was 
 gone, nothing was to be seen but darkness, no sound 
 but the wind sighing through the ivy leaves. ' Silence 
 gives consint,' says Peter; so tying up with two 
 good knots the skull in his handkerchief, home he 
 comes by the way he went, finds his company still 
 a drinking, lays down his skull before them, and gets 
 his guinea ; — for I'd be glad to know who dare refuse 
 or say he had not won his wager, seeing as how Peter 
 proved his courage, and would stand up before any of 
 
THE WAGER WON. 183 
 
 them, when he had just been after facing a ghost. 
 It is said Peter was as good as his word, and kept his 
 promise to his grandfather's ghost, for he did bring 
 back the skull, and did put it dacently under the 
 clay, where it's resting, for aught I know, to this very 
 day. Some people, to be sure, were slow of believing 
 that Peter saw his grandfather's ghost at all, and that 
 it was only a drunkard's boast ; for it's but too thrue 
 that Peter, though chapel-clerk, was a great drunk- 
 ard and a great liar to his dying day. But this is 
 sartain, that a man for a wager brought away by 
 night a skull from this abbey, and brought it back 
 again, which is what I would not do for all the 
 guineas in Connaught." 
 
 On my return towards evening close to Killala, I 
 had much conversation with my companion, whose 
 understanding was naturally a good one, and whose 
 mind was stored with a curious mixture of things 
 credible and incredible. He certainly should not be 
 judged by what I have just repeated of his conversa- 
 tion ; seeing me desirous to obtain legendary infor- 
 mation, with the desire to please, which is the eminent 
 characteristic of a poor Irishman, he poured forth all 
 his store ; but when I spoke to him, as I did, upon 
 other matters more allied to the common world, he 
 showed he was a keen observer, and could form sound 
 conclusions. I asked him how the people liked the 
 removal of the Protestant bishop from the town ? He 
 said, "no Killala man coidd approve of it, that it was 
 the greatest mischief that ever the poor little town 
 suffered ; that the Protestant bishops, as long as he 
 could remember, and as far back as he ever could 
 
184 ROMAN JEALOUSY. 
 
 hear the old people speak of, were good and kind men, 
 that staid at home, spent their money amongst the 
 people, set a good example, and did harm to no man ; 
 that the poor who lived on their bounty and the 
 tradespeople who lived on their employment, were 
 now suffering severely from their loss, and that the 
 farming gentleman who lived in the big house was a 
 poor substitute ; and how could he help it 1 for why 
 should it be expected of him to act the part of one 
 who spent his thousands a-year, not in sporting or 
 racing, or in wild and wicked ways, but like a Chris- 
 tian 1 God forgive them that took such good kind 
 gentlemen away from our poor little out-of-the-way 
 town." This led me to insinuate that the taking away 
 of the Protestant bishop from Killala was, in a great 
 measure, owing to the jealousy of the clergy of his 
 own religion. 
 
 " Och, then, sir," says he, " maybe it would be 
 better for them to mind their own affairs, and not be 
 making or meddling with what don't consarn them ; 
 maybe it would be more becoming of them to settle 
 their own disputes any way." 
 
 Here my friend entered somewhat at large into 
 the differences and jealousies that existed between 
 the followers of Bishops M'Hale and O'Finan; spoke 
 
 of Dean and Father , and in a measure, 
 
 hinted that the death of a priest near Crosmolina 
 took place in consequence of these disputes. I shall 
 not repeat what the man said further on this subject, 
 and I only mention it in this cursory way to show 
 that such disputes do exist ; that the people are 
 cognizant of them, discuss them among themselves ; 
 
A FILIAL FAIR ONE. 185 
 
 and that it is very likely, that if the Established 
 Church were put out of the way and removed from 
 the land, this consummation so devoutly wished by 
 the politicians of the Church of Rome, would only 
 be followed by rancorous disputes that would then 
 openly break out ; — disputes which are now smother- 
 ing and kept from bursting forth by the common 
 cause all are joined in against the Mordecai that sits 
 at the king's gate. 
 
 When just nearing the town on our return, a red- 
 haired, freckled-faced, heavy-shouldered girl, naunt- 
 ingly dressed, but with her shoes and stockings in 
 her hand, her big broad feet tramping the path, made 
 haste to pass us, as if desirous not to be noticed. 
 
 "Ah, then, is that you, Nancy?" said my com- 
 panion ; " and is it going to the fair ye are at this 
 hour of the evening? It's not for good yer going 
 there, and I desire ye to go home this instant mo- 
 ment. It's little ye thought ye'd meet me here ; to 
 catch you disobeying my ordhers when I tould you 
 by no manner of manes to go the fair." 
 
 " Why then, father, I'll not go home, not a foot 
 of me ; what for ? Why shouldn't I have my sport as 
 well as others ?" Saying this she kicked up her red 
 heels and off she ran in the direction of the town. 
 
 " Well, sir, believe you me, I'll give that lassy as 
 good a strapping as ever she got when she comes 
 back." 
 
 " I presume," says I, "she is your daughter?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, she is ; and it's contrary to my bidding, 
 and she knows for why, she's going to the fair for no 
 good ; but no matther, I'll be even with her." 
 
186 CURIOSITY. 
 
 This is a specimen, and I just mention it however 
 trivial it may appear, of the bad way in which parents 
 of the lower orders manage their children ; they are 
 either too indulgent or too severe ; they place no re- 
 straint on their own tempers in the presence of their 
 families, nor do they endeavour to control passion 
 when they see it rising in their children. This man 
 threatened to heat a girl of seventeen or eighteen years 
 of age, and I make no doubt if he caught her when 
 she came home he performed his promise — but in all 
 likelihood she took care to keep out of his way — if 
 not, instead of arguing with her on her disobedience, 
 he knocked her down. 
 
 On parting with my friend, he expressed a strong 
 anxiety to know who I was. 
 
 " Why," said I, "as to who I am, it would be no 
 use to tell you ; for, as you never heard my name 
 before, in all likelihood you will never hear it again, 
 and so what's the use of repeating it ? " 
 
 "Well, plase your honour, what are you?" 
 
 "Can't you guess?" 
 
 "Why, then, your honour, I'm thinking yer one 
 of the clargy people, but what soort I'm at a loss — yer 
 not a priest, that I know." 
 
 "Why?" ' 
 
 " Och, ye wouldn't be asking me all the questions 
 you did were ye a priest — and yer not a parson I 
 suppose." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Troth, I'm thinking yer not so great a gintleman 
 entirely." 
 
 "What then?" 
 
A BLESSING. 187 
 
 " Yer not a Methody preacher." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Och, there's more laughter and fun about ye than 
 with them sorry-looking crathurs." 
 
 "Well, what then?" 
 
 " Troth, yer honour, ye put me out entirely ; but 
 still I'm thinking yer some of the clargy soort." 
 
 "Well, Paddy, whatever I am here's something for 
 you, (putting some silver into his hand,) and now 
 good-by to you, and give me your blessing." 
 
 "Why then good luck may attend you night and 
 day wherever ye go, and it's I that would like to be 
 afther meeting ye whenever ye come this way again, 
 and that it may be soon — any how my blessing be 
 with yer honour. Good night and safe home to you." 
 
 The next morning I was up early, and not intend- 
 ing to set out for Ballycastle until after breakfast, I 
 determined to employ two or three hours in examining 
 the Round Tower and other things observable in the 
 vicinity of this old place ; and as I could not light 
 upon my companion of the previous evening, and as 
 I never, if I can help it, set out exploring without 
 one, I took up with the man who was to drive the 
 jaunting car that was to take me to Ballycastle, and I 
 had no reason to repent of my companion. He was a 
 rale gossiping communicative fellow, rather advanced 
 in life, and appeared to know much of the country 
 and people. So we first proceeded to the Round 
 Tower — it stands apart from the street in a place sur- 
 rounded by cabins and pig-styes, and has no old 
 church or any ancient building near it. Like all others 
 of its kind its door is many feet from the ground ; 
 
188 AN EDIFYING BISHOP. 
 
 and being built of the most durable materials, time's 
 common operations have had no influence on it. It 
 has its conical cap, and there it stands in all un- 
 adorned simplicity. 
 
 "Ah, then, sir," says my guide, "it's well for this 
 ancient castle that our good bishop was not taken 
 away from us before he made it, as you see, all as one 
 as new." 
 
 " Why, what did your bishop (I suppose you mean 
 Dr. Verschoyle) do to it?" 
 
 " Why, didn't he fill up the great Hole that the 
 tundher and lightning made in it ? Look up there, 
 yer honour, on the south side, and half way or more up 
 don't you see the least taste of a bulge. Well, some 
 years ago, after a terrible tempest, the whole side 
 above there was burst out, and after that we thought 
 the whole would have come down, so terribly was it 
 shaken, but the mason work was so good entirely, 
 that there it stood for some years with the great gap 
 in its side, until the bishop — and it was he that was 
 the kind good old gintleman, and it's he that has the 
 blessing of the poor — at his own expense repaired it, 
 and it's now, as you see, as sound and safe as the day 
 it was first built. I'm thinking if the lightning had 
 not come until his lordship was taken away from us, we 
 wouldn't be looking at this tower now. I remember well 
 the time he put the finish on the repairing of it — it 
 must have cost a sight of money the scaffolding; but, 
 any how, there was a dispute about the way the finish 
 should be put to the top — the Catholics wanted to 
 have a cross fixed on it — the Protestants wanted a 
 weathercock. I believe the sailors resorting to these 
 
A DANISH RATH. 189 
 
 parts proposed to make it a lighthouse. * No,' says 
 the bishop, ' it shall be the way it was ever and 
 always — the way St. Patrick left it I'll have it.' So 
 there it is, and there I hope it will be as long as the 
 world lasts." 
 
 We then walked westwards towards a rath that 
 stood crowning with its lofty mound a considerable 
 eminence. Having arrived at it, I was pleased to ob- 
 serve that it was dissimilar to most I have seen, for 
 the circular mound was not, as is usual, entirely com- 
 posed of earth, but was strengthened within by a 
 stone wall. I have seen many raths entirely con- 
 structed of stones and multitudes composed of earth, but 
 I don't recollect observing one before where a wall of 
 stone is added to the defence of the earthen mound. 
 From this rath there is an extensive view both sea- 
 ward and inland, and is indeed a most interesting spot 
 to look from. 
 
 " The Danes, plase yer honour," says my guide, 
 " were mighty strong in Ireland when they put 
 together this place." 
 
 " Why do you say the Danes ? what right have 
 you to suppose they threw up this rath ?" 
 
 " Oh, sir, sure every one says that they were done 
 by them. Who else could do them ? but at any rate 
 I myself know that the Danes had a hand in this 
 here one, for I remimber when I was a boy a foreign 
 timber ship brought a cargo here from Norway, and 
 while in the port, there was a man aboord of her who 
 seemed not as it were behoulding to the ship — they 
 said he was a Danish gintleman. The Danes, — your 
 honour, I'm sure, knows better nor I can tell ye, — they 
 
190 AN ANCIENT CLAIM. 
 
 live near Norway. Well, at any rate, every day he'd 
 come up to this fort with an old parchment in his 
 hand, and he'd look around and mark on a map that 
 was painted on the parchment, different places in the 
 country round about that he said belonged to his 
 forefathers ; and he used to say that by right this 
 was his fort. I'm thinking, yer honour, it wouldn't 
 be asy for him to take possession." 
 
 From hence my companion brought me over some 
 pretty green hills to see a holy well, which springs as 
 most holy wells do, beautifully clear from the lime- 
 stone rock ; and overhanging it is an old thorn on 
 which sundry rags are hanging. This well, as I was 
 informed, was not to be used for common purposes — 
 nor should cattle be brought to drink out of it — they 
 might to oe sure come, if they chose, themselves to 
 take a drink, and they would be more the better for 
 it ; but to bring a horse to water would be unlucky ; or 
 to bring any of the water to use for boiling potatoes, 
 or any such purpose, would be a profanation. A horse, 
 for instance, was brought here to drink, and he was 
 choked. A woman brought a tubfull of it to boil her 
 potatoes in, and while over the fire the potatoes all 
 seemed swimming in blood — red and thick ; the whole 
 boiling had to be cast on the dunghill. Near this 
 sacred well runs the wall, a rather high one, of what 
 once was the episcopal demesne. Within, the 
 grounds, which are of considerable extent (I believe 
 three hundred acres), were varied in their surface and 
 apparently of great fertility. They seemed to be under 
 the best possible cultivation, and to be stocked with 
 cattle and sheep of the most improved breeds ; and I 
 
A GOOD EASY LANDLORD. 191 
 
 don't think I ever saw a better crop of clover than 
 was just being cut. 
 
 "The gentleman," says I to my companion, "who 
 holds the land, seems to manage it well." 
 
 " Yes, sir, and it stands him upon, for he pays a 
 murthering rint ; and troth, sir, the times are changed 
 — don't you see this big wall ? nobody now is allowed 
 to cross the land, or go in to gather a brustna, or slip 
 in their pig or cow by night, as they used to do in the 
 good old bishop's time ; who, the Lord be good to 
 him, as he had the place asy himself was asy with 
 others. Many a poor crathur in the town used he 
 allow to rmi their cow, or goat, or pig, as it were 
 unknownst to himself on the land. Och, then, it was 
 a bad day for the poor that he died and left none like 
 him to come in his place." 
 
 "Well, I am glad," said I, "you speak well of 
 the late bishop. I had the honour of his acquain- 
 tance, and I am sure you are right when you say, 
 what I believe you feel, that he was a pious, gentle, 
 and most beneficent man. You are old enough to 
 remember the man he came after. Do you remember 
 Bishop Stock ?" 
 
 " Indeed, then, that I do, though I was but a gos- 
 soon when he went away ; but I always hear the 
 people say that he was a good man too, and that in 
 the times of the great rebellion here, and after the 
 French left the place, he did his best to keep the 
 soldiers, and yeomen, and the bloody fencibles, from 
 racking and ruining the people entirely." 
 
 "Well, you for one don't think it was a good thing 
 to leave Killala without a Protestant bishop ?" 
 
192 BISHOPS. 
 
 " What for, yer honour, should I suppose such a 
 thing? Why, may I never do a hand's turn, but 
 I'd give the coat off my back, if it were the best 
 I ever went to prayers in, to have the bishop back 
 in the castle* there below." 
 
 " Well, Pat, as we're speaking about bishops, did 
 you ever hear any thing about the bishops that were 
 here in old times, either Catholic or Protestant ?" 
 
 " Why, then, yer honour, I heard talk of many of 
 them, but I don't now remimber — any how, we don't 
 know much of our own bishops here, for they live in 
 Ballina, I believe, and seldom come to this town." 
 
 "But you must have heard of some of them who 
 were remarkable men in their day. For instance, did 
 you ever hear of a famous Bishop Lynch, a great 
 scholar and a good man in every respect, that was 
 over this See ?" 
 
 " Indeed, sir, I can't rightly say ; but now ye put 
 me in mind of the name, I'll tell what I heard of one 
 Lynch, but I don't think he was bishop ; according 
 to my story he was the head of the friars that were in 
 Moyne Abbey, but he was a great man, and a saint, 
 and maybe for all I know he was bishop too ; but if 
 yer honour will plase to listen to me I'll tell you all 
 I heard about him. Yer honour knows, for I'm 
 tould you were there last night along with Bill 
 Barritt, that Moyne Abbey is a grand place entirely ; 
 and what must it have been before Luther and Cal- 
 vin, or the curse of Cromwell fell on us. I could 
 
 * " The Castle " is the name given to what was the 
 Bishop's residence. 
 
TWO PRELATES. 193 
 
 hear ould ancient people say it would be worth twenty 
 miles' walking to hear mass then in the abbey, with 
 the grand abbot in his vestments, and all the friars. 
 Well, as you put me in remimbranee of his name, 
 there was one grate grate abbot, one Lynch or Laheen 
 from Galway — he was full of laming — a grate scho- 
 lard, as they say Bishop M'Hale himself now is, and 
 like him he wrote many a book as I could hear about 
 our religion, that's still in print; but myself doesn't 
 know much about his life, barrin' the miraculous 
 way in which he died, which I'm now goin' to be 
 telling ye. Abbot Lynch, it's like, was full to the eyes 
 of devotion, as he was of laming, and as he had the 
 abbey of Kilroe that was built by the great St. Fiechin 
 under his rule, he used latterly to walk there twice a 
 week, and from that back to Moyne by way of pinance. 
 So he was coming one Friday morning, of all days in 
 the year, through Killala, and the Protestant bishop 
 happened to be standing at the door of the castle ; 
 Bishop O'Tuohy I could hear was his name, and a 
 good kind of man by all accounts he was, though 
 O'Tuohy sounds well for an Irishman, it was never a 
 loyal* name in these parts. Any way the bishop bid 
 him the time of day and axed him to taste some- 
 thing, for the Protestant clergy in them days were a 
 deal betther and kinder to our own clargy than they 
 are now, and so much the worse, I'm thinking, for 
 both. ■ No, thank ye,' ses the holy abbot ; ' for,'ses he, 
 
 * The term loyal has an import, in the dialect of our pea- 
 santry, different from its ordinary acceptation ; with them it 
 implies being faithful to each other, and sometimes to the 
 oath administered at illegal meetings. 
 
194 THE END OF ONE. 
 
 1 I've too much on my hands to make any delay, and 
 I must be with my Maker before midnight.' With 
 that the bishop pressed him again, and axed him how 
 he could be so sartin of his own death, and he 
 having no sign of sickness at all upon him? ' Oh,' 
 ses he, giving the bishop a touch, ' we that come 
 direct from St. Pether can see and know things that 
 other clergy could not dhrame of,' ses he. So on 
 goes the holy abbot — an' betune eleven and twelve 
 o'clock that night, the bishop being greatly frikened, 
 as was natural you know, for sure I am the dacent 
 gintleman did not desire to make game of his words ; 
 he called his sarvant, Bryan M'Loughlin was his 
 name, a noticeable name it was too, as all the 
 M'Loughlins come, yer honour knows, from the 
 Danes, long, long ago. 'Well, Bryan,' ses the 
 bishop ; ' Bryan,' ses he, ' take my best horse and 
 ride for yer life, and bring me an account of what the 
 clargy are a doing at Moyne Abbey.' Well, my 
 jewel, in less nor an hour afther, back comes 
 M'Loughlin, with his baste in a lather all over, and 
 his own hair sticking up on end, and his eyes rowling 
 out of his head intirely. 'Bryan,' ses the bishop, ses 
 he, ' what frikened ye, man alive ? ye look as if ye 
 had seen a ghost.' ' Och, thin, it's you that may say 
 that, masther dear,' says Bryan ; ' but if ye seen 
 what I seen to-night. WTien I kem to the abbey I 
 was goin' to dismount, when what should I behould 
 but four young clargy dhrawin' an ould man with a 
 leather belt tied about him, rouud the abbey. God 
 protect us ! An' that ould man was the holy abbot 
 that was with yer lordship to-day ; and he ordhered 
 
THE PROTESTANT BISHOP. 195 
 
 the friars to dhraw him that way to complate his 
 pinance.' An' then he fell down dead, and that was 
 the end of Abbot Lynch that's now a saint high up 
 in heaven. Well and good, do you see, afther this 
 thrue prophecy of the holy abbot, the Protestant 
 bishop left the castle and was never heard of afther 
 in them parts, only some say himself an' all his 
 people became Catholics, and their childer are so to 
 this very day." 
 
 I give the above statement of my guide, not only 
 for the manner and oddity of it, but also to show how 
 strongly tradition distorts facts and overlays truth. 
 There was in this see, in the reign of Charles II. 
 a Roman Catholic prelate of the name of Lynch, an 
 eminent scholar, a loyal subject, and most pious man ; 
 and there was a Protestant Bishop of the name of 
 Otoway — now spelt and pronounced Otway. Oto- 
 way would sound in an Irish mouth O'Touhy. Of 
 some of the realities of those worthy men I may be 
 allowed to say something. And first, concerning him 
 who was my own namesake and of my family. Thomas 
 Otway was an Englishman who took his degree in 
 Cambridge, and was for his loyalty banished by Crom- 
 well to the West Indies, and at the Restoration, as a 
 reward for his piety, his learning, and his sufferings 
 in the cause of the church, was consecrated Bishop of 
 Killala and Achonry in the year 1670. Sir James 
 Ware, in his brief annals, only reports concerning his 
 doings, while for nine years he was in Killala, that 
 "he killed three notorious rebels." I presume the 
 annalist means to infer that the bishop was instru- 
 mental in bringing to justice these malefactors. 
 
196 HIS DEEDS. 
 
 Harris, in his enlarged edition of Ware, states that he 
 was exceedingly beloved by all ranks of people, which 
 I think, is in a measure supported by what my friend 
 has stated in his legend ; and that having rebuilt the 
 cathedral church of Killala from the foundation, at 
 his own expense, and erected and repaired other 
 churches in the diocese, he was translated in the year 
 1679 to Ossory, bearing with him the good opinion 
 of all, as an hospitable, charitable, and good prelate. 
 In Ossory he lived twelve years, in the universal 
 esteem of every rank and degree ; he devoted his 
 whole income to pious and patriotic uses. He built, 
 endowed, and furnished with appropriate books, a 
 library in the church of St. Canice, for the use of the 
 clergy of his diocese ; he gave a considerable sum for 
 the augmentation of Trinity College Library ; he 
 defended the privilege of his see against the usurpa- 
 tion of the citizens of Kilkenny; he recovered many of 
 the augmentation lands given to the see by the act of 
 settlement ; he beautified his cathedral and presented 
 it with three hundred and sixty-three ounces of com- 
 munion plate ; he was constant and discriminate in 
 his private charities. Having lived a bachelor he 
 left to his own family but 206/., and he is (as Harris 
 says,) mentioned with honour to this day. I may 
 be excused for thus making mention of a man of 
 the same name and stock as myself. I believe that 
 if the bishops of the succeeding century had been like 
 him, the Established Church would be in a different 
 position than what it now is, and while, looking 
 back for one hundred and fifty years and in- 
 quiring how much church property is appropriated 
 
HANOVERIAN PRELATES. 197 
 
 in the families of bishops, the conclusion might he 
 come to that if certain Hanoverian prelates,* who have 
 been the founders of aristocratical houses in Ireland, 
 and the means of making their descendants lords, baro- 
 nets, and squires of high degree, had left but 206/. to 
 their families and no see lands, the borders of the 
 church might have been enlarged, while the grandeur 
 of their descendants might not be so dazzling. This 
 supposition, to be sure, is but idle and so, no doubt, 
 is the following : namely, that if my namesake and 
 blood relation were now alive — in the exercise of his 
 patronage he would do for me what has never yet 
 been attempted, that is, offer me a benefice. I 
 rather think he might do this for one of his own 
 who has been in the ministry for thirty-eight years, 
 inasmuch as, when he purchased for a considerable 
 sum of money three exhibitions in Cambridge for 
 scholars entering from the school of Kirby Lonsdale, 
 he ordered that persons of his own name should have 
 the preference. 
 
 Of Bishop John Lynch I must say something. As 
 
 * I say Hanoverian here, because the sovereigns of the 
 Stuart line, with all their faults, took care to promote to the 
 Episcopate men of known piety and learning, and did not make 
 church patronage subservient to ministerial policy. On the 
 contrary, the house of Hanover, under the direction of Sir 
 Robert Walpole, and other politicians of his school, consigned 
 to the prime minister of the day the appointments to the 
 prelacy as a means of winning over the aristocracy. Let 
 any one who knows church history compare the Irish Bishops 
 of the seventeenth with those of the eighteenth century, 
 and he must observe the contrast. Alas, for the church of 
 Ireland when such corruptors as Lord Townsend had the 
 filling of the episcopal bench. 
 
198 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP. 
 
 an eminent scholar and the best of all Irish historians 
 — as a truly loyal priest, when allegiance to the king 
 was forgotten by so many in subserviency to foreign 
 influence and papal usurpation — as being moreover in 
 my estimation an humble and devoted Christian while a 
 Roman Catholic prelate, I honour the man, and regret 
 much that no one has done justice to his memory by 
 writing his life. John Lynch was born in Galway — his 
 family was one of the most eminent amongst its ancient 
 tribes. In early life he kept a school there, and the 
 seminary was remarkable for the excellent scholars it 
 sent forth. There is a story which I do not believe, 
 of Primate Ussher persecuting this man and closing 
 his school in Galway. I should think it was before 
 the commencement of the great rebellion he wrote his 
 " Cambrensis Eversus," which purports to be a 
 refutation of the falsehoods and misrepresentations of 
 Gerald Barry, who accompanied the Anglo-Normans 
 in the invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, and 
 wrote an account of Ireland which is remarkable for 
 its pert and superficial observations on the country 
 and people. This work of Lynch' s is in my estima- 
 tion the best history that has been written by an 
 Irishman of his own country, and it is a pity that it 
 is so scarce, and that it is locked up, as I may say, 
 from the general reader, in the Latin language. 
 Lynch, during the great rebellion, took the part of 
 the moderate Roman Catholic clergy against the 
 mischievous machinations of the Papal nuncio ; and 
 seeing that the interference of this dangerous Italian 
 had raised up a foreign influenced party that was pro- 
 moting the utter ruin of his country, by dividing the 
 
HIS LOYALTY. 199 
 
 people from the gentry and nobility, and urging them 
 under the leading of priests to do whatever the Court 
 of Rome directed, he took the opposite side, joined 
 such sensible Roman Catholic bishops as Rooth, Dease, 
 and De Burgho, who would have made peace with the 
 Lord Lieutenant, and would have averted those violent 
 and usurping prelatical proceedings that drove the 
 Marquis of Ormond out of the country and brought 
 in Cromwell and what is called his curse. When, in 
 consequence of the schemes of the foreign influenced 
 party he was opposed to, the Roman Catholic cause 
 was lost, and the Republican and Puritan party 
 in full possession of the property and dominion of 
 the island, Lynch retired to France ; there he com- 
 posed a work entitled Alithinologia, in which he de- 
 fended the moderate and loyal part of the Roman 
 Catholic clergy against the misrepresentations of the 
 nuncio's writers — such as O'Farrell, Enos, Bruodin, 
 and Con O'Mahony, and exposed the designs of those 
 who would have, under Papal influence, conferred the 
 crown of Ireland on a foreign Romish prince, and 
 would have established an Episcopal tribunal of inqui- 
 sitorial, uncontrolled, and excommunicating power, 
 on the necks of poor priest-ridden Irishmen. This 
 book of Lynch' s is very scarce ; I never saw but one 
 copy of it, and I assume that he who would translate 
 it and give his work to the public, would serve the 
 cause of historical literature and of his country. 
 Lynch wrote the life and death of a predecessor of his 
 in the see of Killala, the Right Rev. Francis Kirwan. 
 His biographer wished to exhibit in the gentle yet 
 high-minded — in the pious, unpolitical, non-agitating 
 
200 HIS WORTH. 
 
 character of this good man, what an Irish prelate 
 ought to be. This work, equally scarce, should be 
 in the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy, and might 
 satisfy some of thein that the way to go to heaven, or 
 to show that excellent way to others, is not the 
 way or the walk of clerical politicians. Kirwan was 
 excommunicated by the nuncio. Lynch did not love 
 him the less for that. It was but a little before his 
 death that Lynch was consecrated Bishop of Killala. 
 I believe before that he was Archdeacon of Tuam ; at 
 all events he was a shining light in his church, and 
 will be always held in honour in Ireland, as the 
 defender of its ancient civilization, and as showing 
 how well a Roman Catholic churchman can be loyal 
 to his sovereign, and a promoter of peace and good 
 will amongst his countrymen. 
 
 I offer no excuse whatever for these slight sketches 
 of two worthy prelates, that adorned the see of Kil- 
 lala. I might mention others, and would, had I 
 space, and were this trivial work a fitter place, speak 
 somewhat at large concerning Bishop Stock, whose 
 peculiar position as a prisoner in his own palace 
 during the French invasion, entitles him to notice, 
 and whose temperate, clear, and well-written account of 
 that invasion, is calculated to please and inform every 
 one who reads it. This narrative plainly shows that 
 the French were wonderfully mistaken in the character 
 of the people they came to fraternise with — they 
 expected to find republicans, and only met with 
 bigoted creatures who cared not a fig for the Republic, 
 one and indivisible ; but very much indeed for the 
 overthrow of the Protestant religion and Protestant 
 
A CAVE. 201 
 
 property. The reader also would perceive that, even 
 though it was well he had, while in captivity, the 
 French to protect himself and his family from insult, 
 and what might be worse, yet certainly the Mayo 
 insurgents did not evince that blood-thirstiness which 
 was so abhorrent in the Leinster rebels ; neither were 
 they guilty of such revolting deeds as were perpetrated 
 at Wexford bridge and Scullabogue. 
 
 Returning to Killala to breakfast, in order after- 
 wards to proceed to Bally castle, I asked my compa- 
 nion was there any thing else worth seeing in or 
 about the town ; and he telling me that there was a 
 curious ancient cave in the churchyard, I went to 
 examine it, being assured that it was not what I 
 suspected, a common vault. Through dank weeds I 
 made my approach to it, and ventured with some dif- 
 ficulty to creep down and on through a narrow pas- 
 sage, and found it to be one of those ancient hiding- 
 places which are to be seen all over the island, and 
 more especially in its maritime districts, and are very 
 generally excavated in our larger raths. In my former 
 volume I make mention of one that is in the great 
 rath at Lucan near Dublin ; they are constructed like 
 inverted cones, of which there are sometimes two or 
 three ; the circular apartments are connected by low 
 and narrow passages. This one in Killala church- 
 yard must have been there long before the ground 
 was appropriated as a cemetery, and has many pas- 
 sages which I had not time to explore. It is not 
 far from the sea shore, and was evidently constructed, 
 not as a sepulchre, but as a place of concealment for 
 nersons and property. I know no part of Ireland 
 
 k 2 
 
202 AN ANCIENT RACE 
 
 where these crypts are so abundant as in the county 
 of Antrim, where they are called Picts' houses. I was 
 some time ago shown one in the churchyard of Con- 
 nor ; it was found, as that has been at Killala, by a 
 person making a grave having his spade go down 
 into the cave below. In the island of Islay, op- 
 posite the coast of Antrim, they are very abun- 
 dant, and called hiding holes ; indeed they are to be 
 found all through the Hebrides, and in the remote 
 St. Kilda. Olaus Wormius states that they are fre- 
 quent in Norway.* Tacitus speaks of such subter- 
 ranean artificial caves where the Germans hid their 
 food and often their families. Hortius speaks of 
 them in Barbary ; Russel, in Syria ; and Harmer cites 
 a passage from the history of the Crusades, where 
 Baldwin I., when he invaded Palestine, finding that 
 the villagers near Askalon had retired to sub- 
 terranean caves, ordered fires to be lit at their 
 mouths to force them to surrender. Stukely, speak- 
 ing of these crypts as found in Britain, calls them 
 inverted barrows. The universality of these secret 
 places all over the world similarly constructed and 
 applied to the same purpose, induces me to infer that 
 there must have been one ancient race that ranged 
 the world, leaving their circles, cromleachs, pillar 
 stones, crypts, and barrows, as monuments of a 
 people the same in arts, habits, and religion, wherever 
 they went.f 
 
 * In quibusdain Norvigise locis etiamnum Cryptae conspi- 
 centur subterranean, pai'tim durissimus petris incisae, partim 
 ingentium saxorum accumulatim congestse. 
 
 f I am supported in my view of the antiquity and oneness 
 
UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED. 203 
 
 Proceeding from Killala towards Ballycastle, there 
 was nothing that caught my attention worth noticing. 
 
 of the people who constructed these monuments by Mr. Kitto, 
 the author of the Pictorial History of Palestine, a work full 
 of instruction, and which shows the writer to be a man of 
 great industry and learning, and as far as I have read the 
 book, satisfying me as to the soundness of his religious views. 
 u Monuments of large and rude stones, disposed in the 
 various forms of which examples are given in the cuts at 
 pages 341, 342, and whose date ascends, for the most part, 
 beyond all history and tradition, are found dispersed all over 
 the world, in countries the most remote from each other. 
 
 "A friend who has given great attention to the subject, 
 has favoured us with a list of such monuments in different 
 countries, from which it appears that not only are they nu- 
 merous in Great Britain, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Den- 
 mark, Sweden, France, and Germany, but that they have also 
 been found in the Netherlands, Portugal, Malta and Gozo, in 
 Phoenicia, and in India.* To which we may also add, that 
 such have also been discovered in Palestine, Persia, Northern 
 Africa, North America, and the Islands of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago, and of the South Sea. 
 
 ** Now seeing that such monuments are found in countries 
 so far asunder, between which it is impossible to trace, after 
 that dispersion of which the Scriptures speak, any such 
 ancient communications as might have led to their produc- 
 tion ; and seeing, moreover, that the same Scriptures, as soon 
 as they enter into detailed history — about 1000 years after 
 the Deluge, begin to notice such monuments, not as new 
 things, but as being in well-known and established use, it is 
 morally imposs^jle to account for their origin and wide dis- 
 persion but by supposing that the ideas connected with them 
 existed before the confusion of tongues divided the family of 
 man into nations, and, together with the pressure of the 
 wants arising from an increased population, drove them far 
 asunder, bearing with them the notions and practices which 
 had been common to them all. 
 
 " In this explanation two lines of argument, from facts, 
 terminate ; for while, on the one hand, the remarkable agree- 
 
 • Chiefly in Malabar, also near Bombay, where cromleachs are called umbrella 
 stones. 
 
204 RATHFRAN ABBEY. 
 
 After leaving the village of Palmerston the road to 
 Bally castle is very ugly ; but, as I may here gather 
 up all I have to say on what I saw in Tyrawly, I may 
 as well now note down what I observed on a subsequent 
 occasion when returning from Ballycastle. My object 
 was, to visit the ruins of the monastery of Rathfran, 
 which lies about two miles to the east of the village 
 of Palmerston, and adjoins the well-sheltered and 
 comfortable residence of Mr. Palmer of Summerhill. 
 In approaching this and going over the hill of Mulla- 
 
 nient, concerning the use of these monuments, in the most 
 ancient times, and among nations the most remote, is best 
 explained by referring their origin to some time when men 
 dwelt together, and had not yet spread themselves abroad in 
 the world ; on the other, we learn from Scripture that there 
 was such a time, as well as its date and duration : and, what 
 is more, as the same high authority takes occasion to notice, 
 the existence of such monuments about 500 years after the 
 Deluge, in a family fresh from the original seat of the post- 
 diluvian race, and in such a manner as to demonstrate that 
 they were not then new, the historical proof ascends much 
 nearer than could well be expected, to the very period to 
 which, on other grounds, we should be inclined to refer the 
 origin of these remarkable monuments, and of the notions 
 connected with them. Thus we think the lines of argument 
 concur in bringing us to the same result, — that the monu- 
 ments called Druidical existed before the dispersion of man- 
 kind ; and that their existence in all the countries of the 
 world is to be accounted for by the fact, that men carried 
 with them, in their migrations from the parent seat, the more 
 prominent usages of their primitive condition. 
 
 "All this seems so clear, that we should hardly have thought 
 this expression of the view we entertain, worth the space it 
 has occupied, were it not that a large class of antiquarians 
 have been disposed to refer them to some later source, such as 
 the maritime traffic of the Phoenicians. But all causes less 
 than that which has now been stated, seem inadequate to 
 account for the now ascertained extent to which such monu- 
 ments have been diffused." — Book iii. chap. i. p. 337. 
 
DRUIDICAL CIRCLES. 205 
 
 cross, I was surprised to see on every side of me a 
 number of Druidical monuments of different sizes and 
 forms. I have never seen so many clustered, as I may 
 say, within a circuit of half a mile as here, except at 
 Carrowmore, near the town of Sligo. At the four 
 roads of Mullacross there is what is called a giant's 
 grave. In the fine fertile pasture field to the left of 
 the road, as you descend the hill towards Killala, 
 there are two or three circles ; on the right hand side 
 of the road there are still more ; on the hill beyond 
 Mr. Palmer's house there are two, one large and the 
 other small — altogether I reckoned ten, on an area of 
 ground of not more than one hundred acres. One of 
 them, as you proceed southwards from the cross-road 
 and to the left of the road, is remarkable not only for 
 the great size of the stones, but for its oval form and 
 the interior cromleach, the upper stone of which has 
 been cast down, and is lying in the area of the circle 
 or rather oval ; there is another circumstance remark- 
 able in this monument, that the stones comprising it 
 are larger in the western end of the oval nearest the 
 cromleach, and gradually diminish in size until at the 
 eastern end they are so small as to be almost buried in 
 the soil. To the southwest there are two circles ad- 
 joining each other, and connected by a straight 
 avenue of stones. Altogether this is a very interest- 
 ing vicinity, and worthy of the more accurate ex- 
 amination of the antiquarian, as indeed is the whole 
 north western district from Sligo to the point of 
 Erris. I received all possible hospitable attention 
 from the family of Summerhill, and it was not Mr. 
 Palmer's fault that I did not take more time to 
 
206 A SINGULAR ROCK FORMATION. 
 
 examine the antiquities of his very interesting neigh- 
 bourhood. I visited, in company with his son, the 
 ruins of Rathfran : it was founded here in the thirteenth 
 century by the D' Exeter (vulgo Dexter) family for 
 Dominican friars. Burke, in his Hibernia Domi- 
 nicana mentions it as having produced many emi- 
 nent men of that preaching and inquisitorial order ; 
 and he notices some as once dwelling here, who after- 
 wards suffered martyrdom for "the faith," on 
 the suppression of religious houses. It is also me- 
 morable for being the scene of a cruel murder, even 
 in the sanctuary, of Thomas Bourke, of Castlebar, 
 by his own nephews. Except one tomb, there is no- 
 thing worth seeing in this ruin ; its cloisters no longer 
 remain, and there are no architectural decorations 
 whatsoever. I have seldom seen in any part of the 
 island so rich a piece of ground as surrounds this 
 building. With Dr. Nelson, who accompanied me 
 in this visit to Rathfran, and procured me an intro- 
 duction to the house of Summerhill, I had some very 
 interesting conversation about this country. He 
 called my attention to the trachyte formation of the 
 rocks here, which, according to Archdeacon Vers- 
 choyle, is, as far as respects the British isles, unique. 
 The igneous character of this formation accounts, in a 
 great measure, for the fertility of the soil. I believe, 
 as is always the case, that (for instance in the county 
 of Limerick, the hill of Croghan in the King's County, 
 and other localities) when the igneous rock underlies, 
 the soil is of superior fertility. The huge grey stones 
 composing the Druidical monuments all around, were, 
 as far as I could see, composed of this beautiful 
 
ITS USES. 207 
 
 trachyte, which, when broken, exhibited in its fresh 
 fracture glassy plates of felspar in sinning laminae 
 closely compacted together, and as hard as porphyry; 
 indeed, if not too hard, it might be used with great 
 effect for ornamental purposes. According to Arch- 
 deacon Yerschoyle, a trap dyke crosses this rare for- 
 mation, where it assumes the appearance of basalt, 
 fine grained, and prismatic, and in one place regularly 
 columned, and the pillars as neatly defined as those 
 at the Giant's Causeway. 
 
208 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Baliycastle— The Laggan— Downpatrick Head— A dreary shore— Want 
 of improvement — Want of desire for improvement — Landlords, Agents 
 Under Agents — An old castle and old road— The sacred promontory — 
 A Poolnashanthana — A sad story and one still sadder — An anecdote of 
 1798 — Another of a man making a bull on himself— Another concerning 
 a Captain Bold — A digression, being C. O.'s confession of a disposition 
 to shiver in very shaking times — How to prime and load— A dead man's 
 letter — Thought better of it — A colic a security against cold iron — 
 An old squire's good nature and wrath, 
 
 Determining to spend a whole clay in visiting what 
 I understood was worthy of observation in the vicinity 
 of Baliycastle,* I drove up to the house of a Mr. 
 
 M , who keeps a shop, but does not affect to 
 
 entertain travellers, and that for the best reason — 
 that there are few, if any, travellers to entertain. 
 I got better accommodation than I had reason to 
 expect, and great civility, which with me at all times 
 compensates for what, thank goodness, I can do with- 
 out — the comfort that to a fastidious tourist is so 
 indispensable. 
 
 My very civil host prepared to accompany me the 
 next day to Downpatrick Head, to see which was my 
 object in stopping at Baliycastle. Of this village I 
 
 *. In order to keep up something like a unity of narration, 
 I have fused together in this chapter the result of two visits 
 I made to Baliycastle, in two successive seasons. My last 
 sojourn was at the hospitable house of Mr. Sterne, com- 
 mander of the coast-guard. 
 
BALLYCASTLE. 209 
 
 need not say much ; a single street forms it ; 
 like most Irish towns near the sea it has im- 
 proved and is improving. Small slated houses year 
 after year have been added to it. It lies in the 
 centre of a fertile district, called the Laggan, and the 
 vicinity supplies a larger produce of corn than might 
 have been expected ; but why this village should have 
 been located as it is on the side of a hill, two miles 
 from the sea shore, away from the river that flows half 
 a mile to the west, is to me unimaginable. I suppose 
 that when the first houses, the chapel, and the 
 church were erected, there was no notion that Glas- 
 gow and Liverpool would want the corn growing in 
 the La^san. 
 
 I walked to Downpatrick Head, and taking my 
 direction towards the sea shore, the way was principally 
 over a tract of land that has been covered with the 
 blowing sand, and which has overwhelmed green land 
 and bog, and left all ugly and desolate. Nothing, in- 
 deed, can be more disagreeable to look at than a scene 
 like this; it shows that man is on the retreat before the 
 elements, and that his ignorance or indolence makes 
 him give up the contest. On arriving at the shore 
 the sight was grand and yet dreary : the tide was out, 
 and the interval between high and low water mark 
 presented a series of planes of the stratified rock — 
 descending like great steps of stairs, over which in times 
 of storm it may be supposed how the billows burst, 
 and boiled, and heaved the enormous rampart of 
 rolled stones that crested the verge of the boundary 
 over which the ocean had not yet passed. 
 
210 A BENEFIT NEGLECTED. 
 
 On my remarking what a terrible lee shore this 
 must be when the wind blew from the north-west, 
 my companion said, " Yes, sir, and many a vessel has 
 gone to pieces, and many a life been lost here; and look 
 what nature has done there to aid man in his exertions 
 to make a place of shelter on this coast. Observe, 
 sir, yonder promontory westward — not a finer place 
 or more to be desired for a pier in all Ireland, 
 and yet nothing has been done. Some years ago, as 
 I understand, before I came to live in this place, 
 when the government was making piers all along the 
 west coast, yonder headland was fixed on, and a ship 
 actually came loaded with cut stones to deposit them 
 and commence the work ; but when her skipper sent 
 ashore to know whether the country people would 
 come and help to unlade her, there was no one to be 
 got to put a hand to the work ; so, after a few days, 
 the ship sailed away and deposited her cargo where 
 the people were willing to receive it." 
 
 " I should think," said I, " that such a neglect of 
 a good offer should be more fitly laid to the charge 
 of the landed proprietor or his agent, than to the 
 people." 
 
 " It is true for you, sir. Surely to have a good 
 pier for the export of the corn grown on his property 
 was his look-out ; but where there is neither a resi- 
 dent landlord, nor, perhaps, a resident agent ; when 
 the looking after a property devolves on an ignorant 
 under-fellow, who is, as I may say, a beggar on 
 horseback; who thinks of nothing but making a 
 little great man of himself, at the expense both of 
 
ABSENTEEISM. 211 
 
 landlord and tenant — how can any thing better be 
 expected ? But mark me, sir," continued my com- 
 panion, " I do not desire you to consider what I say 
 as applicable to the property we are now looking 
 over. I am too short a time settled in this neighbour- 
 hood to give an opinion as to its management, and I 
 beg of you to consider that I am not alluding at all 
 to it ; but I must say that a great deal of the poverty, 
 the absence of improvement, and the incapacity of 
 the holders of land to rise out of the low state in 
 which they are — getting worse instead of better — 
 arises from the petty tyranny of the understrapping 
 fellows that wear boots and ride horses, on the pre- 
 sents they extort from the poor farmer ; whose yarn, 
 ducks, geese, fowl, and eggs, all go to propitiate 
 these greedy cormorants. Don't you think, sir, that 
 if a landlord cannot, or will not, reside on his pro- 
 perty, he should at least have a resident agent ; some 
 one who has the heart to raise the people, as well as 
 the head to raise the rents ? I wonder much that the 
 great landlords don't see how bad it is for themselves 
 and their tenantry to have a little great man 
 coming down from Dublin, or some distant place, 
 every gale day, to lift the rents, and then passing 
 away in his gig or coach, leaving his business for the 
 rest of the year to the management of a di'iver. 
 Isn't there some old saying that goes to show this — 
 that there must be great need where the devil 
 drives ?" 
 
 "Why, Mr. M ," said I, "you seem to have 
 
 thought somewhat of these matters, and I think 
 
212 DOWNPATRICK. 
 
 you have said you have not been long in the 
 country." 
 
 " Yes, sir, you are are right ; I have seen much of 
 the effects of good and bad agency on the prosperity 
 of landed proprietors, and I'm not of this country. I 
 came from the county of Sligo, where there are some 
 right well managed properties, where some agents 
 really, by their care and intelligence, compensate for 
 the unavoidable absence of the proprietor, and where 
 the tenants are led, but not driven." 
 
 Proceeding along towards Downpatrick Head, we 
 passed an old castle on the verge of the tidewater- 
 mark ; its walls tottering under the assaults of the 
 spring tides, evinced how much the sea is encroaching 
 on the land. This also is shown by the remains of a 
 once well laid and compactly formed causeway, which 
 led along the shore in the direction of the sacred 
 promontory. This is now in most places broken up 
 and obliterated by the sea ; and, though at the time 
 we passed it, the ocean was growling away a quarter 
 of a mile off, and full forty feet below the level of 
 that old pilgrim's path, yet, when rising in its wintry 
 might, it had succeeded in breaking it up, and it was 
 only here and there it could be traced. This is a fine 
 shore for the collection of sea- weed, and I suppose the 
 productiveness of the Laggan is in a measure to be 
 attributed to it. 
 
 We now had got to the rising ground that ascends 
 gradually until it forms the Head of Downpatrick, 
 and terminates in a perpendicular and noble cliff. 
 The district of the Laggan slopes gradually from a 
 
DOWNPATRICK. 213 
 
 line of secondary mountains, until it touches the sea 
 at Bally castle and Lack en bays. Between these two 
 a canal might be cut without much sinking or much 
 intervening lockage ; but northward the land rises 
 again gradually to the eminence comprising Down- 
 patrick, and forming, as it were, another range of 
 high lands which, by the convulsion I have heretofore 
 mentioned, and shall again allude to, is now in a great 
 measure swallowed up by the Atlantic. It is on this 
 green inclined plane that the patron held here at 
 stated times in honour of Ireland's saint is kept : it 
 is a fine place in fine weather for such an assemblage ; 
 and when the multitudes are seen thereon in their 
 holiday clothing, and decked out in the yellow and 
 scarlet colours with which the Mayo women adorn 
 themselves, it must be a lively sight. My compa- 
 nion assured me that such was the crowd of people he 
 saw here one day, that a hare being started from her 
 form, the young men surrounded and ran her down. 
 
 There is a holy well, of course, here : no religious 
 place could in Ireland be without one : it is supposed 
 to be a proof that the Irish faith was drawn from a 
 hotter and drier climate, when wells are so much valued. 
 This island must have been always sufficiently supplied 
 with water to have made wells neither much wanted 
 nor valued. At all events, at this holy well begin the 
 numerous and toilsome stations round which pilgrims 
 perform penance, going round and round a stated 
 number of times on their bare knees, and telling their 
 beads. We now ascended the hill a little higher, and 
 came to a chasm that yawned unexpectedly at our feet. 
 It was about fifty yards long and about ten wide, and 
 
214 POOLNASHANTHANA. 
 
 down about eighty feet below, you saw the sea as 
 green and clear as an emerald, rising and heaving 
 softly and harmoniously, and disclosing many fathoms 
 deep all the magnificent and beauteously tinted vege- 
 tations that adorn the caverns of the ocean. Sunk in 
 the middle of the fair plain, you cannot at first imagine 
 how came the sea here, but, by-and-by you see that 
 it is open at both ends, that, in fact, the roof of a 
 great sea cave, that has penetrated through this pro- 
 montory, has fallen in, and you learn that you can 
 enter at the north-east of the promontory, and, passing 
 along in a boat for nearly half a mile, can come out at 
 its south-western side, and that this is a great skylight 
 by which the sun and air are admitted into the re- 
 cesses and sonorous labyrinths of this great excava- 
 tion. It is called Poolnashanthana ; there are 
 many of the kind on this coast, and I had already 
 observed a fine one in the Mullet of Erris, but this 
 one at Downpatrick is far and away the deepest, the 
 largest, the grandest I have seen, and is certainly a 
 great natural curiosity. At the bottom of this chasm, 
 there is a ledge of rock, perhaps the remains of the 
 fallen-in roof, which is bare when the tide is out, and 
 which, covered as it is with sea vegetations, that never 
 have been disturbed, presents a perch for the cormo- 
 rant, and a bed for the seal, and around which the 
 lobster crawls and hunts its prey amidst its translu- 
 cent recesses. 
 
 On a soft sunny day, when all above and below is 
 still, it is pleasant to wear away the lazy hour in look- 
 ing down from above, and ponder on the beautiful 
 contrasts of light and shade that this cavern presents, 
 
A SAD EVENT. 215 
 
 to see the riven rock painted by nature's own hand 
 with ochres, red, brown, and yellow ; lichens scarlet, 
 white, orange, — crystallizations of lime, iron, or silex, 
 sparkling where a sunbeam brightened them. Down 
 below, the starfish and medusa floating in purple 
 beauty, and spreading out their efflorescent rays, — 
 while every now and then the quiet modulations of 
 the incoming tide, as they sigh below, are broken 
 in upon by the cooing of the sea pigeon in its safe 
 fastness, or the hoarse shriek of the caitiff cormorant 
 as it reposes after the success of its fishing in the 
 calm deep. I would like to spend some of the few 
 idle days my lot allows me in this busy world, hang- 
 ing over this Poolnashanthana, and in quiet loneli- 
 ness admiring how beautiful, and grand, and good, God 
 is in his multitudinous creations. 
 
 And yet, this sea cave has exhibited not only what 
 is beautiful under serene skies, and grand and fearful 
 under stormy ones, but it has been the scene of great 
 human calamity and intense suffering. I was told of 
 a poor fellow passing along, with his horse laden with 
 the sea-weed he had gathered on the rocks, and the 
 mist had risen from the ocean and settled on all the 
 promontory, and poor Pat had gone the way so 
 often, that, in spite of the fog, which could be almost 
 cut, it was so thick, yet he felt sure of his direction ; 
 but it was not so ; down he and his horse went. It 
 was a pitiable sight (says my informant,) to behold 
 the wife and the little ones next morning, tossing 
 their arms in grief over the chasm. The wind and 
 sea had risen in the night, and burst from the north- 
 east into the cavern, and the rending raging billows. 
 
216 RETRIBUTION. 
 
 and the crashing roll of the stones helow had ground 
 both man and horse to atoms ! Nothing was to be 
 seen of the remains of the lost ones but some shreds 
 of the panniers that were thrown up high and dry on 
 a rock ledge to assure the disconsolate that here it 
 was that the husband and father had perished. 
 
 But this is nothing to what occurred some forty 
 years ago, when the French, by landing at Killala, 
 had induced the population of Mayo to rise in 
 rebellion, and when, after early success, and subse- 
 quent defeat, the hopes of the insurgents were alto- 
 gether extinguished by the defeat and surrender of 
 the French at Ballinamuck, — and, after the sur- 
 render of Killala to the king's forces, the hour of 
 retribution came down on the poor misguided people 
 and the curse of martial law, domiciliary visits and 
 free quarters wasted all around. There is a village in the 
 Laggan not far from Downpatrick, and the young and 
 able of that community had, in the general rising, gone 
 out, — and why should not they, when told by their bet- 
 ters, in whom they entirely trusted, that their country 
 and their religion called them to the field ; they 
 had been at the taking of Killala and Ballina, and were 
 active — as all Roman Catholic Mayo was — in defeating 
 General Lake at Castlebar ; and now they had come 
 home to reap their corn, and their wives and 
 families had given God thanks that, with but one or 
 two exceptions, all had returned safe, and the wise 
 and prudent had asked what good had been gained by 
 all this ruxtion, and the answer still was, " It's well 
 it's no worse" when the hard word came one day, 
 as the whole village population was busy stooking 
 
A HAZARDOUS REFUGE. 217 
 
 the oats, that the army from Killala was coming, 
 that the terrible Frazer fencibles were at hand, — hard, 
 stern, plundering men who gave no quarter. Of course, 
 the men's consciences told them that as insurgents 
 they were amenable to the law, and their fears urged 
 their flight — but where? The red coats were too 
 near to give them time to flee to the mountains, and 
 so they made to the cliffs. 
 
 Here, often these young and active men were accus- 
 tomed to go a fowling, and along the great precipice 
 of Downpatrick, pluck the young sea bird from the 
 ledges of the rock, rob the sea pigeon's nest, or sur- 
 prise the young seal in the recesses of Poolnashan- 
 thana. In pursuit of these wild sports, their practice 
 was, to let themselves down by ropes, and, trusting 
 to the steadiness and vigour of their companion above, 
 to hang along the face of the cliff or descend to holes 
 and caves otherwise inaccessible. On this occasion, 
 they recollected the Poolnashanthana, and aware that 
 the tide was out, considered that they might safely 
 resort to the ledge of rock that remained for some 
 hours uncovered below, and there stay concealed 
 until the soldiers had scoured their village and retired, 
 under the conviction that their victims had escaped. 
 Accordingly, they, to the number of twenty-five, took 
 an active and able-bodied woman with them ; and, by 
 means of her holding a rope from above, all succes- 
 sively descended the chasm, and seated themselves on 
 the rock, while the woman went back to the village, 
 having received strong injunctions to return and draw 
 them up again when the army had gone away, or, 
 
 L 
 
218 THE CATASTROPHE. 
 
 at any rate, before the tide should rise and cover their 
 resting place. 
 
 It may be imagined the suspense of those poor 
 men: they were near enough to hear in the still 
 autumn day, the musket shots ; they thought of 
 their houses fired, their corn in flames, their cattle 
 driven off, and, what was worse than all, their defence- 
 less women abused. The day wore away, and the 
 westering sun sent its slanting beams more and more 
 faintly down the chasm ; the tide was coming in fast, 
 the ripple became a wave as it boomed in, and rose gra- 
 dually so as to touch and cover their feet. But why go 
 on ? The woman went, but returned not ; frightened 
 out of her wits by the fury and licence of the sol- 
 diery, she forgot her trust, and fled away towards the 
 inland hills ; the army had retired, night came on, 
 and the tide rose to its accustomed limits, and it 
 covered higher than any human head that populous 
 rock ; and when another sun arose, and the women 
 and greybeards of the doomed village came to Pool- 
 nashanthana, they could see some corpses lying dry 
 and bloated here and there in the caves and chasms ; 
 others had floated out to sea. The sun has seldom 
 shone on a more melancholy sight ! But it avails not 
 to continue the subject, — a generation of the males of 
 that poor hamlet was swept away, and at this day not 
 an old man is to be found there. 
 
 While I am on the subject of the Connaught rebel- 
 lion of 1798 — an insurrection begun when all other 
 risings throughout the island had been put down, 
 and which, called into operation by a handful of fo- 
 
RESULTS OF REBELLION. 219 
 
 reigners, was a hopeless and bootless enterprise from 
 its very beginning — I may relate some interesting 
 circumstances, told me by a dear friend who happened 
 to be a Protestant curate of the parish of Ballycastle 
 during that period. Then a very young man, active, 
 able, and devoted, he though a minister had become 
 a yeoman, and as such he witnessed many revolting, 
 many melancholy, and many ludicrous scenes. 
 
 Of course the troops composing the king's army at 
 that period, consisting as they did of fencibles, militia, 
 and yeomanry, were very difficult to keep in order, 
 and under a very lax discipline ; and the men who 
 with such activity ran away at Castlebar from a hand- 
 ful of Frenchmen, were, when their cause was up- 
 permost, when military licence had its swing, very 
 cruel, and very grasping, and very licentious. When 
 I get to Ballina I may report some anecdotes, illus- 
 trating the state of things at that period. I shall now 
 only mention one or two circumstances, which have a 
 ludicrous rather than a melancholy character. 
 
 Following the army, and often times forming part 
 of its strength, there were many who lived by plunder, 
 and horse-stealing and jockeying were quite common. 
 Rebels' horses were of course appropriated whenever 
 they were taken, and often men, who never had been 
 rebels, had their horses pressed, as for the king's 
 sendee, with the promise, which seldom was fulfilled, 
 of having the cattle returned when his majesty ceased 
 to want them. When, however, matters were subsid- 
 ing into peace, many who had lost their horses and had 
 information of where they were to be had, took short 
 and not very legal ways to get back what they con- 
 
220 property versus propriety. 
 
 sidered their own, and to this effect, 'cute and daring 
 fellows, accustomed to such pranks, were prowling 
 about and making free with horses whenever an op- 
 portunity presented itself. Now, my friend, as good 
 a yeoman trooper as he was a parson, and perhaps 
 better, had obtained a capital horse ; for a pound or 
 two he had bought as fine a cut of a weight-carrying 
 old Irish hunter as the plains of Mayo ever boasted. 
 Where the horse originally came from it was not 
 needful to inquire ; it had carried a rebel from Cas- 
 tlebar to Ballinamuck, and that was enough to make 
 a title to him, and now he was the pride and solace of 
 the military minister. But lo ! as he was one fine 
 Sunday holding forth to a congregation, principally 
 military, in the church of Ballycastle, just as he had 
 come to the second division of his text, happening in 
 the pause of his discourse to look out ofl the window 
 near the pulpit, which commanded a view of the ad- 
 joining street, he saw a man he knew well to be a 
 notorious thief, taking his horse out of the stable, and 
 in the act of girthing a saddle on his back. Here 
 was a trial between the proprieties of the pulpit and 
 the fear of losing a capital horse ; so, as was natural, 
 propriety gave way, and the young parson cried out 
 to the churchwarden, who occupied a pew near the 
 door, in a loud and quick and altered voice from that 
 in which he was previously addressing his " dear 
 brethren," " Run, Jack Black, run out for the life of 
 you; there's a rascal just going to steal my horse." 
 It was satisfactory to me, at any rate, who loved that 
 man who in future quiet times turned out a good and 
 faithful minister, to know that Jack Black the church- 
 
A DIFFICULT POSITION. 221 
 
 warden was time enough to rescue the horse, but not 
 to nab the thief. 
 
 As I am fallen back on these times, I may as well 
 summon up a few other recollections connected with 
 them. Ballycastle, small as it still is, and much smaller 
 and more wretched as it was then, formed the quarters 
 of a troop of horse that drew its supplies from the 
 Laggan, and for the time there was rather a better 
 sort of public-house, generally well filled with 
 troopers and strangers, that came as connected with 
 the army ; it also was frequented by stragglers from 
 Killala, and amongst the rest some sailors, and one of 
 them a negro, had come over from that port to shoot 
 birds and enjoy an idle day of fun at Downpatrick 
 Head. Moreover, there was a fair to be held next 
 day at Killala, and a young lusty fellow, a thriving 
 farmer from the farthest recesses of Ballyglen, had 
 come in ; and as the times were wild, he deter- 
 mined to stop for the night at Ballycastle, and pro- 
 ceed to the fair, eight miles off, in the morning. So, 
 we may suppose, the troopers and the sailors, the 
 young farmer and sundry others, assembled in the 
 kitchen of the inn, — many of them had never 
 seen a negro before, and amongst the rest, the 
 Tyrawly farmer was in great wonder, and rather in 
 dread of the black-a-moor ; and after a while, great 
 was his disgust when told by mine hostess that he 
 could not get any bed unless he slept with blacky. 
 
 For a while he proposed to himself to go on his way ; 
 but he had money in his pocket, and the times were 
 bad. So he determined to stay at any rate, but to 
 sit up all night rather than go alongside of the moor. 
 
'1T1 ANOTHER AND THE SAME. 
 
 So he sat on, and to drown care and timidity, he drank 
 until he became stupidly intoxicated, and fell asleep, 
 and in this state, as the sailors are great practical 
 jokers, they got a burnt cork and blackened the 
 farmer's face, and as the negro had gone early to his 
 nest, they put the farmer beside him, and it was 
 thought a merry sight to see the two Wack ones snor- 
 ing together on the same bolster. 
 
 Now it so happened that the farmer in his anxiety 
 to be off betimes to the fair, had given the hostler 
 directions to call him before dawn of day. So having 
 slept such an uneasy sleep, as those do who throw 
 themselves into a whiskey fever by over-night pota- 
 tions, and dreaming consequently of the negro, and his 
 money, and rebels, and robbers, when aroused by 
 the hostler, and told his time was come to get up, 
 his head was full of confusion, and his temples beat- 
 ing with the effects of his night's intemperance. So 
 rising most unwillingly, and hastily putting on his 
 clothes, in the dusky room, and proceeding to a little 
 looking glass, the only one in the apartment, that 
 hung over the chimney piece, he saw his face all 
 black as any African ; and no man could be more re- 
 joiced, none happier, in the confusion of his ideas, 
 when he called out to Paddy the hostler, " Come 
 here, you spalpeen of a blackguard ; see what 
 you've done, you've awoke the wrong man ! Don't 
 you see it's the black-a-moor that you've called up 
 instead of me ; so, that being the case, I'll just go 
 lie down and take a sleep until the proper time comes 
 for myself to get up." 
 
 There is a concatenation in story telling, and allow- 
 
A NERVOUS SOLDIER. 223 
 
 ing myself to be an old gossip, I proceed to narrate 
 another anecdote, derived from the same source, 
 bearing on personal ideality, and exhibiting a happy 
 Hibernian confusion of ideas in a person a native 
 of this country, and living in the stirring times 
 of the rebellion of 1798. 
 
 A. B. (we choose the first letters of the alphabet 
 to signify one we are not anxious to name) whose 
 family nourished in Tyrawly, had county interest 
 enough to obtain a company for the hope of the 
 race, in one of the Mayo regiments of militia ; and 
 not long after he found himself with his corps, as 
 part of the combined army that was to be drawn 
 together to force the rebels' strong position on 
 Vinegar Hill, near Enniscorthy. Our Connaught 
 captain, though he had been engaged in affairs of 
 honour, and had stood on the sod before a pistol, 
 had never yet been in a battle ; and the night before 
 the expected conflict, as he sat in his quarters, he 
 felt Aery nervous about the result, and small blame 
 to him. I myself, being at that time in the Col- 
 lege corps, more given to the parade than the lec- 
 ture room, and much more disposed to Mars than 
 Minerva, remember well when under orders to 
 march at an hour's notice, into the county of Wick- 
 low, and overthrow a gathering of insurgents that were 
 said to be encamped in the mountains — I say, I well 
 remember that my heart palpitated, though my step 
 was firm and assured, when we in gallant array 
 marched forth from the gate of Old Trinity. 
 
 Reader, I assure you, I partook of no little con- 
 fusion of mind, though I smiled contemptuously at 
 the trepidating ignorance of my next in rank, who 
 
224 A POSTHUMOUS LETTER. 
 
 when ordered to load with ball cartridge, inquired 
 most anxiously of me, as his right hand man, which 
 end of the cartridge he should send down foremost. 
 I state this to account in some measure for the ner- 
 vousness of Captain B of the Mayo militia — and 
 
 dwelling, as his mind did on the previous discomfiture 
 and massacre of the king's troops that took place at 
 Oulart, Blackstairs, and other places in Wexford, he 
 worked himself up to the conviction that he would 
 never see the end of another day, and that either a 
 rebel's pike or bullet would leave him a bloody corpse 
 on the battle-field. Under this wearing down im- 
 pression, he thought it best, as perhaps no one else 
 would do it, to signify to his mother in Mayo, the 
 fatal termination of her eldest hopes' career, and 
 accordingly he sat down and penned the following 
 epistle : — 
 
 " Dear Mother, — I write to tell you that this day, 
 
 under the command of General , our regiment 
 
 in brigade, with several other corps, attacked the 
 strong position of the rebels on Vinegar Hill : de- 
 termined as I was to fight valiantly, and as one wor- 
 thy of my seed and breed — I did all that man could 
 do ; I led on my men to the charge ; I breasted a 
 plateau of pikes, and bore without flinching, the 
 blazing discharge of cannon and musquetry. But 
 toward the close of the day, when the numbers of in- 
 surgents became too overpowering, and when led on 
 by French officers, they made a combined rush upon 
 our troops, then it was that I received a pike through 
 my heart, and I know not after that how the contest 
 ended — but I fear disastrously. I now lie on the 
 
AN UNUSUAL LETTER. 225 
 
 field of honour — and hope, as an officer and a 
 gentleman, if the enemy hold possession of the field 
 of battle, which I am sure they will do, that I will 
 get a decent burying, and not be left to the dogs, 
 pigs, and scald crows. Dear mother, as this is the 
 last time you will ever hear from me, till we meet in 
 glory, mind as my last words, the following directions. 
 Don't turn out on the wide world poor Molly M'Cor-. 
 mick and the children ; though we were together in • 
 a way that was not lawful or right, yet she was decent 
 and true to me. Brother Rory of course will get 
 the farm ; tell him, with my blessing, to give Molly a 
 cabin, and a potato-garden ; tell him I would rather 
 he would not sell the chesnut mare, without having 
 a foal out of her ; she's of the right sort, and he 
 knows how she carried me at the Crosmolina steeple 
 chase ; tell him, as he don't care for shooting, and 
 has other fish to fry, to give Basto the pointer to 
 Cousin Tom. I advise him to be careful of the 
 fodder, for after this dry summer the cattle will be 
 badly off for winter keep. Blessings be with you, 
 dear mother, and these are the last words of your 
 affectionate son, — after death, — A. B." 
 
 Said A. B. did not, according to his anticipations, 
 fall at Vinegar Hill, and for the best of reasons, 
 that, though his regiment joined in the onslaught 
 he did not, for he got a colic just as the engagement 
 commenced, and retired under a little bridge, where 
 the state of his inner man kept him until the insur- 
 gents were dispersed, — the officer next in command 
 led on his company. However, the letter he had 
 
 l 2 
 
226 GOOD NATURED WRATH. 
 
 written was despatched, and arrived in due course 
 according to its direction, and the mother, a worthy, 
 ignorant, puzzle-pated woman, never taking into ac- 
 count the absurdity of a man announcing by letter 
 his own death, and never suspecting a hoax, in her 
 distress and consternation, immediately sent to her 
 
 landlord and neighbour, Mr. R an account of 
 
 her bereavement, and to show him how it had oc- 
 curred, enclosed him the identical letter. This 
 arrived after dinner, when a pleasant party of young 
 people were grouped in the drawing-room, and, as 
 
 Mr. R was weak-sighted and not disposed to 
 
 read letters in the dusk of the evening, he consigned 
 the epistle just handed to him to my friend, at that 
 time a jolly, jocose, mischief-loving wight, to read 
 out ; this he did, and while reading, the extreme 
 absurdity of a man announcing his own death, struck 
 him so forcibly that he could not resist bursting into 
 a roar of laughter, in which all the young people in 
 the room most heartily joined ; while the old gentle- 
 man, a kind and feeling but hasty man, who perceived 
 that the death of a person he knew well was an- 
 nounced, and who, from deafness and growing 
 infirmity, did not at once catch up the self-contra- 
 diction of the letter, actually was so enraged at the 
 seeming heartlessness of the young people laughing 
 at such a melancholy event, that he in his rage and 
 indignation flung his crutch at the head of the 
 reader, who had chosen to be comic on so melan- 
 choly an occasion. When in due time the militia 
 captain's death was contradicted, and of course an- 
 
MISTAKE CLEARED UP. 227 
 
 other letter satisfied his mother and his neighbours 
 that he was in the land of the living, neither the 
 
 mother nor her old friend Mr. R liked to hear of 
 
 the epistle that they listened to as coming from a 
 corpse. 
 
228 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Downpatrick Head— Seals— A question, are they now caught?— An- 
 swered by a story— Darby O'Dowd and his Grandfather— Better be a 
 Seal than a Shark — A change of company — Description of the Head- 
 land of Downpatrick — Holy places — Shoeing of St. Patrick's Ass — The 
 Saint a teacher of Navigation — A stronghold of the Vickingyr — A great 
 convulsion — The broken-off fort, who was the builder ??? — A digres- 
 sion about human destructiveness — Anecdote concerning Staffa, a 
 Kittywake, and a cruel smoker — A rather long talk, which of course, 
 reader, you will skip, if disposed to yawn — Arguments of a geologist, an 
 antiquarian, and a legendary — The Paganee King — The Danish Captain — 
 Ancient convulsions — Origin of fresh lakes — The Atlantidas— The en- 
 chanted land — Anativeof.it caught — Philosophy inimical to Enchant- 
 ment — The spectre of the .mountains — A mermaid — The King of the 
 three Kingdoms beyond Ireland — His treatment of Watty O' Kelly. 
 
 It is time for me to go back to Downpatrick pro- 
 montory and Poulnashanthana. 
 
 " I presume," said I, to my companion, -" that 
 there are many seals along a coast perforated by such 
 caverns as this." 
 
 " Yes, certainly, and, taking them along with bird 
 catching, waS a favourite though dangerous occupation 
 of the young people, but they have given up seal 
 hunting for this some time." 
 
 Perceiving a sort of smile on my companion's 
 countenance I asked, "And why?" 
 
 " You'd laugh, sir, if I told you the reason?" 
 " Then let me laugh, if you please, by all means." 
 " I don't exactly know whether it was in this 
 Poulnashanthana, but it was in one of the caves that 
 
A SPEAKING SEAL. 229 
 
 are found between Downpatrick and Kilcummin 
 Heads, and which can only be entered when the tide 
 is out, and then you must use lights, and at all times 
 it is fearfully dangerous, for there is a terrible swell 
 even in the greatest calm, and if the wind was in the 
 least to rise with a point to north or north-west, they 
 and their boat would be ground to atoms. Well, on 
 a calm fine evening, two young fellows had urged 
 their curraghs into a cave where the seals were known 
 to breed, and they had brought besides poles to knock 
 down the creatures, plenty of dry bog fir to keep up 
 a blaze, and having got far in, the place was alive 
 with seals, and the poor things were toddling about 
 amongst the round stones at the end, and the boys 
 were busy enough striking them on the head, and 
 all they could reach were finished off and ready 
 to be brought out, when in the farthest end of the 
 cavern, and sitting up on its bent tail in a corner, 
 just as you may suppose a tailor would sit on his 
 board, there sat a fellow, his head as round as 
 a man's, and it looked white, shining, and bare, 
 with a flat nose and two grey eyes just like an 
 old fellow who was laid up past his labour in the 
 chimney corner. So one of the boys was just making 
 up to him to strike him down with his pole, when the 
 seal cried out in a squeaking, snivelling, supplicating 
 voice, ' Och, boys ! och, ma bouchals ! spare your old 
 grandfather Darby O'Dowd.' You may suppose that 
 the boys were not a little astonished and frightened 
 when they heard a seal speak ; but one of them 
 plucking up courage, accosted the creature and said, 
 ' Now, that is all a joke, you're no grandfather of ours, 
 
230 SEALS ARE NOW SAFE. 
 
 for Darby O'Dowd is long ago, long ago in his grave, 
 and God be merciful to him, he lies in Dunfeeny 
 churchyard.' * You may say that, and thrue it is 
 for you, grandson Tim. It's thrue I was dead and 
 dacently buried, but here I am for my sins, turned 
 into a sale, as other sinners are and will be. See what 
 comes of selling mangy sheep for sound bastes, and 
 swearing away before a coort a neighbour's good 
 name ; and Heaven is just, and here I am making 
 my purgathory as a sale, and if you put an end to 
 me and skin me, as I see you are for, maybe it's 
 worser I'll be, and go into a shark or a porpoise, or 
 some fish that will never have the honour or glory of 
 sitting as I do now on firm land. Mind my bidding 
 then, boys avick ; lave your ould forefather where he 
 is, to live out his time as a sale. Maybe for your 
 own sakes, for they say every dog has his day, you 
 will ever hereafter leave off following and parsecuting 
 and murthering sales, w T ho may be nearer to yourselves 
 nor you think.' It may be supposed that the young 
 seal hunters gave up their occupation and left their 
 grandfather alone ; at all events, let there be what 
 foundation for the story there may, it is universally 
 believed, and on the strength of it the people have 
 given up seal hunting." 
 
 I must continue my observations on Downpa- 
 trick, which I have twice visited ; the first time in 
 company with the very sensible and well-thinking man 
 I have alluded to in this and another chapter. On my 
 second visit I was received at the house of Lieutenant 
 Sterne of the coast-guard, and from whom, though I 
 had never before seen him, I received the greatest 
 
HOSPITALITY. 231 
 
 possible kindness, and that kindness not confined to 
 the comparatively passive exercise of hospitality in 
 his house, but shown in his placing at my service 
 his horses, jaunting-car, and servants ; so that by his 
 means I have been able to go and return from places 
 that would have been to me otherwise quite inacces- 
 sible. On my second visit to Downpatrick Head, I 
 was attended by my two intelligent friends Lieutenant 
 Henri of the coast-guard, and Mr. G. Crampton. I 
 have already said that this headland, unlike most 
 others, is not connected with the highlands of the 
 interior by any ridge or chain of hills — on the con- 
 trary, the district of the Laggan in this quarter slopes 
 gradually down to the shore, and then arises north- 
 ward from the sea level in an inclined plane, consisting 
 of about two himdredand eighty acres, which gradually 
 ascends, forming a smooth green sward, until it ter- 
 minates at the head in cliffs of about one hundred and 
 fifty feet high. This green sward is in fine weather 
 the place where patrons are held, and where the Irish, 
 as they are all over the island so fond of mixing reli- 
 gious observances with frolicsome sport, go their holy 
 rounds in honour of St. Patrick, and then their dancing 
 rounds in honour of their sweethearts ; and where, 
 all through the summer an old woman attends to 
 show pilgrims how to do penance, and a fiddler or 
 piper to provoke the penance doers to strike up a dance. 
 "While proceeding to the extremity of the headland 
 where is St. Patrick's altar and chapel, where is the 
 ancient fortification, similar (but more extensive in it s 
 enclosure) to those I have described in Erris, we 
 met many groups of idlers, a fiddler, and, apart from 
 
232 st. Patrick's ass. 
 
 the others, a couple of women that appeared to have 
 come from far, to go through their religious duties. 
 
 We were now at St. Patrick's chapel, situated a few 
 yards distant from the western spur of the cliff — a 
 rude ruin, about forty by twenty feet square, the walls 
 not more than four feet high ; a few shapeless heaps of 
 stones inside, which are reverenced by pilgrims while 
 going the rounds, and one in the north-west corner is of 
 peculiar sanctity, and whose circuit has been marked by 
 many a bloody knee, and honoured by many a low 
 prostration. This is nothing else but one shapeless 
 stone placed on another, and having some remote 
 resemblance to that utensil used by smiths is called 
 St. Patrick's Anvil. Here it was that, when he landed 
 for the first time in Connaught, he shod the ass that 
 was brought to him to sit on, (he was too humble to 
 mount a horse, )jvith which he afterwards voyaged 
 over Connaught, and rode to the foot of Croagh Pa- 
 trick. Outside, and within a few yards of the north- 
 west corner of the chapel, and conformable as Mr. 
 Henri assured me to the true position of the points 
 of the compass, is a structure about ten feet square, 
 rising and lessening step by step to the height of ten 
 feet, only that when getting near the top, the position 
 of the angles changes, and they form themselves 
 lozenge ways to those below them, so that if the lower 
 tiers of the structure point to the cardinal points, 
 the upper present angles so as to mark off four other 
 points, namely, n. e., n. w., s. e., s. w. It might 
 be supposed that the " stern riders" of those seas in 
 the old time had made use of this simple structure 
 for the purposes of navigation as well as religion ; 
 
ANCIENT FORTIFICATION. 233 
 
 or might not St. Patrick, or he that is worshipped 
 as such, be wise enough to instruct the natives in 
 what was useful in this life, as well as what was con- 
 ducive to their acceptance with God. 
 
 Eastward of this chapel and the altar, and where 
 the headland goes into a sort of secondary promon- 
 tory, with a narrow neck or isthmus — a wall is thrown 
 across (evidently of remote antiquity), covered now 
 with grey lichens, and greatly dilapidated, part of it 
 continues about ten feet high, and it has an uniform 
 thickness of about seven feet ; towards its western 
 end is a doorway, in front of which, and on either 
 side, there are the remains of outworks and caserns 
 in the wall, suited for defence and secrecy — this 
 wall is terminated on either side by the precipice, 
 and towards the eastern end there are evident signs 
 that a portion of this fortification has gone down 
 along with the cliff into the depths below. Within 
 the enclosure made by the wall, there are no traces 
 of building, but along the eastern side of the pro- 
 montory, and as a protection for man and cattle, 
 from the perpendicular cliff, there is an earthen 
 breastwork which does not exist at the western side, 
 but seems to terminate abruptly — as if it had existed, 
 but like the western extremity of the wall, has gone 
 down. 
 
 About two hundred yards to the north-west of the 
 enclosed promontory stands Dunbrista, or the off 
 broken doon or fort, standing out of the boiling sea, 
 about one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular, and 
 rather wider at top than below, and all its faces so 
 smooth as to be utterly inaccessible — standing there 
 
234 DTJNBRISTA. 
 
 composed of stratified limestone and calpe, with the 
 beds almost horizontal, but dipping gently from north 
 to south, and causing the islet to rise with the gradual 
 ascent of the whole headland, so as to form the highest 
 point of the whole slope. There Dunbrista stands 
 like a great cylinder set in the sea, and on its flat top, 
 containing, as I should suppose, an area of half an 
 acre,* are the remains of buildings. With the naked 
 eye you can discover them plainly, and by means of 
 a telescope better ; and you observe the walls of an 
 oblong building — as far as may be guessed about 
 twenty feet by fifteen — in the middle of that side of 
 the building, looking towards the mainland, there is a 
 doorway ; you see the dressed faces of the large stones 
 forming the jambs of the entrance, which is constructed 
 like all the ancient doorways I am acquainted with in 
 Ireland, without any reveals, and narrowing from the 
 bottom upwards. 
 
 To the westward again of the larger building, you 
 see another smaller one just at the edge of the 
 western cliff, and all in ruins. Behind the larger 
 building, and as it were protecting it from the blast, 
 is an earthen mound, overhanging the northern cliff, 
 and the mound is evidently a continuation of that 
 which, on the fortified promontory on the mainland, 
 verges towards the western cliff. Here, then, we 
 have works raised by the hand of man, on a spot that 
 has been, time out of mind, altogether inaccessible, 
 upon which the hardiest bird-nest hunter that ever 
 climbed a cliff never has ventured to go, and where, for 
 
 * The ordnance survey makes it 2 roods and 21 perches. 
 
HUMAN DESTRUCTIVENESS. 235 
 
 ages upon ages, the sea birds bring out their young in 
 security. Indeed, as I looked with my telescope en 
 the interesting spot, it was pleasant to see the gull 
 and gannett sitting so securely, with all their 
 feathers swollen out as it were in comfortable dis- 
 habille, (just, reader, as I sit loose and careless in 
 my study,) and setting at nought all human attempts 
 to disturb their well-chosen nursery. It would ap- 
 pear that the larger gulls have usurped this safe 
 platform for themselves, and why should not they have 
 possession — strength making property for them — as 
 well as for the Milesians, the Danes, the Normans, the 
 Cromwellians amongst mankind. So the kittiwakes, 
 the loons, the sea parrots, and all the other innumerable 
 tribes that live upon the ocean, they must be content 
 with the slight ledges of the strata, that rise tier over 
 tier to compose this fragmented islet — and, alas ! 
 poor kittiwakes, though nobody can catch, the 
 bullet can reach you, and it is a sad specimen of man's 
 natural destructiveness to see a cruel fellow with his gun 
 killing, maiming, and inflicting death and agony upon 
 a poor useless, as well as harmless creature of God. 
 
 There was a boat load of fowlers of this sort 
 rowing round Dunbrista, while we were on the main- 
 land cliff, and popping away at the poor incubating 
 creatures, and the slaughtered mother comes every 
 now and then tumbling down, and leaves her young 
 to the hawk and eagle, while the reckless sportsman 
 laughs over the dying throes of the animal as it 
 struggles in the water. 
 
 I remember some years ago, going from Derry in a 
 steamboat, on an excursion to Staffa and Iona. Well, 
 
236 A STEAM BOAT SPORTSMAN. 
 
 we all arrived at Staffa early on a July morning, and 
 the whole human, and some inhuman contents of 
 the vessel set out for Fingal's Cave, that wonder of 
 nature, where the Almighty has exhibited a pil- 
 lared magnificence, combining the sublime with the 
 beautiful, which man must seek to imitate in vain. 
 Now just at the entrance of the inimitable gothic 
 entrance, and at the apex of the arch, in an aperture, 
 cut, as it were, to make it more light and elegant — in 
 the very key-stone, a kittiwake had fixed her nest, 
 and there she sat on her callow brood, when this 
 hoard of felicity hunters burst in on her peaceful 
 abode, and so poor kittiwake must needs put out* 
 her long neck to see what was coming. It was a 
 curious crowning to this noble arch to see this bird, 
 like some gothic extravaganza ornament, in the very 
 apex of it. Many of us were admiring this addi- 
 tional item to the interest of the whole scene, when 
 a tall, dirty, over-whiskered, cigar-smoking fellow, 
 who must needs show to the ladies how killing he 
 was, levels his fowling-piece, and in a trice the poor 
 kittiwake came toppling off her nest, and was 
 gasping in the agonies of death on the surface of the 
 emerald water. 
 
 I do not think I ever felt more vexed or offended : 
 the wanton act of this cruel man completely did away 
 with the solemn complacent wonder and admiration 
 which Fingal's Cave is calculated to excite ; my 
 whole feelings were jarred to vexation, and I believe 
 I made a resolution never again to visit one of 
 nature's wonders in company with a steam-boat 
 crowd. In the same manner I wished the boat's 
 
DUNBRISTA. 237 
 
 crew of wanton bird-slayers, far away from Dunbrista. 
 But, as it was, the sight was magnificent : the green 
 transparent sea, heaving in all its unruffled calmness ; 
 the precipices all around shining in the sun, and 
 presenting such a multitude of tints along their 
 stratified surfaces ; here a dark bed of culpe, above 
 it again a thick stratum of blue limestone ; then a 
 line of brown feruginous matter, and perpendicular 
 to these horizontal layers were streaks of white, 
 yellow, orange lichens. On every ledge, sea-birds 
 of every colour sat incubating, while aloft in air 
 multitudes were on the wing, wheeling, quivering, 
 soaring, and sending up their many-toned voices 
 of terror, wrath, or anguish, as they witnessed the 
 destruction of their mates and young ones by the 
 fowlers below. 
 
 "When as near as the mainland will allow of ap- 
 proach to Dunbrista, it looks to be of the shape of a 
 lozenge — at a greater distance it looks like a 
 cylinder ; the water seems deep around it, and as I 
 was informed, the soundings give between six and 
 eight fathoms. Sitting down on the cliff just opposite 
 to it, the sim shining bright, but not too hot, the air, 
 being cooled by a very gentle breeze that came off 
 land, and had no power to ruffle the water, protected 
 as it was by the high cliffs, my very intelligent friends 
 and I commenced a disquisition on the past state 
 of Dunbrista Rock, which stood before us, with its 
 remains of human industry and art, though it is, and 
 has been for ages, inaccessible ; as our conversation 
 continued for some time, and as the substance of it 
 may not be uninteresting to some of my readers, in 
 
238 PAGANEE KING. 
 
 order to avoid the repetition of says I and says he, I 
 will cast the discussion into the form of a conversation. 
 
 C. O. — That island must once have been joined 
 to the mainland — .the buildings on it — the cha- 
 racter of their lichen-covered stones — the similarity of 
 the doorway to that of the chapel on the mainland, 
 — the abrupt termination of the mound on the main- 
 land, and the appearance again of it in the same line 
 on the island, all convince me that Dunbrista formed, 
 in ancient time, a portion of the fortified promontory 
 to the eastward. 
 
 G. C. — The tradition of the people bears out 
 what you say, for they have it that it was one strong- 
 hold belonging to a foreign and Paganee King, as 
 they call him, who roamed the comitry over, and 
 with his cruel crew plundered, racked, and ruined the 
 surrounding district — and so the cry of the suffering 
 people came to the ears of holy St. Patrick, and he 
 was not long in coming to the succour of the 
 afflicted, and arriving, as he did, by boat from Bally- 
 sadare, in the county of Sligo, he landed at the 
 cursing stone at Kilcummin, where, afterwards, the 
 French invaders disembarked, and proceeded to 
 Downpatrick, and coming to where yonder altar now 
 stands, he made his pious prayer to Him who can 
 succour those who suffer wrong, and besought the all- 
 merciful to abate this cruel tyranny ; and so, while 
 the saint was supplicating, the Paganee King came 
 out of his stronghold, and seeing the venerable 
 apostle on his knees, he cast his spear at him, which 
 passed him by unharmed, and lit on that little mound 
 just beside us, which is now one of the stations where 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 239 
 
 on their knees pilgrims go their rounds. Well, away 
 went the Paganee King, after throwing his spear, 
 which the haughty man did more in contempt than 
 anger, to plunder and desolate, as was his wont, the 
 surrounding country. But he had not gone far until 
 he heard a crash, as if the solid earth was rending, 
 and looking behind he saw that part of his fortress 
 in which he had stowed all his gold and precious 
 plunder, riven from the mainland, and standing as it 
 now does, where no creature without wings can 
 approach it. The tradition proceeds to state, that 
 such was the horror and dismay of the sea king,- that 
 he came and fell at the feet of the saint, abjured his 
 false gods, and wicked life, and, in after days, became 
 a bishop and a saint. 
 
 G. O. — And is the money there until this day? 
 for as nothing without wings can come to disturb it, 
 it may be supposed that the gulls and gannets have 
 not appropriated it. 
 
 G. C. — Why some say it is there, others say not ; 
 for that about a hundred years ago a ship from the 
 country of the Paganee king, and bearing Danish 
 colours, one fine day approached Dunbrista, and 
 waiting until the wind blew in a favourable manner, 
 the captain flew a kite over the island, so that the line 
 crossed it and reached the mainland. He then let the 
 kite quietly fall, sent men on shore to catch the cord, 
 by means of it drew up a rope, which lay across Dun- 
 brista, and with the half of it the captain and some 
 hardy men got up, dug where an old parchment told 
 them to excavate, found and carried off a heap of gold. 
 
 C. O. — Well, ascribing to the legend as much 
 
240 CAUSE OF SEPARATION. 
 
 credit as it deserves, there is one circumstance worth 
 noting, which is, that tradition asserts, as in this 
 story, a sudden disruption ; that, coupled with its 
 name, which in Irish signifies the broken-off fort, in- 
 duces me to believe that the separation was caused by 
 a sudden convulsion. I hold that though traditions 
 are not by any means to be depended on in their 
 details, there is always some foundation for them, and 
 there is some fact, however in transmission it may 
 be distorted and magnified. 
 
 A. H. — Well, though I allow there cannot be a 
 doubt as to the fact of this Dunbrista being at one 
 time attached to the mainland — the evident continua- 
 tion of the wall and the mound, the similarity of the 
 buildings, the conformity of the stratifications of the 
 isle and the mainland, all these set the matter at rest — 
 but that it was torn away by a violent and immediate 
 shock, I very much question, and the conformity of 
 the island with the mainland, in its stratification, 
 strengthens me in my opinion. I am altogether 
 disposed to consider that the sound was caused by 
 the disintegration of a trap-dyke, or by the sea having 
 formed a cavern, the roof of which eventually fell 
 in, as we have seen to be the case in the Poulnashan- 
 thana, which we left just behind us. In support of 
 the opinion that it was caused by the disintegration 
 of a trap-dyke, I would call the notice of any geo- 
 logist to the similar process which has gone on at 
 Moista Sound, and at the natural arch at Porturlin. 
 Now this my theory is supported by the additional 
 fact, that this Downpatrick Head is all honey- 
 combed with caverns, the roofs of which have given 
 
giant's leap. 241 
 
 way in some places, and which form what are either 
 called pigeon holes or blowing holes : time may have 
 produced also this great chasm which has been well 
 called the Giant's Leap. 
 
 G. C. — Giant's Leap ! Is that what this sound 
 is called ? 
 
 A. H. — Yes ; and the name reminds me of a ver- 
 sion of the tradition somewhat different from the 
 fact of the great sea king being converted by St. 
 Patrick, and becoming a bishop ; for my stoiy book 
 has it, that seeing the separation of his stronghold, 
 and the obstacle that now presented itself between 
 him and his treasures, he made a leap as it were, to 
 spring over ; but, big as he was, he came short of his 
 mark, and went down, as he deserved, into the boiling 
 surge. 
 
 C. O. — Well, now, Mr. IL, as a seaman you have 
 every right to know the immense force of the ocean, 
 beating and boiling as it does under the sway of winds 
 that for the greater part of the year urge their un- 
 controlled vigour across the Atlantic towards this 
 coast ; yet, making all allowance for this, I cannot be 
 persuaded that even such a power coidd have formed 
 so wide and deep a sound, — no, not even were that 
 power seconded by the disintegration and removal of 
 a trap-dyke. By the gradual process which you 
 believe in, I would ask, how many thousands of 
 years would be required to cause this perfect separa- 
 tion ? how ancient must have been the people who 
 constructed yonder buildings ; they certainly must 
 have been ante-diluvians ; besides, where is the trap- 
 dyke that you suppose to be worn away here ? where 
 
 M 
 
242 TRAP-DYKE. 
 
 is it to be seen at any point of the coast, east or 
 west ? Archdeacon Verschoyle, in his admirable trea- 
 tise on the geology of the coast of Mayo, lays down 
 no such dyke ; which, if it existed at all, must have 
 shown itself somewhere westward between Pig Island 
 and Porturlin, or eastward, in Sligo Bay. Besides, 
 I repeat, who ever heard of a trap-dyke two hundred 
 yards thick ? I have seen one in Donegal fifty feet ; 
 but you must know that there is not one visible on 
 this coast that is five yards in thickness. 
 
 A. H. — You mistake me, if you suppose that I 
 considered that there was a dyke of any such size ; 
 but you should be aware that wherever a dyke is, that 
 by the protrusion of the igneous matter from below, 
 the rock, on either side, whether it be primitive or 
 secondary, is, to a certain extent, altered in its nature, 
 often decomposed by the combined effect of high 
 temperature and pressure, and that it is not so much on 
 the trap-dyke itself as on the adjoining disintegrated 
 rock that the sea has powerful operation, and causes 
 those caverns and fissures that are so frequent on this 
 coast ; the sides first give way, and then the dyke 
 goes to ruin, when unsupported by the wall of rock 
 on either side. 
 
 C. O. — Your theory may account for the pigeon- 
 holes and caverns you allude to ; but still I maintain 
 that it is not competent to solve the difficulty here : 
 because, in the first place, there is no trace of any 
 such dyke ; in the next, if there were, it would have 
 taken too much time, consistent with the history of 
 man, to work out this chasm, and cause the decided 
 separation here so evident ; and thirdly, there are no 
 
CHANGES IN IRELAND. 243 
 
 remains in the rocks below to show that any such 
 dyke ever existed. As then you allow that such a 
 separation has taken place, and that since the country 
 was peopled, I hold that it must have been effected 
 by some earthquake, and though I am not aware that 
 any of the Irish annals make mention of this parti- 
 cular event, yet there are numerous circumstances 
 recorded, which go to prove that great changes 
 must have taken place on the surface of the land 
 we inhabit. 
 
 " The Annals of the Four Masters " mention the 
 formation of sundry lakes and rivers, the falling down 
 of mountains — an event of the latter nature is stated by 
 O' Flaherty to have occurred in the seventeenth century 
 in the adjoining county of Sligo, — the comparatively 
 recent formation of lakes, as for instance Loughs Neagh 
 and Erne, must have been caused by the sinking of 
 the land, such sinkings must have caused great disrup- 
 tions. In my" Tour in Connaught," describing the Isle 
 of Achill, I mentioned the marks of a great and sudden 
 breakage, as evident in the fissures behind the preci- 
 pice of Slieve Croghan ; I have observed since that 
 the same fissures and enormous dislocations in crack 
 behind crack, on Benwee, westward of Portnaclov, 
 and at Slieve Learn, in the county of Donegal ; and 
 it is not only along the coast, but inland, I have ob- 
 served such chasms on the sides of Knock na Ree 
 and Benbulbin; chasms, that could not have been 
 caused by water, but evidently the consequence of 
 some great heaving disruption, and consequent 
 falling away of these enormous masses. Need I say 
 more to support my theory that Ireland, even since it 
 
244 A DROWNED CASTLE. 
 
 became the habitation of man, has been the scene of 
 great and violent changes of surface. 
 
 Some years ago, in going from Derry to Ramelton, 
 across the southern end of the peninsula formed by 
 Loughs Foyle and Swilly, near Castle Forward, I saw 
 a lake reduced by many feet from its ancient level by 
 the means of a cut through the side of a hill, — 
 mind, not through a bog or morass, but through a 
 gravel hill, and in the centre of that lake there ap- 
 peared, for the first time, an island, with a small 
 castle erected on it. That castle must have been in 
 existence, previous to the sinking of the surface by 
 which the lake was formed. I mention this circum- 
 stance as showing how men were in Ireland before the 
 lake was formed, leaving out of consideration the num- 
 berless instances I have witnessed of oak trees (trees 
 which in no case are known to grow in flooded places) 
 being found with their roots planted, and their stems 
 lying at the bottom of lakes, and tide waters in Ireland. 
 
 A.H. — I am not persuaded yet as to your being 
 right and my being wrong, respecting this disruption 
 of Dunbrista. I allow that there are all along this coast 
 evident marks of some great devastating agency from 
 below ; the existence of the numerous trap-dykes by 
 which the whole of this district is intersected as by so 
 many arteries, the singular contortion of its stratifi- 
 cation, particularly at Fohercloiheen Point, near Port- 
 urlin, — these, and many other circumstances connected 
 with this, to a geologist, very interesting district, all 
 these show the effect of igneous agency ; but this was, 
 as I take it, long before this globe was made fit for 
 the habitation of man, long before the mason, whoever 
 
THE ATLANTIS. 245 
 
 he was, laid the foundations of those buildings now 
 before us. 
 
 C. O. — I give up the task of persuading a man 
 against his will ; but, in the meantime, allow me to 
 hold at least the reins of my own hobby-horse, ay, 
 and mount and ride away where I list. Holding, as I 
 do, that Ireland was once an integral part of the 
 Atlantis, and that the continent that is now in a great 
 measure submerged, and its eastern remnants only 
 exposed in the Azores, Canaiy and Madeira Islands, 
 and its western, in Ireland, was once the fatherland 
 of those Atlantidse or Celts that were the earliest 
 colonizers of Britain, France and Spain ; who left as 
 their religious remains Stonehenge, Abury, and 
 Carnac ; whose circles, cromieachs, and altars still 
 increase in number the farther you go westward, and 
 which, within a few miles of the place where we now 
 sit, are in such multitudes, I mean at Mulla Cross. 
 
 G. C. — Talking of your Atlantis which, as being a 
 sunken land, is the oldest tradition of Western Europe,* 
 
 * Mr. Whitehurst, after having proved that all basaltes 
 are lava, observes, " doubts may arise with respect to the 
 origin of the Basaltes or Giant's Causeway in Ireland, since 
 no visible crater, nor the least vestige of an extinguished 
 volcano, are now remaining, except the substances before- 
 mentioned, from whence such immense torrents could have 
 flowed as are now spread over so great a part of the north of 
 Ireland. 
 
 " These circumstances render it necessary to observe, that 
 whoever attentively views and considers these romantic cliffs, 
 together with the exterior appearances of that mountainous 
 cliff, will, I presume," says he, " soon discover sufficient cause 
 to conclude, that the crater from whence that melted matter 
 flowed, together with an immense tract of land towards the 
 north, have been absolutely sunk and swallowed up into the 
 
246 ITS REMAINS. 
 
 and which you, CO., have stated in your " Tour in 
 Connaught" is believed in by the Portuguese, the 
 natives of Biscay, of the Azores, and Canary islands, 
 and which is a matter of faith, and with some of 
 sight, to most of the people of Erris. I presume it is 
 also talked of here in the Laggan. 
 
 earth, at some remote period of time, and became the bottom 
 of the Atlantic Ocean; — a period indeed much beyond the 
 reach of any historical monument, or even of tradition itself. 
 
 " But though it does not appear that any human testimony 
 or record has been handed down to us, concerning such a 
 tremendous event, yet the history of the fatal catastrophe is 
 faithfully recorded in the Book of Nature, and in a language 
 and character equally intelligible to all nations, therefore 
 will not admit of a misinterpretation, — I mean those stupen- 
 dous cliffs which environ a part of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 " These are characters which cannot mislead, and the con- 
 sideration of such disasters, together with that of the cause 
 still subsisting under the bottom of that immense ocean, 
 almost persuade me to conclude that Ireland was originally 
 a part of the island of Atlantis ; which, according to Plato 
 in his Timseus, was totally swallowed up by a prodigious 
 earthquake, in the space of one day and night, with all its 
 inhabitants and a numerous host of warlike people, who had 
 subdued a great part of the then known world. 
 
 " The same observation is made by the ingenious and Rev. 
 Mr. Hamilton, in his letters concerning the Giant's Cause- 
 way. The promontories of Antrim bear very evident marks 
 of some violent convulsion which has left them standing in 
 their present abrupt situation ; and that the island" of Ra- 
 hery, and some of the western islands of Scotland, do really 
 appear like the surviving fragments of a country, great part 
 of which might have been buried in the ocean. 
 
 " To this let us add the tradition of the old Irish. They say 
 great part of this island was swallowed by the sea, and that 
 the sunken part often rises, and is to be seen on the horizon 
 frequently from the northern coast. On the north-west of 
 the island this part so appearing is called Tir Hudi, or the 
 county of Hud; that it contains a city which once possessed 
 all the riches of the world, the key of which lies buried under 
 some Druidical monument." — Page 51, Introduction to Val- 
 lancey's Vindication of the Ancient History of Ireland, 
 
STORY OF THE SUNKEN LAND. 247 
 
 A. H. — To be sure it is : the general belief here 
 is, that it extends from Teeling Head northward to 
 the Stags of Broadhaven, and that it goes out west- 
 ward by north until it reaches half-way to America. 
 My commissioned boatman, J. A., informs me that 
 when he was residing with his friends in this vicinity, 
 about twelve years ago, a woman named Lavelle as- 
 serted positively, that she had seen it from the rocks 
 on which she had been gathering carigeen ; that it 
 was a delightful country, hill and valley. She could 
 see the sheep on the hills, the cattle in green pastures, 
 and even the people's clothes drying on the hedges. 
 And another boatman of mine, a county of Sligo man, 
 corroborates the assertion of J. A. by the following 
 story : — 
 
 " A man living at the adjoining village of Bally- 
 castle, saw the sunken land twice, at an interval of 
 seven years ; and had he seen it a third time at 
 another interval of seven years, he would have been 
 the person who would have the honour and happiness 
 of disenchanting it, and firmly believing that he w T as 
 the person predestined to fix it over the water, so that 
 it should never more vanish away. This assurance had 
 such an effect on the man, that it made him talk of no- 
 thing else, and indeed unfitted him from doing any 
 thing. But, alas ! on the eve of the day on which the 
 fated seven years were to expire, the man himself 
 expired ; and so the disenchantment was not effected. 
 But this is nothing to what my own servant, Owen 
 Gallagher, a native of this district, has told me ; for 
 he assures, me that not only has the sunken land been 
 seen, but that one of its inhabitants has been caught ; 
 
248 A CHILD OF ATLANTIS. 
 
 and thus was the singular event brought about *. A 
 decent knowledgeable woman, by name Biddy Toole, 
 now alive and to the fore to prove I am no liar, 
 — was one day gathering deelisk on the rocks, 
 and a boat passing by in which was her own brother, 
 she asked them to land her on a little islet that was 
 not far off, where there was plenty of what she wanted, 
 and to call for her again when they were returning 
 from fishing. This they agreed to do ; and accord- 
 ingly in stepped Biddy into the boat. But no sooner 
 had they got her on board, but, for mischief-sake, and 
 because Biddy was gay and pleasant, and could with 
 song and story keep up their spirits they took her 
 off with them to the fishing-ground, and let down the 
 lines. So, after fishing some time, one of them got a 
 tremendous bite, and having hauled in his line with 
 great difficulty, and, to the amazement of his boat- 
 mates, he jerked in a live child ! — it was a little green 
 and fishy-looking, to be sure, on the skin, — and why 
 shouldn't it ? but, for all the world, it was nothing 
 differing from what would come of Christians. In- 
 deed, it soon proved itself so ; for you may be well sure 
 it was as much afraid of the boatmen, as they were 
 astonished at it ; and fear with it had a consequence 
 which it not seldom has with those on dry land ; for 
 the little man (he was a male) gave a very convinc- 
 ing proof of intense fear, and so the fishermen — 
 not knowing what to do with the prize, and not 
 certainly desiring him — immediately threw him 
 overboard, when he gave one kick, and dived to 
 the bottom, as gay as a schoolboy escaping from the 
 blackhole. You may be sure he never took a bait 
 
OPTICAL DELUSION. 249 
 
 again. But this is not all : Biddy Toole told my 
 informant, that the man who hooked the enchanted 
 child and then let him go, died within a year, though 
 up to the hour of his death, he was as hale a man as 
 any in Ty rawly." 
 
 C. O. — I think this tradition of a sunken land 
 every now and then appearing, though like every other 
 founded on the actual event of the submersion of the 
 Atlantis, is corroborated and kept alive by the optical 
 illusion which a certain state of the atmosphere pre- 
 sents on these coasts. I was myself a witness to the 
 appearance of land rising out of the sea near the 
 Giant's Causeway, which phenomenon I described 
 some years ago in the pages of the " Christian 
 Examiner. " 
 
 A. H. — Yes, and I have witnessed what was very 
 similar here, and not only as connected with the sea but 
 as inland ; and I will describe what I saw as in a great 
 measure solving the mystery. Some years ago, I was 
 crossing the mountains on a very foggy night, with a 
 large party of the coast-guard, the leading man carry- 
 ing a large lantern, to enable us to direct our steps by a 
 clue of large white quartz stones, which I had caused to 
 be placed at regular intervals through the hills, to show 
 the path and to prevent accidents at night and in 
 misty weather. We travelled in high spirits, some- 
 times singing and whistling to keep up our courage, 
 till we came to the summit of a mountain, when, to 
 our dismay, we saw ourselves surrounded by several 
 gigantic figures, that steadily followed our movements 
 — hopping over drains and tussocks when we hopped, 
 and occasionally measuring their lengths in the beg 
 
 M 2 
 
250 A FOG SPECTRE. 
 
 when we ourselves unavoidably did the same. Many 
 of my men did not at all relish the strange company, 
 and the singing subsided ; and I believe no man could, 
 even if he would, screw his mouth into a whistle. In- 
 deed, I have my doubts, had we been fewer in number, 
 whether they would ever have recovered from the 
 effects of their terror. As for myself, having never 
 observed any thing of a similar nature before, I was 
 for a time much perplexed to account for the pheno- 
 menon ; but, after a little consideration, I did explain 
 it to myself quite satisfactorily : and what delighted 
 me still more was, that I considered what I now 
 witnessed enabled me to account for the well-known 
 German illusion, called the "Spectre of the Brocken," 
 or the daemon of the Hartz ; and, from an account of 
 the same which I have since read, I find I was per- 
 fectly right in my conjecture. Had the circumstance 
 occurred when there were but one or two timid per- 
 sons to witness it, what a marvellous tale would have 
 been the result. Query — with the assistance of the 
 sun on the horizon and a fog-bank off the coast is not 
 the sight of the enchanted island accounted for ? 
 
 C. O. — Oh, but what say you to the young gentle- 
 man, he was no fog-bank? I thought I heard you 
 say he gave evident testimony that he was no spectre. 
 
 A. H. — When I was a prisoner of war with that 
 brave Dutchman, Admiral Rickert, I heard him one 
 day tell a large party at his table, and pledge his 
 word for the accuracy of his statement, that when he 
 was a lieutenant of a frigate, and cruising off, what 
 coast I forget, a mermaid remained close to the vessel 
 for a considerable time, and all on board had an 
 
THE KING OF THE HIDDEN LAND. 251 
 
 opportunity of observing her ; that some of the 
 officers wished to fire at her, but that the captain 
 would not permit it, because the creature bore so 
 strong a resemblance to a handsome woman. 
 
 G. C. — You have said, Mr. H., that there is some 
 reality in this sunken land, which is kept so unfairly 
 by enchantment from the use and occupation of 
 the overflowing population of Ireland. What a safety 
 valve would be lifted for our explosive Paddys, if we 
 had a far west as well as the Yankees for our swarms. 
 But until the reality comes, I can tell you that ima- 
 gination has revelled in these forthcoming prairies, 
 and if you believe our Mayo poets, or imaginators, 
 the king of these hidden realms has been conversed 
 with, and he no doubt tired of his incognito has 
 come on firm Irish land, and held very tempting 
 conversations with certain people thereon. He has 
 appeared diminutive, to be sure, as all fairies are, but 
 of pleasant presence, dressed right royally — he speaks 
 of his kingdom as the " Thalore tha whouy Druid- 
 haigh" — a fine arable and wooded country, much 
 better than the Laggan, and if so, an Eden in com- 
 parison of Erris ; in the middle of it there is a castle 
 fortified and lofty, crowning a hill like Nephin. 
 This fortress is called Monaster Ladlira — giants 
 armed at all points with their caparisoned horses, 
 standing in stables fast asleep, but waiting to be 
 awoke, by the sound of a great bell suspended from a 
 tower on the top of the hill, every seven years. It is 
 allowed to be seen by some of the natives of Ireland, 
 and occasionally its king is permitted to appear in 
 our country, and he calls himself " Muiganogh Faigh 
 
252 WATTY O' KELLY. 
 
 Ree," which signifies " King of the three kingdoms 
 behind/' that is beyond Ireland. It is supposed, 
 that if rightly asked, this hide-and-go-seek potentate 
 will tell the questioner where he can find untold 
 heaps of gold, but the querist must be very parti- 
 cular, for if he ask as he should do, the wealth will 
 be obtained by the one, and the enchantment will be 
 removed by the other ; but if not, the king vanishes 
 never to return, amidst wild laughter resounding 
 from the ocean wave, at the folly of him who might 
 have wealth, but had not the wit to win it. 
 
 Now, there was a man in the northern quarter of 
 the Mullet, whose name was Watty 0" Kelly. None had 
 more acres in the peninsula, except it were the great 
 landlords entirely ; but what signified that to Watty ? 
 for he was a man for turning all into liquor, and 
 liquor, every one knows, has a kuack of its own of 
 flowing away, when the cock is always a turning. 
 So Watty's acres floated away, and when he became 
 poor, and not a keg, let alone a barrel was to be 
 found in his keeping with any thing stronger in it 
 than buttermilk, he thought of what an old woman 
 once told him, that he should go in search of the 
 " King of the three kingdoms behind," and maybe 
 he would tell him where he would find gold. So he 
 goes to the cliff" that hangs, on the mainland, over 
 Eagle Island, and sending courage down into himself 
 along with a drop, so that he saw double and talk- 
 ed thick, and using some spell, whose import I now 
 do not know — he invoked the presence of Muiganogh 
 Faigh Ree, who in a trice appeared, and the bards 
 narrate the following dialogue as taking place, which 
 
THE ENCHANTED KING. 253 
 
 is, I must allow, tame, prosaic, and inconsequent in 
 English, but has its verbal beauty, as well as its 
 pointed meaning in Irish — and by the way, it must 
 be to CO. an additional proof that the sunken 
 land once formed part of Ireland, that its king seems 
 to speak just as good Irish as any Connaught man. 
 
 " King — The Fairies bless you, Watty O' Kelly." 
 
 " Wat.— May God and Mary bless me Q)"— (this 
 is repeated three times). 
 
 "King — Is it wealth ( 2 ) you're looking for, Watty 
 O' Kelly ?" 
 
 « Wat.— No, but a calf of a bull ( 3 ) that strayed 
 from me" — (this is said also thrice). 
 
 " King — The back of good luck to you, Y> r atty 
 O' Kelly, and seven generations after you." 
 
 " Wat. — Is it any harm to ask you who you are V 
 says Watty O' Kelly. 
 
 " King — None in life ; I'm King of the three King- 
 doms behind. And each of these three times larger 
 than Ireland. And that's your share of them, Watty 
 O'Kelly." 
 
 To understand and appreciate the above poem, 
 whose spirit depends on the similarity of sounds in 
 the Irish language having very different meanings — 
 taking this into consideration, the mistake will be 
 understood, that O'Kelly made in not saying " you" 
 instead of " me," at the mark Q), which is done in 
 the Irish, by the least inflection of the voice. A 
 further belief is, that if the enchanted man gets rid 
 of the riches of which he knows the place of con- 
 cealment, his time of enchantment is ended. So 
 the second mistake O'Kelly makes is, not assenting 
 
254 Watty's mistake. 
 
 to the second question of Muiganogh — the point of 
 these verses is increased by the similarity of the Irish 
 for "riches" and " bull," as if O' Kelly had unin- 
 tentionally misunderstood the offer, things having 
 turned out " contrary" so far, and the enchanted 
 man not being allowed to make any more offers at 
 release, he vents his execrations on Walter, tells 
 who he is, and vanishes in a clap of thunder. 
 
255 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Still at Downpatrick — Two devotees' worship of the Anvil, whence 
 were forged the shoes of St. Patrick's Ass— My friend Trap-dyke's 
 theory comes to a fault — Ballyglen — Fin M'Coul's finger stone — An 
 old Castle— A high Altar — A curiously formed "hill — A good building 
 material — Old Irish Architects no fools — A picturesque view — A poor 
 family's destruction — A widow's lodge — A blessed well — Speculation 
 about the geological formation of this Glen — Setting out on second Visit 
 to Erris— Druidical remains, peculiarly abundant along the North 
 Western coast of Ireland — Now in possession of " the Gentry" — Their 
 cruel treatment of a poor man whose spirit was not equal to his love 
 — Church of Dunfeeny— Pillar stone— Cliffs of Tyrawly— A Tourist 
 taken for a poacher — How to conciliate an old woman. 
 
 Such was the gist of our conversation as we sat on 
 the cliff of Downpatrick, the gentle breeze from the 
 south-east cooling the ardours of the descending sun, 
 which sinking as it was westward, told us it was time 
 to start homewards, if we would do justice to a dinner 
 that our hospitable entertainer had warned us would 
 be on the table at an early hour, in order to afford 
 us the opportunity of a stroll inland in the evening. 
 So, giving a parting look at the cliff scenery of Down- 
 patrick, beautifully varied as were now its caves and 
 promontories by the lights and shadows of a summer's 
 evening, we turned our steps inland and passing by 
 St. Patrick's chapel, there lay prostrate before, what 
 I have already mentioned as the Saint's Anvil, two 
 women — there they lay flat, with their blue mantles 
 thrown over them, their faces downwards, and head a 
 little elevated towards the holystone. I never witnessed 
 
256 DEVOTEES. 
 
 such a complete prostration — prostration, I may well 
 say not only of body, but of mind, of humanity, of 
 reason, of religion pure and undefiled. I had met 
 these two women some hours before, they were evi- 
 dently from some distant part, and had never been 
 here before, and were on the look out for some one 
 to direct them in the routine of performing the pen- 
 ances of the station. One was an aged creature, her 
 face wrinkled and smoked almost as brown as the 
 sods of turf over which she had sat until she had 
 become so dried up and discoloured ; and after all it 
 was a gentle, complacent, confiding, affectionate sort 
 of countenance she had ; and her attire, though 
 according to the old Mayo costume, a red petticoat, 
 and brown boddice of woollen, was not ragged, and 
 her linen and person were quite clean. I would take 
 her to be the grand-dame of the girl who was in her 
 company — a round-faced, comely, dark-eyed lass, with 
 much meekness and timidity, amounting to suspicion 
 in her deportment, and a tone of melancholy appear- 
 ing to compose her features, — for while she stood by 
 her aged attendant she heaved a sigh every now and 
 then. 
 
 Observing them stand as it were irresolute, I ad- 
 dressed them, and the old woman, perhaps observing 
 my attire more sober and clerical than that of others, 
 returned my accost with apparent pleasure, but in the 
 Irish language. I asked her could she speak English ? 
 She tried to do so, but her attempt was most imper- 
 fect, and mine at Irish was still worse ; but she had 
 her beads in her hand, and, pointing to the altar and 
 the well, and the other stations within view, and 
 
RELIGIOUS SUSPICIONS. 257 
 
 turning over some of the beads, she evidently was 
 desirous that I should inform her as to the particu- 
 lars of her duty. In the meantime, the young woman 
 seemed to suspect that neither I nor any one else in 
 company was the exact person to whom application 
 should be made ; and she every now and then, while 
 the old one was jabbering Irish over her beads, gave 
 her a pull of the gown, and I think I heard her mut- 
 ter the word " Sassenach," and could gather that she 
 was warning the other that she was in the company 
 of those who were not the right sort. Yet I desire it 
 to be understood that neither I nor any one in my 
 company attempted to mock these simple creatures. 
 Unable to converse in consequence of the difference of 
 language, we had no power of convincing them of 
 their error, and felt we had no right to cast ridicule, 
 or even the appearance of distrust, on what was evi- 
 dently devout, the soul of anxious seeking ; sincere 
 piety was beaming from the countenance of the 
 younger, and there was honest, undoubting, simple 
 confidence in that of the older. They both, poor 
 things, were anxious to do something satisfactory in 
 the eye of heaven ; and, alas ! in their ignorance were 
 inquiring, "wherewith shall I come before the Lord, 
 or bow myself before the most High God ?" And it was 
 not for us, as we could afford no better, to despise 
 what we felt contained one element, at any rate, of 
 the sacrifice which God accepts — a sincere and 
 single-hearted devotedness. 
 
 I gave the old woman a small piece of silver as a 
 token of respect, and quickly withdrew, receiving at the 
 
258 
 
 A FAULT. 
 
 same time a gentle smile from the maiden, — as much as 
 to say, " I thank you, sir, for leaving us to ourselves, 
 and to our duty." I confess it was very painful to 
 me to have these women come under my observation 
 again, performing an act of superstition so degrading 
 to the pure religion of the Gospel of Him who is the 
 way, the truth, and the life, as thus to lie prostrate, 
 as would a Hindoo, before a shapeless stone. 
 
 Passing again by the Poulnashanthana, we took our 
 way along the edge of the cliff and coasted it along, 
 until we arrived at the south-western mouth of this 
 great sea cave: and here we stopped for a time to 
 observe a stratum of yellow sandstone almost hori- 
 zontal, still having its dip conformable to the under- 
 lying limestone and calpe from north to south. 
 None of us pretended to be exact geologists, but we 
 admired, as the half-informed are apt to do, at the 
 sandstone overlying the limestone here ; and, upon 
 looking more closely at the mouth of the cave, we 
 observed there was a sudden disruption of the conti- 
 nuity of the strata of both the sandstone and sub- 
 jacent limestone, and that the line of the respective 
 stratifications was many feet lower on one side of the 
 cave than at the other. This, in miners' phrase is, 
 I believe, called a fault, and certainly denotes that 
 since the original consolidation of the strata, a dis- 
 ruption had taken place of continuity, and one part had 
 sunk, or the other had risen by some great and sudden 
 force. I begged leave to suggest to my friend Mr. 
 Henri that his Neptunian theory of the formation 
 of this sea cave, and consequently of the separation 
 
BALLYGLEX. 
 
 259 
 
 of Dunbrista, was very much the worse for the wear 
 when brought to the test of this fault at the western 
 end of Poulnashanthana. 
 
 I had not done with Ballycastle yet : so, taking 
 advantage of an evening still finer than the day, we 
 proceeded southward from the village along a beau- 
 tiful mountain vale, called Ballyglen, prettily orna- 
 mented on its western side with trees of some size ; 
 and as this is the nearest spot to Erris on which a 
 sizable tree is found growing, I believe it is here 
 the circumstance is reported to have occurred to 
 the Errisman, who, seeing for the first time in his 
 life a tree, fell down and worshipped it as something 
 super-earthly. 
 
 A pretty stream meanders through this smiling 
 valley; a large and well-placed rath guards its 
 opening seaward. Westward, is a small gentle- 
 man's seat, prettily planted and divided. East- 
 ward, on the side of the hill or mountain, is one of 
 the largest granite boulders I have seen anywhere. It 
 is fully as large as a poor man's cabin, and must have 
 required an amaziug force to roll it along, and still a 
 more amazing and unaccountable stoppage to arrest it 
 on the side of an inclined plane, and say to it — 
 " here you must stand at ease, and neither go onwards 
 to the sea, nor downwards into the glen." 
 
 Tradition attributes here, as elsewhere, every thing 
 good to St. Patrick, and every thing grand to Fin 
 M'Coul. This stone is a memorial of what was 
 entirely good, and only partially great ; for it is 
 believed when St. Patrick was builcLing his chapel, 
 and other holy places at Downpatrick, Fin M'Coul, 
 
260 fin m'coul's finger stone. 
 
 supposing lie wanted stones, though certainly, as far 
 as I could see, he had them in plenty and to spare at 
 hand; at any rate, Fin, if for nothing else but to 
 show his good will, took up this stone from the top 
 of Nephin mountain, and hurled it off, intending it 
 to light on Downpatrick, but it fell short of its mark, 
 because, perhaps, Fin was not all out, as Ossian 
 allows, a good Christian ; and there it lies on the side 
 of Bally glen. 
 
 About half a mile further on, there is on the 
 western side of the stream an old castle planted on a 
 hillock — a strong position indeed at the period of its 
 erection, and that period is more remote than that to 
 be assigned to most of the square towers so plentiful 
 throughout Ireland. What induces me to consider 
 that it is older than those erected by the Cromwellian 
 conquerors is, that the ascent to the upper stories is 
 not by a spiral stone staircase, but by an inclined 
 plane formed in the width of the wall, and paved with 
 small stones. Over one of the windows is some in- 
 scription, which neither I nor any of my companions 
 were able to decipher. We excused our inability by 
 pleading a defect of light, for the sun was gone down. 
 On the top of this fortalice, its Roman Catholic owner 
 is said to have erected an altar, the remains of which 
 still exist, but which we did not observe, for we were 
 in haste to examine one of the most extraordinary 
 calcareous formations in Ireland, or perhaps any 
 where else. 
 
 A few hundreds yards from the castle is a hill of 
 about one hundred feet in height, and covering about 
 two acres of ground, composed of yellow calcareous 
 
OLD IRISH BUILDERS NO FOOLS. 261 
 
 matter, somewhat deeper in colour than Portland 
 stone, so light and porous that you can see through 
 large pieces of it, and formed evidently by the deposit 
 of calcareous matter held in solution by fresh water, 
 and, as it was deposited, assuming the form of leaves, 
 grass, twigs, and brushwood, through which the water 
 must have percolated. It is nothing extraordinary to 
 find in all our limestone districts a quantity of this tufa 
 matter lining the channels and encrusting the edges of 
 streams, especially where there is a waterfall. In Italy, 
 the waters of many cascades are made use of in this 
 way to make incrustations, and so take off the impres- 
 sion of medals. In Ireland, the old builders observing 
 the lightness, and at the same time durability, of a si- 
 milar material, used it to form the roofs of their crypts 
 and the ornaments of their windows. I may instance 
 that the stone roof of St. Dooloughs and Holm Patrick, 
 near Dublin, are constructed of this material. What 
 makes the place I am now describing remarkable is, the 
 immense mass of it that is found here, and the conse- 
 quent difficulty of accounting for its formation. The 
 hill composed of it now covers, I think, two acres of 
 ground : it was formerly much higher ; for, inde- 
 pendent of its being used to construct all the walls and 
 fences in the vicinity, it is found to be an excellent 
 manure, especially for mountain soils, and the people 
 have been drawing it away for these many years. 
 
 It is as easily cut as chalk, for it is quite soft 
 until it comes in contact with the atmosphere, and 
 then it every year becomes harder and harder, and 
 that rapidly, so much so that it is as permanent, if 
 not more so, than the hardest blue limestone. 
 
262 AN IRISH AVALANCHE. 
 
 The people, in consequence of this hardness of the 
 outside and softness within, in carrying it off hare 
 made excavations of great size and depth. Some of 
 these are now used for the confining of cattle ; others 
 have been occupied as human habitations ; others being 
 carelessly scooped have fallen in, aud this having 
 often occurred, gives the whole hill now a most pic- 
 turesque appearance, as a mass of mighty ruins. 
 Some appear as blown up by gunpowder, and the frag- 
 ments are lying and leaning together in magnificent 
 confusion ; and as these fragments, some larger than 
 any house, are covered with ivy, honeysuckle, sedums, 
 and other parasitical plants, the rich yellow colour of 
 the material contrasting with this varied verdure, it 
 really is one of the most imposing sights that can 
 well be seen. 
 
 Some years ago a man, setting a value on the shel- 
 ter of this hill, built his cabin cleverly under one of 
 its impending cliffs; here he brought his wife and 
 here he reared four fine children. A night of storm 
 and much rain came on ; the neighbours heard a 
 horrid crash in the night ; when morning came the 
 poor man's house was not to be seen — over it lay an 
 enormous section of the hill, broken into huge masses. 
 Of course, the whole population assisted in digging 
 out the poor people, and they succeeded in drawing 
 out the corpses crushed and flattened ; the very 
 brains driven out of the broken skulls by the force of 
 the pressure. Nevertheless, I climbed and crept 
 through the fissures, chasms, and excavations of this 
 singular congeries, looking for specimens of the petri- 
 factions of which it was entirely composed : here im- 
 
a widow's house. 263 
 
 pressions of leaves elegantly accurate, masses of inter- 
 laced twigs, like the most elaborate filagree work ; 
 here long stalactite fingers hanging clown ; and here 
 botroidal conformations, like bunches of yellow ripe 
 grapes. In a word, suppose you, reader, the vaga- 
 ries you may see of frostwork in woods and along cas- 
 cades, when winter is in its force, and then you may 
 imagine what a variety of solidifications of what was 
 once in solution, is to be found here. 
 
 Well, as I was scrambling along, breaking off and 
 loading myself with specimens, I came to where I saw 
 smoke issue, and in an instant I was at the entrance 
 of a residence, half cave, half hut, in which were a 
 woman and two children ; the place was long and 
 narrow, partly covered in by an impending ledge of 
 the tufa rock, and partly by some sort of rude rafters 
 and thatch ; the place was cleanly swept ; there were 
 some rather decent articles of furniture in holes in the 
 rock, which answered for cupboards, where were tea- 
 cups, a few plates, and some spoons ; on one stone 
 shelf were some cold boiled potatoes, a few eggs, and 
 some salt ; and on another were a few books, some 
 sadly torn : one looked like a New Testament, and on 
 taking it up I found it was one. The woman, in the 
 meantime, accosted me with civility, wiped a chair 
 and asked me to sit down. She was rather a comely 
 person of middle age, with fine black eyes and a sen- 
 sible but rather a stern countenance. Taking up the 
 Testament, as I sat down, I said I was glad that in 
 this poor place she had the consolation of possessing 
 the Word of God. 
 
264 LISTEN TO BOTH SIDES OF A STORY. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I wish it may console me ; for I am, as 
 you see, a houseless and desolate widow, turned from 
 my home by my own husband's brother ; and here I 
 am with my three children at the mercy of the ele- 
 ments, and, what is worse than all, the eldest of them 
 is deaf and dumb." 
 
 This was indeed a piteous story ; and feeling for 
 the poor, bereaved, and, as she stated, ill-treated 
 creature, I gave her some assistance and inquired 
 after her other children. She took down another 
 copy of the New Testament and showed where her 
 little fellow was reading in it. 
 
 "So then, you send," said I, "your children to a 
 scriptural school ; are you not afraid of the priest ?" 
 
 "Why should I?" said she, rather briskly. "I 
 have no call to the likes of him." 
 
 "Are you, then, a Protestant?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, and all my people." 
 
 Having got over here all the time I could spare, I 
 bade the woman and her children farewell, and felt, 
 as I well might, not a little interested in her story. 
 So, coming away from the place, I accosted a decent 
 looking man who was making up a gap on the road 
 side, and asked him about the woman. 
 
 "Oh, sir," said he, "you are not to mind all out 
 what she says. It's her own passionate temper that 
 has sent her to live up there ; her brother-in-law 
 offered her share of the house, and they might, if it 
 was not her own fault, have long ago settled these 
 differences. One story's good until another's told." 
 
 I certainly agreed with him as to the last observa- 
 
A BLESSED WELL. 265 
 
 tion, and, as there seemed to be a sincerity in the 
 manner of the man, my compassion for the houseless 
 widow was not a little abated. 
 
 But I have not done with the tufa hill. I was 
 anxious to rise to the top to observe what was above 
 it and beyond it. The reader is requested to observe 
 that this formation lies and forms a mound or hill on 
 the eastern range of the mountain that forms Ballyglen, 
 — that this mountain is composed of blue, compact, 
 carboniferous limestone, over which lie, towards the 
 summit, strata of yellow sandstone — that two small 
 streams run down the side of the tufa hill, and that 
 the mountain I now speak of descends not in a regu- 
 larly inclined plane to the river, but, as it were, in 
 terraces. On getting to the summit of the tufa hill, 
 I was shown a blessed well which runs near the 
 western stream. In the deposits made by this well, 
 or by the two streams, I could not find any recent 
 marks of the tufous formation.* I felt assured that, 
 as these waters were not now in the habit of making 
 any considerable deposits, so this immense mass 
 never could be put together by their agency. 
 
 Taking into consideration the terraced form of the 
 sides of the mountain, and the immense boulders that 
 recline on the different levels, I am sure that the 
 mouth of the glen towards the sea was closed at one 
 period ; and that at different periods, denoted by the 
 different terraces, the waters wore their passage until 
 
 * I call this fresh water deposit tufa, for want of a better 
 name ; were I a professed geologist, I might give a better. 
 I call it tufa from its similarity in appearance to what is 
 called tufa in Italy. 
 
 N 
 
266 IRISH GLACIERS. 
 
 they arrived at their present state ; but still I am at 
 a loss to account for this immense congeries of fresh 
 water deposits, amongst which I found not only petri- 
 fied leaves of trees and moss plants, but also animal 
 bones.* 
 
 * Professor Agassiz, of Switzerland, has directed the 
 attention of British geologists to the effects of glaciers, in 
 the formation of terraces and striated rock surfaces and to the 
 transport of masses of gravel and erratic boulders ; Messrs. 
 Buckland and Lyell have written papers to show how similar 
 phenomena in Scotland can only be adequately accounted for 
 on the supposition of glaciers existing at some period in that 
 country. It is impossible, says Doctor Buckland, to refer 
 the transport of these mounds of gravel and these immense 
 blocks of stone to the action of a current of water, as they 
 are often placed precisely at the point where a stream de- 
 scending from the high lands would have acted with the 
 greatest velocity ; and he shows, that as the very same 
 phenomena take place in the vicinity of the Alps by the 
 operation of glaciers, so they must be accounted for by the 
 same action in Scotland. Masses of gravel, called in Swit- 
 zerland moraines, are thus formed on the sides of hills, which, 
 had such detritus been brought by a rapid current, must have 
 been propelled to the bottom of the glen or loch, and they 
 remain where they were, because brought there by a glacier. 
 Immense boulders, also, deriving their origin from a distant 
 chain of mountains, have been carried across deep lakes and 
 secondary mountain ranges, and deposited on the sides of 
 opposite valleys, and this can only be accounted for on the 
 glacier theory. 
 
 Now, if all this be true of Scotland, it surely applies to 
 Ireland. I have seen enormous boulders of flesh-coloured 
 granite, whose original site could only be Connemara, 
 lying on the eastern shore of Lough Derg. They must have 
 been brought to where they now rest over a range of Galway 
 mountains and across the broad Shannon. Running water 
 could not have done this. The phenomena I have noticed 
 in Ballygle — its terraces, its enormous boulder perched on 
 the side of the hill, its singular mass of calcareous matter, a 
 fresh-water formation, that could not have originated in its 
 present position — all may be referred to the existence and 
 
A POISONOUS STONE. 267 
 
 Unaccountable as is the place to me, and interest- 
 ing as it was from its picturesque and singular ap- 
 pearance, I wish some one who had more geological 
 and physical knowledge would examine it and its posi- 
 tion carefully : at all events I have had good reason 
 to remember it ; for, desirous as I was to break off a 
 good specimen of the filagree work, which some por- 
 tions of it presented, and, striking it off with a blunt 
 old hatchet, the tool slipped, and the knuckle of the 
 middle finger of my right hand got a severe wound, 
 which, though the skin has long since healed, now at 
 the end of three months is extremely painful, hinder- 
 ing me from writing for any length of time, and will, 
 I am sure, not add much to the beauty or legibility of 
 my penmanship. A man said on seeing the cut I had 
 given myself, that I ought to take care of it, for there 
 was something poisonous in the stone. I have had 
 reason to believe that he was not wrong, although the 
 surgeon when I feed him said that I had only 
 wounded a nerve. I wish that the poor widow had 
 the fee, and I had been more careful of my knuckle ! 
 
 With the kind assistance of Lieut. Sterne, my 
 friends, Mr. Henri and Crampton, and I started from 
 Bally castle to proceed in his jaunting-car by land to 
 Belderrig, and from thence to get along the coast by 
 boat, in order to enable Mr. Henri to return to his 
 station at Dunkeegan. Proceeding forwards, we met 
 
 operation of a glacier. The same may be said of the 
 boulders which I have described as resting on the side of 
 the cliff near Doonminalla promontory. — See, respecting the 
 Scottish glaciers, Messrs. Buckland and Lyell's papers in the 
 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for January, 1841. 
 
268 PIGS RIDING. 
 
 sundry groups of countrymen all well clad in the dark 
 blue frieze commonly worn by the Mayo peasantry ; 
 they all as they passed us saluted us, and spoke 
 some civil words either in English or in Irish. 
 I confess I like this. In my early life I was always 
 accustomed to find it so in Munster, and when I now 
 occasionally pass the people, it grieves me to find that 
 the practice of saluting the gentry is given over. 
 Some say it is degrading and servile to bow to a 
 stranger because he is well dressed : it may be so ; 
 and yet I do not think the world has gone on better 
 since — at any rate, I have always been glad when a 
 poor Irishman salutes me, for it not only calls on 
 me to return it civilly and thankfully, but often 
 begins a conversation which proves pleasant, if not 
 profitable to both parties. 
 
 One group passed, driving a couple of cows, one 
 had rags about its horn. 
 
 " What is that V* said I to the driver of the jaunt- 
 ing-car. 
 
 "Oh, it's a charm against the ' gentry 5 !" meaning 
 the fairies. 
 
 Another group passed on, mountain ponies going 
 before them, each having a pair of panniers on its back, 
 in one of which was a pig, in another a stone to ba- 
 lance the grunter ; the pigs looked comical with their 
 snouts out. Pigs are well treated with us until they 
 are stuck ; they eat and sleep as well as their owners, 
 and they, as we saw them here, ride on horseback ; 
 because, like pets, they are obstinate, and won't lead 
 or drive. See the advantage of a resolute temper. 
 
 Passing through a village called Ballyglass, I 
 
a giant's grave. 269 
 
 observed in a corn field adjoining a congeries of grey 
 stones. I was off the car in a moment. 
 
 "What's that?" says I, speaking to a labouring 
 man and pointing to the rocks. 
 
 " Oh, that's a giant's grave." 
 
 " What giant ?" 
 
 " Faix, myself don't know. One of the ould ones 
 entirely; some big body belonging to Fin M'Coul, 
 they say ; but myself don't mind who it was." 
 
 In a minute the three of us were in the enclosure, 
 and a curious one indeed it is ; unlike any cromleach, 
 Druidical circle, or giant's grave, I had ever before 
 observed. Here were the massive and moss covered 
 stones, not in a circle but an oval, as in the annexed 
 cut ; at either end of the oval were two square enclo- 
 
 sures or chambers, one connected by a narrow pas- 
 sage with the other ; they had been originally covered 
 like cromleachs, or rather like what in the Irish popu- 
 lar phrase are called Darby and Grana's beds. The 
 covering stones were thrown off and were lying either 
 broken or entire on either side ; the entrance was on 
 the south side of the oval, and opposite to the en- 
 trance was another enclosure or chamber that had 
 
270 KISTVAENS. 
 
 been also covered, but was single. There was nothing 
 worthy of remark in the size of the stones forming 
 the monument, or the extent of the ground it 
 covered ; but there was, certainly, in the arrange- 
 ment of its parts.* I had met nothing like it before, 
 
 * The combinations I have noticed in the monument of 
 Ballyglass, I find is not unusual in other countries, where the 
 Celtic race had at one time dominion. The enclosures which 
 appear in the annexed sketch at each end of the oval are to 
 all appearance the same as what are called kistvaens in 
 Wales ; and it seems that in the West of France, and even 
 in Persia and in Arabia, they are to be found. 
 
 I copy the following remarks from Mr. Kitto's Pictorial 
 History of Palestine : — 
 
 * Concerning the Kistvaen, the diversity of opinion has 
 been as great as concerning the cromleach. It consists of 
 two or three or more sides or uprights, and a back stone 
 occasionally, and over the whole is placed a top or covering 
 stone. In general a cell is thus formed, closed on three 
 sides, and covered at top, but open now in front. The name 
 kistvaen is Welch, and means a stone chest. Kistvaens are 
 commonly found in the middle of stone circles, near the 
 cromleach, and sometimes without any cromleach near : they 
 are also found isolated, like the cromleachs, though other 
 Druidical monuments seem to be in the neighbourhood ; they 
 are sometimes arranged in circles, with or without a crom- 
 leach in the centre. But we are aware of no instance in 
 which the reverse occurs, — namely, in which a kistvaen 
 stands in a circle of cromleachs ; but there are instances in 
 which a circle is formed by kistvaens, with intervening up- 
 right stones. A remarkable example of this last description 
 is exhibited in the Druidical circle in Jersey, 
 
 ***** 
 
 How far the cromleachs and kistvaens contribute to the illus- 
 tration of the altars of unhewn stone and the high places 
 mentioned in Scripture is a point which we may perhaps 
 take another opportunity to consider ; meanwhile it may be 
 noticed, that monuments of this and other classes still exist 
 in Palestine, especially in the country beyond Jordan, al- 
 though scarcely any of them have been described. Mr. 
 Farran has probably given more information on the subject 
 
THEIR UNIVERSALITY. 2/1 
 
 and it struck me and my companions greatly. I have 
 since met with another in the county of Donegal, 
 exactly similar, but of much larger dimensions, and 
 altogether a much more important work. But enough 
 of this, until I return to the county of Donegal, from 
 whence I first started as a sketcher, and to which 
 when I return I may as well have done. 
 
 I am at a loss to account for the character of this 
 monument — was it a temple or place of sepulture ? 
 About three hundred yards off to the south there is a 
 monument, evidently the work of the same people; it 
 is a small circle of stones not unlike one of those nume- 
 rous ones at Carrowmore, in the county of Sligo. But I 
 may say I am in the line of country where these 
 remains are in abundance ; all along the north-western 
 coast they are found, and not far from the sea. I, a 
 casual and hasty tourist, have met with many that 
 have never been before noticed, as for instance, this 
 one which is not even laid down in the ordnance sur- 
 
 than any other person. In his letter to Lord Lindsay he 
 says, — ' On the eastern side of the hills of Jordan, and over 
 the plains of Manasseh and Gad, monuments like those of the 
 Druid age of England still illustrate the rural superstitions 
 of the dim ages which, denounced in Holy Writ, were probably 
 imparted to us from them.' And Lord Lindsay himself, in 
 one of his letters, remarks, — c Mr. Farran tells me that there 
 are some Phoenician monuments near Souf, one of which he 
 showed me a drawing of, as decidedly Druidical as Stone- 
 henge.' Some of the monuments thus referred to are doubt- 
 less the same which attracted the attention of Captains 
 Irby and Mangles, near the river Jordan. They state, — 
 ' On the banks of the Jordan, at the foot of the mountains, 
 we observed some very singular, interesting, and certainly 
 very ancient tombs, composed of rough stones, resembling 
 Kit's Cotty House in Kent.' Kit's Cotty House is one of 
 the largest cromleachs in the British Isles." 
 
2/2 THANKS TO THE FAIRIES. 
 
 vey. I am obliged to my learned and all-engrossing 
 friend, Mr. Petrie, for allowing me to be the first to 
 notice these remains in Erris, Tyrawly and Donegal. 
 I am sorry to say that the people pay little respect to 
 such ancient monuments — they feel no interest about 
 them ; and it is only their fears as supposing such 
 grey stones to belong peculiarly to the " gentry," 
 that hinder them from obliterating them altogether ; as 
 for a Connaught landlord, it has not yet entered 
 his head to care for these things. My companion, 
 Mr. H., told me a story illustrative how much " the 
 gentry," as in the instance of this monument, are 
 connected with such places — a story which he heard 
 from one of his coast guard. 
 
 " A man between this and Belderrig had married 
 — as why shouldn't he — a good and pretty colleen 
 in his own village ; and he provided for her a cabin to 
 live in and a half acre of conacre of potatoes. There 
 was a pig at the door when she walked in, a good 
 dung-hill beside it for next year's planting, and plenty 
 of hens, to say nothing of a good cock. Paddy had 
 more work than he could do betimes at the loom, and 
 could turn off as clean a web as any boy in Tyrawly; — 
 and what more did she want ? and to be sure it was 
 herself that was happy and easy ! By-and-by there 
 was the promise which seldom fails in the land of 
 praties, and Katty was as large as need be. But so it 
 happened, without any reason in life — just when she 
 ought to be confined, she sickened off and died 
 most unaccountably ; and, sure enough, it was 
 Paddy that was desolate after the dacent berrin he 
 gave her ; and sad he was as he sat by his hearth 
 
YET THEY ARE CRUEL. 273 
 
 with no one to sweep his floor or make or mend 
 for him in the wide world. Thus he sat night 
 after night roasting his potatoes in the ashes ; for 
 why should he put down a pot to boil them when 
 he had none but himself to feed, for he had sold the 
 pig to pay for Katty's wake and funeral. When one 
 night he hears a noise at the door, and he just 
 thought the voice was like Katty ; and he was glad, 
 and then afraid — ' for sure,' says he, ' it must be her 
 ghost, and what is it that makes the crathur uneasy 
 now she is in the other world V 
 
 " So he goes to the door, but for the life of him he 
 dare not open it. 
 
 " ' Who is there V says Pat, all of a tremble. 
 
 " 'It's I, your poor lost wife,' says Katty. 
 
 " ' Why, ain't you dead and buried, avourneen V 
 says Pat. 
 
 " ' No,' says she ; ' but I'm all as one. I'm with 
 the " (/entry:" they took me to be wet-nurse to their 
 king's daughter, and I am just brought to bed 
 amongst them, and I am kept in that place of grey 
 stones near Ballyglass ; and I have not yet tasted 
 any of their food, but steal away at night and pick up 
 pratie skins, and whatever I can lay my hands on ; 
 and so I am recoverable. So, Paddy, if you come 
 next night the moon is at the full to the place 
 called the Giant's Grave, you will see a brindled cow 
 with a calf at her foot. That's me, Paddy alanna. 
 So bounce on it at once, in spite of whatever you hear 
 or see — oh ! bounce in like a brave boy, and drive out 
 through the open place between the two large stones, 
 which was wanst the ould doorway, the cow and calf, 
 
 N 2 
 
274 A FOND WIFE LOST. 
 
 — which is myself and my baby ; and if you do, 
 Paddy, you will have back your own wife and your 
 child to boot to stay with you in spite of the fairies. 
 But, Paddy jewel, mind your courage.' 
 
 " Paddy, you may be sure, promised to be ready 
 and true ; and accordingly he went at the fixed time, 
 and he did sure enough see the cow and calf grazing 
 within the enclosure ; but when he attempted to 
 enter, he was assailed with such horrible noises and 
 threats, — he heard such unspeakable cursings and 
 hootings, that his heart failed, and though every now 
 and then he heard the cow moan, yet he lost his 
 manhood — he had no more courage than a cat, so 
 home he went, and lost his wife ; for never since, 
 either by moonlight or starlight, was the brindled 
 eow seen within the circle of grey stones. 
 
 " This story is believed by many between Bally- 
 castle and Belderrig, if it's not credible in other 
 places it cannot be helped: at all events — there 
 are many such pranks recorded of the gentry ; and 
 as it is not at all doubted that they like to have their 
 offspring nursed by woman's milk, there cannot be 
 any reasonable grounds for denying that they 
 carried off Kitty Barrett." 
 
 My friend having finished his report of the con- 
 nection between the old Druidical monument and the 
 fairies, I observed that I had somewhere read that 
 in Brittany the popular opinion was, that the fairies 
 were the wives of the Druids. I also having remarked 
 how general the belief was, that it was possible to 
 rescue a person from the power of the " gentry," in 
 case they had not tasted fairy food ; he mentioned 
 
A PILLAR STONE. 2/5 
 
 that about ten years ago, a poor woman at Portnacloy, 
 whose son was slaughtered on a Sunday in a broil, a 
 few minutes after mass was over, and within one 
 hundred yards of the chapel door ; she, considering 
 that her fine boy was not dead, but carried away by 
 the " gentry," and hoping that he was not imprudent 
 enough to eat of their food, in order to support him in 
 his good resolution, actually left cold boiled potatoes 
 out for several nights, in hopes he would use them, 
 so that not having ate in their company, he might 
 seize some happy opportunity of escaping from their 
 custody. 
 
 At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the road 
 we were going, and not far from the sea shore, lies 
 the old ruined church of Dunfeeny. Observing a 
 lofty pillar-stone near it, we were induced to descend 
 from our jaunting-car to examine : it might have 
 inscriptions on it — it was worth half an hour's 
 expenditure in the scrutiny. By the way, what a 
 useful vehicle a jaunting-car is, — just the thing for a 
 geologist, botanist, or curiosity hunter. You can 
 hop off and on — you can stow away your stones, 
 plants, or specimens. Give me suc^h a mode of con- 
 veyance, and a prating, gossipping, credulous, and 
 good-humoured Paddy for a driver, and I grudge not 
 the whole world of lofty tourists, with their bang-up 
 coaches and bang-up coachmen, with their cigars and 
 slang sauciness. 
 
 We walked down to Dunfeeny, but what we saw 
 did not over well repay our hot walk. The pillar- 
 stone, though curious for its great slenderness in 
 comparison of its height, which was about twenty-five 
 
2/6 TYRAWLY CLIFFS. 
 
 feet over the level of the grave-yard in which it stood, 
 bore now no inscription ; for being of that flaggy- 
 limestone which is liable to exfoliate, even suppose it 
 originally was sculptured, the weather must in the 
 course of a short time have obliterated all traces : 
 the only thing remarkable in this old place of worship 
 and interment was, that the unpolished sandstone 
 flags that covered the mouldering remains of the rude 
 forefathers of the adjoining hamlet, bore on their un- 
 chiselled surfaces the marks of the wave ripple, such 
 as you see marked off on a sandy strand. One head- 
 stone consisted of a broken quern, a handmill for 
 grinding corn, of the most ancient and simplest 
 construction. One good result, however, attended 
 our visit to the ruined church of Dunfeeny. For 
 while some of us were engaged in examining the pillar- 
 stone, Mr. Henri occupied himself in taking a sketch 
 of the line of coast, and of Downpatrick Head, and 
 Dunbrista Isle. The short time allowed him to take 
 this bird's-eye view may be urged in extenuation of 
 any demerits he is guilty of as a draughtsman. 
 
 Proceeding about two miles further, the road 
 enters into the mountain district, and you get nearer 
 the sea, which here beats against cliffs of great 
 altitude, for, in fact, the mountains here begin to 
 meet the ocean ; and here commences the line of 
 precipices which exhibit the hills as cut down per- 
 pendicularly, and a lofty coast for twenty miles, 
 dishevelled and torn away in the most sublime and 
 fantastic manner. This disruption first begins with 
 the secondary formations of carboniferous limestone 
 and sandstone, — such as are exposed at Downpatrick ; 
 
A FINE VIEW. 279 
 
 and the precipices, at the point I am now describing, 
 (where the new road formed by government from Bally- 
 castle to Belmullet comes within a few yards of the 
 elm ,) are much higher and much grander than those of 
 Moher, in the county of Clare ; and as at Moher, the 
 stratifications of the rock being nearly horizontal, the 
 line of lofty coast in its prominences and indentures 
 looks like a wavy line of ribband jasper, black, 
 blue, white, and yellow, rising perpendicularly for 
 three hundred feet above the clear and now placid sea, 
 which heaved like a translucent beryll, and now 
 changed to snowy surf, as it shattered lazily upon the 
 rocks. 
 
 There was a quiet solemn stillness all around ; the 
 heave below of the ocean so placid that it did not 
 interrupt the repose, neither did the occasional hoarse 
 chatter of the royston crow, or the bleat of the lambs 
 on the mountain side, or the whirl or the challenge 
 of the lapwing, as it passed angrily over head, and 
 scolded at any approach to where her young ones 
 nestled. Away eastward was Downpatrick Head, 
 enclosing as with a sweeping horn a wide bay, and 
 that horn tipped, as I may say, with its curious and 
 mystic isle of Dunbrista; and far to the north, 
 looming in the indistinctness caused by the easterly 
 wind, which scarcely blew so as to ripple the wave, 
 could just be seen Teeling Head, and the lofty group 
 of Slieve Learn, in South Donegal. 
 
 Very grand and very beautiful was the look out on 
 that wild shore and complacent ocean, with a solitary 
 sail creeping away in the offing ; and down 1 sat on 
 a bank, and took out my telescope, leaving my com- 
 
280 A MISAPPREHENSION. 
 
 panions to get on and rise the opposite hill that lay- 
 on our onward road ; my spyglass was pnlled out 
 to its full length, and it was a long metallic tube, 
 and I had it levelled to catch an object seaward that I 
 wished to be acquainted with, when I heard, as over my 
 head, the sound of a harsh and angry voice, and 
 speaking in a language I did not understand. On 
 looking up, I perceived two women standing beside 
 me, in the red petticoat and brown gown of the 
 country. One, old and ugly, stood rating me at the 
 top of her voice, and using gesticulations that were 
 evidently menacing adjuncts to the displeasure of her 
 countenance ; the other, a younger person, seemed 
 to partake of the same temper, but she only used an 
 occasional interjection, and, pointing to the mountain 
 that stretched away to the south, and then to my 
 telescope, seemed as it were to connect the two 
 together in a concatenation that to all appearance 
 was not satisfactory. Perfectly unconscious of any 
 sinister intent, and desirous to please the fair sex, 
 I closed up my telescope, put it into my pocket, 
 and began to give the ladies some English in exchange 
 for their vernacular ; and as I had not time, even if 
 I knew how, to use any roundabout in the way of 
 pacifying, I took a sixpence out of my pocket, and 
 proffered it to the old objurgatory dame. O potent 
 bit of silver ! what a change came over the wrinkles, 
 of the beldame's mouth ! the very crow's-feet about 
 her eyes played away in new directions, — the arm 
 that was extended in menace was now smoothing 
 her petticoat, as she knelt down to bless me, and 
 the other woman joined in what appeared to me 
 
A CONCILIATION. 281 
 
 great thanks that I had repaid their anger with 
 kindness. 
 
 I departed with great good humour on both sides ; 
 they calling on Wurria — that is, Holy Mary — to 
 bless me, for I could so far understand their Irish ; 
 and I smiling and kissing hands to them in my 
 meekest mood. "When I rejoined my companions, 
 and told the circumstance to our driver, he laughed 
 heartily, and said that the ladies had mistaken my 
 telescope for a gun ; that they were, he believed, the 
 wife and daughter of the man whose business it was 
 to protect the game on the mountain from poachers, 
 and no doubt they considered me, when levelling my 
 telescope, as being intent on some death-dealing deed 
 of poaching. My sixpence, of course, convinced them, 
 as money has often satisfied in like manner, those 
 in authority, that I was or ought to be a very harmless 
 person. 
 
282 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A Boating voyage along the coast of Erris, an auspicious day, good ap- 
 pointments and good company — Belderrig— Benmore — Mountains cut 
 down, height of Cliffs — Headlands and bays — Different rock formations 
 — Wild goats — Rowing up to a mountain— Pass unexpectedly through a 
 fissure — Moista Sound, description — An explanation — A trap-dyke — 
 Porturlin— Increasing magnificence of Cliff scenery— The undertaking 
 of a fisherman— The natural Arch— Another trap-dyke— Scenery— Sea 
 Birds — Uses of trap-dykes — Interesting natural phenomenon — Loss 
 of a Coast-guard galley — Only one saved — His great exertions — C. O.'s 
 Sound — Portnacloy — Cave of Doonminalla, or rather Henri's cave — 
 Different appearance now from what it presented on my former visit — 
 The retreat of a Loyalist in 1798, his Roman Catholic friend— Ascent 
 of a Cliflf— A cave of another character— Get to the top — Grand view 
 — Eagles and their destructiveness — Anecdotes of them — A brave mother 
 — Courage of eagles and intelligence — How Manus M'Grath caught two 
 old ones — An eagle every day supplies an Erris Squire with his break- 
 fast — The reasoning powers of an eagle exercised. 
 
 We soon arrived at Belderrig, where we were to take 
 boat ; for going in company with Lieut. Henri, who 
 was returning to his own station, we were allowed by 
 the commanding officer of the station to make use of 
 the boat, and proceed westward with our friend. 
 
 There is nothing at all interesting at this place, 
 which is but a rude, and I should suppose in rough 
 weather a dangerous landing-place even for boats, 
 up whose high rocky beach they must be dragged, 
 to protect them from the surf which rolls in fearfully 
 at times on this wild coast. But nothing could be 
 calmer than the water now ; nothing better appointed 
 than our boat ; nothing more satisfactory than the ease, 
 regularity, and, at the same time, velocity with which 
 
CLIFF SCENERY. 283 
 
 the snow white cutter swept out of the cove, and 
 turned the point, as our course lay westward. I hold 
 myself to have been this day peculiarly fortunate, — so 
 much so, as repaying in full all former disappoint- 
 ments, and justifying me for my perseverance, in a 
 third time attempting to see the sea cliffs of Erris. 
 Give me a row-boat, such a one as I then enjoyed — 
 such companions — such oarsmen — such a cutter — 
 such a day — such a means to move without fatigue, 
 and without the inconvenience of over-heat or cold, 
 along such a coast as this, and I cannot imagine any 
 human enjoyment superior. I have travelled through 
 many lands, and if I have a pleasure in life it is in 
 travelling, not in the modern Anglo-Yankee accep- 
 tation of the word certainly, along and away under 
 the vile dominion of a steam power, so despotic that 
 you must submit — so cruel, that you cannot stop it, 
 however it may stop you. But I am sure that not 
 even on the Rhine, from Coblentz to Mayence, did I 
 enjoy such a day as this. 
 
 How shall I describe this magnificent coast, you 
 first get on between Horse Island and the mainland. 
 This island is comparatively tame, and there is 
 nothing calculated to strike your mind on it, or on the 
 mainland. And here is one interesting circumstance 
 connected with the coasting from east to west along 
 this shore — that every thing strikes you more and 
 more as increasing in magnificence. The cliffs now 
 begin to rise as you approach Benmore ; this is the 
 north-eastern terminus of a range of mountains of 
 prettily rounded forms, as you view them from 
 the interior ; and here the face of the northernmost 
 
284 CLIFF GOATS. 
 
 mountain has gone down into the deep, and a preci- 
 pice is presented of five hundred feet ; you row under 
 this — it is not absolutely perpendicular, — there are 
 ledges and slopes on it, clothed with vivid verdure, 
 contrasting delightfully with the grey mural preci- 
 pices above and below. These natural walls are here and 
 there riven and streaked with water-worn fissures, 
 down which cascades danced and sparkled like the 
 gleamings of silver lace in the sun ; here and there, 
 on these green ledges were white specks, that some- 
 times moved and changed positions ; some bounded 
 with the rapidity of birds from one level to another. 
 The boatmen said they were goats, wild and owner- 
 less, that had found refuge there time out of mind, 
 who kept possession of these inaccessible cliffs, and 
 bounded from range to range as secure as the fox, 
 the badger, or the eagle. Our telescopes allowed us to 
 fix upon one or two bearded patriarchs ; one stood out 
 on the " hoary brow" of a rock all tinted, and fringed 
 with ferns, lichens, and sedums ; and as he stamped 
 with his foot, he might, we thought, be fired at suc- 
 cessfully, and he challenged it, one would think, 
 by his solemn insolence ; but, thank goodness, we had 
 not the temptation of doing the creature an injury, 
 for we had no fire-arms, and if we had taken him 
 down, who would have been advantaged by the carcase 
 of a he-goat. 
 
 It was evident that the previous weather had, from 
 its constant rains, given a great increase to the vege- 
 tations on these cliffs, and the now hot sun and 
 placid breezes had given luxuriance to every thing 
 that could grow. I never saw any thing equal to the 
 
PRECIPICES. 285 
 
 painted variety of these precipices, and to the nume- 
 ous birds of land and sea that were exercising their 
 wings and throats all around us. It was the season 
 of incubation : what multitudes, what beauty and 
 variety of feather and form ! And every now and 
 then we would hear the plash of a seal, as he trun- 
 dled his bulk from a rock. We were rowing now 
 along the cord of an arc, the half circuit of which 
 was composed of those painted precipices — here a 
 point laughing in full sunshine — there a gorge cast 
 into mysterious shade ; and riven away from the 
 uppermost eminence, as struck by the trident of Nep- 
 tune, and brought down in varied wreck ; below were 
 immense masses of rock, around which the waves 
 moaned, gurgled, and spouted — some assuming the 
 forms of churches, others of towers, of chimneys, 
 of pyramids, of elephants, men on horseback, and 
 lawyers with their wigs ; and we now came along 
 the line of our semicircle, from Benmore to Benwee, 
 until we seemed directing the bow of our boat 
 directly against the face of a cliff so very perpen- 
 dicular, that not a sign of any green thing could be 
 seen, to tell that there was one spot where vegetation 
 could catch at : and still the boatmen determinately 
 bent to their oars, and the steersman held on his 
 course against this mountain-face, which rose 600 
 feet. It might, and indeed it did remind me of 
 Sinbad's incontrollable course, when nearing the 
 magnetic and talismanic mountain. 
 
 But soon the mystery of our course was solved ; 
 for Lieutenant Henri, who held the helm, by a slight 
 change of his hand turned the boat's head to star- 
 
286 MOISTA SOUND. 
 
 board, and all at once I saw, forward, a cleft in the 
 mountain-barrier, like a gigantic saw-cut, apparently 
 so narrow, and yet so straight, so cleanly cut, and so 
 distinct in the downright sunlight of noonday, that 
 when comparing this fissure with the gigantic objects 
 all around, it appeared as if a broad-shouldered man 
 could not pass through it, not to say a boat with 
 oars ; but we did, however, unhesitatingly, but with 
 reefed oars, proceed slowly and gracefully to pass 
 through — and indeed it was a sublime sight. 
 
 " Take off your hat, sir, and look up ; observe what 
 a clean cut it is ; mind how the walls on either side 
 are conformable — how the stratifications fit — how 
 the ochres and the lichens dispose their harmonious 
 tints all the way up — how here a mass of milkwhite 
 quartz, there a facet of shining mica sparkles in the 
 sun — below a cormorant skims his dull, heavy flight 
 through the chasm, and leads our way, not very 
 ominously — above, again, a flock of blue pigeons 
 has, on rapid wing, gone through also, glad as it 
 were of such a short cut through the mountain. I 
 am obliged to that eagle that has just opened out his 
 pinions on the brow of Islan Maistre, and one of 
 his feathers falls as he soars away, and comes down 
 in leisurely circles, and will, I hope, reach the boat 
 as it creeps onwards through the sound. — Rest on 
 your oars a little, boys ; why so fast ? the day is 
 long. I can never expect to see this again — give me 
 the means of such enjoyment a little longer." 
 
 But it is easier to feel, to wonder, and enjoy than 
 to describe. So, for want of power, I can only do 
 the best I can, and give you, reader, what I consider 
 
Moista Sound. 
 
MOISTA SOUND. 289 
 
 a very accurate drawing of Moista Sound, executed 
 on the spot by my friend Archdeacon Verschoyle, 
 who has so philosophically and so faithfully described 
 the geological formations of this coast, in his valuable 
 Memoir on the Northern Coast of Mayo and Sligo. 
 
 I would take this cut, as far as my eye could 
 judge, to be about two hundred yards. Mr. Henri, 
 in nautical phrase, asserted it to be somewhat more 
 than a cable-length. Well, we are now through, and 
 you look backwards and see the sunbeams shed- 
 ding their lucid glory on the green sea, eastward of 
 the chasm — a sea, to all appearance, surrounded on 
 all sides with stupendous precipices. And here you 
 have the grandeur of Alps and ocean combined, 
 and, looking on straight forward through the cut, 
 you see on the opposite precipice, in a direct line 
 eastward, a black line running down from the top to 
 the bottom of the mountain, until it sinks into the 
 sea; and this black ribband is apparently of the same 
 width as the cut you have passed through — What is 
 it ? It is a trap-dyke, whose dark, igneous, basaltic 
 mass is altogether distinct from the rock, on either 
 side — a great perpftidicular vein, dividing the strata 
 of the mountain. 
 
 "Now," says Mr. Henri, "don't you see the 
 cause of the fissure you have just passed through ? 
 It was once filled up with a trap vein — with a por- 
 tion of that very dyke that you see inserted directly 
 opposite you, and which has heretofore incontestably 
 filled up this gap." 
 
 But here I took leave to observe that the stone 
 forming a trap-dyke was generally of the hardest 
 
290 PORTURLIN. 
 
 texture, and most likely to resist the force of the sea, 
 and that I had, in many places, seen such dykes 
 running out from shore, braving the shock of ocean, 
 while all around was worn away. 
 
 "True," said Mr. H., "I do allow that there is 
 great hardness in these igneous formations, but it is 
 not the dyke that wears first, but the adjacent sides 
 of the rock, which in most cases are chemically 
 altered and disintegrated by the intense heat of the 
 fused trap as it bursts up from below. TRe mecha- 
 nical power of the sea then works, not on the trap, 
 but on its sides, which are worn away, and then the 
 dyke is left to stand by itself, unsupported, and soon 
 goes down, yielding to the ceaseless attacks of the 
 ocean." 
 
 "I have examined many of the sea caves on this 
 coast, and find that their formation was connected 
 with the causes I have just stated — but more of this 
 by-and-by." We now, having rounded a headland, 
 entered into the little refuge harbour of Porturlin. 
 I was glad that our boatmen were here to be changed, 
 not that they were not able, expert, kind and civil — 
 but the day was intensely warm, find I thought eight 
 miles was quite enough for one set of men to pull a 
 boat. 
 
 I have not much to say of Porturlin ; it is but the 
 mouth of a glen that passes through the mountain- 
 barrier of this extraordinary coast. The force of the 
 sea has thrown up a rapidly-shelving beach, some 
 forty or fifty feet high, paved with huge rolled stones. 
 Behind this immense glacis is a little lake, from 
 which the fresh water trickles down, through the 
 

A CLIMBING FISHERMAN. 293 
 
 rolled stones, to the sea. It is supposed a canal 
 might be cut through the beach into the lake, where 
 boats might find shelter. I should imagine that 
 such a cut would be filled up by the force of one 
 storm from the north-west. 
 
 Having got another boat and crew, now under the 
 command of Lieutenant Henri, we started for Portna- 
 cloy, and again we were called on for continued 
 admiration. The mountains rose higher and higher, 
 and consecutively these mountains were also broken 
 down, as they appear to be all along this coast — the 
 precipices became higher, and the ruins of the great 
 breakage more various and magnificent ; and still we 
 kept under the cliffs, and safely on the placid sea 
 kept our way, hugging the shore. And now a long 
 and lofty headland stood out northward, and beyond 
 it stretched a long island, high and rocky, through 
 the centre of which an arch is worn, looking through 
 which you can see afar off the sun-lit ocean ; rising 
 out of its bosom the as yet distant Stags of Broad- 
 haven. Were we to go through this arch that had 
 been perforated through the island, which bears the 
 euphonic name of Pig, or in Irish, Innismuck, or were 
 we to pass between the headland and the island? 
 
 While I was thus uncertain of our course, one of the 
 boatmen showed us where a man, who with his 
 corragh was on this side of the headland, and hear- 
 ing that his neighbours were taking plenty of fish on 
 the other side, and aware that he dare not, in the 
 rough sea, attempt to work round, actually fixed 
 his boat on his back, and carried it over at a place so 
 perpendicular, that it would appear scarcely possible 
 
294 THE NATURAL ARCH. 
 
 for him to carry himself. While talking of the 
 resolute energy of the man, our steersman had 
 rounded a point of cliff unobserved by me, and all 
 at once another magnificent passage presented itself, 
 which I had the honour of passing through. This 
 is similar in height and breadth to Moista Sound, 
 but much more interesting. For some forty or fifty 
 feet above the level of the water, the passage is closed 
 up at top, and underneath is a natural arch. You get 
 under this without any difficulty, in the present 
 placid state of the sea, and you see at once that you 
 owe to a perforated trap-dyke the opening that is 
 formed for you. And now you are under this arch — 
 look up — your boat has somewhat more room here 
 than at Moista. Observe the black mass of basalt 
 overhead — it goes up from thence 500 feet. What 
 is to hinder this vein, twelve feet thick, from coming 
 down and crushing you ? I am sure I cannot tell. 
 It has no key- stone, no wedge-like masses of rock. Is 
 my friend Henri right, and is the trap safe and sure 
 above, beyond the action of the sea, that has no 
 power of working away at the disintegrated rock on 
 either side ? Be this as it may, here is a stupendous 
 bridge, some 600 feet high, and as noble an arch as any 
 in the world, by means of which you pass right through, 
 a lofty and long headland from one bay into another. 
 The poor fisherman who carried his boat on his 
 back over the six hundred feet of headland, dare not 
 venture through in a stiff gale ; it is well we had our 
 opportunity — what a contrast this gloomy arch 
 presents to all that is bright and sunny in the land- 
 locked bays on either side. The basalt is black over- 
 
USE OF TRAP-DYKES. 295 
 
 head ; the sides have no tints save those of sombre 
 ochre ; and there is, while your boat is kept station- 
 ary, a drop, heavy and fast coming down on either 
 side of you. I am not sure whether the clamour 
 here of the sea birds that were soaring and circling 
 all around, their multifarious and multitudinous voices, 
 their black, white, blue and grey colours, two or three 
 eagles as it were reposing on their broad wings high 
 overall, and sending out occasionally their lordly voices, 
 which I cannot describe better than likening them to 
 an angry man's laugh, — I say, I am not sure whether 
 all this animal din might not be too much for delicate 
 ears ; but in such a place, amidst all the natural 
 grandeur, with every thing in keeping — so savage — it 
 was to me a glorious accompaniment, befitting a 
 scene where man was but a rare intruder on the 
 nesting-place of the oceanic birds, and the home of 
 the eagle. 
 
 Mr. Henri, with a well-exercised sea-officer-voice 
 overcoming the universal clamour, observed, that 
 from what he has seen here, he has, with admiration 
 at the provisions of an all-wise Providence, come to 
 the conclusion that trap-dykes are the feeders of 
 springs, by conducting the waters that fall on the 
 mountains to the interior of the earth. " The proba- 
 bility that such is the case may have struck many 
 when walking about a dyke, but the absolute fact I 
 strongly suspect few have had an opportunity of 
 observing besides myself. The circumstance I allude 
 to is this: after a very rainy night, I once sought 
 shelter under this archway from a heavy rain squall, 
 but on approaching it obliquely, I was much dis- 
 
296 GRAND UMBRELLA. 
 
 appointed at finding that to all appearance it offered 
 quite the reverse of what I sought, as the water was 
 falling from its roof in streams. By placing my boat, 
 however, directly under the dyke, I was enabled to 
 keep all hands perfectly dry, between two sheets of 
 water that fell from the sides of it, and formed queer 
 and uncomfortable looking curtains on either side of 
 us. My situation, I believe you will readily admit, 
 was a novel one." 
 
 Leaving the arch, which is certainly the greatest 
 coast curiosity I have yet seen, we rowed out into an 
 open sunlit bay, surrounded on all sides except the 
 north by precipices six and seven hundred feet high, 
 and the bay itself studded with ledges, reefs, and 
 pointed crests of rocks, that rose on all sides from the 
 now calm translucent sea; all so quiet — I will not 
 call it a grim repose, for all was as beautiful as grand ; 
 it was no doubt the rest of the passionate — such a 
 rest that you felt it was a pity that any thing so 
 peaceful should again lash itself into foam. But you 
 saw indeed marks of past fury all around ; not alone 
 the riot of the ocean, but the remains of uptorn and 
 cast-down mountains — the contortions of stratifications 
 above — the debris of cast-down hills below. And now 
 in our little fragile boat we were winning our pleasant 
 way, not amidst ruins of the works of men's hands, 
 but the ruins of nature — ruins evincing that forces were 
 employed even grander and mightier than the mag- 
 nificent foundations they were commissioned to over- 
 throw. And on we glided; and what if a squall 
 should come on — what if, before we got into the 
 haven where we would be, the wind should call on 
 
A SAD EVENT. 297 
 
 the sea to awake and get up — to arise and dance, 
 and toss, and hiss, and roar amidst these rocks ? It 
 is no mere possibility, such an event occurring. 
 Alas ! such often takes place : and in one of those 
 sudden squalls, a coast-guard galley's crew not long ago 
 was surprised; about this very spot the boat was upset, 
 and the crew all but one perished; amongst whom was 
 a worthy and valuable officer, Lieutenant Ricketts, the 
 inspecting officer of these stations ; a chief officer 
 and four boatmen shared his fate. The one got on 
 yonder reef; he rested himself there for a few 
 moments, and then watching a lull of the sea, got 
 ashore at the foot of yonder precipice. 
 
 " Look," said Mr. H.; "see how it rises like a 
 wall ; you would think no goat, no fox, no wild cat, 
 could ascend, nothing that had not a wing ; yet the 
 fine powerful fellow, struggling for life, escaping from 
 the surging sea below, did get up, and arrived in 
 safety at Portnacloy, to announce the calamity that 
 had befallen his comrades." 
 
 Proceeding onwards along this ever varying coast 
 we now reached a headland, extremely interesting for 
 the contortions of its exposed stratifications, for the 
 caves that perforate it : the black basalt of the trap- 
 dyke here is clothed fold over fold with encircling and 
 overlapping vestments of mica slate ; no knotted 
 and fine veined piece of mahogany could present so 
 many twistings and configurations as this point of At- 
 tatovick.* A little further, we came to another sound, 
 
 * " There is a point half way between Porturlin and Port- 
 nacloy remakable for its contorted strata ; it is misnamed in 
 the Ordnance survey. It has always been called by the 
 
 o 2 
 
298 c. o/s pass. 
 
 where an island is separated from the mainland by 
 a fissure almost as straight in its cut, and as clean and 
 lofty as that of Moista ; this place is so much en- 
 cumbered with rocks, and presents such a formidable 
 Scylla and Charybdis aspect, that in the memory of 
 Mr. Henri, now seventeen years on this coast, no 
 boat had ever attempted to make the passage. The 
 day was singularly calm and clear, not a ripple on 
 the water, which was so transparent that every rock, 
 every plant that fathoms deep clothed with its graceful 
 festoonings, the unequal bottom, all were visible ; the 
 very Medusae and animal flowers seemed to expand 
 their purple petals and delicate tentaculse, as if they 
 were rather suspended in air than in ocean. I there- 
 fore had the hardihood to propose that we should 
 attempt the passage of the sound, and Mr. H. 
 consented, and with caution and expertness the pas- 
 sage ivas made ; and we had an opportunity of see- 
 ing, what, if by itself, and only to be observed on 
 any other shore, would have caused astonishment 
 and admiration ; as it is, it is very little inferior to 
 Moista Sound. I like to think that, when this coast 
 becomes, as it so well deserves, the resort of tourists, 
 
 natives Fohercloiheen, (I cannot ascertain the meaning of 
 the Tvord,) the large rock between which and it we passed in 
 the boat, is called Spink ; the former (Fohercloiheen) is 
 called in the Ordnance map, and Archdeacon Verschoyle 
 has also fallen into the mistake, Attatovick Point. There is 
 a cliff just on the eastern side of the eastern point of Port- 
 nacloy called Altatovick, and I suspect that the mistake 
 arose from the Ordnance surveyor standing on it when he 
 asked the name of Fohercloiheen, and that his informant 
 mistook the inquirer's meaning." — Extract from Mr. Henri's 
 Letter, 
 
DOONMINALLA CAVE. 299 
 
 when there are roads and hotels, guides and gnide 
 books, this sound will be denominated as C. O.'s 
 Pass. 
 
 We now entered the deep little bight of Portnacloy ; 
 a good place of shelter for boats, and which is, in 
 fact, the mouth of a glen that cuts the mountains here 
 at right angles to the sea, and sends down the drain- 
 age of a few narrow valleys to the ocean. Here we 
 changed our boat and crew again, and set out for the 
 promontory and cave of Doonminalla. 
 
 The reader of this little volume must be aware 
 that I had visited this cave on a former occa- 
 sion, and under circumstances very different indeed 
 from the present ; it was then in the very worst 
 period of the most inclement autumn that has been 
 remembered in Ireland; and by the fortuitous circum- 
 stance of the wind blowing off the land, I was 
 enabled, even in stormy weather, to get an entrance 
 into this cave, whose accessibility had been denied to 
 many that have sought it, and that for months to- 
 gether. I was now privileged to visit it again, under 
 the most favourable circumstances, and I am glad 
 that I was able to see the whole scene under such 
 different aspects. Now the entrance was effected 
 without any difficulty, in the midst of calm and sun- 
 shine, and we had an opportunity of admiring in this 
 great cavity, the magnificent contrast of light and 
 shade and the soft harmonious sigh of the sea, as it 
 breathed out its gentleness along the distant recesses 
 of this hall of Neptune : there was now nothing 
 within that was alarming or repulsive. On a former 
 occasion, the cormorant, driven in from the foaming 
 
300 
 
 A FINE LOOK-OUT. 
 
 sea, despairing of its supper, was flapping its dark 
 wing, and uttering its uncouth shriek as our boat scared 
 it from where it stood brooding. Now the nasty bird 
 was far away, fishing : no sound was heard to break 
 upon the ocean murmur, but the cooing of the 
 pigeon, as it courted its mate on the ledges of the 
 lofty dome. And then, what a look out ! If ever any 
 one wishes to look forth upon a glorious prospect, let 
 him betake himself to a cave, stand back far 
 from its entrance, and then observe. I wish I 
 had some Turner with me now, not a mere draughts- 
 man — black lead won't do, I must have a colourist, — 
 I must have one who can catch tints, and make the 
 varying bloom and blushes of nature his own. What a 
 glorious picture he might here create. The interior 
 cavern with all its ledges, recesses, and buttresses, re- 
 lieved or shaded, its swelling dome decorated with the 
 wild fretwork and fantastic tracery of nature, coloured 
 with ochres, lichens, and marine parasites, and these 
 moreover whitened and yellowed, and made to look si- 
 milar in colour and form by the absence of light ; here 
 sparkles of crystal, there white masses of quartz rock; 
 even the very exuviae of the sea birds as they stained 
 the strata, adding to the variety, and making a portion 
 of the harmonious keeping of this great visible obscure; 
 and then to look out from under the distant dark arch, 
 it cutting on the serene azure of the sunny sky, the 
 streak of the evening sun, a line of molten silver 
 on the green ocean, the magnificent Stags of Broad- 
 haven, seven in number, seen just at hand, the cavern 
 acting as a sort of picture tube to bring them near 
 and add to their distinctness. See, how they rise like 
 
A DOON. 301 
 
 cones from the water ; the tops of marine mountains 
 similar to the reeks of M'Gillicuddy at Killarney, or 
 the pins of Benabola in Connemara, all so like and 
 yet so different, all exposing their manifold and con- 
 trasted stratifications as they rise in different in- 
 clination from the sea level, here a white line of milk 
 quartz, there a black streak of shale or basalt. 
 
 There are no sea rocks I have ever seen, and I believe 
 I have seen all around England, Ireland, and a great 
 part of Scotland, to equal in beauty of form, eleva- 
 tion, and singularity of grouping, the Stags of Broad- 
 haven. And turn your boat a little to the right side of 
 the cave, and you will catch a view of Kid Island, 
 very elevated and varied in its outline, and you may, 
 on this rarely frequented and dangerous sea, observe 
 the sun just sparkling on the rigging of a vessel so 
 far off that its hull is down, and she knows she has 
 no business, no not in serene weather, near this iron 
 bound coast. But enough of the Cave of Doonmi- 
 nalla. I have seen it in weather rough and smooth, 
 and comparing it with every other sea-worn cavern, 
 it is decidedly the grandest, because .in height, 
 breadth, and capacity, it is more like the dome of a 
 great temple.* , 
 
 Leaving the cave, we had time to look about the 
 exterior of this great headland, which, as its name, 
 Doonminalla denotes, is a natural fortress that might 
 be made even more impregnable than Gibraltar, and 
 
 * The annexed wood-cut of Doonminalla promontory is 
 taken from a rough pencil sketch, made while approaching it. 
 All practical sketchers must be aware of the difficulty of 
 drawing any thing well while in a row-boat in rapid motion. 
 
302 
 
 THE RETREAT OF THE FEARFUL, 
 
 no doubt it was used as a retreat in old times, — a 
 refuge and a rallying point for the Vikingyr, or Sea 
 Kings. In the year 1798, a Protestant gentleman, 
 holding property in Erris, and fearing that he was 
 obnoxious to the people, retreated to this promontory 
 
 which is accessible only at a single spot, and by a 
 single person at a time ; and he not to say climbed, but 
 scaled, what from below, appears a perpendicular pre- 
 cipice. Up here he lifted his family ; up here he 
 hoisted some furniture and utensils ; he made him- 
 self a sort of boolie or sheeling, under the shelter of 
 a rock, and here he remained for upwards of six 
 weeks, (it was well for him that the weather of that 
 year was so mvariably fine,) a poor Roman Catholic 
 schoolmaster, who was his fosterer, coming occasion- 
 ally to him with provisions and news, and watching 
 over his safety with all the devotedness that has so 
 often marked that connection, almost peculiar to 
 Ireland, not of blood, but of the human bosom. 
 
 This headland, besides being excavated by the large 
 opening which I have just now attempted to describe, 
 has more caverns, all which, it is probable, may in 
 
Ireland's left shoulder. 303 
 
 process of time be united. There is one called " The 
 Kitchen," at the back of the "Grand Parlour," with 
 which it is said there is already a communication. 
 Having doubled this headland, being desirous to 
 ascend Benwee, the highest precipice that overhangs 
 the ocean here, and after having taken our views 
 from the sea-level, now see what a thousand feet 
 higher would do for us. We pushed into a cove 
 surrounded on all sides but one by precipices, and, dis- 
 missing our boat's crew to return to Portnacloy, 
 undertook to ascend the cliffs, — and a pretty ascent it 
 was, on a day the most broiling of any that had shone 
 on Ireland for two years. 
 
 ' Reader, I wish you a good pair of lungs, as well as 
 legs, when you would climb an almost perpendicular 
 cliff of five hundred feet elevation. I wish you also a 
 good draught of sherry and water, when you get half- 
 way up, and a still larger swig when you get to the 
 top ; for, rest assured, that not a small quantity of 
 your animal liquids will bid you a farewell, in your 
 exercise of hands, feet, and lungs, as you struggle 
 upwards. But who would not waste a little of their 
 animal moisture for the sake of seeing the whole 
 north-western coast of Ireland ; and this is the very 
 point — the left shoulder-knot, if I may so say, of the 
 island, and you can see the long range of coast south- 
 ward, as well as what trends eastward and by north. 
 
 Well, we are landed on the rough beach, where 
 huge granite, greenstone, and quartz rocks have under- 
 gone the rubbing process for thousands of years, and 
 are almost as smooth and as round as marbles. 
 Then here, as you approach the natural wall that rises 
 
304 WARM WORK. 
 
 in our face for two or three hundred feet, you see it 
 sparkling with crystals, presenting their multitu- 
 dinous facets to the sun, and you are disposed to 
 linger here to strike off specimens, and bring home 
 for the ladies some of the curiosities of Benwee. But 
 whether successful or not, it is not my task to tell. 
 So, up we go clambering ; and the mouth of a cave 
 opened about eighty feet from the sea beach, and we 
 entered and found it curious, not for any beauty, or 
 for size, — for it does not enter far in, — but it runs 
 like a perpendicular pipe upwards, some fifty or sixty 
 feet, and the walls of it are all white, or rather cream 
 coloured, and it is full of a fine sand, the deposit of 
 the decomposed quartz rock. In fact, this is only 
 the vein of a soft portion of the surrounding silicious 
 formation, and the percolation of water has loosened 
 it and carried portions of it away, and so formed this 
 cave — in dry and warm weather a quiet and cool 
 place to rest in, and look out on the magnificent and 
 melancholy sea, and hear no sound but its solemn 
 moan, except the passionate challenge of the eagle, 
 as he stands on his rock-perch, and, as it were, demands 
 why his dominion is disturbed. I said it was no small 
 exertion to get up the tortuous track that leads to the 
 
 top ; — I wish Mrs. H , or Lady C , or any 
 
 other petticoat tourist, were here to try it, I think the 
 eagles would clap their wings, laugh out lustily, and 
 cry, "Well done, blue-stockings!" if, while cased in 
 stays and bustle, and all the feminine armour trusted 
 in to catch and captivate mankind, they should also 
 conquer this tough difficulty. 
 
 But we are at the top, having stripped coat and 
 waistcoat to grapple with it — and no water to be had 
 
VIEW FROM BENWEE. 305 
 
 — and it is the hottest sun that shone on Ireland for 
 two years! The ragged sheep are lying panting 
 under the hoggy banks of the mountain ; the cliff- 
 crow has his red bill open as he perches, oppressed with 
 this unusual sunbeam, on the ledges of the precipice, 
 and he has his wings loose from his body, as it were to 
 gather air around his beating heart. I scarcely ever felt 
 the sun so powerful, or its intensity of light so great, 
 — for the rocks reflected it, the sea reflected it from 
 every wavelet below, that answered to the gentle ruffle 
 of a passing air-stream, and became a mirror to rever- 
 berate it upwards. All around, indeed, was in splendid 
 repose. I had thought, when rowing along this sub- 
 lime coast, that nothing could exceed the view up- 
 wards from the sea level ; and now I considered 
 again, when on the top of the cliff, and just at the 
 place where we had reached the high land, that 
 the sight was finer ; for here, in the centre of a 
 crescent, of which Doonminalla formed the right horn 
 and Benwee Head the left — was the whole semi- 
 circle between the two headlands composed of the 
 most shattered, broken-down, ruined cliffs that can 
 possibly be imagined ; just as if the mountain had been 
 blown up with gunpowder, and masses of huge ruins 
 of rock lay tumbling all around. Here crack behind 
 crack, going back into the mountain, and presenting 
 long parallel chasms, similar to what I had seen on 
 Slieve Crohan, in Achill. Here a piece of the mountain 
 had slipped down along the inclined plane of a smooth 
 stratum, and what once formed an upper peak, was now 
 some hundred feet half-way down, presenting most 
 picturesquely its broken continuity. It is, indeed, a 
 
306 
 
 A CLIFF SLIPPED DOWN. 
 
 slip of singular interest and grandeur. I despair of 
 giving an idea of its appearance even with a drawing, 
 which was hastily sketched on the moment. Below, the 
 
 green, pellucid, beryl sea, with its everlasting sigh, 
 which comes up here in solemn cadence, a sea which 
 is never seen to such advantage as from a great height, 
 and especially as when here, many fathoms deep, 
 its varied bottom can be observed, covered with its 
 luxuriant vegetations. 
 
 But now we must ascend Benwee, the highest 
 point of this cut-down mountain-range of North 
 Mayo — and we did so. A glorious eminence it is, 
 indeed. The face of the precipice, as you looked 
 downwards, seemed perpendicular, except that here 
 and there was a dark streak, denoting a ledge, on 
 which we could see young eaglets on their nests, and 
 old birds either soaring or perching near at hand. I 
 
THE "WOMAN AND THE EAGLE. 307 
 
 never saw so many of these birds at a time, except at 
 Horn Head, in Donegal. Mr. H. said, that though 
 eagles were, no doubt, a good accompaniment to a 
 scene of such grandeur as that we were now looking 
 out on, yet they were extremely mischievous ; not 
 content with their exploits at sea, and along the bays 
 and rivers, where they pounce on the mackerell or 
 the salmon, they hunt the hares on the mountain- 
 side, destroy the grouse, carry off the lambs, some- 
 times kill, and in collected numbers devour the sheep. 
 In fact they have rendered Erris, which to all ap- 
 pearance should be one of the finest districts for 
 game in the British islands, one of the worst for the 
 sportsman that can be imagined. 
 
 One of the men in our company, while we were 
 looking down on them, and making eagles the subject 
 of our chat, observed, that they sometimes attacked 
 christhens, and he told of a woman near Mount 
 Nephin, who not long ago went to dig potatoes in an 
 adjoining field, and carried along with her the babe 
 she was nursing ; and preparatory to her work, she 
 laid her child down on the sunny side of the ditch 
 and there left it, as she thought, quite safe. But 
 while engaged in her task, an eagle pounced down on 
 the little one ; but luckily, instead of plunging its talons 
 into its head, they struck through, and were entangled in 
 its flannel frock ; and thus fastened, though the bird had 
 not power of wing to soar at once aloft, it would every 
 now and then rise from the ground, and passing on 
 a little would touch the earth again, and so the child 
 was half carried, half dragged along. In this peril- 
 ous predicament, the mother rushed across the po- 
 
308 A BRAVE YOUTH. 
 
 tato ridges, and spade in hand (for what will not a 
 mother do ?) boldly attacked the spoiler, and not 
 only succeeded in recovering her infant, but in killing 
 the bird. This scene would be a fine subject for a 
 picture. I should think there is an artist in Ireland 
 that could with great fidelity of grouping, and force 
 of colouring, depict the young Connaught woman 
 handsome, and yet fierce, in the severity of her 
 maternal feelings, battling with the ravisher of her 
 little one. 
 
 This fact of the Tyrawly woman gave rise to a 
 conversation on eagles, and Mr. Henri remarked, 
 " a few days ago I saw a hare shot, and the gun was 
 scarcely discharged, when an eagle suddenly appeared 
 and seemed very much disposed to dispute the prize. 
 Indeed, the boldness," said he, " of these birds at 
 times, when compared with their general wariness, is sur- 
 prising, and I am almost disposed to believe that they 
 not only know the effects of a gun, but that by some 
 sense, they ascertain whether it is loaded or not. 
 My friend, Lieutenant Sterne, of Ballycastle, told 
 me the following circumstance, which came lately 
 within his knowledge. He had gone across Killala 
 Bay to hold a court of inquiry at Pullackenny (county 
 of Sligo), where he was shown a very large claw of 
 an eagle, that was killed in the following manner : 
 A young lad, whose father is a coast-guard man, 
 shot a sea gull on the shore, and was on the point of 
 picking it up, when to his astonishment, an eagle 
 disputed possession of it, and seized him by the arm 
 with his talons. The young fellow then drew his 
 knife from his pocket, opened it with one hand 
 
m'grath overtakes two eagles. 309 
 
 and his teeth, and succeeded in dispatching his 
 assailant. 
 
 "And here's for another yarn on the subject, with 
 this difference — it occurred at home. Having not long 
 ago heard an extraordinary story of one Marcus 
 M'Grath, of Caryatyge, (a village near me,) having 
 caught two full grown eagles, I sent my servant Owen, 
 to hear the particulars, which were as follows : — 
 M'Grath, while on his way to Bally castle, perceived 
 on the mountain, inside Porturlin, two eagles fight- 
 ing, who after many struggles in the air, fell nearly 
 exhausted close beside him. On perceiving him, the 
 birds endeavoured to make off, but either through 
 weakness, or want of wind, they were unable to rise 
 on the wing, and so after a short race, he stunned 
 one with a blow of his stick, and having secured 
 by throwing his coat over it, he pursued the other, 
 and succeeded after a time, in knocking it down also, 
 he then attempted to carry his birds along, but find- 
 ing it rather too tough a job, he pulled out their 
 wing feathers, and left his prizes behind him, pro- 
 ceeding onwards to Ballycastle. 
 
 " On his return five days after his capture, strange 
 to say, he fell in with his birds many miles asunder, 
 and secured them. He sold them afterwards to a 
 person of the name of Glennan, for five shillings, 
 who sent them to his father, an eminent bird pre- 
 server in Dublin, but either from starvation or de- 
 spair, from having the feathers pulled out, by which 
 alone they could soar on high, they died on their 
 passage to Dublin. Perhaps this is a solitary in- 
 
310 A BREAKFAST SUPPLIED BY EAGLES. 
 
 stance of the capture of two full-grown eagles at the 
 same time by one man. 
 
 " Shall I go on V says Mr. Henri ; " for I have 
 other anecdotes." 
 
 " Oh, by all means." 
 
 " Well, here I go. When I first came to this 
 country, a respectable old gentleman, then living, 
 told me, and pledged his word to the truth of his 
 statement, that for three weeks he daily had a fresh 
 herring for his breakfast, obtained in the following 
 singular way : — One of his tenants, every morning 
 watched an eagle's nest on the adjoining cliff, and 
 immediately on observing the old ones leave the nest, 
 he descended to the ledge where the young birds 
 were, and tied a woollen string tight round their 
 necks, and then hid himself. The old ones on re- 
 turning with a fish, and observing their children 
 unable to eat it, immediately flew away to get another, 
 supposing that the young rascals were capricious, 
 and they must indulge them with a herring more to 
 their liking. On the soaring away of the old birds, 
 the fish was taken away and the string removed, and 
 so the old master got his fresh-herring breakfast." 
 
 On hearing this I could not help smiling. 
 
 " Why do you smile ?" said my friend. 
 
 " For the reason," said I ; " did you ever read my 
 ' Sketches in the South of Ireland? 5 " 
 
 " No, indeed, I did not." 
 
 " Perhaps it is well for your character as a true 
 story teller, you did not ; for therein it is related that 
 'the wife of O' Sullivan Bear, in the time of Queen 
 
EAGLES PHILOSOPHERS. 311 
 
 Elizabeth, was supported by a fosterer, who resorted 
 to a trick of the very same nature to despoil the 
 eaglets of their due, and convey it to his mistress." 
 
 " Well," says Mr. Henri, " both events may 
 very well have occurred, but still there is a difference. 
 What the Kerry fosterer did for necessity's sake, 
 the Erris follower did, out of curiosity, to have it to 
 say that his master's breakfast was supplied by eagles. 
 And really the more I have considered the habits of 
 these birds, the more I am struck with their saga- 
 city : and with respect to them, and their doings, it 
 is hard for me to draw the line between instinct and 
 reason, both which qualities appear (to use a geolo- 
 gical phrase) to pass into each other, and that so 
 gradually, as to make it difficult to ascertain where 
 one begins, and the other ends. In proof of my as- 
 sertion, I need only mention, that a servant of mine, 
 a full-grown young woman, about twenty years of 
 age, was some few years ago lying, face downwards, 
 on the edge of a cliff, about six hundred feet in 
 height, looking out for some lambs beneath, when, 
 to make use of her own words, * she thought that a 
 cloud had suddenly fallen on her,' and to her great 
 dismay, found that her head was grasped by the 
 talons of an eagle, that had cut her scalp deeply on 
 either side ; which, when she succeeded in driving 
 off the bold bird, bled profusely. Now, as instinct 
 would have taught the bird (I presume) what it could 
 lift, and as it never could have been vain enough to 
 think it could fly off with nine stones of bones, blood 
 and blue veins, it struck me at the time, that the fea- 
 thered philosopher reasoned thus : — ' Here's a tit bit 
 
312 EAGLES HUNTING. 
 
 poised nearly at her centre of gravity, on the top 
 of a cliff. And if I can only assist her, by alighting 
 on and adding my weight to her head in getting to 
 the bottom, what glorious pickings I shall have/ 
 Now, sir, should you, or any other person be dis- 
 posed to differ with me on this subject, you may visit 
 the same eminence at Cranbay, and observe, as you 
 readily may, a brace of eagles cruising in company, 
 then listen to their barking — see their sudden pounc- 
 ings at the banks beneath, evidently intended to start 
 their game ; and when the hapless hare is driven by 
 fright from its form in the sand hills, just mind 
 how knowingly one bird keeps in the rear to take 
 advantage of the turn ! ! and if you, or any other 
 gentleman are not converted to my opinion, I give 
 up my position as untenable." 
 
313 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 View from Benwee — A proud man made humble — Erris black mail — A 
 man-hunt and a man-setter — Thief taken in an Eagle's nest — Dog's fate 
 — His character as a musician — His harmony in a Chapel— Though 
 well intended not approved — Anecdote of another Sheep-stealer made 
 as dead as mutton by a sheep — Dunkeegan — Entrance of Broadhaven — 
 Glengad — Cromleaoh and rocking-stone — Fair sex of an Erris village 
 — A promising instructress — A sick youth, not troubled with doctors — 
 The bloody glen — Duncarton — A Giant's Grave — Giants find graves in 
 other lands besides Ireland — A little antiquarian anger — Parting from a 
 valued friend — Voyage up Glenamoy river — Are ladies' bathing like 
 seals — Scenes not very picturesque — Bog timber — How did it grow and 
 when did it grow — Walk across a red bog — Bog mirage — Its decep- 
 tions — Instance of a conscientious feeling — A district unimproved very 
 improvable. 
 
 There is a coast-guard signal station near the brow 
 of this great headland, one thousand feet above the 
 ocean ; it may be supposed what a great range of 
 vision is here, and on such a day as we enjoyed, it 
 was to be sure glorious — all around, land and ocean 
 enjoying the unilsual repose of an Atlantic calm. I 
 have already attempted to describe what might be 
 seen seaward. Turning our backs on the northern 
 ocean, and looking southwards, there was a curious 
 mixture of land and water. Reader, bear in mind 
 that the range of mountains, forming the coast of 
 Erris, I have just passed along, being cut down from 
 their very tops, and presenting a perpendicular face 
 to the sea, slopes gradually inland for some miles, so 
 that the rain winch falls within a few yards of the 
 edge of these cliffs, nows inland, and as no small 
 
314 VIEW SOUTHWARDS. 
 
 quantity weeps from the clouds, ravines are worn, 
 which lead not into the cliffs, but at right angles to 
 them, and into the Glenamoy river, and the estuary 
 of Inver forming the eastern branch of Broadhaven. 
 From the signal station we were now looking out 
 from, apparently at our foot lay the long and narrow 
 peninsula of the Mullet, an ugly uninteresting looking 
 district, all brown with bog, or grey with sand ; near us 
 the bay and harbour of Broadhaven. Further south, 
 and almost joining it at Belmullet, the still larger 
 and more important inlet of Blacksod, one of the 
 most capacious landlocked harbours in Ireland — com- 
 municating, as it does, with Clew Bay, by means of 
 the Sound of Achill ; there might be an interior 
 navigation here of upwards of fifty miles, and cer- 
 tainly it is surrounded by as fine and various an 
 amphitheatre of mountains as any in the British 
 isles. Looking down from the cliff of Benwee, upon 
 all this intermixture of land and water, with the 
 large and desolate lake of Carrowmore sparkling to 
 the south-east, and the whole surface of the visible 
 earth (except in a few partial spots,) covered with 
 the dull, desolate, sorrowful mantle of brown bog, with 
 no sail upon the waters, no town on the shores,* no 
 habitation inland, except here and there a few huts 
 huddled together, forming the ugliest thing in nature 
 — a Connaught village ; you could scarcely suppose 
 you were on a part of the British isles, or a portion 
 of that empire which is the most wealthy, prosper- 
 ous, and speculative in the world ; an empire that 
 is now exercising its mighty energies of capital and 
 
 * The new town of Belmullet is not visible from this point. 
 
A PROUD STOMACH 315 
 
 industry to people and to cultivate the sands of 
 x\ustralia, and the dense forests of New Zealand ; 
 and here is a district in a state of nature, ay, worse 
 than a state of nature ; for man seems to have yet 
 done little else than disfigure and abuse a tract 
 that might, in its improvable wastes, its teeming 
 waters, its land that may all (except the mountain 
 tops,) be made productive, the sea capable' of sup- 
 plying it with abundance of manure ; and its bays, 
 in which the most abounding fisheries might be esta- 
 blished. What is the reason for all this ? Why, if 
 I were some English, American, or Continental 
 tourist, who came to view our country through the 
 coloured glasses of his own pre-conceived theory, I 
 might have at once laid down the cause, and the cure 
 for all this. But as I am a poor ignorant Irishman, 
 who, of course, knows nothing of my own country, 
 why I hesitate before I state the gnosis, the diagnosis, 
 or remedy for this disease. At the same time, 
 maybe, I'll dare to try, before I finish my book, and 
 give an humble opinion on the subject, in a chapter 
 which the reader may skip over, if it so pleases him. 
 I asked my friend, Mr. Henri, while looking 
 abroad from this lofty station, "did his men come up 
 here during the winter ?" " Yes, they take it in turn, 
 except on days which frequently occur, when there is 
 such a mist on the signal station that nothing can be 
 observed from it." "And how do the men like such 
 a post ?" "Why, as to their liking it, that is not 
 the question, it is their duty, and they know it is for 
 rough or smooth to be performed. I suppose it is 
 not a very desirable service, and aware of it, I made 
 
316 BROUGHT DOWN. 
 
 use of it some time since to reclaim a proud man. 
 Some years ago, a fine, tall, powerful fellow was sent 
 to the station under my command, lie was abounding 
 in self-importance and whiskers ; born and bred in 
 Munster, he somehow considered himself as a de- 
 scendant of Irish kings, and though he had less 
 education, less knowledge, and less expertness than 
 the generality of my men, he carried his nose in the 
 air, and sought to go it with me and others gay and 
 easy. It so happened that a road was much wanting 
 to be made from the little range of cottages where my 
 men live, to the adjacent village, and so down to the 
 sea. This deficiency w r as a great inconvenience to 
 the men themselves and their families, and, there- 
 fore, in rough weather, when nothing could be done 
 at sea, or at any distance from home, I set the men to 
 work at making the road, which they all most gladly 
 engaged in, except my man of might from Munster, 
 and he, forsooth, came to me, and begged I would 
 excuse him, for that he never was accustomed to 
 manual labour. So I determined to humour the 
 son of Brian Boru, and replied, ' Oh, indeed, my 
 good sir, I beg your pardon ; I would be quite sorry 
 that you should do what is not suitable for you; you 
 will therefore go up to the station post on Benwee ; 
 it is a little chilly to be sure, and rough up there, but 
 watch your opportunities, and you may now and then 
 have a look out in the offing ; you had better keep 
 moving up and down, lest you should go asleep and 
 perish. I will every now and then take a run up to 
 see how you get on. Good morning. I suppose the 
 road will be finished in about a fortnight.' My 
 
ERRIS BLACK MAIL. 31/ 
 
 fine fellow came up here for two clays ; on the third 
 he begged to be allowed to take his turn at the road, 
 
 CO * 
 
 where he worked just as gaily and ably as the rest. 
 I never was troubled with his gentility afterwards." 
 
 The cliff of Benwee is to all appearance perpendi- 
 cular ; it seems to go down plumb for nine hundred 
 feet, yet it is a difficult thing to cast a stone from the 
 top where we now stood into the sea ; either the at- 
 traction of the sides of the cliff, or its not being ex- 
 actly straight down, causes your stone to fall short; 
 besides there are ledges, not only accessible to eagles 
 but men. Mr. Henri told me of his capture here of 
 a noted sheep-stealer and plunderer, who lived and 
 throve by his dexterity in carrying off sheep, disguis- 
 ing them afterwards and selling them at distant fairs. 
 In this way he made himself feared and at the same 
 time courted by all the mountaineers, who, unable to 
 catch him in the fact or detect him with his plunder, 
 used to pay him black mail in order to save their 
 flocks. He thus kept ail the interior of Erris under 
 contribution ; no one lived merrier than he, and per- 
 haps he might have gone on in the strength of his 
 own terror, had he not played false to his own en- 
 gagements and stole the sheep of a man who duly paid 
 his fixed tribute. This treachery was his ruin; for all 
 who had sheep to lose joined in the desire and deter- 
 mination to bring the fellow to justice. But I may 
 as well give the transaction in Mr. Henri's own 
 words. 
 
 " The country had long been annoyed by one 
 Michael Donnelly, better known by the nickname of 
 Borrowsky. He was amazingly fond of mutton, and 
 
318 A MAN HUNT. 
 
 was so much dreaded, that his landlord and others 
 made him occasional offerings as a bribe to let their 
 wethers alone. Shortly after I got the commission 
 of the peace, Borrowsky committed himself so that I 
 could issue a warrant for his apprehension, and hav- 
 ing no wethers to lose, I determined to attempt his 
 capture ; and I was spirited to this enterprise by the 
 general assertion of the people that all the coast 
 guard and police in Ireland could not catch him. 
 Having come to this determination, at daybreak in 
 the month of March, 1 835, I sent one of my men to 
 the mountain, near the signal tower, on pretence of 
 shooting plover, and directed him, as soon as he 
 thought he was not observed by any one, to hide him- 
 self in the tower and keep a good look out, and should 
 he see Borrowsky pass, as I was sure he would, to turn 
 him if possible. 
 
 " At ten o'clock a party of police joined me on pre- 
 tence of attending my court, but the instant they ar- 
 rived they were joined by the coast guard, and in a 
 short time we, to the surprise of the country folk, 
 formed a cordon on the side of the village opposite to 
 that on which I had placed my man in the signal 
 tower. My ground taken, we advanced and unearthed 
 Borrowsky ; unearthed I say, for he lived in a hovel, 
 in a great measure constructed under ground. The 
 fellow, as I expected, took the direction of the tower 
 on his way to the cliffs; but he ran so fast, that with 
 the assistance of a heavy hail squall, he was no sooner 
 tally hoed than he blinked his pursuers. On losing 
 sight of him I made the best of my way to the signal 
 tower, in hopes that the man there had got sight of 
 
THE GAME CLIFFED 319 
 
 him, but great was my mortification to find that he 
 had seen nothing of him. Just at this moment the 
 hail storm abated for a few minutes, and enabled me 
 to sweep the water-courses with my telescope, when 
 to my great delight I spied Borrowsky crawling on 
 his belly all along the bottom of a deep gully, and 
 making upwards for Benwee. The view halloo was 
 now given, and we finally succeeded in driving him 
 over that cliff I showed you. We now had him 
 earthed, or rather cliffed ; for we knew he was secreted 
 along some of the ledges of this (to him well known) 
 precipice. But the question was how to get at him. 
 The first measure I felt disposed to adopt was, to 
 guard the cliffs so as to force him into a capitulation 
 by starvation ; but the weather was so dreadful, we 
 felt assured that if we persisted in this blockade, the 
 only difference between the pursuers and the pursued 
 would in a few hours be, that Ins bones would be at 
 the base of the cliff of Benwee and ours woidd be at 
 the top of it. Not liking to order any man to go 
 where I would not venture myself, I was on the point 
 of making an attempt to descend the face of the cliff, 
 when two men, — Robert Campbell, a commissioned 
 boatman of the coast guard, and Fox, a sub-constable 
 of police, whose names should be recorded in the an- 
 nals of thief catching, — volunteered their services, and 
 taking off their shoes, descended, armed only with 
 their bayonets ; and in about twenty minutes they 
 returned with Borrowsky, having achieved the novel 
 fact of executing a warrant two-thirds down the face 
 of a cliff nine hundred feet high, nearly perpendicular, 
 and at the fag end of the United Kingdom, and that 
 
320 AND SECURED. 
 
 in such awful weather, that the men positively de- 
 clared they could not have fallen into the sea even 
 had they wished it, for the wind actually forced them 
 against and fastened them to the face of the cliff and 
 prevented their descent. 
 
 " But now comes the queerest part of the story : 
 Borrowsky's capture was ultimately effected by a dog 
 belonging to Campbell, who actually set him in a 
 niche of the cliff, the men from its steepness, and in 
 a measure blinded by the wind, having passed and 
 got down beneath without observing him. Bor- 
 roAvsky was secured and forwarded to jail, and in 
 due course was transported for fourteen years ; and 
 poor Nero (the dog) fell a victim to the ruffian re- 
 venge of some of Borrowsky's faction, who took an 
 opportunity of destroying him. We all regretted the 
 poor animal, respecting his services as a man pointer ; 
 moreover we were delighted with his vcice ; he sang, 
 like what ? a nightingale — not quite ; but he was 
 certainly a canine Braham. Many a time have I 
 listened to him accompanying his master in ' Home, 
 sweet Home,' till the tears trickled down my cheeks; 
 for his gravity in the midst of his harmony would 
 have upset a judge. In proof that he was no ordi- 
 nary vocalist, I must relate the following anecdote. I 
 know you are fond of hearing what tends to raise the 
 character of the canine race. 
 
 "Campbell was once asked by a friend to attend 
 a Methodist meeting ; ' I would willingly,' says 
 Campbell, * but I have the dog with me, and he will 
 disturb the congregation, for he sings — but not, as I 
 fear, psalm tunes.' 
 
A SINGING DOG. 321 
 
 "' Oh, that is merely a silly excuse,' answered his 
 friend ; ' I plainly see you don't wish to go.' 
 
 "■ ' You shall soon be convinced to the contrary, t 
 replied the other ; and in they went to the meeting. 
 In due time the hymn was given out, and lo ! Nero 
 pricks up his ears, as if endeavouring to catch the 
 tune, which he had no sooner done, than to his own 
 perfect satisfaction, but to the astonishment both of 
 preacher and people, he joined most melodiously, so 
 that in a few seconds the chapel became a second 
 Babel, or rather a second farce-scene ; for the sourest 
 or lankest visages in the whole conventicle could 
 not keep their gravity; and Campbell's friend, dis- 
 covering, to his religious dismay, that his friend was 
 actually possessed of a singing dog, begged him to 
 draw off with his vocalist." 
 
 " This, Mr. Henri, is certainly a good story of a 
 dog, who, in a double sense, was a ready hand at a 
 catch. Allow me, says I, to match your story, of a 
 dog putting an end to a sheep-stealer, by the fact of 
 a sheep itself operating in like manner. 
 
 " Not many years ago there was in the county of 
 Tipperary a sheep-stealer, as notorious as Borrowsky 
 himself. It is easy enough to carry off, once you 
 can catch it, a sheep in Erris, for let it be ever so 
 fat, it is not much larger than a hare ; but a wether, 
 fed on the rich plains of the most fertile of ail Irish 
 counties, is not so easily carried away, body and bones. 
 But our Munster plunderer was a huge fellow, with 
 all the bone and muscle of a Tipperary man, fed up 
 to all his capability and vigour on the stolen mut- 
 ton. He, therefore, could, and often did, carry off 
 
 p 2 
 
322 A SHEEP HANGS ITS STEALER. 
 
 from the midst of a flock a wether of twenty-eight 
 pounds the quarter, and bring it home for the feast- 
 ing of himself and his family. His practice was, to 
 tie the sheep by the feet, put his head between the 
 hind legs, and thus with the sheep, still alive, dangling 
 head downwards, at his back, home trudged, in the 
 dark night, Terry Ryan ; and so he thinned many 
 flocks, and none but himself arid family were the 
 wiser. 
 
 " In this way he had, on a dark night, got into 
 Squire 's deer park, and seized a noble mut- 
 ton, and tied and slung it over his head. Thus he 
 came to the park wall, which was about eight feet 
 high, and still weighted as he was, ventured to climb, 
 as often he had done before. And now he is on the 
 top of the wall, and pondering how best he may 
 descend, when the sheep makes a sudden struggle, his 
 footing gives way — down he goes — but, as he goes, 
 the sheep falls inside, he outside. The rope is a 
 good one, that keeps sheep and thief together ; nei- 
 ther can touch the bottom — both struggle — the rope 
 presses the fellow's windpipe — the sheep kicks and 
 so does Terry, but it is soon over with him. Next 
 morning the herd found Terry dead as mutton, but 
 the wether, though a little apoplectic, still a sheep 
 and no mutton, and so proved itself the Jack Ketch 
 of a thief, and the avenger of its race." 
 
 With such conversation we beguiled a rather tire- 
 some and uninteresting walk ; and, reader, whenever 
 you are tired of a work and walk, on one of the hot- 
 test days ever experienced in Ireland, I wish you 
 may find as much creature comfort as I found, 
 
DOONKEEGAN. 323 
 
 bestowed with hearty good will, by my able, agree- 
 able, and hospitable entertainer, at his lodge at 
 Dunkeegan. 
 
 Having been successful in rowing along the north 
 coast of Erris, and of observing, not only from a boat 
 below, but from the top of its highest precipices, the 
 most magnificent cliff scenery in the British Isles, and 
 having but one day at command to remain in Erris, 
 I was induced, by my excellent entertainer, (for such 
 I can call him in every sense of the word,) to go 
 with him on the following morning to view some 
 remains of remote antiquity, that were on the other 
 side of Inver Bay, and which he assured me were 
 worth inspecting ; so accordingly we prepared to set 
 out in his well-appointed galley. But, before we 
 started, I was brought to see one of those fortified 
 promontories which I deem to be peculiar to Erris 
 and Tyrawly, and which are called Doons. This 
 one, called Doon-keegan, is not far from Mr. Henri's 
 residence at Rinroe, and is not in any way dissimilar 
 to others, except that the remains of the enclosing 
 wall are loftier, and there was, until the storm of 
 1839, an arched gateway, the greater part of which is 
 now prostrated: there are some almost obliterated 
 remains of interior buildings. 
 
 Entering now, in the calmest weather, that part ©f 
 the bay which forms the harbour of Broadhaven, we 
 had some conversation respecting the contrast which 
 the scenery now presented, to what is to be seen 
 when a storm sets in from the north or north-east. 
 I had, on a former occasion, run up towards the 
 mouth of the harbour, with a strong south-west wind 
 
324 CROMLEACH 
 
 in our stern, and it was to me a noble, but in the se- 
 curity of a well-appointed boat and expert crew, by no 
 means a fearful sight. But when the wind comes 
 from the entrance of the bay, Mr. Henri assured me 
 that where the entrance narrows to about half a mile, 
 the wave comes in like a perpendicular wall of from 
 twenty to thirty feet high. This is called Straffoda 
 Con, or the long rough stream of Con ; that stream 
 of the ocean on which the cruel stepmother queen 
 compelled her husband's son and princely daughter 
 to sail as swans, until disenchanted, as told in our 
 legend of the Leacht na Calliah, in the Mullet. We 
 now landed, and proceeded to ascend the wild upland 
 vale called Glengad, and in a short time arrived at a 
 very ugly (and where in this district is there any thing 
 else ?) but populous village, adjoining which, and en- 
 closed within a small potato-garden is the- cromleach 
 we were in search of. And certainly it is a great 
 curiosity, for its top or covering rock forms a perfect 
 rocking-stone, which a child, with one of its hands, 
 could move up and down, but which would require the 
 strength of many men, with all the appliances of 
 machinery, to put out of its place. This cromleach, 
 though not of the largest, is a fine one. Of course, 
 the people neither know nor care any thing about it. 
 They, as usual, call it Darby and Grana's bed — one 
 of the numerous places where Dermot (the Paris of the 
 Celtic heroic story) took shelter with the frail and fond 
 Grana, when they fled from the enraged Fin M'Coul 
 — he all the while following, and they, to hide from 
 him, setting up and sleeping under these huge grey 
 stones every night. Their love must have been very 
 
AND ROCKING STONE. 325 
 
 fervid, to keep warm in such cold lodging as this. 
 But the curiosity of this particular bed of bold 
 Dermot and his Leman Grana is, that it is not only 
 a cromleach but a rocking-stone ; and the difficulty 
 is, to decide whether it rocks according to the inten- 
 tion of the original setter-up, or by a subsequent 
 accident. It certainly does appear that the upright 
 stones have given to one side, that one of the up- 
 rights seems now of no use, for the covering-stone 
 does not touch it in any place, so that in fact the 
 said covering-stone is held up but by two supports, 
 like a lozenge or card suspended by its opposite 
 angles, and so it vibrates with the least possible force 
 or weight applied to it. If this rocking quality has 
 been acquired by accident it is curious — if by ori- 
 ginal purpose it is ingenious. And indeed I am 
 disposed to consider that the rocking property is in- 
 tentional from the following fact, that there is an 
 almost exactly similar rocking cromleach in France, as 
 will be seen from the following translation from " Les 
 monuments Celtiques par Monsieur Cambray :" — "In 
 the department of Loire inferieure, at a place called 
 Portfessan, is a monument which consists of three 
 enormous stones, the greater portion of each sunk in 
 the earth ; the other parts which appear above 
 ground are about ten or twelve feet in height ; the 
 length of these stones is about eight or ten feet, and 
 about one and a half in thickness. On the top of 
 these stones is placed a fourth of triangular form 
 of the same thickness as those upon which it is 
 placed ; it is so fixed that it can be moved by the 
 least force applied to it." At any rate thus it 
 
326 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 is, and I hope will be — for the people seemed to 
 have a sort of superstitious veneration for it, and I 
 did my best to impress on those who could under- 
 
 stand me, how bad, how unlucky, how disgraceful to 
 the old giants of Ireland it would be, if they would 
 let any injury be done to it.* While measuring and 
 
 * The following is my friend Mr. Henri's more accurate 
 description of this monument : — 
 
 " The cromleach is a collection of seven large stones, six 
 of which form three sides of a quadrangle, * moored church 
 fashion,' as a sailor would say ; that is true, not magnetic, 
 east and west, or nearly so. They are thus disposed : one 
 long one, on which one end of the rocking-stone is supported, 
 forms the south side of the incomplete quadrangle ; three are 
 on the eastern side, lying at angles apparently under 45°, 
 and pointing outwards, that is to the eastward and two on the 
 north side, on the eastern of which, which inclines inwards, or 
 to the south, rests the northern end of the rocking-stone, while 
 the western one is nearly erect. The western side of the qua- 
 drangle is unoccupied, as I have already remarked ; the 
 rocking-stone, which a child might set in motion, and the axis 
 of the motion of which appears to be about north and south, 
 lies dipping to the north apparently about 10°, somewhat 
 resembling in shape a shoulder of mutton, the shank being to 
 the eastward, and is of the following dimensions : extreme 
 
ERRIS VILLAGERS. 32/ 
 
 sketching this rare and curious antique, the inmates 
 of the tottering hovels that ranged along the ditch 
 of the potato-garden in which was the cromleach, 
 all poured out — for it was about dinner time — and it 
 was not a bad opportunity to see the inhabitants of 
 an Erris village in their everyday costume and ap- 
 pearance ; and certainly they were a rude and smoked 
 
 length from east to west, 9 feet 8 inches ; extreme breadth 
 from north to south, 8 feet 2 inches ; greatest thickness of 
 the stone at the western side, 1 foot 4 inches, which thickness 
 gradually reduces to, if my memory fail me not, about 
 6 inches. Its height from the ground on the northern side, 
 measuring from the under side, 2 feet 6 inches ; on the south 
 side 4 feet 4 inches. The stone is chiefly composed of that 
 compound so common in Erris, viz. quartz and crystals of 
 mica ; its specific gravity, by my calculation, is 2 — 97, and 
 its weight about 57^- cwt. So much for facts, now for asser- 
 tions. An apparently intelligent man who was on the spot, 
 informed me, that eighty years ago the whole was nearly co- 
 vered by the surrounding bog, and that at that time a pot of 
 money was found a few feet to the eastward ; he also informed 
 me, that about thirty-five years ago the country people cleared 
 away the bog and earth around the stones to the present 
 depth, when the stones to the eastward gradually gave way, 
 and the cromleach, which was formerly supported by all the 
 stones beneath, adjusted itself, as at present, on two, and be- 
 came a rocking stone. He moreover asserted that it was gra- 
 dually coming to the ground, but it appeared tome in exactly 
 the same situation I saw it in fifteen years ago. Another 
 countryman told me with the greatest confidence, it was 
 placed on its supporters by a giant named ' Darby,' and ob- 
 serving a smile on my countenance, pointed with great exul- 
 tation to, I believe, four circular depressions on the upper 
 side of the western end of the stone, which he asserted were 
 the marks of the giant's fingers. I did not venture to hint 
 that the finger marks ought to be on the under side of the 
 Btone, and he, construing my silence into admission, eyed the 
 lookers on with an air of triumph, and with a look that ex- 
 pressed as plainly as a look could express, • I have floored the 
 long sassenach in prime style.' " 
 
328 
 
 FAIR SEX. 
 
 set — the men tall, bony, but not muscular — those 
 even in mid-age not strong or healthy — those more 
 advanced in years sallow, wrinkled, and dried up as 
 it were before their time. Some of the women, were 
 they clean, would have been not uncomely ; but in 
 general their skins were dark and sallow, as they 
 must be from the effects of dirt, smoke, and bad 
 potato fare, as well as from natural complexion. 
 Their hair was of that dark madder hue which 
 seems peculiar to the western Irish, and which is 
 never seen amongst the better classes : it is not 
 red or crimson — not the tint of a carrot, or a brick, 
 or of mahogany — I think it has more the tint 
 of faded morocco leather than any thing I can just 
 think of. This kind of hair is generally coarse, strong 
 and wavy in its lines, while it hangs, as the wild 
 girls let it, falling over their necks, and is in general 
 accompanied with dark eyes, high cheek-bones, and 
 a large mouth. Out of one cabin a multitude of girls, 
 aged from ten to fourteen years, poured, almost all with 
 hair, complexion, and countenance of the character I 
 have just described, all dressed in woollen boddice 
 and petticoat of home manufacture, and without any 
 dye whatsoever, but the colour of the wild sheep's 
 back, and without any head or foot gear whatsoever ; 
 light and agile in their forms, with wild and won- 
 dering eyes they stood and looked at us. In the 
 middle of them was a female of quite different ap- 
 pearance ; she was about twenty, short and fat in 
 form, rather fair and comely in countenance, but of 
 a very assured and pert expression — her hair snooded 
 up, and fixed at top with a huge mock tortoise-shell 
 
WORK MISTRESS. 329 
 
 comb — her gown a gaudy cotton, with salmon- 
 coloured shawl — altogether such a flashy thing as 
 might he seen in the street of a country town of a 
 market-day. Seeing her so different from the rest, I 
 begged very civilly to know was she a native of the 
 village ? 
 
 " No, she is from Crosmolina." 
 
 " Is she long here?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 "What brought her?" 
 
 " She came to teach the young women needle- 
 work." 
 
 " Then you keep a needle-work school?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You seem to have many scholars." 
 
 " Oh yes ; aren't they a dacent set?" 
 
 " What do you charge ?" 
 
 " Half-a-crown a quarter." 
 
 Here one of the coast guard who was with us in- 
 terfered, and said, — " How can you tell the gentle- 
 man such an untruth? Don't I know you get no 
 such money from the poor creatures. I wonder a 
 respectable person like you would palm such a false- 
 hood on a strange gentleman." 
 
 To this she replied, with a saucy toss of her head, 
 — "What for does the like of him be coming and 
 asking about such matters ? what is it to him what I 
 get?" _ 
 
 Considering that this very saucy lass must be a 
 bad companion for such poor ignorant creatures, 
 however well she might teach them needle-work, I 
 moved away from her vicinity, convinced that there 
 
330 SICK BOY. 
 
 is a desire amongst the poor for improvement, and as 
 they have not been as yet cared for by government, 
 landlords, or clergy, they seek a supply for them- 
 selves, and of course are obliged, as in this instance, 
 to put up with what they can get. 
 
 Proceeding a little further, I met a young man, lean- 
 ing listlessly against the ditch of the potato-garden, 
 very tall, pale, and attenuated. He had come out, like 
 the rest, to see the strangers, but there was no active 
 curiosity in his lustreless eye ; and as he stood, with 
 a foul cotton handkerchief encircling his head and 
 brow, with his ragged coat and trowsers that he 
 seemed in length to have outgrown, but which hung 
 loose enough about him — he appeared as sad a 
 specimen of a comely youth withering under the 
 blight of consumption as I ever beheld. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, young man ?" I 
 said. 
 
 Here an elderly person interfered, and took up the 
 answer : — " Oh indeed, sir, he can't tell what ails 
 him ; they say the evil eye has been cast on him ; at 
 any rate he can't do a hand's turn of work ; he can't 
 eat the praties, and troth myself don't know what to 
 do to get him the flour and bread from Belmullet, 
 and maybe when it does come he won't touch it." 
 
 " Has the doctor ever seen him ?" 
 
 " Oh then, what would bring the docthor here ? 
 The neighbours wanted me to send for the fairy man, 
 but he don't like that himself; anyhow he's a sore 
 weight on a poor man's hands, and if God were not 
 good, it's myself doesn't know what would become of 
 us." 
 
ASPECT OF COUNTRY. 331 
 
 Leaving this poor youth, I of course gave the 
 father some silver to procure the fading lad some 
 nourishing food, hoping he had but outgrown his 
 strength, and that some strong food might give a 
 new tone to his vital powers ; remembering also, as I 
 well did, that I would, just at his period of life, have 
 sunk also as outgrowing myself, had I not plenty of 
 Tipperary beef and mutton, placed at all hours at 
 my disposal. 
 
 Proceeding northward from this village, and 
 ascending the side of an upland ridge, we in our way 
 towards another object of curiosity, looked down on a 
 very pretty glen, or rather basin, scooped as it were 
 out of this assemblage of low mountains, and which, 
 shelving down equally on either side, gathered the 
 waters so as to form a lively rill in its centre ; and so 
 this pretty semicircular amphitheatre, looking all 
 green and grassy, opened itself towards the west, and 
 exposed in the direction of the flow of its waters a 
 view of the now placid Broadhaven, and of the Mullet 
 beyond it. While descending the southern ridge of 
 this green and secluded vale, disfigured by an ugly 
 village, but dotted here and there with cattle, a man 
 came up, and pointing to a lame mule not far off, he 
 begged of Mr. Henri to cure him, for he was his all 
 in all in the way of livelihood. I was glad to see the 
 feeling of interest Mr. H. took, and the thorough 
 reliance the man reposed on his skill and good-will ; 
 but the poor beast was past relief, he was desperately 
 shoulder-lipped. 
 
 Proceeding a little further we met a boy, and 
 asked him the name of the glen. He gave a name 
 
332 BLEEDING GLEN. 
 
 in Irish, which, one of onr company understanding 
 Irish interpreted as the Bloody or the Bleeding 
 Glen. 
 
 " Why is it called Bloody Glen?" I desired our 
 interpreter to ask the boy. 
 
 "Why else," was the reply, "but because a 
 bloody battle was fought here." 
 
 "By whom?" 
 
 " How can the likes of me tell ?" 
 
 "Why, have you never heard?" 
 
 " Och, to be sure I have, of two giants. One that 
 kept on the shore of Inver on the Doon there ; 
 another far away to the south beyond Lough Carrow- 
 more." 
 
 "Now," said I, "that is the old legend about 
 Donald Doulwee. I make no doubt that there 
 was a battle fought here, perhaps between the 
 rival Yickvngr or sea kings ; no doubt the rocking 
 cromleach we have been just inspecting is the 
 tomb of one of the combatants ; and perhaps the 
 remains we are now going to inspect are the resting- 
 places of the warriors who fell of the other 
 army." 
 
 Speculating this way, and amusing ourselves 
 during a long lazy day by hammering out specimens 
 of a rare mineral, the Kyanite, found rather abun- 
 dantly in the primary rocks of this immediate dis- 
 trict, we at length thought it necessary to pass on ; 
 and, rising on the other side of this secluded vale, we 
 met a comely intelligent looking young woman, 
 driving a few spancelled sheep. 
 
 "Ask that young woman," said I to the coast 
 
ANECDOTE. 333 
 
 guard, who spoke Irish, "what is the name of this 
 glen." 
 
 He accordingly did so, and received for answer 
 that it was " the Bleeding Glen." 
 " Why is it so called ?" 
 
 "Because in eld times, when there was a great 
 deal of cattle on these hills, they used to be driven 
 down in the early summer into this quiet place, where 
 the people could keep them all together, and here 
 they were bled to keep away the murrain." 
 
 " Well now," says Mr. Henri, " I think this anti- 
 romantic and anti-heroic explanation is the truest. I 
 think the cow-doctors rather than the giants have 
 made this a scene of blood." 
 
 " If this," said I, "be the right explanation of the 
 Irish name of this locality, all our disquisitions con- 
 cerning the battles of the sea kings must come to an 
 end." 
 
 " These conflicting accounts," says Mr. Henri, 
 " put me in mind of a story which, for aught I 
 know, may be in Joe Miller ; but, at any rate, here 
 it is. 
 
 " An antiquary once travelling through the south 
 of England in search of food for his hobbyhorse 
 wherever he went, being struck with the appearance 
 of an old stone gateway, asked its name, and was 
 altogether delighted when told it was called " Caesar's 
 Gate ; " he immediately commenced exploring the 
 vicinity, and, after many hours of anxious search, felt 
 convinced that he had traced the vallum, the 
 fosse, and the pretorium of a Roman camp, and 
 he was just departing with the intention of writing 
 
334 ANOTHER. 
 
 an account to the Archaeologia of his discovery, when 
 he was thrown aback by hearing his guide exclaim — 
 "Old Csesar is a deuced good old chap." " Caesar 
 is ! why, what do you mean ?" exclaims the anti- 
 quary. "Why, I mean what I say," says Hodge ; 
 " Old Csesar the jobber lives in yon farm-house. He 
 brews the best ale in all the country round, and he 
 built this gate twenty years ago." 
 
 " This reminds me," says I, "of the inscription 
 found cut in a block of stone on the side of a hill in 
 the county of Kilkenny about sixty years ago. General 
 Vallancey and all the antiquarians of the day were 
 occupied in deciphering it. It was Ogham — it was 
 Phoenician — it had relation to the worship of the 
 Tyrian Bacchus, and what not. In the midst of this 
 pother, some strong fellow unhappily turned the 
 stone down side up, and the Ogham read off easily as 
 the name of an old mason, (Darby Moran, I believe,) 
 and bore the date of 1 73 1 . 
 
 " But come," said I, " I will not yet give up my 
 fancy that this has been the scene of a mortal 
 struggle. Are we not going to where we shall see 
 a giant's grave and a Druidical circle 1 In the mean 
 time, in allusion to what the young woman has said 
 about this being a bleeding-place for cattle, let me 
 ask you do the people make use of the blood they 
 thus draw from their cattle as food ?" 
 
 " Not that I ever heard of." 
 
 " Well, though I have never witnessed the practice, 
 I have heard that a usage, handed down from the old 
 Ulster creaghts, was, if not still resorted to, not many 
 vears ago practised in the mountain districts of Tyrone 
 
BLOODY FOOD. 335 
 
 and Deny. The cattle of all sorts were brought to 
 be bled at a certain smooth and well cleaned off spot, 
 and as fast as the blood fell from one beast after ano- 
 ther, and as it coagulated, salt was thrown over it, 
 and then the bleeding began afresh, and thus another 
 layer of the sanguine mass was added, and so on, 
 until a little mound was formed of the solidified sub- 
 stance, and this being by-and-by cut out in squares 
 and laid up, was used as food by the mountaineers in 
 the scarce and dear time of the year. I remember a 
 good many years ago, when I lived in the county 
 of Cavan, hearing a person endeavouring to insult a 
 Tyrone man, by accusing his country folk of quaffing 
 foal's blood instead of drinking cow's milk, and of 
 eating horse beef for their Christmas dinner. The 
 horse beef was afterwards explained to me by the well- 
 known fact, that the small two years' old beef, which 
 is much used about Christmas in the north of Ire- 
 land, is brought to market dangling in quarters from 
 the side of a horse : hence horse beef. But the Ulster 
 men need not be ashamed of their food. Is not any 
 meat at all, even suppose it were carried to market on 
 the carcase of a horse, better than the unvaried potato 
 of the Connaught man ?" 
 
 We now having got out of this rather pretty glen, 
 came down on the shore of Inver Bay, and soon 
 found what we were in search of — one of those forti- 
 fied promontories peculiar to this district, and which 
 is not only laid down in the Ordnance map, but also 
 known in the legendary history of the country as 
 Doon Carton. This stronghold is just opposite and 
 within sight of a similar one on the northern side of 
 
336 DOONCARTON. 
 
 this bay, and which I have already noticed as Doon- 
 keegan. These two places of arms and of defence, 
 evidently gave their possessors in old times military 
 possession of this inlet, and though at all times a 
 sorry sort of fortification, consisting of a dry ditch 
 and stone wall thrown across a narrow neck leading 
 to a promontory of less than an acre, on which are 
 the foundations of a few rude buildings, yet evidently 
 Doon Carton is of the same character as Dunamoa in 
 the Mullet, and Doon Patrick in Tyrawly, and Doon 
 Eangus on the south isles of Arran, the work of the 
 same people ; like the burrows of the water-rat, they 
 were the strongholds of those who came by the sea, 
 lived much on the sea, and desired to have a ready 
 retreat to that element. 
 
 We now ascended from the sea, and proceeded east- 
 ward along the side of Glengad mountain, until we 
 came to another village a little more respectable than 
 that where the rocking cromleach was, and here ad- 
 joining to one of its houses — and it was of rather aris- 
 tocratic character, for it had gable ends, a chimney, 
 and a little window with, I believe, two panes of glass 
 whole, out of four which it ought to have had — was a 
 giant's grave ; that is, an oblong sort of cyst or 
 trough composed of large stones set on their ends, 
 about eighteen feet long and four feet wide ; if there 
 were (as there often are) stones or flags covering this 
 trough or cyst, they had been removed long since, and 
 sundry such stones were in fact lying about as if re- 
 ' moved out of their proper place. But the woman re- 
 siding in the cabin, who could speak English, said 
 that the place was a giant's grave ; that it was 
 
DRUIDICAL CIRCLE, 337 
 
 always as it now is, and that she knew nothing at all 
 about it, but that it was a giant's grave,* but what 
 giant, musha, herself could not tell. 
 
 Not far to the east of this we saw a Druidical circle 
 of small dimensions, and consisting of upright stones, 
 neither large nor lofty. And here I must accuse my 
 companions, Messrs. H. and C. of an act of anti- 
 quarian sacrilege, of the sin of which I endeavoured, 
 I hope \yth success, to convince them. Some days 
 previous to our visiting this place, they happened to 
 pass it by on some sporting excursion, and hearing 
 from some one how a neighbour had dreamt that 
 there was money under these stones, they, out of fun, 
 set to to throw down one of them ; and when, after 
 more labour than they bargained for, and not without 
 the angry and scowling looks of the people, they had 
 uprooted one of them, they hastily picked up, and as 
 it were with great anxiety, some silver pieces, a shil- 
 ling and sixpences, which they had contrived previously 
 to cast in ; of course they made a mystery of what 
 they got, both as to the quantity and quality, and 
 made haste to leave the place. And now on their 
 return it was perceived that every stone composing 
 the circle had been rooted up, although there 
 
 * Olaus "YYormius states, that in Denmark the people call 
 similar monuments giants' graves. His words are, " Diversi 
 ab his quidem cernuntur tumuli figura oblongiori, congirie de- 
 pression, saxis grandioribus undique cincti ita ut utramque 
 extremitatem mole vastiora reliquis claudant, in medio ut 
 plurimum ara exstat, in hisce vulgus gigantes sepultas credit, 
 quorum ossa etiam haud raro e talibus effodiuntur, sed ego 
 ejusmodi integris etiam familiis destinatos puto, unde et in his 
 ara? quae communia sacrificia prototius gentis incolumitate im* 
 molata excipiant." — Monument a Danica, p. 36. 
 
338 DESTRUCTION OF ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 appeared such repugnance to the gentlemen moving 
 them ; but if overturned, as they evidently were, care 
 was also taken to set them up again in their former 
 position ; and now the villagers with apparent good 
 humour seemed to consider that it was a hoax passed 
 on them ; but it is to be questioned whether, if the 
 hoaxers were not known to be of some power and 
 character for fearlessness, they would have been al- 
 lowed to have their fun so much to themselves. I 
 think a respect for the ancient monuments of the land 
 should form part of the education of every gentleman, 
 and respecting those who ventured on this prank, I 
 am quite sure there are not now two men in Ireland 
 who would more object to any thing of the kind being 
 injured, not to say obliterated. But, alas ! how many 
 a fine monument of the very old time has been 
 destroyed by dreamers, money-hunters, and capability 
 men. A gentleman calling himself an engineer, and 
 from whom better things ought to be expected, in his 
 recent account of a district of this western province, 
 tells his readers as coolly as if he were removing the 
 nuisance of a heap of rubbish, that to carry on his 
 new road straight, he overturned a cromleach and 
 blew it out of Iris way. I wish he may never do such 
 a feat again, even supposing by his abstinence from 
 removing such rubbish he deflects his new road a very 
 little from its beautiful straightness. 
 
 I do not think I have any thing more to narrate of 
 my personal observations in Erris.* 
 
 * In taking leave of my friend Mr. Henri, I cannot help 
 not only expressing my gratitude for his attention to my 
 personal accommodation, and for the information he has 
 
FAREWELL TO A FRIEND. 339 
 
 The following day Mr. Henri accommodated me 
 with the nse of a little punt, and the aid of two men 
 to row me up the tide-water of the Glenamoy river so 
 far that it would be an easy walk from the spot where 
 the water ceased to be boatable to the bridge over the 
 new road, nigh where my good friend, Mr. Sterne, 
 
 afforded me, but my admiration for his talents, and wonder 
 that an officer, so highly gifted, and so well calculated to 
 serve her Majesty ably and faithfully, should be left for 
 eighteen years to waste away his life on a promontory in 
 Erris. It seems to me that the notion that the Errisians 
 entertain that men are purgatorially condemned to pass into 
 seals might be allegorically applied to him ; for here is a 
 superior mind condemned to a sort of amphibious animal 
 existence, either basking on the dreary shore, or toddling off 
 his rock into the sea, to catch nothing but fish, and bob up 
 and down after the salmon. An extract from a letter I 
 lately received from him will show that he has seen some 
 service, and is fitted for more active usefulness : — " Indepen- 
 dent of sixteen years' servitude afloat (ten as a commissioned 
 officer !) during which time I met with rather more than my 
 allowance of naval rubs, for I once had my life saved by 
 the tail of a gend'arme's horse ! and was popped into a 
 Dutch prison with a keg of salt water in my stomach ; and 
 on another occasion (I merely give these as samples,) be- 
 tween the hours of one and four on a winter's night, or 
 rather morning, I had six different escapes from death, — 
 viz. two from drowning, (all hands but one man, whom with 
 God's assistance I saved, and myself were drowned) ; two 
 from falling into the breakers beneath, whilst climbing a high 
 cliff, at the base of which I was wrecked ; one from being 
 frozen to death, after fainting on surmounting the cliff, and 
 one from being shot for a thief by a poor farmer, who could 
 not be persuaded that any human being could climb the cliff 
 I told him I had climbed, and consequently took me for a 
 ruffian, who only wished to gain admittance into his house 
 to murder him and his family. Independent, I repeat, of 
 my sea service, I have played second fid die to Alexander 
 Selkirk eighteen years ! during which time I have held the 
 commission of the peace seven years." 
 
340 GLENAMOY RIVER. 
 
 promised to have his jaunting-car waiting for me. On 
 the former occasion when leaving Erris, this river of 
 Glenamoy was so swollen, and sent down such a 
 furious torrent, that no boat could stem its force, and 
 then I had recourse, as I have already most patheti- 
 cally narrated, to a passage over mountain and bog. 
 Now, what with a neap tide and low state of the fresh 
 water in the river, it was with the utmost difficulty, 
 with rowing, polling, and one of the men, while wading, 
 pushing us along, that we could manage to get on for 
 about seven miles ; and certainly nothing could be 
 more uninteresting than the passage up this desolate 
 water, that flows sluggishly in dry weather, which, to 
 be sure, does not often occur, through the waste of bog 
 on every side. Sunk down as we were in the punt, 
 little could be seen except the gloomy bog banks on 
 either side, and at a distance of a few miles the mean, 
 shall I say vulgar, pig-backed ranges of the north Erris 
 mountains, which, however grand they may be when 
 cut down perpendicularly as forming the lofty cliffs 
 of the coast, are any thing but interesting in the in- 
 terior. 
 
 Just where the river forms the estuary of Inver, 
 and for about a mile above the ferry, I was amused 
 observing the seals every now and then pushing up 
 their round brown heads above the water, and going 
 down again when they saw our boat. I am not at 
 all surprised at the stories of mermaids and kelpies. 
 A seal's head, rising thus out of the water, is very like 
 that of a woman, when her hair is short and flattened 
 to her skull as she rises from her bath. These seals do, 
 as I understand, infinite mischief to the fisherv, and 
 
BOG TIMBER. 341 
 
 render it almost unprofitable ; all this is a proof how 
 much the district is neglected, when eagles, foxes, 
 and badgers are allowed to diminish the game on 
 land ; and otters, seals, and what perhaps is more 
 destructive, poachers taking the spent salmon, by 
 night with lights, spearing them as they return to 
 the sea, are suffered to work away, unmolested. In 
 urging our slow way up this water, I had an oppor- 
 tunity to remark along the boggy banks, and also 
 along those of the lateral streams flowing in where 
 the banks were worn away much, and the debris of the 
 bogs carried down in rounded masses, and strewing 
 the shallows as we went along, that immense 
 roots of the bog fir-trees were laid bare, as they spread 
 their horizontal limbs on every side, and reposed not on 
 the gravel below the bog, but on the bog itself ; and in 
 many instances, as these roots, in the manner of 
 great bird's claws, extended themselves in a circum- 
 ference of at least twenty feet, there was as much bog 
 under as over them. How is this to be accounted 
 for ? Is it not generally supposed that the timber 
 has caused the bog, and in its fall and decay, in its 
 arrest of the waters, and in its subsequent generation 
 of water plants and deposits of aquatic vegetable 
 matter, that the morass has turned into a bog or moss, 
 and that as the primary cause of all this, the timber 
 must remain, as far as its roots are concerned, at the 
 bottom? But here it is not so, and I observed, 
 as in other places, from five to eight feet of bog 
 below the roots that with their stems sat horizontally, 
 as there they had grown, there made a large and 
 flourishing tree, and there by some sudden process 
 
342 QUESTIONS AS TO ITS GROWTH. 
 
 had been destroyed. I don't think it will meet the 
 difficulty to assert that these roots and these stems 
 have floated here, and were suspended in the boggy 
 matter once as soft as mud ; first, because, in some 
 instances, the tree (as is the case of one uprooted 
 by a storm) would have its roots perpendicular to 
 the horizon ; secondly, if so light as to be suspended 
 in the muddy matter, some would come to the sur- 
 face, or be at different depths ; but this is not the 
 case, the roots are always horizontal, they are at the 
 same line of depth ; they, in fact, seem to have 
 grown where they now are, and the difficulty is to 
 account for how the underlying bog was formed, how 
 such large timber could grow in bog, and how it was 
 subsequently overthrown ; for experience shows us 
 that by no present means we may use, can fir-trees of 
 any species be got to grow to any size upon bog ; let us 
 drain it and improve it as we may. Yet the bogs of 
 Ireland, covering our great central flats, covering for 
 twenty miles inland the hills and dales from Erris point 
 to the Bay of Galway ; nay more, whether in the flats or 
 on the champaign, or the mountain side (and that 
 when exposed to the Atlantic storm, where no kind of 
 tree could now be got to grow an inch,) contain oak 
 and fir, of larger scantling than is generally to be 
 found in any European forest. 
 
 But the difficulty does not stop here : how are we 
 to explain, that though fir timber is found so abun- 
 dantly, and of the best quality in our bogs, it never 
 was found growing by the existing races of men ? 
 Leaving out of the question that the memory of the 
 oldest man cannot call to mind ever having seen a 
 
BOG MIRAGE. 343 
 
 native fir or pinei tree, our oldest records or tradi- 
 tions make no mention of any such growth. All 
 trees producing turpentine have been planted by 
 modern improvers, from plants or seeds originally 
 imported. Hence I am led to come to the conclu- 
 sion at any rate, that some great change in the 
 climate and character of the island took place when 
 it ceased to be a pine growing country. 
 
 From the place where our punt took ground, and 
 would carry us no further towards Glenamoy Bridge, 
 we had to walk across the bog about two miles, and in 
 order to avoid the broad gulleys of the lateral streams 
 as they passed into the river, we took straight across 
 the moss in a south-east direction ; the bog was now 
 comparatively dry and walkable, and to be sure it was 
 a dreary sight to look all aroimd on this waste, con- 
 taining within encircling hills a comparative fiat of 
 many square miles, not one hundred feet above the 
 sea, with a river easily made navigable flowing through 
 its centre, and not a sign of human industry, or 
 human habitation, except on the line of the new road, 
 where recently erected adjoining the bridge over the 
 river, one or two cabins, and a few turf stacks were 
 visible. Save for these, the centre of Australia could 
 not be more a desert. Here, while crossing the bog, I 
 observed what I have often witnessed in the Bog of 
 Allen and other large boglands of Ireland, the 
 mirage, which, in a very hot day makes all before 
 you seem a broad and placid lake, and the eminences 
 at the extreme verge of the horizon as islands rising 
 above the water, and lifted much higher than they 
 
344 A LUNCHEON. 
 
 really are. Here there were no groves, as I have seen 
 them on the verge of the Bog of Allen, lifted up in 
 the air, and forming wooded promontories and islets, 
 amidst the surrounding water ; but here were the 
 dreary hills rising like Innisgloria or Inniskea from 
 the mirrored surface, and the delusion was so great 
 that for a time you could not but believe that some 
 lake or sea inlet was before you. It was well that I 
 had something to amuse me, for it was a toilsome 
 and vexatious walk, and I was glad when the bridge 
 was pointed out, and still more pleased when I saw 
 the jaunting-car waiting for me. 
 
 I shall close this, my personal experience of Erris, 
 by a trait of the conscientious religious feeling of 
 one of my companions, which, though considering 
 him mistaken, I gave him full credit for entertaining, 
 observing the deep sincerity he evinced. I had been 
 provided with a good meat luncheon, and a bottle 
 of — I won't say what — but certainly stronger and 
 more agreeable than the bog water of Erris — said 
 country being sadly deficient in spring wells free 
 from iron and moory matter. So sitting down under 
 the shade of the bridge, we all commenced at our 
 mutton and ham — the all consisting of a coast-guard 
 man, the driver of Mr. Sterne's jaunting-car, and 
 Mr. Henri's servant, the good and trusty fellow who, 
 on a former and more perilous occasion, had brought 
 me through all my difficulties. Well, just as we 
 were in the midst of our entertainment, the coast- 
 guard, a merry fellow and a Protestant, says, most 
 mischievously, — 
 
FRIDAY FORGOTTEN. 345 
 
 "Well, boys, we are all eating meat so heartily, 
 and I hope it is not Friday." The fellow knew 
 well enough it was that meagre day. 
 
 "Och, then, sure enough it is, and how came I to 
 forget it," says the man beside him, bouncing up, 
 sputtering the meat out of his mouth, and hastening 
 down to the stream of water to wash his Hands and 
 face, and so as well as he could, get rid of the for- 
 bidden thing. The coast-guard whispered me, that 
 all this show of horror was pretended, that the man 
 remembered to forget it was Friday, and that he 
 was not annoyed at eating the meat, but at being put 
 in mind that he ought not to have touched it. I did 
 not think so badly of the poor fellow — if he did not 
 feel horror at his deed, I don't think I ever saw any 
 one act it better. 
 
 I don't think I have seen any where a more im- 
 provable tract than the district drained by the Glen- 
 amoy. river; it is not a dead flat, there are ample 
 swells of ground to serve for drainage ; it is not 
 too high above the level of the sea, it is protected 
 from the ocean blast by the hills along the coast ; it 
 is not, I believe, far from limestone. As I ap- 
 proached Belderrig, I saw along the line of road some 
 drainage, some burning of the surface, and other 
 slender attempts at improvement, but still there was 
 the evident timorousness and weakness belonging to 
 a man who did not desire to let much of his capital 
 get out of sight ; he did not seem to have much faith 
 in his experiment. 
 
346 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 General observations respecting Erris— Its ancient possessors— Its change 
 of ownership— A Protestant colony— Their hardships— Character of the 
 descendants of these colonists— Stock farmers, not improvers— A priest 
 a husbandman, and why shouldn't he— A hint to his Reverence and 
 an anecdote— Mullet farming— A gowl gob ???— Making rent by means 
 of the tail — Wealth without comfort— Craft begets craft— Clergy pleas- 
 ing to live must live to please — Consequences — 
 
 A house contrived a double debt to pay, 
 A still by night, a place of prayer by day — 
 Hugh Gallaher's stratagem won't do — State of education — Population 
 — Manners — Arguments about horses' tails, in which horses are not 
 consulted — Materia medica — Bullet bolus — Cheating the Devil — A 
 kiss rough but kind — A Priest over-reached and angry — Phil More's 
 evasion of an oath — An evil eye and its effects, and how averted — Broth 
 as delicate as delicious — A Horse cured by an old woman — A Cow shot 
 by the fairies — Doctor M'Grath and his drink of three halfpence. 
 
 Erris may, at some future period, be visited by 
 tourists, and they may find subjects of inherent 
 interest, and accommodations sufficient to please 
 themselves, and to encourage others to follow in their 
 track ; but certainly just now, unless well re- 
 commended, as I was, to the hospitality of resident 
 gentry, there are few facilities for the tourist, or any 
 thing so attractive as to induce him to undergo pri- 
 vations and annoyances of no small account. I 
 therefore, think I may as well pro bono publico set 
 down what information I have gathered concerning 
 this district, which certainly has been less visited 
 than any other portion of Ireland, and is more com- 
 pletely shut out and separated by bog and mountain. 
 
ERRIS HISTORY. 347 
 
 I have already observed, that except its sea coast, 
 there is nothing grand or beautiful — that to the mere 
 searcher for scenery it is, on the whole, uninteresting; 
 but that to a person desirous to inquire into the habits 
 and manners of a very unimproved and neglected 
 people, there is much to learn, much to amuse, and 
 also much to lament. I will, therefore, touch upon the 
 history, the education, the manners, and the super- 
 stitions of the people, and then, after discussing the 
 capabilities of the country, give my humble opinion 
 as to the best mode of improving it. 
 
 This district, in ancient times, belonged to the sect 
 of the O' Flaherty s, and subsequently to the Barretts 
 and Burkes. After the great change of property, the 
 consequence of the Cromwellian conquest, it came into 
 the hands of an Irish placeman, Sir James Shaen. 
 His son Arthur, when times became more secure, and 
 the act of settlement gave the security the new pro- 
 prietary wanted, introduced a colony of Protestants, 
 who were located principally in the peninsula of the 
 Mullet, and were accompanied by a clergyman of 
 their own persuasion, and under the inspection and 
 encouragement of their landlord, who gave them 
 leases in perpetuity, and afforded them every facility ; 
 they threw most of the available land into stock 
 farms, forcing the natives to retire to the mountain 
 glens of the interior. 
 
 It is evident that the men, who had the courage 
 to undertake this settlement, had also the moral 
 energy to persevere ; therefore, while this generation 
 lasted, improvements went on, a better breed of 
 cattle and superior tillage were introduced, and 
 
348 DIFFICULTIES OF COLONISTS. 
 
 though they were annoyed and robbed by the old 
 natives,* still the colony prospered as well as circum- 
 
 * The folloAving- petition, for which I am indebted to Mr. 
 Knight's very useful work on Erris, and which was addressed 
 to the President of Connaught, Sir H. Bingham, in Queen 
 Anne's reign, shows a state of things in Ireland, with regard 
 to colonization, very similar to what settlers are now subject 
 to in Australia, or on the border districts of our South 
 African colony : — 
 
 " The humble petition of the subscribers in behalf of them- 
 selves and others the Protestant inhabitants in the half- 
 barony of Erris, most humbly offered to the Honourable 
 Sir Henry Bingham, 
 "Showeth, 
 
 " That your petitioners (her Majestie's most loyal sub- 
 jects),* however, since their coming to the country, met with 
 several discouragements by the wicked combinations of those 
 that are no friends to the Protestant interest. For, not to 
 mention the many depredations committed by privateers, 
 (which, though the laws in that case do redress, yet have 
 been a great uneasiness, and the trouble and expense in re- 
 covering the same has been no little,) the Papists have since 
 taken such measures as might escape your petitioners, and 
 now effectually ruined us ; and that is, by the most secret 
 artifices of stealing our cattle, to the number of seventy-five, 
 within the space of nine months, besides sheep without num- 
 ber, not to mention the plundering of our gardens, stealing 
 our corn, both out of the field and haggard, &c. The na- 
 tives had carried all so privately, and the plot so well laid, 
 that it was by mere accident that the late discoveries have 
 been made; and they are since closely confined by your 
 honour, which service has laid your petitioners under the 
 greatest obligations imaginable. And your petitioners most 
 humbly beg that your honour will be pleased not to bail 
 them for such reasons as the bearer will make known to your 
 honour, and which would be too tedious here to insert. — We 
 humbly beg your honour's pardon for this trouble, which 
 our great grievances, however, forced us to, and do entirely 
 throw ourselves on your honour's protection, not doubting 
 but Sir Arthur Shaen will make a grateful acknowledgment 
 of all your honour's good offices and services, as do your 
 
 * This shows the date to be in the reign of Queen Aune. The origiual is not dated. 
 
CHANGES OF PROPERTY, 349 
 
 stances would admit. But here, as indeed else- 
 where all over Ireland, and at all times of its history, 
 the generation that succeeded the first settlers was 
 of a very deteriorated character. I believe no race of 
 men was ever known to have changed character so 
 rapidly as the Cromwellian settlers ; the descendants 
 of the stiff, stem, often fanatical, sometimes pious 
 Puritans, Baptists, and Presbyterians, became the 
 most profligate and careless of mankind. It has 
 been always the character of the English settlers in 
 Ireland to become " ipms Hibernis Hiberniores ;" 
 but I believe no race so rapidly adopted the wild 
 extravagant character of the Irish as the Crom- 
 wellian. Before half a century had elapsed, 
 properties that had been divided amongst sol- 
 diers, officers, and adventurers, were lavished and 
 spent as easily as they had been acquired ; and 
 instances are on record of estates, now worth thou- 
 sands per annum, being exchanged for a horse, a 
 setting dog, or some even more vicious accom- 
 modation ; and as in all times and places where 
 there are spendthrifts, there will be accumulators, 
 in a comparatively short time a vast quantity of the 
 small Cromwellian allotments was absorbed and 
 merged into the possession of watchful and clever 
 
 honour'? petitioners, and will ever pray for your honour's 
 
 health and prosperity. 
 
 " Thos. Higginbothain, George Houston, 
 
 James Maxwell, Peter Houston, 
 
 John Dennistoun, Phill. Parker, 
 
 Will. Linney, Henry Gamble, 
 
 Clement Langford, Sam. Calwell, 
 
 Josiah Tollett, Sam. Lon." 
 
 — Knight, p. 64. 
 
350 ACCUMULATORS. 
 
 appropriators,* and still the evil remained as from 
 the beginning, and still continues, of the country 
 
 * " The consequence of introducing the natives to the culti- 
 vation of the soil as cotters or tenants was, that these settlers, 
 exacting considerable rent, both in money, service, and pro- 
 duce, became all petty landlords, and having themselves little 
 or no rent to pay, the cultivation of the soil by them became 
 entirely neglected ; — they barely shared the run-ridge of the 
 tenant as far as a couple of sums, for the feeding of the host 
 of followers, nurses and nurses' children to the third and 
 fourth generation, that swarmed their well-stored kitchens. 
 The sheep, the pig, the chickens, the fish, the crock of but- 
 ter, {sold by the quart,) the whiskey, — all were supplied by 
 the cotters, without any labour or trouble of the ' master' at 
 the ' big house ;' who, having nothing to do, generally fell 
 into habits of expense and dissipation, which were eventually 
 his ruin. The head rent and renewal fines were allowed to 
 run on unpaid to such an extent, that of the whole Shaen 
 estate in Erris, containing 95,000 acres, less than one-half 
 are not now held under the original perpetuities. On these 
 are now found the description of holders in the statistical 
 table ; and of the original settlers who signed that petition, 
 only two at present exist in Erris, and one (Parker) out of 
 it; the remainder being entirely extinct in the male line : 
 and it is also remarkable, that these three families still con- 
 tinue ' Protestants,' though all the others that remained in 
 the country had become ' Papists.' 
 
 " Sir Arthur Shaen resided for some time in Erris, or at 
 least frequently visited it, until he saw the whole colony 
 finally settled, each individual on his own division of land, 
 and probably prospering under his own immediate protection 
 and superintendence ; — subject, however, in the intervals of 
 his absence, to the inroads of the natives alluded to in the 
 old petition. There is no trace of any residence built for 
 himself by Sir Arthur, nor of any work of note being com- 
 pleted. He, however, saw also the advantageous position of 
 Belmullet, and the importance of making a cut between the 
 two bays, and commenced, but did not complete, one at the 
 narrowest part, which is still called ' Shaen 's Cut.' The 
 furnace also already alluded to, on the banks of the river of 
 Cloneen, for smelting iron, was one of his works not prose- 
 cuted to any perfection. Sir Arthur Shaen having only two 
 daughters, the second married to Henry TJoyle Carter, of 
 
STOCK FARMERS. 351 
 
 being partitioned amongst a comparatively small pro- 
 prietary, who had neither the means, the knowledge, 
 nor desire to improve their huge possessions. This 
 evil has been universal all over the island — it has 
 always prevailed in Connaught ; it has been exces- 
 sive the more we approach the west, and in Conne- 
 mara, Joice's Country, Achill, and Erris, it has 
 hitherto been the great bar to improvement ; and it 
 is to be found that in many cases, though, of course, 
 not in all, the lords of these wide wastes, jealous of 
 their ownerships, have preferred to be like Selkirk, 
 the monarchs of all they survey, even suppose it 
 were profitless bog and mountain, rather than part 
 upon a long lease with what might call for capital in 
 its improvement, or give remuneration to those who 
 would expend time, industry, and knowledge, in 
 making it productive. In Erris, the original lessees 
 of Sir Arthur Shaen, instead of devoting themselves 
 to husbandry, to enclosing, tilling, and manuring 
 their allotments, and acting the. part of industrious 
 yeomen, became merely stock owners, running their 
 cattle over tracts that remained in their hands as 
 unimproved as ever. I don't believe stockmen ever 
 have, or ever will improve any country. They have, 
 
 Castlemain, in the county of Kildare, Esq., the eldest to 
 John Bingham of Newbrook, in the county of Mayo, Esq. 
 the property was left in equal shares between them. The 
 Carter half still remains entire, in the present possessor, 
 William H. Carter, Esq. ; but of the Bingham half, part is 
 now held in fee by Counsellor Everard, Knox of Rappa, Mr. 
 M'Donnell of Carnacon, Kirkwood of Cottlestown, Miss 
 Nash of Cam, within the Mullet; Major Bingham still re- 
 taining a considerable part. Major Cormick and the Bishop 
 of Killala are the other proprietors.'' — Knight, pp. 65, 67.' 
 
352 ERRIS LANDLORDS. 
 
 in a great measure, kept Comiaugkt unimproved, 
 and a large portion of South America ; in the same 
 way will they keep back Australia. The life of a 
 stockman must for a great part of the year be 
 inactive, therefore amongst uneducated men, sporting 
 and carousing will naturally ensue; hence expendi- 
 ture greater than income, embarrassment, a dimi- 
 nished stock, property parted with, and eventual 
 ruin. 
 
 The lessees of Sir Arthur Shaen would be gentle- 
 men of the character I have just alluded to, and they 
 in a great- measure have ceased to exist as gentry ; 
 for very few indeed of those names recorded, as 
 holding under the original grant, are now known in 
 Erris, and of these few, some have descended and 
 mixed with the common people both in religion, con- 
 dition, and manners ; for it has been remarked not 
 only here, but elsewhere, that when Protestants, 
 either from intermarriage or other causes, become 
 Roman Catholics, they sink in the scale of civiliza- 
 tion, and become sometimes worse, never better, than 
 the common people. 
 
 Erris then is now, and has been for many years, in 
 the possession of a few owners, of whom I may men- 
 tion Sir Richard O'Donnell, in the southern district 
 of Bally croy, Major M'Cormick, the Bishop of 
 Killala, and the representatives of Sir James Shaen, 
 namely, Messrs. Bingham and Carter, whose pro- 
 perty was until very lately undivided ; but latterly 
 a division having taken place, it is hoped that an 
 ascertained ownership will urge each of these bog 
 lords to some greater exertion in the reclaiming of 
 
A REVEREND HUSBANDMAN. 353 
 
 their wastes. As it is, and as far as my limited ob- 
 servation extended, I could see very little improvement, 
 very little reclamation of the bog waste, and could hear 
 of nothing that was at all respectable in the way of 
 husbandry, except the farm of Dean Lyons. This 
 very reverend gentleman, the parish priest of Kilmore 
 Erris, besides being an active clergyman, is, I was 
 given to understand, a spirited agriculturist, and has 
 commenced considerable improvement at a farm he 
 has taken in the northern part of the Mullet, called 
 Shanaghy. I understand as much as that this agri- 
 cultural speculation of the parish priest was not 
 approved of by Archbishop M'Hale, and that in 
 Doctor Lyons' absence in Rome, his Grace sent an 
 inquisitorial commission into Erris to examine into the 
 matter. How that ended I am not prepared to state ; 
 but I presume it did not end in extinguishing the 
 parish priest's farming practices, for I understand he 
 still devotes himself to husbandry. And really, 
 under the circumstances, I do not see how he does 
 wrong. I am as much aware, perhaps, as any one, 
 how, under common circumstances, clergymen should 
 abstain from avocations that would in any way with- 
 draw them from their clerical functions ; and how, 
 with regard to Protestant parish ministers, scarcely 
 any peculiarity of position would justify their en- 
 gaging in the avocations of the avari agricol.e. 
 But for a person in Dean Lyons' position, who can, 
 and I suppose does employ a number of clerical 
 coadjutors, whereby the sundry ordinances of his 
 church are duly discharged — if this Dean should em- 
 ploy the leisure (which other priests occupy so largely 
 
354 WHY DOES HE HUSBAND? 
 
 in promoting political agitation,) in exhibiting a good 
 and practicable method of husbandry, easily imitated 
 and within the reach of every landholder, I am quite 
 sure he would be a benefactor to his country. Aware as 
 I am of the great suspicion with which Protestant 
 landed proprietors are looked upon by their Roman 
 Catholic tenantry, and how much any improvement 
 they may suggest is considered either impracticable or 
 mischievous, and how constantly alterations are dis- 
 carded as unfit for the poor man, though it may do 
 for his honour the master, who has plenty of money 
 to lose ; yet I conceive that, when they see their own 
 priest, at his own risk, and for the general benefit, 
 practically exhibiting the advantages of change of 
 system, and that the old way is not the good way, 
 incalculable benefits may be expected to result ; 
 and though I am one of the last who would desire 
 any clergyman to devote himself exclusively, or even 
 largely, to worldly concerns, yet I can surely con- 
 ceive such a possibility as that of a pastor, some 
 Oberlin or Felix Neff, who, doing one thing, and 
 yet not leaving others undone, is intent on pro- 
 moting in such a backward district as this, both 
 the temporal and spiritual welfare of his flock, and 
 can exhibit improvements and invite others to follow 
 example. I presume Dean Lyons has need of patience 
 in this his sampler work — patience not only to bear 
 with the malicious insinuations of those who would 
 cover their enmity to him, arising out of differences in 
 church politics, with the cloak of objections to his 
 farming proceedings ; but patience also in finding that 
 he has hitherto been unsuccessful in inducing his 
 
A KIND HINT. 355 
 
 parishioners to adopt his new and palpably valuable 
 improvements — improvements that are staring the 
 people in the face, still they will not yet accept of them. 
 I opine he often sits down under the disheartening 
 conviction, that a priest's influence, great as it un- 
 doubtedly is, while it may be very effectual in push- 
 ing on the people to proceedings that chime in with 
 their passions and their long cherished hopes, yet 
 is comparatively powerless when brought to bear in 
 breaking down dogged prejudices, and doing violence 
 to almost inveterate habits; 'and no doubt many of 
 the sturdy old Mulleteers have said to their improving 
 priest, — " Your reverence, that wants us to stick to the 
 old way in religion, why urge us to give up the oldv,-&y 
 of managing our land." I have heard that some one 
 recommended to this new-light pastor, that it might 
 be well if, when imposing a penance, instead of send- 
 ing a sinner to atone for his misdeeds to the reek 
 of Croagh Patrick, or the holy well of Bala, he should 
 send them to dig drains and execute other useful 
 laborious works at his farm of Shanaghy. Whether 
 his reverence took the advice or not I cannot tell, 
 possibly he did not, on the conviction that said worthy 
 deeds of penance would have been done as perfunc- 
 torily as that of the pilgrim who, when enjoined to 
 march to Rome with peas in his shoes, took care to 
 boil them before he set out.* 
 
 Perhaps the pastor was aware that penance work would 
 give as bad a return as I have known justice work to do ; 
 as will appear from the following anecdote : — Some years 
 ago, in the good old times, when chancellors were not as 
 strict in their observance of the magistracy as they now are, 
 in a certain place in the province of Munster, a gentleman 
 
356 AN ANECDOTE. 
 
 Speaking of my own limited observation, I certainly 
 did see some heavy crops of barley within the Mullet, 
 and along the shores of Blacksod Bay, forced as these 
 crops were by sea-weed manure ; but the fences were 
 despicable, and, in general, * the enclosed fields of 
 potatoes and oats were overrun with weeds, which the 
 population, though abundant and idle, did not think 
 it worth while to eradicate. The mode of tenure in 
 Erris presents an insuperable bar to improvement, and, 
 as long as it is permitted to exist, the case is hopeless. 
 The farms under the landlord are held in common, as 
 respects both tillage and pasture. In the land appro- 
 
 Avho held the commission of the peace was summoned before 
 the petty sessions by a steward he had discharged, for the 
 amount of wages due. To this summons the master made 
 appearance, and stated in defence that he withheld the wages 
 because the steward neglected his business, and did not get 
 his farming work duly and in good time done, to his very 
 great injury. To this the steward's replication was — " Ah 
 thin, your worships, how could I get on with the masther's 
 business, when the labourers he sent into the work were all 
 justice min ?" "What do you mean, honest man (says the 
 presiding magistrate), by justice men ?" " Why, plase your 
 worship, what I mane is, that when any of the people would 
 come to get justice from the masther, his honour would say he 
 was busy, and could not just thin attend to him ; but he 
 would say, ' Go, my honest fellow, into the hayfield, or the 
 cornfield, or the bog, and take a turn of work with my 
 people, and maybe towards evening I will be able to attind 
 to what yez want.' In this way, yer worships, masther would 
 send upon me a set of lazy, gossipping, gosthering fellows, 
 who would not do my bidding, and would tell me to my face, 
 seeing it was behind the masther's back, that they did not 
 come to be made a handle of this a way. How thin, yer 
 worships, with such hands could I get through dacently with 
 the work ? No, gintlemen, I'd rather hire with a master 
 who had spalpeens at four-pence a day nor have to do with 
 such jokers." 
 
 [ dare say Doctor Lyons knows well the Irish character. 
 
TILLAGE IN COMMON. 357 
 
 priated to tillage, each head of a family casts lots 
 every year for the number of ridges he is entitled to, 
 and he is restrained from tilling those ridges in any 
 other way, or under any other rotation than that of 
 his neighbour. Moreover, the ridges change owner- 
 ship every third year, a new division taking place. 
 The head of the village, entitled the king, ori- 
 ginally the caunftney, makes the division as equal as 
 possible, requiring each man to cast lots for his ridge,* 
 one in a good field, another in an inferior, and an- 
 other in a worse. From this system, independent of 
 the endless disputes and jealousies it must give rise 
 to, it is evident there can be little or no progression, 
 — for let a man show what individual industry he 
 may, it is a mere chance whether he will enjoy the 
 fruits of his industry off the ground he has laboured, 
 for more than three years ; hence a carelessness of 
 futurity, hence a hopelessness of being better than his 
 neighbours. 
 
 They use the same extraordinary kind of ridge in the 
 cultivation of potatoes and corn which I described in 
 my account of Achill, and the same kind of instrument 
 called a gowl-gob, winch consists of two small 
 spades, about three inches broad, set on separate 
 
 * u An amazing quantity of labour is also lost in this run- 
 ridge system ; for a man may have a ridge in each of four 
 or five parts of a townland, probably a mile or two asunder, 
 the manure for which must be brought from different points, 
 or probably the same point with increased distance. Add to 
 this the eternal trespass that must occur in passing through 
 one anothers lots, and it will be seen that the labour and 
 loss of time that would be expended in this way must be 
 more than twice Avhat would be necessary for any compact 
 farm." — Knight, p. 59. 
 
358 A GOWL GOB. 
 
 pieces ot wood in the form of a fork, and joined in one 
 handle. This odd looking tool does well in the sandy 
 soil of the Mullet, and in loose bog soil, but for 
 general work it must be superseded by the common 
 spade. There are few ploughs in the district, and in 
 spring a light harrow with wooden pins, more like a 
 rake is used ; and still, as I am informed the harrow 
 is drawn by fastening it to the horses' tails. 
 
 In ancient times, all through the west of Ireland, 
 it was the practice to work both plough and harrow 
 with horses drawing from their tails, and an act of 
 parliament was passed in James the First's reign, for- 
 bidding the barbarian practice, under a heavy penalty. 
 I am assured that it is still a part of the Erris hus- 
 bandry, and that those who resort to it assert, that it 
 is neither severe upon the horse, nor injurious to him. 
 
 In the mountain district outside the Mullet and 
 away from the sea shore, the people living in villages 
 through the glens, content with as much potatoes as 
 their families want, and some corn to be used in illicit 
 distillation, give their attention principally to the rear- 
 ing and sale of cattle ; there are none more astute in 
 driving a bargain ; and they are great hoarders of 
 money.* Like all people over the surface of the 
 
 * " The people, generally speaking, are far from being poor, 
 with often greater marks than others of outside poveity, — 
 an active, hardy, intelligent race of men, hospitable to an 
 extreme, as far as they have means ; but, satisfied with little 
 themselves, they seek not what others would call comforts, 
 but which, to them, from habit, would be superfluous luxu- 
 ries ; hence, in their houses, there is little of cleanliness, or 
 apparent comfort in furniture, bedding, or the usual accom- 
 paniment of a certain sum of riches. The whole thought 
 seems to be the rearing and tending of cattle, going to fairs, 
 
HABITS OF MISTRUST. 359 
 
 earth, badly governed, and subject to the exacting 
 will of their superiors, they exhibit outwardly a po- 
 verty which is far from real. Interested and preju- 
 diced persons may assert that all this arises from 
 recent oppression, and arising out of English rule and 
 Protestant penal laws ; but the evil is older and much 
 more deeply seated. The cosherings and the bon- 
 naughts, the coyne and livery of their ancient Milesian 
 lords, the inroads and the feuds of rival septs, gave rise 
 to this general mistrust, and to this fear of appearing 
 wealthy, long before England afforded its protection to, 
 or, as some say, inflicted its injury on, the Irish com- 
 munity. Neither does the present distrust arise solely 
 from fear of the landlords knowing how wealthy thty 
 are ; I am sure, also, that the appearance of poverty is 
 simulated to blink the priest. Of course the clergy- 
 man, depending for subsistence on what is called vo- 
 luntary contribution, leans heaviest on the reputed rich, 
 and he must resort to expedients in dealing with his 
 parishioner, and in a way which, in fact, is any thing 
 but an appeal to free will, extract from the men of 
 substance what is so much needed. In this way, I 
 am quite sure, that the mode in which the Romish 
 
 and selling or exchanging. In 1813, I slept at a man's 
 house who had one hundred head of black cattle and two 
 hundred sheep, and there was not a single chair or stool in 
 his house but one three-legged one, — no bed but rushes, — 
 no vessel for boiling their meals but one, nor any for drink- 
 ing milk out of hut one, (the Madder,) which was handed 
 round indiscriminately to all who sat round the potato-basket 
 (myself among the rest) placed upon the pot for a table ; 
 yet this man was said to be very rich besides the stock named 
 above." — Knight, p. 104. 
 
360 VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 
 
 clergy get their living has been productive of mean- 
 ness and craft, and what are called pious frauds on 
 the part of the spiritual man, and of commensurate 
 and antagonist cunning, evasion, and falsehood on the 
 part of the laity. 
 
 I can suppose a Roman Catholic clergyman sent by 
 his bishop into such a district as Erris, and he, to be 
 sure, is not the most learned or most gentlemanlike, 
 or most likely to work the cause of the church who 
 is so sent ; here the great land-owners are Protes- 
 tants ; there are few independent middle-men, and 
 the population consists of villagers living along the 
 sea shore and in the adjoining valleys on the hus- 
 bandry I have just described ; or of villagers in the 
 mountain glens, whose occupation is herding, and 
 whose substance lies in their cattle. The priest feels 
 that he must be decent, if he would uphold his church ; 
 he also feels he must be pliable, if he would support 
 himself; and if he pleases to live, must live to please ; 
 aware that he dare not run counter to existing pre- 
 judices, or attempt to offend long retained habits, he 
 must humour those he dare not counteract. More- 
 over, he must exercise cunning and plausibility ; must 
 detect him who assumes unreal poverty ; and while 
 forced to lean heavy on such a one, in order to extract 
 money or money's worth, he must do it so as to flatter 
 the weakness he dare not expose, and make the man 
 rest happy in his prejudices. 
 
 In this way I can well suppose how a priest is 
 often obliged against his better sense to speak dispa- 
 ragingly of improvements. As, for instance, it may 
 be supposed that if a savings' bank or loan fund were 
 
ITS CLERICAL CONSEQUENCES. 361 
 
 established in the vicinity, and perhaps one of the 
 wealthiest men in the parish, — one who gives most 
 dues, sends in most duty oats, gives the best station 
 dinner (for the stingiest of men often give the largest 
 feasts :) — well, this man perhaps has made his wealth 
 by lending money to his neighbours, on the large 
 usurious interest which is frequently exacted in the 
 country parts of Ireland,* and of course his object is, 
 to decry both the savings' bank and the loan fund ; 
 and the priest gives Paddy Bawn a call, and the con- 
 versation runs on the new-fangled invention intro- 
 duced by the landlord or the parson — and Pat would 
 make it appear that it is all a humbug — all a scheme 
 to get the people's money into their hands. Why, 
 what can the priest say ? He dare not offend the 
 pocket prejudices of his strong parishioner. No ; he 
 must join in the outcry, and so his reverence is com- 
 mitted against what he knows in his heart to be 
 useful. In the same way the voluntary support of 
 the priest some years ago operated in keeping up illi- 
 cit distillation. How dare the priest inveigh against 
 that by which his own dues were affected — how 
 could he desire to put down that which contributed 
 
 * I believe that loan funds are now very generally esta- 
 blished throughout Ireland, and am convinced they are to a great 
 extent useful ; but they certainly are liable to great abuses, and 
 if not wisely administered may do much harm. In no in- 
 stance should an interest be charged beyond what will pay 
 the expenses of the establishment ; in no instance should the 
 profits, if any, be applied to what is called a charitable pur- 
 pose — this would be making the needy help the needy. If 
 there be any profits, I assert that they ought to be applied 
 towards reducing the interest charged on the respective 
 loans. 
 
 R 
 
362 A SPIRITUAL BUILDING. 
 
 to the growth of oats and barley in his parish — how 
 dare he denounce that which brought so much ready 
 cash into the pockets of his flock. In this way the 
 clergy were obliged to connive at smuggling and 
 illicit distillation, and even constrained to allow their 
 own chapels to be turned into malt houses — nay, 
 more than that, into actual distilleries ; and I was 
 assured by one who detected a still at work in a 
 chapel and close by the sanctuary — the water for the 
 cooling of the worm being brought in under the very 
 altar window, that he felt sure that if the priest 
 was cognizant of it he dared not hinder it ; and, as 
 my informant was, according to the letter of his 
 instructions, required to level to the ground every 
 house in which a still was found at work, he was 
 placed in this instance in a rare dilemma ; the house 
 in question was both a chapel and a distillery, to 
 leave it standing would be contrary to the fiscal sta- 
 tute — to level it would be sacrilege. 
 
 In this difficulty he thought it best to take the 
 opinion of his superiors, and wrote accordingly, but 
 never received any instructions ; in this case he 
 thought it wise, as no doubt it was agreeable to his 
 own wishes, to consider it a religious (as it was in 
 every sense of the word a spiritual) edifice, and so it 
 stands to this day ; and now that Father Mathew 
 has put St. Patrick out of countenance, of course 
 never again will such doings go on under its conse- 
 crated roof. 
 
 I mention this as one instance amongst many in 
 which the present mode of supporting the priests, 
 operates in retarding the improvement of the people. 
 
Gallagher's stratagem. 363 
 
 I would show that it acts in circumstances not at all 
 connected with the education or religion of the coun- 
 try, and induces the clergyman to resort to mean- 
 nesses and subterfuges that, under a more independent 
 state of livelihood, he would scorn. I shall adduce 
 an instance connected with the entertainments which 
 priests expect to receive when they hold a station at 
 the house of a parishioner. Now, these feeds may be 
 considered as part of the priest's emoluments, and, 
 though often weighing heavy on the purse of the 
 entertainer, it would be scarcely fair to expect the 
 clergy to forego them, unless some equivalent were 
 found for the loss of so many substantial dinners. 
 
 On a certain day somewhat later than a century 
 ago, Huey Gallagher, the priest's clerk of the chapel 
 
 of C , gave out after mass to the congregation, 
 
 that he had somewhat of consequence to acquaint 
 them with — to which they would do well to take 
 heed. This solemn preliminary of course caught 
 attention, and some great announcement was expected 
 — nothing short of the pope's death, or the arrival in 
 those quarters of Father Mathew. When with loud 
 voice Huey sung out, " Good people all, I warn ye 
 not to kill any geese during the stations to be held 
 during the following week ; for all the geese are dying 
 at Ballina of the cholera morbus! ! ! This ruse was 
 too transparent, and the consequence was, that all the 
 people burst out into a roar of laughter at Huey's 
 bulletin, in which the priest very good humouredly 
 joined. Was it not the case that his reverence was 
 tired of geese, with which he was crammed ever 
 since Michaelmas, (so that, satiated with such fowl 
 
364 NOT SUCCESSFUL. 
 
 feeding, he in sad wit asserted that he expected 
 pen-feathers would shortly start from his skin,) 
 and that mutton just now was in prime order ? At 
 all events the proclamation of the priest's double had 
 not the designed effect ; for Mrs. Monaghan having 
 the following Saturday the honour of giving a station 
 dinner, had two geese killed for the occasion.* 
 
 And certainly, with respect to education, I do 
 think that the Roman Catholic clergy of such a 
 district as Erris would be acting, under the existing 
 
 * The effects of the mode in -which the Roman Catholic 
 clergy get their incomes are not confined to Erris. There 
 are other places where, when the budget is opened, extra- 
 ordinary " ways and means " come to light. As, for in- 
 stance, take the following circumstance, which I have reason 
 to say maybe considered as a fact. During the prevailing epi- 
 demic which has caused so much sickness and death amongst 
 cattle in every part of Ireland, a priest in the county of 
 Cavan, of whose name and parish I am in possession, whose 
 regular means are not ample, who has sundry sisters to sup- 
 port, and who is not a teetotaller, gave out that he could 
 supply the farmers, for a consideration, with blessed salt, 
 that would effectually protect cattle from the disease ; or, if 
 infected, would infallibly cure them. Accordingly, he was 
 resorted to by thousands, and he with great readiness sup- 
 plied them with packages of salt at 2s. 6d. each, with this 
 restrictive power, that no one must presume to give any of 
 what they got away, for that it was only useful to their own 
 cattle. The reason of this injunction is obvious. My in- 
 formant assures me that he has seen hundreds per day going 
 to purchase the sacred salt ; and moreover, that his own 
 parish priest, a vert reverend having a cow that took the 
 distemper, sent for the cure and applied it, but not with success, 
 for the cow died ; but this untoward event was accounted for by 
 the holy salt not being applied in time. Was this en- 
 couragement by the very reverend, of the sacred salt-seller 
 a matter of faith or policy ? It is at all events considered 
 that this consecrated remedy has brought some hundreds of 
 pounds into the Cavan priest's pocket. 
 
WHO LIKES EDUCATION ? 365 
 
 voluntary system, against their own pecuniary inte- 
 rests in promoting education — therefore, I cannot 
 expect it to advance. If the acquisition of the power 
 to read and write be of any value, it is to acquire and 
 circulate knowledge ; and, if knowledge expands the 
 mind and gives it a desire for independence and self- 
 respect ; and, if these are opposed to the dictation of 
 others, and to a submissive leaning on their under- 
 standing, then a church and priesthood which calls 
 for acquiescence of the will and the surrender of 
 private judgment, must be opposed to such know- 
 ledge ; and if, moreover, such knowledge be very apt 
 to question the validity of claims that cannot, except 
 in darkness, be supported — if dues drawn from holy 
 clay, blessed candles, blessing fishing grounds and 
 saying masses to protect cattle from murrain and the 
 evil eye, are likely to be refused by those who well 
 know that even the Church of Rome dare not openly 
 authorize such things, I am quite sure that priests, 
 paid as they are now, must look jealously on educa- 
 tion ; and, if they cannot altogether put a stop to it, 
 they must insist on being its sole directors.* 
 
 With regard to Erris, this I think I have ascer- 
 tained — that education, so far from advancing, is retro- 
 grading. The schools that were established under 
 the old societies — the Hibernian School and Kildare 
 Place Institutions — are knocked up ; and others are 
 either not substituted, or if substituted, they are of 
 the most nugatory character. As a proof of this, 
 Erris is the only place in Ireland where the Irish 
 language is increasing and the English decreasing ; 
 to substantiate this fact I would adduce the following 
 
366 IRISH AGAINST ENGLISH. 
 
 assertion, which I take from the letter of an intel- 
 ligent correspondent : " Fifteen years ago, if a stranger 
 wanted information he was sure to get an answer in 
 English from the children, while the adults and old 
 folk alone could speak Irish : now the adults only 
 speak English (what they learned as children), and 
 the children can speak no English." 
 
 Respecting the population of Erris, I am given to 
 understand that it is not so great as the returns to 
 parliament would make it. The Roman Catholic 
 clergy all through Ireland have a strong desire to ex- 
 aggerate the numbers of their own persuasion ; of 
 course the same object is not lost sight of here : ac- 
 cordingly Dean Lyons, in a speech reported as spoken 
 by him at Ballina on the subject of the Poor Law, 
 makes the following assertion: — "The Poor Law 
 Commissioners would make the population of Erris to 
 be not twelve thousand, but it is nearly double that 
 number, there being by the last census in Kilmore and 
 Kilcommon twenty thousand one hundred and sixty, 
 and upwards of three thousand in Ballycroy." Here 
 certainly is a trifling difference, which the following 
 anecdote, furnished by my intelligent friend, may 
 account for. 
 
 " During the famine of 1831, four tons of oatmeal 
 were sent to me by the inspector-general to be dis- 
 tributed amongst the people, and to insure an equal 
 division, and if possible avoid the ill-natured disputes 
 that were spread to the prejudice of all distributors, 
 not excluding the clergy, I adopted the following plan : 
 I called the heads of the respective villages before me, 
 and in their presence and that of all around, I desired 
 
POPULATION. 367 
 
 every applicant (and but two in the whole parish did 
 not apply) to state the number of his family, at the 
 same time requesting the heads of the applicant's vil- 
 lage to correct any misstatement — a duty which they 
 appeared to me to perform honestly and conscien- 
 tiously — and the consequence was, I got so correct a 
 census of the parish, that the priest requested a copy 
 of it, and asserted it was the only correct one ever 
 taken. Shortly after this event, an official from Bel- 
 mullet, a man named C , came to take (I suspect) 
 
 the census alluded to by Mr. Lyons, and in doing so, 
 called at my house to obtain a list of its inmates. On 
 hearing he was at the door I ordered the servant to 
 ask him in, and offered him refreshment, which he 
 accepted of, and after he had taken the raw edge off 
 his appetite, apparently to his great relief, I asked 
 him the number of inhabitants in the surround- 
 ing villages, according to his account, merely to see 
 whether his enumeration agreed with that 1 had pre- 
 viously made. To my great astonishment I found 
 that we disagreed in an extraordinary way — for it was 
 all one way. For instance, Ross contained by my ac- 
 count, 286; Stonefield, 297; Cariatyge, 122; Port- 
 acloy, 83 ; Gatahill, 18 ; while the same villages 
 
 taken in the same order by Mr. C 's account 
 
 contained, 330; 34"; 170; 113; 21. Puzzled to 
 account for this disagreement, it at last popped into 
 my head to ask the gentleman how he was paid for 
 the trouble he took, when, after some little hesitation 
 he informed me he was paid by the hundred. 
 " Oh, that accomits for our not agreeing," said I, 
 dryly, and the official went his way. It is possible 
 
368 DIFFERENCE ACCOUNTED FOR. 
 
 that the same plan was adopted all over the barony ; 
 and it is natural to suppose the effect was the same. 
 Now, allowing Mr. Lyons to be correct, that by the 
 last census there were 20,160 souls in the parishes 
 of Kilmore and Kilcommon, and bearing in mind 
 that the persons whom the census in my neighbour- 
 hood contrived to return were the inhabitants of five 
 villages, or 981 instead of 806. With the assistance 
 of the golden rule we may venture to reduce 20,160 
 to 16,563, at least. Perhaps a general reduction of 
 one-fifth would adjust to its right enumeration the 
 census of that year. While on the subject, I beg to 
 observe that the number of persons to each smoke 
 or hearth, is not so great as one would at first 
 imagine, in passing through a mountain village. On 
 the occasion just alluded to, I found each family to 
 average 5-fJf . 
 
 The manners of this secluded people are those of 
 a naturally very amiable, generous, and confiding 
 race. Of course, with all the ill-regulated passions 
 belonging to an uncontrolled childhood and unedu- 
 cated youth, Still, there does not appear to be that 
 bloodthirsty pugnacity that characterizes the Mun- 
 ster Irish ; and from what I have heard, deeds of 
 violence and bloody feuds do not much prevail. 
 Formerly, from the facilities of smuggling, and from 
 the difficulty of access to the district, the people 
 were liable to the contamination of associating with 
 profligate seamen, and notorious outlaws, who had 
 fled hither for protection. But it appears to me that 
 this contamination rather affected the better classes 
 of inhabitants, who, speaking the English language, 
 
HARROWING BY THE TAIL. 369 
 
 were the descendants of the Protestant colony settled 
 here by Sir Arthur Shaen. They were, indeed, 
 blighted and wasted away under such influences — 
 but, protected by their poverty, ignorance, and ver- 
 nacular language, and secluded in the mountain-glens, 
 the old Irish were below the foreigners' mark. And 
 here still, as in Achill, are to be found manners, 
 habits, and superstitions almost the same as what 
 prevailed one thousand years ago ; as, for instance, 
 the custom of making horses draw by the tail, which 
 certainly is not only ancient but economical, for it 
 saves all manner of tackle, except the hair of the 
 animal. The following is a copy of a letter from a 
 resident in Erris, who has for many successive years 
 witnessed the practice : — 
 
 " In justice to those who continue the practice of 
 harrowing by the tail, I beg to observe, that as far 
 as cruelty is concerned, I really can see no objection 
 to it ; for if it gave the animals any pain, I do not 
 think they would submit to it so quietly as they do ; 
 •indeed, there are people who assert it to be the most 
 humane way of doing the work — in proof of which, I 
 need only relate the following anecdote : — I was on 
 my way to dine with a worthy old gentleman who 
 resided here on my first arrival, (now seventeen years 
 ago,) when I first observed the practice, and, as was 
 natural for a foreigner, could not find words suffi- 
 ciently strong to express my feelings at the cruelty 
 of the thing. ' I beg your pardon, (said my host,) 
 you are quite mistaken ; for I assert, and I feel 
 assured I will force you to agree with me in opinion, 
 that it is the most humane way of working the 
 
 r 2 
 
370 A HUMANE PRACTICE. 
 
 beast ; for this reason, that he harrows with less 
 exertion.' 'Impossible,' replied I. 'I will prove 
 it to a sailor with ease (answered the gentleman). 
 Pray, when you anchor yonr ships, why do you give 
 them a long scope of cable when it blows hard?' 
 ' Because,' said I, ' the hold the anchor has of the 
 ground is in an increased ratio to the sine of the 
 angle the cable makes with the ground.' ' Not being 
 an orangeman all out, (replied the old gentleman 
 laughing,) I know nothing about your signs, though 
 I believe I understand what you mean. Now if you 
 give a long scope of cable to increase the resistance, 
 pray does it not stand to reason that a short scope 
 must have a contrary eifect ? and, therefore, must 
 not harrowing by the tail be easier to the animal, 
 inasmuch as the harrow rope is shortened by the 
 whole length of the horse?' My host chuckled 
 with delight, and seemed to consider this argument a 
 floorer ; and my ' But, my dear sir, there is a vast 
 difference between securing a cable to the "bits," 
 and making it fast to the rudder pintles,' neither 
 diminished his glee, nor induced him to change his 
 opinion. He continued the practice to the day of his 
 death, and up to the last year (1839) it was, and 
 next year I feel assured it will be followed. It is 
 hard to break a custom attended with no expense." 
 
 The materia medica of Erris is pretty much of the 
 same simple and efficacious character as that of 
 Achill, a notice of which will be found in my former 
 volume. My valuable correspondent thus alludes to 
 it : — " In your Tour in Connaught, I observe mention 
 is made of a metallic bolus ; I have heard of it as 
 
A BULLET BOLUS. 371 
 
 practised here, and believe it is administered here in 
 the complaint vulgarly called ' a turn in the gut.' 
 Our practice here, however, differs, as on such occa- 
 sions, we take the patient by the heels, and shake 
 him head downwards, till the internal machinery is 
 adjusted to its proper place. I have seen sailors 
 adjust occasionally their watches on the same sound 
 principle. — N. B. Shortly after writing the above, I 
 entered into conversation with a countryman, who 
 told me that the bullet is in greater repute than I was 
 aware of; by his account it is a good and common 
 cure for the cholic, of which by the way, his father 
 died after a dose of the musket ball. Query, did he 
 die of the cholic or the bolus ?" 
 
 But in speaking of the manners and morals of 
 such a people as this, of course we must allude to 
 their superstitions as materially affecting their con- 
 duct, and that conduct as regulated with respect to 
 their greatest temptation — the desire for intoxicating 
 liquors ; and now supposing for an instant, that the 
 Mathewite pledge will operate effectually and perma- 
 mently on both priest and people, I may narrate the 
 following as a by-gone transaction, the like of which 
 cannot possibly occur again. Making use still of my 
 valuable correspondent, I give his own words — he 
 heads his anecdote cheating the devil. 
 
 " Judging from the periodicals that occasionally 
 fall in my way, I conclude that the oaths of a certain 
 class of my fellow subjects are not considered, as at 
 present, particularly binding. I am, however, of a 
 different opinion, and provided due care be taken to 
 avoid kissing of thumbs, together with a few other 
 
372 A MASCULINE KISS. 
 
 manoeuvres of the same description ; and provided 
 also that the will accompanies the deed, and the oath 
 is carefully worded, so as to leave no loop-hole to 
 escape, I know no people's oath I would sooner 
 depend on. 
 
 "My reason for forming this opinion, though I 
 fear that opinion will not he much valued on account 
 of the drawbacks attending it, is, that I consider 
 people must respect that which they take such pains 
 to avoid, and that they do exert the greatest inge- 
 nuity to evade an oath hastily taken, when labour- 
 ing under sore bones and broken heads, the effects of 
 some drunken broil, and repented of immediately 
 after. All this, I think the following anecdotes will 
 abundantly prove. I have* always been on friendly 
 terms with the Roman Catholic clergy, — formerly 
 much more so than at present ; for I shrewdly sus- 
 pect that a decree has gone forth from certain high 
 quarters at Tuam, that the clergy are not to be over- 
 intimate with non-Catholics. Be this as it may, many 
 a pleasant evening have I spent with priests in my 
 own house ; and I will do them the justice to say, 
 that I have in general found them hearty, benevolent, 
 and affectionate men, who loved society, and couldinno- 
 cently amuse and be amused in it. As an instance of 
 the kindly feeling that heretofore existed towards me, 
 and which feeling I cannot charge myself in being 
 backward to respond to, by way of digression I must 
 narrate the reason of the only masculine kiss I have 
 ever enjoyed since the day on which my beard com- 
 menced to appear. 
 
 " Some years ago, I had been on the Continent for 
 
A PRIEST DECEIVED, 3/3 
 
 a few months ; on my return home, the happy news ran 
 riot through the hills, and reached the ears of my good 
 
 friend Father P , who, without delay, pulled on his 
 
 boots, called out his mare, rode on with the promp- 
 titude of a warm heart, until he reached my door, 
 flung himself off, and, taking me in his ample arms, 
 brought a pair of strong beards into collision, and so 
 inflicted upon me the rasp of as rough and warm a 
 kiss as could be given in good will. 
 
 "But to return to my subject. — On one of my 
 friendly soggarth's unexpected but welcome visits, 
 I observed such marks of displeasure clouding the 
 usually bland countenance of my spiritual friend, that 
 I took the liberty of asking what it was that chafed 
 him, and without hesitation he replied, ' That he 
 had been made very angry that morning, and had not 
 yet recovered his equanimity, in consequence of a 
 woman having the impertinence of scolding him, for 
 being the cause of her husband's getting beastly 
 drunk ; and the worst of the matter is, that the 
 woman was not all out in the wrong, though no- 
 thing can excuse her impertinence in speaking thus 
 to me I for I do acknowledge that I have been 
 shamefully taken in by her scoundrel of a husband, 
 and the innocent means of his becoming drunk.' 
 
 " He explained, as well as his indignation would 
 allow, the circumstances of the case as follows. — It 
 appeared that a few days before, the priest had called 
 at his parishioner's house to rest himself after a long 
 tramp across the boggy hills, and to refresh himself 
 with a few whiffs of his dudeen (a short pipe) . To 
 effect these two genial objects, his reverence had seated 
 
3/4 AN OATH EVADED. 
 
 liimself within the hob on a creepy (a little low stool). 
 After chatting with the man of the house for a few 
 minutes — the wife being out of doors — the former 
 said, casting at the same time his eyes on a little keg 
 that lay beneath the bed, as if quite carelessly, ' Ah 
 thin, for the life of me, Father Ned, I can't make 
 out what foreign wood that vessel is made of; it's 
 even too weighty for oak, it's mighty stout entirely ;* 
 and while saying this, he had taken it in his hands, 
 and appeared to be balancing and weighing it most 
 accurately. The action of the man made the priest 
 disposed to enter into a similar calculation ; so, taking 
 the vessel out of the man's hands, he, after due con- 
 sideration, said, * Why shouldn't it be heavy ? — ifs 
 full' — 'Troth, and yer reverence so it is.' 'Well 
 then,' exclaimed the priest, ' where' s the great cu- 
 riosity? it doesn't appear to me heavier than a full keg 
 ought to be.' — ' Don't it V says the man ; ' then 
 all I have to say, Father Ned, is, that it seems mighty 
 heavy to me.' So coolly taking it out of the priest's 
 hands, he quietly deposited it in its former place 
 under the bed ; and his reverence was scarcely gone 
 when he commenced his attack on its contents, and 
 never quitted it day after day until the heavy concern 
 was as light and as dry as a drum. Now, the fellow 
 was a conscientious affidavit ma?i, and had sworn 
 to drink nothing strong hut what the priest would 
 give him. 
 
 " In the second case I have to relate, I am sorry to 
 say / played second fiddle. One evening, a rather 
 decent man with whom I had some dealings, came to 
 my house ; he looked cold and weary, and, as he had 
 
A CONSCIONABLE BARGAIN. 37<> 
 
 often turned up a hare for me, I considered myself 
 bound to follow the custom of the country, and ask 
 him to take a glass of whiskey. ' Troth, and it's 
 but a frind would ax me to do the like,' said Phil 
 More ; ' and it's a hundred pities, so it is, that I 
 dare not touch a dhrop as big as would rest on my 
 thumb nail.' ' Why not, Phil V said I ; * you used to 
 be a good warrant at throwing up your little finger/ 
 So Big Phil explained : his last booze was followed 
 by a scrimmage, that was followed by a process, and 
 that by expense, and nearly a committal to jail, and 
 that by repentance, and that by being an affidavit 
 man for a year and a day. ' What,' said I, quite 
 alive to the customs of my neighbours, ( did you leave 
 no gap open ? Could you not run under your engage- 
 ment and take one eggshell full?' 'Och, then, it's I 
 that did that same,'' cried Phil, tipping me a very 
 knowing look. ' And I could take a good dhrink 
 now, if your honour would not be offended at my 
 axing a favour V ' No offence in life, Phil, so out 
 with it.' * Well, then, if you would but just sell me 
 something, I can drink away till the cows are driven 
 out in the morning.' ' Well, what will you buy V 
 Phil eyed my small assortment for some time, and 
 having at length settled on one thing that tickled 
 his fancy, he said, ' Maybe, then, yer honour would 
 be after selling me yonder swoord' (pointing to an old 
 uniform one that hung against the wall). ( Indeed, and 
 I will,' said I, * provided you sell it back again to me 
 in the morning, at the same price you now pay for 
 it.' ' Och, then, it's I that will do that with all the 
 veins in my heart,' answered Philip, rubbing his hands 
 
3/6 
 
 AN EVIL EYE, 
 
 with rapture at my unexpected condescension, and 
 thereby the chance of getting a skinful. The sword was 
 accordingly purchased for sixpence ; and, as he was 
 now at liberty to drink elsewhere as well as at my 
 house, Philip before midnight was in admirable con- 
 dition for another scrimmage, so that I resolved not to 
 wait for the repurchase of my warlike implement ; 
 but, for fear of leaving it in the hands of a now fero- 
 cious beast, I had him disarmed before he left the 
 village. Philip More was another affidavit man !'!!". 
 But, perhaps, the manners and habits of a people 
 may be as well known by their views and conduct in 
 regard to the inferior animals, as affected by the super- 
 stitions which evidently seem handed down from re- 
 mote antiquity, and which religious instruction has not 
 yet been able to eradicate. To this effect my corres- 
 pondent thus writes : — " During this month (Jan. 7, 
 1840) a circumstance has occurred in this immediate 
 vicinity, which shows in a strong and revolting light 
 the superstitions of these mountaineers. Mary P. 
 who used lately to teach a few children in the village, 
 happened to pass a boy, named Patrick C — e, who 
 was digging lustily in the potato-garden behind his 
 cabin, and she said, s Troth you're a clane boy, and 
 will soon be a betther man nor your father ;' but 
 she forgot to say, ' and God bless you,' — an indis- 
 pensable addition to every remark in the way of 
 praise, whether made on animal or vegetable. As, 
 for instance, when you see a grunter wallowing in 
 the mire, you may not only say, ' That's an iligant 
 slip of a pig,' but you must add, 'and God bless 
 it.' The poor schoolmistress had not long passed 
 
HOW REMOVED. 377 
 
 the boy until he was seized with a pain between his 
 shoulders, which was followed by fits — occasioned, 
 as I consider, from having overworked himself, to 
 which, perhaps, he was instigated by the woman's 
 praise ; but no other reason would be assigned by 
 his family for his illness than that he was suffering 
 under an evil eye, and the schoolmistress was 
 accused of being the owner of it. She was accord- 
 ingly sent for (for her time of teaching in the village 
 having expired, she had left the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood). On her arrival she was required to clear 
 her character, and undo the mischief she had occa- 
 sioned, by the following charm. She was to spit 
 three times on the boy, and accompany each expec- 
 toration by a ' God bless you.' This was certainly 
 done, but my informant told me the boy derived no 
 relief whatever, which some of the knowing ones 
 asserted arose from the schoolmistress having spat on 
 the blanket and not on the boy. 
 
 "About a month after, on passing by the village, 
 and inquiring for the boy, I heard that he was fast 
 recovering, and this was attributed to the following 
 charm, which his friends had procured from some 
 person residing near Downpatrick Head, in Tyrawly. 
 Two black hens were taken to a mearing, or property 
 boundary, where one of them was killed, and the 
 other let loose, (by the way, did the scape-goat of 
 the Hebrews give the hint ?) the killed bird was then 
 boiled, feathers, entrails and all, and young C — e 
 had done his best, according to directions, to devour 
 all, together with the soup ; and then the devil had 
 left him ; and, to tell the truth, I am not much 
 
3/8 A FEMALE FARRIER. 
 
 surprised he did so, for a chieftain of Tyrconnell 
 could alone have stood such a mess. 
 
 " This charm almost beats in nastiness one in repute 
 for curing the jaundice, which is, to eat nine dozen — 
 neither more nor less — what shall I call them? — head 
 animals ! ! I really cannot say whether they should 
 be cocks or hens. Fitzgerald, my informant as to 
 the cure of the boy C — e, said that he had assisted 
 in catching one of the hens. There was, I suspect, 
 something else done, such as the use of an inverted 
 pater-noster, but that was kept a secret from us." 
 
 I must relate another anecdote, relative to elf-shot 
 cattle: — "Jan. 14th, 1840. — A horse, belonging to 
 Paddy B — t, of Kilgalligan, fell under its load, on 
 the strand, near my house, and lay for some time as 
 dead. Thinking the animal was in a very bad state, 
 I went down to examine the poor brute, when it sud- 
 denly turned its legs upwards, and commenced kick- 
 ing violently, as in the greatest agony. On inquiry 
 I was informed by the boy who was with it, that he 
 had been drawing potatoes, and that the beast had 
 taken a bellyfull, apparently the first it had taken for 
 some time, for it appeared in a complete state of 
 starvation ; I therefore concluded, that unusual 
 repletion, of a very fermenting vegetable, had filled 
 the creature full of air, and that he was troubled 
 with the windy cholic. Hoping that the animal 
 would recover, I left it, and shortly afterwards a 
 person came running up to info mi me that Biddy 
 Garvin had found a cure for the beast, and smiling 
 as he said it, ' Troth, sir, the cure's a quare one.' 
 This observation led me to make further inquiry, and 
 
A COW DOCTOR. 379 
 
 I found that old Biddy had, with much solemnity, 
 spit three times on the animal's neck, then whisked 
 the tail of her gown three times over the part spitten 
 on, and had wound up all by mumbling something to 
 herself, which my informant had not been able to 
 hear. 
 
 "From the conduct of the old woman I conclude 
 she supposed that the animal was elf-shot ; and this 
 circumstance recalls to my memory one that took 
 place some years ago, when I resided at Portnacloy. 
 A cow that I had lately purchased was suddenly 
 taken ill — an event which created no little bustle in 
 my cottage, but which I did not add to, being quite 
 ignorant of the treatment of beasts. The cow in 
 question was the first animal — ' barring'' (as we say 
 here) a pet monkey, a dog, or such like, I could ever 
 call my own. At length the calm that ensued 
 assured me poor ' Crummy' was out of danger, and 
 feeling a weight off my mind, or rather off my purse, 
 by being assured I should not be defrauded of 
 Crummy's assistance in keeping a weight on the 
 stomachs of my domestics, I dropped my book and 
 went out to enjoy a snuff of fresh air, in doing 
 which I encountered an old weaver, named Redmond 
 M'Gragh, who had evidently placed himself at my 
 door to attract my attention, and who eyed me with 
 a look of consequence that seemed to say, 'Faix, 
 Kipten, you're under a mighty grate obligation to 
 me !' Not being aware of the important part he 
 had lately acted, I entered into conversation with 
 him on some subject he felt no interest in, but which 
 he politely bore till he saw I was on the point of 
 
380 COW SHOT BY FAIRIES. 
 
 parting, when, observing no demonstration on my 
 part indicative of a display of my purse, he saga- 
 ciously threw out the following gentle refresher : — 
 ' Niver had more throuble to cure a baste in my life, 
 plase yer honour.' ' What !' said I, ' are you a cow 
 doctor, Redmond ? I thought you were a weaver.' 
 ■ A bit of both, Kipten dear ! and hearing yer 
 honour's cow was sick, I just ran over to relave her ; 
 and faix it was lucky I did so, for the poor baste was 
 badly shot.' ' Shot !' said I, in the greatest sur- 
 prise. ' Shot !' repeated Redmond, in a tone so 
 mysterious, that I involuntarily looked over my 
 shoulder, in expectation of a similar compliment ; 
 but, observing the coast clear, I roughly said to the 
 little, dirty, old man before me : ' Shot ! — who on 
 earth shot her, I say V Redmond gradually rose on 
 his tiptoes, apparently from a dread of being over- 
 heard, and significantly replied in a whisper, though 
 not a creature was near us : ( " The gentry," Kipten 
 dear ! and troth they nearly finished the poor baste, 
 for here's where the shot went in' — at the same time 
 placing my finger on a spot about the short ribs, 
 where I really did feel something like a little hollow. 
 I was not then, neither am I now, very well acquaint- 
 ed with the hollows and bumps that ought to be on a 
 cow's carcass, but not being exactly convinced the 
 animal had been made a target of, I examined the 
 opposite side and there found, as I expected would 
 be the case, a corresponding hollow : ' Why, how is 
 this, Mr. M'Gragh?' said I, with a mischievous 
 smile on my countenance ; ' Crummy has been en- 
 gaged on both sides, for here is another shot-hole on 
 
THREE-HALF-PENCE WORTH. 381 
 
 this side.' ' Troth and so there is, as I'm a sinner,' 
 replied the old man, a little confounded at the dis- 
 covery, but his wit or simplicity instantly relieved 
 him, and he added with the greatest confidence : — 
 ' Och wurra ! ! ! the shot came out here.' — A man 
 convinced against his will, is of the same opinion 
 still, 'tis said, so I made no further attempt to dis- 
 abuse him of his folly, but inquired of my servants 
 what steps he had taken to effect the cure, and on 
 hearing that the cow had been measured from head 
 to tail — that her girth had been taken — that she had 
 been mumbled over — that she had been spit on, and 
 marked with the cross — and that finally a drink had 
 been given her of certain herbs, in which three-half- 
 pence had been boiled, I sharply ordered the old 
 goose or rogue — for I really knew not which to call 
 him exactly — to make the best use of his legs ; and 
 informed him, if ever I caught him playing similar 
 tricks at my house, I would order the servants to 
 scald him. The cow doctor consequently beat his 
 retreat with evident marks of mortification and dis- 
 appointment, protesting, as he made his exit, ' that 
 nothing but his drink of three halfpence had saved 
 the haste's life, and sorra fut he would come to her 
 again if "the gentry" made a sieve of her carcass.' 
 " The following day, as ill-luck would have it, the 
 cow was taken ill again, and many significant looks 
 were exchanged by my domestics, which did not 
 seem to promise much milk or butter to the estab- 
 lishment. I was, however, determined to have no 
 more dealings with the black art under my roof; so, 
 in lieu of Doctor M'Gragh's never-before-doubted 
 
382 NO MORE GENTRY. 
 
 charm, a pound of Glauber salts was given, and I am 
 happy to say with such good effect, that she was not 
 only left in peace and quietness by the mischievous 
 1 gentry,' but they have never since taken a fancy 
 to riddle a beast of mine." 
 
 In giving instances in this chapter of what I deem 
 to be the evils of the voluntary system, as affecting 
 the relations of the Roman Catholic clergy with 
 their flocks, I wish it to be understood, that I have 
 no intention of proposing as a remedy, an established 
 provision. A casual observer may notice a disease, 
 without assuming the professional skill to direct a 
 remedy. 
 
383 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Dealings of Errisians with the inferior animals — Making court to foxes 
 and care for their comforts — How Reynard is made a gossip — An emi- 
 grating fox — Gets its passage to a foreign land gratis — Cats, their 
 parliament — Their wa^ys and means — Can raise the wind better than 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but like him abused for what they are 
 about — And placed in jeopardy — Anecdote of Catty Kane, her cat, and 
 her courtier — Advice to spinsters in general to take a lesson from Catty 
 Kane — Building castles for the air — Use of asses various — An Erris 
 trial — The cause, the plaintiff and defendant— Consequences of kissing 
 — A cure — A death — And a judgment — Seals — Enchanted men — A 
 young one would make a man of the Mullet his mother — Treated like 
 the hare with many friends — Owen Gallagher's adventure — His arrival 
 at the magic land— Meets one he had injured— One enchantment neu- 
 tralizes the other — The seal's advice and Owen's escape — Superstitions 
 not confined to Erris or Ireland — How the cholera was kept from com- 
 ing by an Errisman — Use of keeping one's hair — Cleanliness — Sea 
 bathing — Observation respecting the improvement of Erris — Village 
 andrundale system — Payments of rent in produce not in money — Nature 
 of Erris bogs — Their capabilities — Instance of attempting to improve 
 an incapable district — What are waste lands ? — Difficulties of 
 Connaught landlords, and excuses for them. 
 
 I have said that the habits and character of a peo- 
 ple may be in a great measure known from their 
 opinions about, and treatment of, the inferior animals. 
 I have in another portion of the book stated how 
 highly they appreciate the intellect of foxes, how 
 they consider that they can perfectly understand 
 language, how they can be propitiated by kindness, 
 and even moved by flattery, and that they do not 
 only make mittens for Reynard's feet to keep him 
 warm in the winter, which when made, they deposit 
 
384 GOSSIP FOXES. 
 
 carefully near their holes, but they make them sponsors 
 for their children, supposing that under the close 
 and long established relationship of gossipred, they 
 will be induced on all these occasions to befriend 
 instead of doing them harm. In corroboration of 
 these facts, I give the following extract from my 
 friend's diary. 
 
 "Oct. 15th, 1840. — On visiting Portnacloy this 
 day, I happened to mention in the w^tch-house that I 
 had heard that the foxes occasionally received presents 
 of mittens, and were nominated as sponsors to their 
 children, in order that they might be coaxed to let their 
 lambs alone. P. D — , a Roman Catholic, immediately 
 assented that these statements were correct, and related 
 the following instance : * On the coast-guards' first 
 coming into the country, old Dogherty the herd, who 
 then lived at Portnacloy, was some time after ap- 
 pointed as Mr. Bourne's herd; his flock sustained 
 great loss through the voracity of the foxes, and one 
 year, having lost nearly twenty lambs, he went to the 
 fox's den, with about a pound of good wool, which 
 he threw in, and thus addressed him in Irish : — 
 'Fox agra, let's be good friends, and do, avick, let 
 my lambs alone. Here's some wool to make mittens 
 for your young ones, and I will be their gossip, and 
 will ever and always be a good neighbour to you.' 
 The fox, it would appear, accepted Tom's offering of 
 friendship and fosterhood ; for by his account to his 
 friend, the coast-guard-man, from that day forth, he 
 never lost a lamb." 
 
 This testimony as to the intelligence of foxes is 
 corroborated by the statement of another friend, who 
 
AN EMIGRATING FOX. 385 
 
 thus accounts for the admission of foxes into Innis- 
 kea, an island so many leagues off shore, that no 
 fox could possibly swim there. " Paddy O'Donnell 
 and Darby Barrett, the former a native of Inniskea, 
 the other a mainlander, were sitting on a sand-hill in 
 the Mullet, with the said island just in sight of 
 them ; ' I wish,' says Paddy ' I had a ferret or two, 
 for the rabbits are getting a head of us entirely on 
 our island ; they this year almost ruinated my little 
 bit of barley, bad 'cess to them. If we cannot be 
 quit of them in any -other way, I wish the foxes would 
 come and rid us of them, or keep them at any rate, 
 close to the sandhills.' e Maybe,' says Darby, * you'd 
 be by-and-by after wishing the fox back again, for 
 I'm thinking he'd be looking after your lambs as well 
 as the rabbits.' This conversation ended, they sepa- 
 rated, one seeking his corragh in order to return to the 
 island, the other betaking himself to his village. Now 
 Paddy had not got fifty yards along his path, when what 
 should he see but a fox lying stiff, to all appearance 
 dead, — a vixen, too, and full of cubs. '"Well/ says 
 Pat, 'talk of the devil, and he'll appear ; at any rate 
 it's an ill wind that blows nobody good; the outside of 
 the crathur is the very thing I want ; the skin of its 
 head and face will make a purty cap for little Pethereen, 
 and that of its body will make a mighty good buoy 
 for the herring nets.' So, taking up the animal by 
 its brush, he flung it into the bottom of his boat, and 
 in a few hours was ashore en his island ; and so it 
 was when seizing the fox by the leg, and pitching it 
 on the island strand, to his utter astonishment, up 
 bounced Reynard, and made off through the sand 
 
 s 
 
386 THE CASE OF CATS. 
 
 hills of his new hunting ground." What other in- 
 ference can be drawn from this true story, but that 
 the vixen was listening to the two friends' conversa- 
 tion, that she perfectly comprehended the whole 
 matter, and thought it a good though hazardous 
 speculation to migrate to where the vulpine popu- 
 lation did not press on the means of subsistence ? 
 
 The observation of my Mullet friend on this fact, 
 is as follows : — " Foxes are generally reputed great 
 and ingenious rogues ; but I believe to Erris is con- 
 fined the conviction that the foxes themselves are 
 aware of their bad character, and that they not only 
 deserve, but are liable to be hanged for their larcenies 
 and burglaries. It is on this admission of the foxes 
 that the people act when they tie a small hem- 
 pen string round the necks of their lambs, and 
 Reynard never touches any so provided, his presenti- 
 ment of his probable and deserved fate rendering him 
 very cautious how he has any thing to do with a 
 hempen cord." 
 
 So much at present for foxes. Cats are treated, as 
 I opine, worse ; for they are supposed to be but too 
 often connected with witchcraft, and to lend their 
 outward forms to familiar spirits. The timorous 
 respect the people have for them is increased by the 
 fact of their frequent and numerous meetings, to 
 which they come, from a distance of seven or eisht 
 miles, and from fifty to sixty are often in the assem- 
 bly. The parliament place is generally on these 
 occasions under a haystack, and as, like another great 
 house of congress, their deliberations are in the 
 night, their discoorse is as loud as it is vehement, 
 
RAISING THE WIND. 38/ 
 
 what they debate about is not exactly ascertained, 
 matters no doubt of grave import to the feline po- 
 lity, — war and commerce, ways and means, the 
 falling off of followers — the increase of rats — the 
 shortening of tails, much arguing at any rate about 
 raising the wind, for Erris cats are known to have the 
 power of creating a storm, or causing a calm, and 
 this supposition seems to have arisen from the fact 
 of cats being observed scratching the leg of a stool 
 or table, or any upright thing within their reach, 
 previous to a gale of wind, looking most knowingly, 
 and consciously the whole time, and frequently accom- 
 panying their exercise with most melancholy mews. 
 The storm which succeeds is supposed to be the effect 
 of this feline proceeding, which is looked on as an 
 incantation, insomuch that the moment a cat is ob- 
 served to commence this scratching, it is immedi- 
 ately struck at with a stick, or tongs, or any other 
 weapon within reach ; it is moreover assaulted with 
 a clap of curses peculiarly appropriate (and the Irish 
 is a magnificent cursing language) to cats under 
 these circumstances. As soon as the storm begins to 
 rise, all the available cats are seized, and placed under 
 a metal pot, and there held in durance vile, until they 
 resort to the exercise of their power in causing a calm. 
 Now, not only is this power universally allowed, but 
 what is of incalculable importance, this power is 
 often taken advantage of by the cat's owner. The 
 following story will evince that the feline theory is 
 wrought out into practice, and the practitioner must 
 have her full credit for her ready wit, and good luck 
 to her with it, though the priest might not say it 
 was very catholic work. 
 
388 catty kane's cat. 
 
 Not very long ago, a vessel was detained for some 
 time in Blacksod Bay ; during the time of the delay, 
 the skipper became intimate with and engaged the 
 affections of a girl named Catty Kane. But when 
 his vessel was ready for sea, the roving blade, with 
 all a sailor's inconstancy, hoisted his sails, without 
 at the same time hoisting a signal for the priest ; and 
 out he put to sea, never intending to see the fair one 
 more. But Catty knew a trick worth two of that, and 
 had recourse to her cat. And now the brig is put into 
 all her trim to clear the bay, but in vain ; the wind 
 blows a hurricane in her teeth, and back she must 
 come to her old anchorage. From this time forth, 
 day after day, the captain used all possible skill to 
 get out of harbour, but as often as he weighs anchor 
 he is driven back again, and Catty understands the 
 management of her cat so well, that the brig must 
 just come in for shelter close to the poor girl's resi- 
 dence. This continued for many months, — the cargo 
 is spoiling, — what is he to do ? Why, as the captain 
 finds it impossible to quit Catty, he must needs 
 marry her ; and so, taking her and her cat on board, 
 and doing all decently and tightly, next day with a 
 fair wind and flowing sheet, he can and does bid 
 adieu to Erris ! ! What a pity it is that the spinsters 
 in the other portions of the Queen's dominions have 
 not the art of Catty Kane in managing her grimalkin ; 
 many a sweet thing that is now in danger of turning 
 sour, might be thus saved from passing into the ace- 
 tous fermentation. 
 
 Being on the subject of raising the wind, I make 
 use of the information of my friend, to acquaint the 
 
CASLAAN PLEMINHIN. 389 
 
 reader with the following important circumstance ; 
 namely, the erection and uses of Caslaan Pleminhin : 
 these are small castles, somewhat like those children 
 build of cards, raised up of nine stones in a conical 
 form, and with a door towards the art from which 
 the wind is required to blow. Some magical rites 
 attend the building of these castles, whose efficacy 
 the most incredulous of the country fellows do not 
 attempt to deny ; but they have an objection to try 
 the operation of the act, as they consider the meddling 
 in such practices might place their souls in the power 
 of some demon ; but they are said to have been 
 extensively used in the former "wrecking times," 
 when ships were considered fair booty, and the hang- 
 ing out Talse lights was not considered unwarrantable. 
 Indeed, how could the poor have a scruple on the 
 subject, when the practice was countenanced and 
 taken advantage of by persons who ought to know T 
 better. When a ship was seen off the coast, the 
 "Caslaan Pleminhin" were erected to effect the 
 wreck ; the calm which generally succeeds a storm 
 was looked to as part of the required effect, affording 
 the opportunity of approaching and plundering the 
 unfortunate vessel and her crew. 
 
 Having disposed of foxes and cats, I proceed now 
 to asses, and there are some rare things expected of 
 them. Passing a child three times under a she ass, 
 while, at the same time, a single drop of her milk is 
 sprinkled on the child in the name of the Trinity, is 
 a sovereign remedy for the hooping cough. If a 
 lady should prove to be unfruitful, which, in truth, 
 is seldom the case in Erris, an ass is the means of 
 
.390 ASSES. 
 
 placing her in the wished-for way ; her friends have 
 only to get her a fall — it must be an unwilling one — 
 off the beast's back, and the thing is effected. This 
 dangerous expedient has often been successfully re- 
 sorted to. But this is not all : a tooth-ache of rather 
 a peculiar kind, to be sure, and quite an Irish one, 
 is cured by kissing an ass ; that is, in case the per- 
 son having the tooth-ache has no teeth in their head. 
 Take an example drawn from the records of the 
 magisterial court of Erris, as reported to me by a 
 young friend, whose narrative, as I heard it from his 
 lips, I shall endeavour with all possible faithfulness 
 to set down. 
 
 Terence O'Dowd summoned Biddy Lavelle before 
 the petty sessions for the loss of his ass, wnich had 
 been taken by night out of his field where it was 
 safely spancelled, and was found the following 
 morning dead at Biddy's door. Now we will sup- 
 pose two or more grave justices of the peace sitting 
 as magisterially as any thing without a big wig can, 
 behind a green cloth table, and beside said table is 
 Mister Phill, the clerk, near sighted, and with button 
 nose, as if rubbing the papers before him, and his 
 pen stuck behind his outshelving ear, and before the 
 justices, and just beside the clerk stands Terence, 
 looking reverently at the little thin Testament that 
 has a red tape tied longitudinally and transversely on 
 it, forming a cross for the lieges to kiss. 
 
 Now, Terence was a little bandy-legged, broad- 
 shouldered fellow, with a weather-worn face — his brow 
 and chin equally protruded, and his waggish nose form- 
 ing the middle term between the two — very like a rug- 
 
AN ASSININE TRIAL. 391 
 
 ged island rising within the shelter of two headlands, 
 and guarding the entrance of a deep inner bay (his 
 mouth), of which said nose was the protecting mole — 
 dressed not exactly like a countryman: he, as if coming 
 from the foreign parts of Ballina and Killala, had his 
 costume out of the common sort ; he held a seal skin 
 cap in his hand ; he had a large blue jacket, like a 
 tall sailor's cast off, hanging on, rather than fitting 
 him, and tied with a leathern strap about his middle. 
 It was hard to tell what his nether garment was, for 
 the pea jacket came down to his knees, and thea a 
 pair of sheep skin spatterdashes met it, formed of 
 untanned hide, with the wool badly pulled off, which 
 made his locomotives rather wild and rugged. 
 Feathered, as it were, to the feet, and also pert and 
 pugnacious like a bantam cock. Such was the 
 accuser. 
 
 The culprit was equally remarkable. Old she was, 
 but hale ; just in that state of existence when women 
 are, as it were, climacterizecl out of their sex and ap- 
 pear to get masculine — all feminine rotundity disap- 
 pears — the flatness of the bust, and the incipient 
 beard, and the wTinkle, instead of the dimple, plainly 
 foreshow 7 that though she may live away almost un- 
 limitedly, yet it is not for any former purpose, she 
 exists now to be the granny and not the mammy of 
 the family ; she is still of use in the ceconomical 
 process that is going on in the household. Biddy 
 Lavelle had made this transition : there was a multi- 
 tude of wrinkles in her face, and yet her grey eye 
 was clear and sparkling ; there was no dull halo of 
 senility about its iris. And it was needful it should be 
 so; for, to use the French phrase, she was the " sage 
 
3D2 THE PARTIES IN THE CAUSE. 
 
 femme" of the district. T need not describe her cos- 
 tume further than that there was a white muslin ker- 
 chief tied close round her head, under which was 
 turned, in front, on a sort of a roller, her iron grey 
 hair ; that she had the salmon coloured shawl, the 
 brown boddice, and red puckered petticoat, that all 
 old Connaught women wear, and so we have the 
 group before us. 
 
 "Well, honest man," says the senior justice, " what 
 have you to say against this woman ?" 
 
 " Why, plase yer honour, I get my living by a 
 little daHng, and I do be carrying goods betune this 
 and Ballina, and bring a lot of eggs, and dried fish, 
 and rabbits, and other little things I gother in the 
 Mullet, and sells them, and brings back pedlery, yer 
 honour — combs and looking-glasses, and hard and 
 soft goods, with which I go through the villages ; 
 and, yer honour, I had an ass, the quietest, hard- 
 working, kindest baste that ever bore a kreel ; — I'd 
 set him, yer honours, against any of his kind from 
 this to Galway for doing more work with less fodder. 
 Oh, Shawneen ! now you're gone, and sore my heart 
 is to say it ; you were the bully of a crathur." 
 
 " Honest man," says one of the magistrates, 
 ' ' you are rather long-winded ; consider we have 
 other matters to mind than your long palaver 
 about a dead ass." 
 
 " Well, your lordship, I was just going to say 
 that I would not take two golden guineas down in my 
 fist for that same ass. And so it was, that last Sun- 
 day come eight days, the woman here drops into me, 
 and she ups and sez, after a mort of coshering and 
 slewdering me — for we are ould acquaintances — 
 
plaintiff's case. 393 
 
 ' Paddy agra, will you lend me your ass V * What 
 for, Mrs. Lavelle, should I leud you him V says I ; 
 1 what does the likes of you want with the likes of it I 
 Is it to take a ride like a lady you want V ' No, in 
 troth, Paddy, it is not ; for I have rides enough in 
 my vocashun, up and down on pillions and sug- 
 gawns through all the boreens in the barony.' ' Well 
 do you want it to draw up a lock of rack to your 
 pratie-garden V ' No, nor that either.' ' Oh, thin, 
 what thin, honest woman ? don't be after tasing me 
 with guessing all this time.' ' Why, then, if you 
 want to know, and will lend him, I own to you, 
 Paddy, that I want to give him three kisses.' ' Oh, 
 blur and agurs,' cried I, ' who ever heard of a 
 woman kissing an ass. ' Och then, Paddy,' sez she, 
 ' it's because I'm kilt ail out with the tooth-ache.' 
 ' You, Biddy 1 is it yerself have the tooth-ache, when 
 to my certy, you have not one tooth in either of your 
 nut-crackers for these seven years.' ' Och then, 
 Paddy, you nagur, it's that makes the worst of it ; 
 for sure if I had the teeth, Bill Barrett, the cow 
 doctor, could draw them out ; but now the pain runs 
 here, and there, and everywhere about my jaws, and 
 not one wink of sleep can I get, and I'm sure it will 
 be the death of me, and now I'm tould for sartin, 
 that if I kiss an ass, the pain will lave me for good.' 
 ' And where, Biddy, I make bould to ask, will the 
 pain go when it laves you V ' Why, then, Phadrig 
 acushla, I'll tell you the truth ; for why, honest wo- 
 man as I am, should I keep it from yez ? I believe 
 it'll go into your baste.' ' Oh then, if that be so, 
 honest woman, never a kiss shall you bestow on my 
 
 s 2 
 
394 THE DEFENDANT. 
 
 Shawneen; likely story indeed, that I'd go for to 
 bother my poor baste in this way — a purty way I'd 
 be in with him at the fair of Crosmolina, next Friday 
 come eight days, with my ass braying all up and 
 down the street, wid the pain borrowed from the 
 likes of you. No, Biddy, were you my own fosther 
 sister, you could not expect this cut of me. So go 
 home, and lave me and mine alone, and not be 
 bothering us with your clishmaclavers.' This was 
 the way I refused her, your honours, and out she 
 went, and I thought for good. But, as bad luck 
 would follow me, the woman comes by night, drives 
 my ass out of my little garden, where it was span- 
 celled, beats it before her until she has it at her own 
 door, and there, whatever she done to it, there I 
 finds my ass dead in the morning. And now, yer 
 honours, I hope, as I have made yez sensible, ye 
 will order the woman to pay down two guineas — the 
 very money I could have got for the poor baste; and 
 where, alanna, Shawneen asthore, shall I ever get 
 yer likes again?" 
 
 Here Paddy closed his case, and then Mrs. La- 
 velle was called on to show cause why the price of 
 the ass should not be levied on her. So up gets the 
 " sage femme." " Why thin, gentlemen, sure you 
 would not be after making me pay two guineas for 
 kissing an ass ?" 
 
 " You acknowledge, then, my good woman," said 
 the senior justice, " that you did kiss the man's 
 animal." 
 
 " I did, yer honour ; for why would I deny it, 
 and small blame to me for doing the like, when I 
 
HER REPLY. 395 
 
 knew for sartin that he would take the ruination out 
 of my jaws?" 
 
 " And what did you do, honest woman, with the 
 ass, when you drove him away from his owner V 
 
 " Why, what else but drive him to my own house, 
 dacently and slowly, just as if it was my own brin- 
 dled cow, and she going to calve." 
 
 " And what did you do when you got the ass to 
 your house V 
 
 " Why, plase yer honour, when there I held him by 
 the halter just over the sil of my door, his head 
 straight above the lucky horse-shoe, nailed at the 
 left side as you come in, and then I lifted up his 
 upper lip, yer honour, and I gave him three kisses 
 on his teeth, and I said the three words the fairy 
 man taught me, and then as by jomethry, the pain 
 left me, and then I lets go the ass, thinking as how 
 he knew the way, he would have trotted back to his 
 own home, and nobody would be a bit the wiser." 
 
 " Well, honest woman, after you did all this, did 
 the ass bray ?" 
 
 " Troth not one screech, that I heard ; but to tell 
 heaven's truth, I was tired entirely, and so I went 
 to bed, the pain being all gone, and I never woke till 
 morning." 
 
 " Well, in the morning, what did you do or 
 
 ._, 
 
 see 
 
 T" 
 
 " Why, yer honour, as to doing, I did nothing, 
 and as to seeing, it's too thrue to be sung in a ballad ; 
 I saw, when I went out, the ass stiff dead at the 
 gable end of the house — his head dowii, and his 
 
396 CROSS EXAMINATION. 
 
 moutli (God keep us from harm) in a pool of water, 
 just forenint the dung hill." 
 
 " And what more, good woman ?" 
 
 " Why I made a pillalloo, and all the neighbours 
 gothered about the ass — then the owner, Mr. O'Dowd, 
 came, and if he didn't make a ruction, it's no 
 mather." 
 
 " "Well, Mrs. Lavelle, this is certainly a most extra- 
 ordinary story: you say you drove the ass quietly to 
 your house, that you did nothing to it there but kiss 
 it on the teeth, that you then let it go, and yet it is 
 found stone dead at your door in the morning. Are 
 you sure you did nothing else to it ?" 
 
 " Sure, yer honour, — and may I never again do a 
 hand's turn, if I thought that a tooth-ache, when it 
 got hould of an ass, would kill it stiff." 
 
 Here the clerk interfered, and begged leave of 
 the bench to ask the woman a question or two, which, 
 being allowed, he with no small assumption and 
 sagacity, and tossing his nose in the air, said — 
 
 " Now, honest woman, recollect you are before 
 this worshipful bench, and so let us have not only 
 the truth, ' but the whole truth ; you say you did 
 nothing to this man's ass but kiss it, and the kissing 
 cured you. I suppose you did not beat it, or drive it 
 aw r ay with stick or stone? — but, by the virtue of your 
 oath, did you not give it something ?" 
 
 " Yer honour, am I to answer that questhen ?" 
 
 "Yes," said the bench, "to be sure you are." 
 
 " Well, thin, since you put it so hard upon me, I 
 did give the crathur a cupfull of spirits, which I had 
 
THE JUDGMENT. 397 
 
 to wash my own mouth wid, while the pain was bad 
 upon me, and now I thought that since poor Shaw- 
 neen got the pain, the least I could do was to help 
 him to the remainder of the whiskey. So when I 
 had done kissing, I opened his mouth, and down I 
 tossed the whole cupfull. And now, yer honours, 
 were I at my dying hour, and if I was preparing for 
 anointing, this is all I did to the crathur, and if a 
 drop of a dram was to kill this way, what would 
 become of the world?" 
 
 This ended the case for the defence, and both 
 parties being ordered to retire, that due consideration 
 might be given to this abstruse cause — after a time, 
 and not without some hesitation, sentence was pro- 
 nounced, that Mrs. Bridget Lavelle, inasmuch as she 
 improperly, and without consent given, carried off 
 from Terence O'Dowd's field a certain ass, and did 
 within her own premises, tamper with the animal in 
 an unheard-of manner, and did something which 
 deprived it of life, which something, in all likelihood, 
 was the causing of it to drink a thing so unnatural as 
 whiskey, which seems to have so stopped its breath, 
 that it could not bray > therefore the court adjudged 
 that the woman should pay this man the sum of 
 thirty shillings. 
 
 This trial made no little noise at the time, and 
 while some would have it that Biddy was made to 
 pay for making an ass dead drunk, others asserted 
 that she paid for her kissing ; but on all hands it 
 was allowed, that never was there an odder cause, or 
 a queerer trial, and surely it should be inserted 
 amongst Irish " causes celebres," if ever such a work 
 
398 SEALS. 
 
 should be published — for of its authenticity there 
 can be no doubt. 
 
 I should conclude what I have to say respecting 
 the relations of the Errisians with the inferior 
 animals, by narrating a fact or two respecting the 
 seal. In a former chapter, I mentioned how the 
 people in the vicinity of Downpatrick Head, have 
 given up seal catching, under the conviction that 
 these creatures are instinct with the souls of their 
 forefathers, who, in that state, undergo their purga- 
 tory. Some superstition, but not exactly of the 
 same kind, prevails in Erris ; here they are consi- 
 dered as human beings under enchantment, and as 
 every superstition is cruel hi proportion to its darkness, 
 they consider it unlucky to have any thing to do 
 with seals, and to have a live one near their dwel- 
 lings is considered as productive of evil to life and 
 property. Mr. Maxwell, in his well-written " Wild 
 Sports of the West," relates a most affecting, and at 
 the same time, revolting anecdote of a seal that 
 showed, when domesticated, (for this creature can be 
 easily tamed,) great attachment to its owner, which 
 fondness, under the influence of the superstition I 
 allude to, was requited with monstrous barbarity. I 
 cannot (thank goodness) adduce any thing similar, 
 but I can show that the feeling still exists from the 
 following fact : — A young seal, during a summer's 
 night, came ashore, having in some unexplained way 
 lost its dam, and creeping inland, it by chance 
 observed a man asleep behind a rock, where he had 
 placed himself in order to keep watch over a flock of 
 sheep, and hinder them from trespassing on some 
 
ADVENTURES OF ONE, 399 
 
 adjoining corn. The young seal, taking the man 
 wrapped up in his frieze big coat for his mother, 
 nestled up close to him, and kept bobbing at his 
 breast, seeking, as it would seem, its wonted maternal 
 nourishment. This awoke Paddy, and his astonish- 
 ment may be guessed at when he found the marine 
 creature thus making application to his bosom ; the 
 man brought it home as a curiosity, and the neigh- 
 bours informing him that Mr. G. C. was on the 
 look out for a seal to send to Dublin, he brought it 
 at once to that gentleman, who, of course, rewarded 
 him for his present ; but now the question was, what 
 to do with the creature until it could be forwarded to 
 the metropolis. Mr. C, a young unmarried man, 
 had no house of his own, and he therefore requested 
 a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Belmullet to 
 keep it in his yard for him for a short time ; this 
 was of course agreed to ; but when the fact came 
 under the cognizance of the people in the kitchen, 
 there was a grievous outcry, and the mistress of the 
 house being assured, with much anxiety, that there 
 could be neither luck nor grace about the house 
 while the sale was there, she had her own mis- 
 givings, and so to be on the sure side, she ordered 
 the animal to be taken down to one of the master's 
 tenants, with strict injunctions for him to keep it, 
 and take the best care of it. Well, as soon as it 
 was laid down in the fanner's kitchen, there was no 
 small controversy, and loud was the complaint of all 
 the woman-kind about the place. A purty thing it 
 was, indeed, for the mistress to be sending the 
 unlucky baste away from her own place, and to go 
 
400 OWEN GALLAGHER, 
 
 for to fasten the bad luck upon their poor tenants. 
 So says the farmer's wife ; " troth then I won't put up 
 with it, for why should I, no, not even from my 
 own landlord. So, Paddy avick, (speaking to a little 
 gossoon that was in the kitchen,) go do^vn this 
 instant minute to Bryan Donnell, our cottier, and 
 tell him from me, and as he values his pratie garden, 
 to keep the baste safe till I send to him for it." So 
 the seal was passed to Bryan, and here was as 
 great a commotion as there was but lately in the 
 gentleman or the farmer's kitchen, the same feeling 
 of impending misfortune ; but Tim, who knew that 
 his cabin and potato-garden depended on submis- 
 sion, appeared to accept the trust, and desired the 
 bringer of it to go home, and say he would take care 
 of the haste ; but that very night he brought it 
 down in his arms to the sea shore, and there left it, 
 hoping, as indeed was the case, he would hear no 
 more of it, and intending to asseverate, which he did 
 with great emphasis next day, that the crathur got 
 away some how or other in the night unknownst 
 to him. 
 
 That they are human beings enchanted, the fol- 
 lowing story, which is commonly told and believed, 
 proves beyond a doubt : — Owen Gallagher, who was 
 well-known as an expert bird hunter, a good shot 
 with a long gun at a swan or a seal, and a practised 
 fisherman, was one long summer's day far out at sea 
 in his corragh, fishing, — when a fog came down on 
 him, and in a short time he got uncertain of his right 
 direction, and at a loss whether he was making for 
 the land or getting farther and farther from shore. 
 
HIS VOYAGE TO THE MAGIC LAND. 40i 
 
 In this state of perplexity he by-and-by sees an island 
 looming straight before him, and supposing it was 
 Inniskea, he made towards it, and soon touched a 
 smooth sheltered beach, up which he dragged his 
 corragh ; -and then looking about him, was surprised 
 at not seeing any thing like Inniskea, with which he 
 was so well acquainted, but a great green plain stretch- 
 ing far away westward, on which he could ob- 
 serve, as well as the fog would permit, but a single 
 cabin, that looked to be as lonesome as house could 
 be. So, having no choice^ he made towards it, hoping 
 that he would therein find, what is never refused, a 
 hearty welcome ; but when he entered, he saw it was 
 but a poor place, and not a living soul within, but an 
 old man, who sat with his head bent between his 
 knees, and moaning piteously. 
 
 " Bright morning to you, sir/' says Tim. 
 
 " Och, is that you ?" says the old man ; "it's an 
 ill wind that brought you here, Mr. Gallagher, let 
 me tell ye." 
 
 " Ah then for what, sir," says Tim, mighty civil, 
 " wouldn't I be welcome ? for sure if you came across 
 my threshold in the parish of Kilmore, it's I that 
 would give ye the best of threatment." 
 
 " Why, then, Mr. Gallagher, I'll tell ye for why : 
 becase you're the greatest inimy ever came across me; 
 for it's your own self that makes me the poor cra- 
 thur you see me, depending on others for my bit ; 
 for it was your own self that put out one eye, and 
 made the other so sore that not a fish I can catch — 
 not a salmon, not a rock-cod ; and onlv I now and 
 
402 MEETS WHAT IS BOTH MAN AND SEAL. 
 
 then grope for a crab, and wasn't it that I have 
 those who take care of me, I'd be lost entirely." 
 
 " Why, then, who are ye at all, at all ?" cries Gal- 
 lagher ; " for may I never do a good hand's turn, if 
 I have any remimbrance of ever putting out any 
 man's eye." 
 
 " Och, but indeed you did ! Don't you remimber 
 last St. Martin's day come two years, when with your 
 long gun you came unknownst on the sales that were 
 lying basking on Cleggan Point in Blacksod Bay, and 
 you fired and 'twas me you hit, and put my eye out, 
 bad luck to you ! and it's well I and others got away 
 to sea from you, and the likes of you, that won't be 
 letting us alone, poor suffering crathurs." 
 
 " Why, what are you at all, at all ? sure you are no 
 sale, but a Christhan man ?" 
 
 " Och, but I am a sale and a man too — a man, to 
 be sure, under enchantment. But so it is, that one 
 enchantment stops, for a time, another ; and this is an 
 enchanted part of the sea, and this is an enchanted 
 island ; and therefore it is, that, when we sales do 
 wish to get back to our ould shapes as men, we are 
 allowed to swim here, and as long as we get lave 
 to stay, we are morthal men ; but when we quit 
 this, we turn to sales again. But make haste, Tim 
 Gallagher, if you be yer own frind, for I expect 
 every moment my boys to return ; and, let me 
 tell ye, that if they catch the man who blinded 
 their father, and made them ever afther take the 
 trouble of getting him food, maybe it will be worse 
 for ye — so make yourself scarce in no time." 
 
HIS RETURN. 403 
 
 This advice, it may be supposed, Tim Gallagher 
 took, and so pushing his corragh afloat, he made off 
 from the enchanted island ; and the fog clearing 
 away, and the magic land vanishing, he in due time 
 got home to tell his adventure, and to warn the world 
 that there was something not nathral in sales. 
 
 All these anecdotes exhibit the people as a plea- 
 sant, good-humoured, and good-natured people, of 
 great simplicity of character connected with shrewd- 
 ness ; their conception concerning the eternal world 
 and spiritual things is very obscure, and very carnal, 
 and absurd ; but, at the same time, perhaps not much 
 more so than that of ignorant uneducated people in 
 other places where better things should be expected. 
 
 I think I could adduce instances of very gross 
 views and practices in Wales, Cornwall, and the 
 strictly agricultural districts of England, that might 
 very well match with the absurdities I have narrated 
 respecting Achill and Erris.* But this is no reason 
 
 * The instances of gross, degrading 1 , and sometimes 
 cruel superstitions with which my friend has supplied me - 
 and I could from his, and other information, supply much 
 more — are, to be sure, much to be lamented, and I give them 
 publicity in the hope that exposure may induce those who 
 have influence to put an end to them — at all events a proper 
 education must and will do it. In England such practices 
 were very common, and in much credit a century ago ; as 
 Mr. John Aubrey and others abundantly show. Take the 
 two following recipes, selected from amongst many others 
 in Aubrey's Miscellanies, because they are short, and not 
 indecent, as most of them are. 
 
 To cure the thrush — Take a living frog, and, holding it in 
 a cloth, put the head into the child's mouth until the frog is 
 dead, and then take another and do the same. 
 
 To cure a bullock that hath the wisp, that is, lame between 
 
404 MRS. CHOLERA. 
 
 why, whenever they are heard of, they should not be 
 narrated and exposed — bringing the public eye to 
 bear upon such dark things is a most effectual step to 
 have them removed, and if the schoolmaster be 
 abroad, which they say he is, send him to such 
 places, and with the light he must carry with him, to 
 dissipate such darkness, and make reason seize on the 
 territory that prejudice had long marked for her own. 
 It is with this view I write what I do ; not, surely, 
 to make an amiable people ridiculous ; but, if pos- 
 sible, to induce those who can improve them to show 
 a more excellent way. 
 
 Like all ignorant and at the same time imaginative 
 people, the natives of Erris have very carnal views on 
 what is usually considered the invisible world. Take for 
 instance the following: — When the cholera prevailed 
 eight years ago, the conception amongst the Errisians 
 was that of an old witch who went along with a terrible 
 countenance, horrid hair, and breathing out a dense 
 
 the clees — Take the impression of the beast's foot in the 
 earth, then dig it up, and stick therein five or seven thorns 
 on the wrong side, and then hang it on a bush to dry, and as 
 that dries so the bullock heals. But for an English 
 practice take the following, extracted from a Yorkshire 
 newspaper of a recent da + e : — 
 
 " A wealthy farmer, living not one hundred miles from 
 Nunnington, in the North-Riding of this county, having 
 lost a number of cattle by disease within the last twelve 
 months, and entertaining the idea that they were bewitched 
 by a poor old woman, sent fdr a 'wise man,' who, after 
 burning the heart of an ox with a pin, read a form of prayer 
 in every field and out-house belonging to the farmer. After 
 remaining for a week living upon good cheer, and getting 
 his pocket well filled with cash, the 'wise man' then took 
 his departure, leaving the poor dupe of a farmer satisfied 
 that he shall lose no more cattle." 
 
TAKE CARE OF YOUR HAIR. 40.5 
 
 fume, dropping pestilence wherever she went ; that in 
 her vocation as she moved along from Sligo and passed 
 the Moy at Ballina, where she made thousands blue 
 and stiff with her death-dealing breath, she strode 
 westwards through Tyrawly and came to the river 
 Owenmore, and was in the act of wading that stream, 
 when a pious man, who had been on his knees just 
 going through a decade of prayers with his beads, and, 
 rising therefrom, saw her in the middle of the stream ; 
 and moved to it, no doubt by his guardian angel, he 
 up with a stone and flung it at her with all his force, 
 and that with the best effect ; for he broke her thigh ; 
 and with that she turned about, and why shouldn't 
 she, and never made her appearance in Erris. It 
 would have been well for Ireland if, instead of her 
 costly apparatus of doctors and hospitals, such a 
 worthy voteen as this could have been found to arrest 
 Mrs. Cholera before she landed on our shores. 
 
 I may adduce another instance of the carnalising 
 of unseen things, and shall use a friend's words — 
 " During my residence in these mountains, I have 
 been much puzzled at seeing the cut hair of every 
 family carefully deposited in the side walls of their 
 houses, and, suspecting it was done through some 
 superstitious motive, I have frequently endeavoured 
 to come at the reason, but my queries have been inva- 
 riably evaded. This day I have been more success- 
 ful. On asking a man the question, he told me in a 
 Aery straightforward kind of way, ■ that the dead 
 would have to produce all the hair they ever had in 
 this world.' The inference I draw from this is, 
 
406 A THEOLOGIAN. 
 
 that the people collect it now to save them trouble 
 hereafter." 
 
 I give another on the same authority, and then 
 shall have done on this head. — "When Archbishop 
 M'Hale made his first visit to Erris, an old man, 
 
 named G n, a neighbour of a neighbour of mine, 
 
 went with many hundreds to be confirmed at Inver. 
 The prelate, surprised no doubt to see so old a man 
 come before him, asked him how many Gods there 
 were. ' Three,' bluntly replied the old catechumen. 
 1 Three !' exclaimed the bishop in horror at . such a 
 heresy ; * why, you ignorant old man, there is but one.' 
 ' There may be only one now, times are changing so,' 
 
 sturdily replied old G n ; ' but when I was a 
 
 boy there certainly were three — Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost.' The archbishop said no more to 
 
 G n, but, turning to one of the priests, said in a 
 
 half whisper — ' I hope that poor old man is happy in 
 his belief.' This story I had from a priest that was 
 present." I mention this circumstance as I received 
 it, and I do so for the reasons I have already adduced 
 — qualifying it in this way that the old man, talking 
 in the English language might, from his ignorance of 
 the Sassenach tongue, have said what he did not 
 mean ; and at any rate, if he did say so and thought 
 so, he was no worse a theologian than many an old 
 boor in other parts of the world. 
 
 The natives of Erris are not at all cleanly in their 
 persons or houses : in many of their houses, as I 
 have been given to understand, they have but one 
 vessel that will hold water, and that is the metal 
 
CLEANLINESS. 40/ 
 
 potato pot ; and therefore personal ablution is con- 
 fined to the face and neck. A person remarking on 
 this disagreeable subject, observed that he could see 
 plainly the line of demarcation between the washed 
 and unwashed parts ; which line put him in mind, so 
 defined was it, of the tide-water mark on the sea 
 shore. Indeed this I remarked myself, that twice 
 while I have been in Erris, I never observed any one 
 bathing along i|s shores, so admirably convenient as 
 they are for the purpose. The first time I was there, 
 no doubt the weather was not encouraging for sea 
 bathing, but the last time nothing could be so 
 tempting ; yet not a human being did I see, except 
 two of the coast guard. When on other parts of the 
 Irish shore, as, for instance, along the shores of the 
 county of Clare, multitudes of the country people 
 might be observed at all hours of the day bathing — 
 but here not one. In the same way, I believe the 
 people are neither fond of fishing or eating fish ; and 
 I suppose that at any time they would prefer potatoes 
 and milk to the best fish that could be laid before 
 them. At any rate I observed that there were in the 
 different bays and inlets comparatively very few boats 
 or corraghs ; neither did I see in very calm weather 
 many out at sea. I was told that fish had ceased to 
 be plenty on these shores. I ventured, in my former 
 volume, to assign a cause for this unhappy scarcity, 
 when speaking of Blacksod Bay. I remember hear- 
 ing a person say, who knew these shores well, (he 
 commanding a king's cutter off the station,) that in 
 times of scarcity when the Rush fishermen, who 
 had come round from Fmgal to fish on this coast, 
 
408 SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 landed a cargo of cod or ling on these shores 
 for the purpose of salting them, the people who 
 were too lazy, or what perhaps is the more reasonable 
 cause, were too poor and ill provided with tackle to 
 go out to fish, were glad, there being a searcitv of 
 potatoes, to pick up the heads and other offal which 
 the Rush fishermen threw away. 
 
 Having detailed thus far the information I have 
 received respecting the actual state of .this district, it 
 might be expected of me that I should offer some 
 suggestions regarding its improvement. Acknow- 
 ledging myself not altogether adequate to such an 
 undertaking, either from previous knowledge, or the 
 accuracy of the information I have been enabled to 
 procure, I would still offer a few hints which mav be 
 taken ad valorem. 
 
 The first step which I assume ought to be taken, 
 would be to destroy the existing tenures of the people ; 
 the whole rundale system, which I have attempted 
 to describe, should be abolished, and every house- 
 holder made the tenant of an undivided allotment, 
 over which no other person should have power except 
 the landlord. It would also be expedient for even- 
 tenant to erect and inhabit a house on his own farm, 
 and break up the village system altogether. It would 
 be also necessary for the landlord to direct and control 
 the cultivation of the ground allotted to tillage on the 
 respective holdings, and to insist on another rate of 
 manuring and rotation of crops. Indeed I have long 
 considered, that on account of the lamentable want of 
 capital that exists in the country, the landlords should 
 become, as it were, partners in the husbandry of the 
 
a landlord's partnership. 409 
 
 estates on the metairie system that prevails so much 
 in France and Italy, and that they should supply the 
 seed, implements, and stock, while the tenant supplies 
 the labour, and that a definitive portion of the produce 
 (not money) should come to the landlord's share ; or, if 
 the supply of all but labour on the part of the landlord 
 could not, from his want of capital, be allowed, that 
 at any rate he should receive off the respective farms 
 not a money, but a produce rent ; as, for instance, 
 such a proportion of the corn and cattle : so much 
 oats, so much barley, so much butter, wool, pigs ; 
 in a word, a share of whatever the land is best 
 capable of producing. In this way I understand Lord 
 George Hill in an extensive property he has purchased, 
 and now gives up his fine mind to manage in the 
 county of Donegal, provides seed corn, supplies a 
 stock of pigs, cows, or sheep, of breeds best adapted 
 to the country or climate. He has erected large 
 storehouses, where he receives the grain of his te- 
 nantry, either in certain proportions or at a fixed 
 price ; and becoming the merchant as well as the 
 landlord of his estate, he either exports or holds over 
 for the supply of the vicinity at a future day, just as 
 much as he deems expedient. Of course, in doing all 
 this, he must exercise considerable inspective vigilance 
 on the part of himself or his bailiffs and agents ; but he 
 is doing incalculable good : he has already won great 
 confidence in his disinterestedness and integrity, and 
 the experiment, as far as it has gone, has been most 
 satisfactory. Now I conceive, that if the Erris land- 
 owners would even go so far as to take produce in 
 payment, and not money, the distressing events I 
 
 T 
 
410 DIFFICULTIES OF ERRIS LANDLORDS. 
 
 have heard of would not occur : of the tenantry, in 
 many instances, heing obliged to mortgage their corn, 
 and butter, and pigs, before they are ready for mar- 
 ket, in order to meet the money rents they owe to the 
 landlord ; and the consequence is, that the dealers in 
 the little export town are thriving rapidly, and making 
 in a sudden manner thousands of pounds, while the 
 poor growers are not bettering, but every year getting 
 worse ; and at the same time the landlord is not sa- 
 tisfied, but still complains of his tenant's want of 
 punctuality. I am quite sure that under the present 
 system — village and rundale cultivation — under the 
 little (if any) stimulus existing for improvement, the 
 landlords are doing their best for their tenantry ; and 
 still they fear, and justly, the resorting to harsh mea- 
 sures to make people adopt what must eventually end 
 in mutual good. I am sure the Erris landlords, 
 speaking of them generally, have done and are doing 
 much ; as much, perhaps, as their family circum^ 
 stances will allow them to do, yet I should hope, that 
 by the aid of parliamentary enactments, they might 
 acquire powers that would justify them in redeem- 
 ing their very capable properties from their unpro- 
 ductive state of waste and desolation. 
 
 I have already said, that the great evil of the far- 
 west of Ireland is the largeness of the territories of its 
 proprietors.* Priding themselves, as they do, in 
 
 * The great fee properties in Erris, are in the following 
 proportion: — Shaen Estate, (now divided between Major 
 Bingham and Mr. Carter,) 95,000. Sir Richard O'Donnell, 
 30,000. Major Cormick, 10,000. See of Killala, 6,500 
 acres. 
 
CAPABILITIES OF ERRIS BOGS. 411 
 
 their wide possessions, they, as I understand, feel a 
 great jealousy of letting any of the wastes get out of 
 their own hands : like the American land-jobbers, they 
 still hold over, expecting great payments in future. 
 In a free country like this, to be sure, every one has 
 a right to do what he likes with his own ; still it is 
 lamentable to see a people, in some of the dry, barren, 
 worn-out, limestone districts of Mayo and Roscommon, 
 crowding so densely and so fearfully, when within 
 thirty or forty miles there are tracts in Connemara, 
 Joyce Country, Tyrawly, and Erris, that, under the 
 exercise of well-directed and assisted labour, might be 
 made capable of supporting multitudes, and yet give 
 a remunerating rent to the landlord. I have said in 
 my former volume, when writing of Achill and the 
 districts adjoining it, that of all the waste lands of 
 Ireland, the shallow bog land, that, at an elevation of 
 two hundred feet and under from the level of the 
 sea, presents a varied surface of swells and hollows, 
 with ample and rapid drainage to the adjoining lakes 
 and rivers, is the most improvable waste land in 
 Ireland ; while the mountain districts, from their 
 height, and the flat low bogs, from their depth and 
 difficulty of drainage, present comparatively uncon- 
 querable difficulties. And here I would remark the 
 (to me) evident mistake and misapplication of the 
 funds of societies who have hitherto undertaken the 
 improvement of waste lands ; they have chosen 
 either mountains or flat flow bogs, and have sunk 
 money to a large extent indeed in impracticable ad- 
 ventures. I know a man who has, at the expense of 
 about £6 per acre, reclaimed, as he says, a red 
 
412 BAD SPECULATIONS. 
 
 flow bog in Leinster, and he grows good wheat 
 thereon. So he may — money will do any thing ; but 
 how long will he grow it ? and what will be his bog 
 improvement by-and-by ? he might have purchased 
 the fee-simple of good upland, fit for tillage or pasture, 
 at half the price per acre that he has expended on his 
 flow bog, full forty feet deep. I also knew of a 
 society that attempted the improvement of land for 
 the location of an interesting class of people, whom 
 they desired to protect and make comfortable. Under 
 the temptation of getting a tract at half a crown an 
 acre, they took a mountain side in the north-west of 
 Ireland, where the elevation was more than a thou- 
 sand feet above the sea. What was the consequence ? 
 They built, they drained, manured and sowed ; but 
 they could not keep the rain and mist from the hill- 
 sides ; and the potatoes were so wet as not to be 
 eatable, and the corn in November was so green as 
 not to be worth reaping, and no turf could be dried, 
 and no hay saved. So the poor colonists, when they 
 found that they were thus to be made children of the 
 mist, stole away from their allotments. The society 
 broke to pieces ; and the landlord has now the satis- 
 faction, when he visits this desolate mountain-side, 
 of seeing the ruins of tenements that tell of as absurd 
 a speculation as ever a town committee originated, 
 who were perfectly ignorant of the climate and soil of 
 the country they would improve. 
 
 The truth is, there is a great deal of nonsense 
 written about the waste lands of Ireland — the millions 
 of acres of waste lands. But here there is much of 
 misrepresentation. There are, to be sure, millions of 
 
FLAT BOGS AND HILLY BOGS. 413 
 
 acres of land, wild and dreary, but they are not 
 waste — if by waste is meant altogether unproductive. 
 Of the mountains of Ireland, especially those of the 
 north and west, where there is not bare rock the general 
 surface is bog ; unlike the Welsh or Scottish High- 
 land mountains, that from their dry and consequently 
 grassy sides are fitted for the pasture of sheep, the 
 Irish Highlands of Connaught and Ulster are too 
 wet for sheep, and are only fit for the run of young 
 black cattle in the summer season. These districts I 
 consider as inapplicable to any other purpose than 
 that to which they are now applied ; and they cannot 
 be considered as waste when they rear a quantity of 
 stock which are subsequently fattened on the lower 
 lands. Of the great central flow bogs, which have 
 the general appellation of the Bog of Allen, I con- 
 sider the reclamation, for the present, to any great 
 extent, as hopeless. Perhaps, under the mechanical 
 and chemical improvements of the coming times, 
 they may be made to supply the waste of the coal- 
 fields of the empire, but for any agricultural purpose 
 their entire reclamation is hopeless. But not so the 
 shallow bog surfaces of Connemara, Erris, &c. &c, 
 where their level is low, and where, protected by shel- 
 tering mountains from the terrible north-west winds of 
 the Atlantic, I hold that they are highly improvable ; 
 that with lime, which is generally to be had con- 
 venient — gravel, which is under the surface — and 
 manure, which may be got from the adjoining sea, or 
 from the manure made by housing cattle in the 
 winter, abundant crops of corn, grass, and potatoes 
 may be raised ; rape for winter food, or for the 
 
-414 HOW ENCOURAGE IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 making of oil, can, by the simple process of burning 
 the surface and draining, be raised to any extent ; and 
 eventually, these tracts, laid down to grass, and the 
 drainage attended to, might become permanently pro- 
 ductive either as meadow or pasture. I should 
 suppose that, if a landlord commenced as a pattern 
 to others the improvement of from twenty to fifty 
 acres ; if, upon a settled plan, and at an expenditure 
 of labour within the reach of a poor family, he could 
 show that a farm of ten or twenty acres could be won 
 from the waste ; if he gave allotments of from five to 
 twenty acres, rent free, fora certain number of years 
 — say ten — to persons willing to bestow their labour on 
 them ; if he then fixed a moderate rent for the life of 
 the undertaker ; and made leases containing covenants 
 liberal, and at the same time prudentially restrictive ; 
 if the landlord took upon himself the keeping up of the 
 drains on the respective holdings, and the supply of 
 lime on moderate terms ; if all possible encourage- 
 ment was held out by rewards and honours to the 
 most industrious, I am quite sure that much of the 
 wastes of Erris and Connemara might be brought 
 into productiveness, and made capable of supporting 
 a large and not at the same time superabundant 
 population, — which only can take place when a pro- 
 perty is neglected, and when the owner is a short- 
 sighted fool, or a person whose pecuniary difficulties 
 and law embarrassments have deprived him of a 
 control over what is called his property. 
 
 If, then, these,western wastes are, as I allow them 
 to be, the opprobrium of Ireland, and a ground of ac- 
 cusation against their proprietors, yet this charge, 
 
WHAT WANTING BEFORE IMPROVEMENT. 415 
 
 before it is sternly and decidedly laid on the nominal 
 owners, ought to be inquired into ; and, besides 
 taking into account their pecuniary difficulties, which 
 in most cases they have inherited from their fore- 
 fathers, and their want of capital, it ought to be con- 
 sidered that it is not so easy to improve the face of a 
 country, previous to improving the character of the 
 people ; and if the angry question be put to the 
 Connaught proprietors — "Why don't you improve 
 your wastes V they may retort, " Why are not manu- 
 factures introduced into the island at large ? Why 
 don't factories for the production of woollen, cotton, 
 and silk fabrics rise up along all our rivers ? Why 
 are our mines not worked with spirit? Why no 
 export, except of the raw produce of the earth ?" The 
 Connaught bog lord finds the same excuse for not 
 improving, as the cotton lord for not setting his power 
 looms a-going, and that is, the people have not yet 
 got the industrial character, and you must improve 
 the people before you weave cotton or reclaim a 
 bog. The first step, I take it, then, should be the 
 educational elevation of the people ; and I am quite 
 sure the neglect of taking this step into calculation 
 has been the cause of all the failures in the way of 
 improving their respective properties which the Con- 
 naught gentry have to lament. Major Bingham, of 
 ' Erris, for instance, has been a great speculator ; his 
 long life has been all devoted to projecting and institut- 
 ing what he felt would be both profitable to himself 
 and beneficial to his tenantry ; and I am quite sure,, 
 that had he people about him who would have worked 
 out his plans, many a scheme of his, which terminated 
 
416 FAILURES OF FORMER SPECULATORS. 
 
 in disappointment, would have produced the beneficial 
 results he fondly anticipated — but he began too soon. 
 He was a premature projector, and failed because he 
 would be a manufacturer without handicraftsmen 
 or tools ; and his failures are pointed out as follies. 
 The Major, in his struggles at improvement, suggests 
 to me the idea of a person of unusual stature jour- 
 neying, with others of common height, across a 
 dreary flat, over which has settled a stratum of fog, 
 whose thickness is such, that while he, by the head 
 and shoulders, is above the mist, the other wayfarers 
 therein are moving, or rather groping, darkly ; and he 
 sees the distant hills all green with productive verdure, 
 and he calls on his companions to admire the beau- 
 tiful prospect, and to hasten towards the better land; 
 but this they will not do, for they cannot appreciate 
 what they cannot observe. Wrapped in the envelop- 
 ing fog, the tall man must lift them up before they 
 can see, and resolve to follow ; or he must dissipate 
 the general obscurity before he can have a commu- 
 nity who will attend him with alacrity and ease. I 
 say, therefore, that before the bogs of the west are 
 turned into green fields, the people must be industri- 
 ously educated. I repeat that the Connaught land- 
 owners are only to blame in not taking the right 
 method, and that I believe was scarcely, if at all, 
 within their power. They did much according to 
 their lights and their time ; they introduced colonists 
 from the north ; they worked hard to introduce the 
 linen manufacture ; they often and often brought 
 Scotch and English stewards to practise and exhibit 
 new systems of husbandry, but all in vain ; they 
 
CHARACTER OF FORMER COLONISTS. 417 
 
 were working as vainly as Sisyphus rolling a rock up 
 a hill ; the people have hitherto proved impracticable, 
 and it is found, and ought to be known of all, that you 
 cannot force a people into prosperity. The introduc- 
 tion, therefore, of a few strangers into a country in 
 order to show the natives "a more excellent way," 
 has universally failed. The Ulster men, that more 
 than once have been brought into Connaught, are 
 not now distinguishable from the natives. The Pa- 
 latines, introduced a century ago into Munster, instead 
 of raising up the industrial character of the people 
 to their level, have in a great measure sunk down to 
 the common abasement. The only parts of Ireland 
 that have been effectually improved by the introduc- 
 tion of strangers are, the eastern parts of Ulster, 
 and the baronies of Bargie and Forth, in the county 
 of \Vexford. In these districts, instead of attempt- 
 ing to improve the aborigines, they were driven out 
 or exterminated, they passed away before the face 
 of Scotchmen or Welshmen, as the Firbolg and 
 Tuatha Danaan before the Milesian invaders. I am 
 anxious in this way to account for not only the utter 
 neglect of capabilities, but also for failures, and 
 for giving over despairingly after works have been 
 carefully and anxiously begun. Lord Lucan began, 
 some time ago, an extensive bog improvement on his 
 estate in Mayo. I hear he has given it up. Mr. 
 Knight gives an account in his work of an improve- 
 ment on the estate of Mr. Everard in the Mullet 
 of Erris. Having made inquiries concerning this 
 adventure I find that it does not now exist. I 
 shall say no more on this subject, for the best 
 
418 REASONABLE ANTICIPATIONS. 
 
 of reasons, because I had not sufficient oppor- 
 tunities of observation. I am induced to believe that 
 Mr. Carter, the proprietor of Belmullet, and of half 
 the Shaen estate, is directing his mind to the im- 
 provement of his large property — that he is prudent 
 enough not to attempt too much at once — that, under 
 the advice of his excellent agent, he is affording every 
 facility in the way of encouraging prudent speculators, 
 and the investment of capital ; consequently, in time, 
 this district may become, in its people more civilized, 
 and in its husbandry more satisfactory and pro- 
 ductive. I would refer my readers to the more 
 elaborate and business-like work of Mr. Knight 
 for information concerning the wants, the capa- 
 bilities, and the means of improving Erris. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 TRINTED BY FOI.OS, SON, AND PATTON, 
 
 :., BvlieWs-Walk. 
 
Date Due 
 
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