running along these marble plateaus, and in this peculiarity, as well as in that of building their currachs, or light boats, covered by the same material, we observe traces of an ancient race. The currach itself on this account claims a passing notice. On the waters of the Dee, the Wye, and the Severn, the coracle, which is in essential points similar, is nearly circular, easily carried on the shoulders, formed of wicker and covered with tarpaulin. The coracle, however is much smaller than the currach, even than that, of nearly the same shape, used on the Boyne for snap-net salmon fishing, which is also made of wicker work and cased with hide. The currach of Aran, on the contrary, is about eight feet long, with one square and one pointed end, capable of carrying three people, and such is the dexterity with which it is usually managed, that it will land from ships in distress through the roughest breakers, and cross over to the main, when vessels of every other class are unserviceable. There is a currach slightly differing from this of Aran, used by the fishermen of Achill. But perhaps none of them have received alteration in their form and construction for several centuries; and they still answer the description of them given by the poets Lucan and Sidonius. No doubt, like the strong boat of Innishowen, and the hooker of Kinsale and Galway, they are found the best adapted of any craft to withstand the tempestuous seas of the exposed Irish coast. These vessels are also mentioned by Gildas in the 3 2 Utque habuit ripas Sicoris, camposque reliquit, Lucan, Lib. iv. v. 130. 3 Quin et Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. IV. Sidonius, v. 359. 2Q following words, when describing the irruption of the Scots and Picts: "Itaque illis ad sua remeantibus, emergunt certatim de curicis, quibus sunt trans Tithicam vallem vecto, quasi in alto Titane incalescenteque canmate de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis fusci vermiculorum cenei, tetri Scotorum Pictorumque greges," &c.* More curious and pertinent are the following remarks upon the Irish currachs, in the life of St. Brendan : "Paraverant naviculam levissimam, conflatam, atque columnatam ex pino arbore, sicut mos est in illa patria, et cooperuerunt eam coriis bovinis rubricatis, et linierunt omnes juncturas, pellium exterius, et sumpserunt expensas 50 dierum, et cetera utensilia ad utilitatem navis pertinentia. Florence of Worcester mentions three Scotsmen who, being desirous of leading a life devoted to God, took with them provisions for a week, and left Ireland in a bark made of only two skins and a half, and with which, without sail or defence, after seven days, brought them to the county of Cornwall.5 And also one of the martyrologies of Endeus describes the currach of the Isle of Aran, thus: "Erat enim in istis partibus, eo ævo, quoddam navigii genus usitatum, ex viminibus contextum, et bovinis coriis contectum; quod Scotica lingua Curach appellatur."6 This reputed saint was accustomed to order his monks to go into the naked framework of the vessel, and if the water came in upon them, it was a sign that they had contracted some earthly stain. On one occasion of the water penetrating, Gigneus, a faulty brother, confessed that he had poured sometimes some of his broth into the portion of St. Kieran, which offence caused his immediate banishment from the island. There was a medieval tradition that the pagan paradise of O'Brazil was visible from these isles; but when the modern Aranites are questioned on the subject, they say 4 Apud Monumenta Hist. Britannica, p. 11. 5 Florence Wigorn. sub anno 892. 6 Vita apud Colgan, p. 711. that it is only to be seen once in seven years. The idea of this enchanted island, which actually finds a place in Mercator's map, perhaps originated in an optical illusion, and making due allowance for the pictures drawn by a vivid fancy, it may have been one of those extraordinary phenomena that science can explain. Indeed the fata morgana have often been observed, and the aerial vision of this fabulous island can be philosophically explained. The poetic genius of Ireland has not failed to draw inspiration from the subject in those flowing lines of Gerald Griffin, beginning, dwell, "On the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye I am indebted for this quotation to the excellent notes in Mr. Hardiman's edition of O'Flaherty's Description of Iar Connaught. There is also a poem by Mr. Drummond on the Giant's Causeway, who commemorates a similar tradition existing on the island of Rathlin." In the life of Endeus a somewhat similar miracle is recorded, and from which fictions indeed it is not improbable the idea of O'Brazil may have originated; for we are told that when Endeus had asked for the island of Aran, he commanded Aengus to kneel and place his face upon his feet, and immediately he was lifted up under both and saw readily the island, which he thereupon gave to the saint.8 Endeus is said to have landed on the northern side of the island, at a place called Leambchoill, and to have subsequently founded ten monasteries upon it. His biographer informs us that he was carried across the sea upon a rock !9 After this brief description of the Great Isle of Aran, we will adduce an account of it written by the learned 7 See Dr. Marshall's interesting Statistics and Natural History of the Island of Rathlin.-Irish Transactions, v. xvi. 8 Colgan, p. 707. 9 The life of Endeus is highly illustrative of the credulity of the age when it was written.-p. 715. O'Flaherty, in his "Chorographical Description of Iar Connaught, written in the year 1684;" or at least as much of it as may be pertinent to the present subject: "The three Isles of Aran are fenced on the south side with very high clifts, some three score, some four score and five score fathoms deep, against the Western Ocean's approach. The soile is almost paved over with stones, soe as in some places nothing is to be seen but large stones with wide openings between them, where cattle break their legs. Scarce any other stones there but limestones, and marble fit for tomb stones, chymney mantle trees, and high crosses. Here are Cornish choughs, with red legs and bills. Here are ayries of hawkes, and birds which never fly but over the sea, and therefore are used to be eaten on fasting days: to catch which, people goe down with ropes tyed about them, into the caves of cliffts by night, and with a candle light kill abundance of them. From the Isles of Aran and the west continent often appears visible that inchanted island called O'Brasil, and in Irish Beg-ara, or the lesser Aran, set down in cards of navigation. Whether it be reall and firm land, kept hidden by speciall ordinance of God, as a terrestriall paradise, or else some illusion of airy clouds appearing on the surface of the sea or the craft of evill spirits, is more than our judgements can sound out." We need not follow the learned author of Ogygia any further, but let us take, in imagination, a walk from the little station of Kilronan, along the only road of the island, and gain its loftiest points. Upon the furthermost of these is what has been truly termed by my friend Dr. Petrie, "one of the most magnificent barbaric monuments in Europe." We have passed along the northeastern side of the island, by its single road, almost as far as is practicable, and having scaled the innumerable stone walls which are continually interrupting our progress over the marble plateaus, we stand before Dun Aengus. It is a vast pile of dark grey masonry, weathered for centuries by contending elements, and by winds which, rolling across the Atlantic without a pause, have at last ended their fury upon this elevated peak. At first sight the walls look like the natural rocks around them, so 1 See Evidence on the Irish Ordnance Survey. precise is the cleavage of the splintery limestone of which they are constructed, and so apparently regular are the cubes, yet without any laboured dressing, that it is difficult to understand how a structure exhibiting such anomalies can be the actual work of antiquity. The eyes gradually trace its outline, and the form is found to be nearly semicircular, with the line of its diameter formed by a cliff rising perpendicularly nearly 300 feet out of the sea. There is a desolate and impressive grandeur whichever way you turn. The mind fruitlessly tries to count its erection through the lapse of centuries, but conjecture refuses its assistance. The head grows dizzy when it strives to measure even the reality of its height above the sea; or if the eyes glance outwards, they return wearied by gazing over the interminable expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. There exists an appalling solitude, and the silence that reigns at this mysterious place is only broken by the heavy thundering of the waves beneath, or the melancholy screaming of the sea-fowl, who vainly seek even here a place of safety for their young. Nature has offered her own barrier next the sea, but on the north-east, the defences of Dun Aengus are planned with consummate skill. The area includes about half an acre. This is partially surrounded by a triple wall of a most unusual character, and beyond this triple wall, by a glacis, two ditches, two concentric walls which gradually die out to the south-east on the naked rock, and lastly, on the north side, by a chevaux de frise. It will be necessary to describe each of these more minutely. The walls of the great inclosure are of dry masonry, but constructed with a face so perfectly smooth, that at a little distance they seem as though they were built with cemented ashlar. When we consider its extent, its thickness of twenty feet, and its altitude in parts of from twenty to fifty, it is undoubtedly among the most remarkable specimens of ancient masonry in existence, and certainly as a work of dry masonry quite unequalled. There is a very singular feature, as just intimated, in the construction of this gigantic wall. It is, as I described it, a |