Joyce country; south, by the parishes of Moyrus and Omey; and west, by the Atlantic Ocean.

66

St. Kennanach (Ceannannach, CeannFionnac) the patron saint of Ballynakill, is known in the parish by the name of Gregory," which is said to have been his original name. See p. 80, note, for an account of his church in the middle island of Aran; which is considered one of the most ancient and perfect of all the ecclesiastical remains in those islands. From him it is supposed that Gregory's Sound, the passage between that island and Aranmore, has been called. The tradition still preserved in the parish of Ballynakill is, that St. Ceannanach was one of the earliest preachers of Christi anity in those western parts; and that he was taken, by order of a pagan tyrant who ruled here, and beheaded near the eastern extremity of the present village of Cleggan. A heap of stones is still pointed out, as a monument said to have been erected on the spot where he suffered.

those ancient colonists, who settled here about the first century of Christianity. Other places on the western coast were also named after this Mil, as Muirbheach Mhil, now Kill-Murvy, in the great island of Aran; and Rinn Mhil, now Rinvile, both at the eastern extremity of the bay of Galway. The castle of "Rinmoyle" (Rinvile) was erected, according to some, by the O'Flaherties, but others attribute it to the Joyces. In A. D. 1586, it was inhabited by Miles Mac Tibbot, see ante, p. 93, note ", and in A. D. 1642, by Colonel Edmond O'Flaherty, of whom an interesting account will be found in Appendix II. It is now the property of Henry Blake, Esq.

Blacksod haven. In Irish, Cuan an Fhoid duib, is now called the "little Killary, or Salrock Harbour. Sal Roc means the tract of St. Roc, who is stated by tradition to have been a most holy man, and a worker of many miracles; but no written account of him has yet been found. His church, which is said to have been a sanctuary in former times, is now a ruin on the south side of the bay.

The seaven daughters above alluded to, are stated to have been the daughters of a British king (see ante, p. 14), Seaċt

n-inġien riġ Breatan. The remains of their church may still be seen to the east of the old castle of Rinvile. The door is in the north side, close to the west gable. Near it is a holy well held in great veneration, called Tobar na seaċt n-ingean, where the people perform their devotions. Here they formerly had a stone called Teac na seact n-ingean, which was used as a "cursing stone;" but it was taken away and buried by the parish priest, at which the people were much dissatisfied. Near this are some upright stones called the Liagauns, which are supposed to be the remains of a pagan grave.

In Oilean dá cpuinne (the largest of those now called the Crump islands, which lie about a mile north of the old castle of Rinvile), may be seen the remains of a small primitive church, rudely built of some large, and many small stones, but with good mortar. It is not known when or by whom this ancient church was erected, nor is there any account of the saint to whom it was dedicated. No burial is permitted within its walls. It is related, that the remains of one person only were

deposited in it, since the time of the saint, but that, next morning, the body was found at Smearoid, on the opposite shore, a place where children are now interred. See ante, p. III, note 9.

The rivers mentioned above, are in Irish, Abainn cuile fine, Leace Uí Faraċáin, and bun abann an Cuain, or the Mouth of the River of the Harbour.

b Mam.-Maỏm, a gap or chasm. In Iar-Connaught, Mam (which is pronounced Maum) is understood to mean an elevated pass; and such gaps or passes are often distinguished by the names of animals, as in the above instances. See on this subject, a curious "Tour in Connaught," by a late ingenious and facetious tourist, the Rev. Cæsar Otway, Dublin, 1839, p. 232.

Besides the holy wells above mentioned, there are several other places of devotional observance in this district, viz., in Munter Owen, a holy well dedicated to the seven daughters, called Tobar na seaċt n-ingean. At Tirnakille, in the barony of Ross, an ancient settlement of the Joyces, are two wells; one named after St. Patrick, and the other after St. Fechin.

At Cannanagh and Gowlannall, two other wells dedicated to St. Fechin. In the townland of Kilbride, in the same barony, another ancient patrimony of the Joyces, there is a well dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, called Tobar Muine. In the townland of Dooghty (Dubaċza), in that part of the parish of Cong which runs into Iar-Connaught, there are two holy wells; one named after the Blessed Virgin, and the other after St. Fechin. Near the latter is a flag or stone called leac Feicin, by which men are put to the ordeal.

с

© The fat deere. These were the large "red deer" (Cervus elaphus), once so numerous in Ireland, and the hunting of which, for food or amusement, formed the principal occupation of the early Irish. These fine animals, which have been described as "very large, fleet, and fierce," herded for ages among the "high mountains" of IarConnaught, and were plenty there when the foregoing treatise was written; but they have since become extinct. Colgan's Acta SS. p. 160, c. 7; p. 280, c. 13; p. 306, c. 8; and Gratianus Lucius, p. 138, for notices of this large species of deer. Doctor Thomas Molyneux, the IRISH ARCH. SOC. 15.

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friend and contemporary of our author, in "A Discourse concerning the large Horns frequently found under Ground in Ireland," has observed that "the red deer in those our days, is much more rare with us in Ireland, than it has been formerly, even in the memory of man :" and he truly conjectured that, "unless there be some care taken to preserve it, I believe in process of time this kind may be lost also." He has moreover quoted

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markable passage in Scheffer's Description of Lapland, from Johannes Bureus, that, sometimes a sort of disease, after the manner of a plague, affects the rein deer, so as they all die: Solet interdum rangiferos morbus quidam velut pestis invadere. Sic ut moriantur omnes." "-Nat. Hist. of Ireland, Dub. 1726, p. 143. Probably to some similar distemper may be attributed the extinction of the red deer in this part of Ireland. So late as A. D. 1752, they abounded in the barony of Erris, Mayo County. Doctor Pococke in his Travels, quoted ante, p. 72, note ", states, that the mountains of Erris" are full of red deer, which are very indifferent food, being never fat. However, the hunting of them

Aprill the 5th, 1684.

affords good diversion to those who traverse the mountains on foot, but they frequently escape the dogs."-p. 55. At a later date, A. D. 1760, they were numerous among the mountains of Kerry, and "amazingly large and fat."-Derrick's Letters, p. 59. The Editor has recently heard from an old native of the barony of

Ross, in Iar-Connaught, that in his youth large red deer were common there; that he frequently saw them grazing among the black cattle on the hills; and particularly remembers one, which caught by the horns in a thicket, where it was found dead.

was