# Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 10/Round the Irish coast - Part 1

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​ ​BO
LJav.
tint island tha
.1
Mn.ill
ban
rock
lying at the entrance of the
dob
it
serves aa an adi.
days
it
was
aa
irland
mctity has Ire-
>r
land's
Eye was
crime, ioh literature as
of Dublin, and land of Dalkey,
equal!;
ry different
aly periods it
wa i-ut
ist, King of Dalkey, Emperor of the Muglins, Prince of the Holy Island of Magee, Elector of Lambay and Ireland's Eye, Defender of his own Faith -pecter of all others, ign of the illustrious order of the Lobster and Periwinkle. Amongst other extracts from the records we read that after the election his majesty partook of a sumptuous banquet, in
the course of which a plenipotentiary arrived from the Grand Duke of Bullock with a present of potatoes ready boiled, which was gra-
After the dinner the folciously received. " lowing blessiug was pronounced May the blessing of the beggar and the clerk of the crown attend you in all your adventures in this life, and the last prayer of the recorder and of all the judges of the crown circuit attend you in the next.*' A parody on the National Anthem, which w as frequently sung, is too good to be left alone
it
partly on its
If sprung from
from its was considered
Did you
and
rable
and hi
Or must
trading
it
place,
i
and every shade
"What though the realms rejoice In your melodious voice, Kings are but men And while each subject sin " God made us men, not kings,"
helm
a without
you, like the clown,
of all Dalkey lands, Chief of our jovial bands, Are ye not man With you though peace doth reign, Nor blood your isle doth stain, Nor famine here complain, Are you not man ?
I
say,
the day,
Lord
although it was each Revolution UhU Dalkey became so famous. Those were days of the wildest and most extreme opinions, reform were rampant, to it
woman,
know
Spite of your great renown, Lay your great body down Deep in the dirt ?
particularly
Then becan.
first
Without a shirt
land, safe retreat during the various epidemics to subject,
r
principally
iin
a
who
diet,
presumed
2
As a specimen of the ludicrous grandiose style in which things were carried on, it is enough to enumerate the titles of the king, who kted his Facetious Majesty, Stephen
was too absurd to
ml nothing fcof a good
be.
I
>alkey
was fa
With echoes Dalkey 11
rings,
Kings are but men
Notwithstanding the somewhat levelling of the above rhymes, the kingdom of but the Dalkey was, on the whole, loyal [reland became bo alarming, in that the meetings were prudently discontinued, and ni Nothin Ichabod red. endexvoua in Dalkej
V,
which
in
sional
under the amoti
pic-nic, will
fioance of
i
ir
when the only
subjects
now leave Dalkey and Mai a hide and
sail
no
I
Vl> .
and
recall
dis-
north-
cliffs
of
with with a
I ​Jaw. miiiall
ONCE A WEEK.
2,
population,
who
their
get
living
can scarcely wonder at it, for the corragh was nothing but an enlarged edition of our coracle, and could scarcely have been adapted for crossing a sea which often seriously discomposes even the large Montreal steamers en
by
and
occasionally catching Nevertheless, in old times great men ishing,
ed
here,
ssher, is
works.
been
and
who wrote
amongst them
Archbishop most of could not have
in this retired spot
Certainly there of disturbance for a scholar
much chance
for save the roll of the sea,
it is
route to and from Liverpool to Londonderry. But ere we emerge into the open sea, we should not omit a passing glance at Carrick-a-
quiet enough
Mr. Babbage. Leaving Lambay, and passing the
51
Rede, an island rock, so close to the shore that is enabled to be connected with it by a swing bridge, which, from its bold construc-
to suit even
it
Skerries,
with its lighthouse, we sight Clogher Head and the noble coast of Down, over which the mighty mass of Slieve-Donard and the Mourne thence past the Mountains keep grim watch Copelands and the Maiden Rocks, each of which with their beacon lights warn us against a too impertinent curiosity, until we round the
and the dangers incurred in its passage, one of the greatest curiosities of the North of Ireland. To cross over to the island during a stiff breeze, when the bridge is swinging to and fro, is what few strangers care to do yet the country folk trip it with the utmost non-
tion, is
chalance, carrying a heavy load on their heads, and disdaining to make use of the frail rope
that
is
intended for a protection.
For the next twenty miles the view coastward is superb, embracing all that wonderful basaltic range of the Giant's
with
its
accompanying chalk
Causeway, which, extends past
cliffs,
nearly to the entrance of Lough Thence we skirt the blue mountains Foyle. of Innishowen to Tory Island, which may be
Portrush,
safely considered as the most outlandish and noble spot in Her Majesty's dominions.
The rock groupings here are magnificent, and when seen from a distance have all the appearance of a grand castellated city rising out of the water. Tory Island is one of the first Irish localities mentioned even in traditional
which says that the Fomorians, a race of giants, descended immediately from Ham,
history,
who were
expelled from Canaan by Joshua, here and built a round tower, The date of their arrival is not given, and perhaps
settled
would be unnecessary to keep within a thousand years or so, under the circumstances but unfortunately for the legend, the round tower, of which a few remains are left, does not differ in essential particulars from the many others found in Ireland, which, according to Dr. Petrie, date from the sixth to the tenth century so that we may fiirly conclude that it was the handiwork of early Christian converts rather than that of the olden giants. To the south of Tory, and near the mainit
Carriek-.i-Rcdo, Giunt'a Cau
noble basaltic columns of Fairhead, the finest marine gateway in the world, and sight the singular island of Rathlin, quaintly described
by
Sir
William
Petty as like
" an
Irishe
Rathlin has been so well desstockinge." cribed in Once a Week * that we cannot do better than refer our readers to
it,
and our-
much
haste as possible through the ugly current between the island and Fairhead. This tide is named, significantly enough uiake as
in Irish, SleiMk-na-massa, or the Valley of the
m
Sea, and was as wide a berth
days of old carefully given as possible, by the warrior navigators, who held it in the utmost fear ever since the destruction by drowing of Brecain, son of Nial, of the Nine Hostages, together with his fleet of fifty corraghs. !.
v.,
pp. 501
One
land, lie the Rosses, a cluster of islands that are principally inhabited in the summer only
by the cattle
natives, who ferry themselves and their for change of air and pasture.
over
Sometimes the beasts become unmanageable, and they are then shoved off the corragh and towed behind. Before being shipped the animal is thrown on his back, his legs tied, and himself lifted into the corragh, which is then carried
to the water.
But considering that ​[.Tax.
the bark
and
may
•oincs sat
liable
trhen, j
whole
With flung
drew his cap
1
infortunate
Along
of these islam Is are Owey,
I
parochially
iiieh
drawn
h
public
ago
rs
ndent landlord, ion to
the ami
what was the most miserable
of
Close to the shore
rid.
the
is
name from the Armada lies When, however, we say tradition, gained
li
its
ne of the Spanish
been brought forward presence of a wreck,
testimony has il
as to its asserted date

## _;h

Connell Eoyle,
I
by
L
1
to be
down
made
it is difficult
I
still
who,
to the vessel, and cannon on the deck.
ihus extracted, each
i
i
bout ten feet long, and were at one shilling per pound I
16
travelling tinkers,
how
to sell
it
guessed,
when .
Co:i
The it
crack
Sligo, off
i
the land,
known
as
than
one.
the blessings enjoyed by Innishgloria and Innishkea, two very small and rocky islets to the south, not far from Achill Island on the coast of Mayo. Innishgloria has the marvel-
property of preserving bodies without decomposing or undergoing any process of stuffing or embalming, so that people can have the satisfaction (melancholy or otherwise) of going to visit their ancestors, and finding them with hair and nails still perfect. Indeed, we are not quite sure that they are not said to grow at all events, there is a great run upon this island as a burying-place. lous
their
Innishkea, according to that most genial of
Otway, possesses a wooden idol, which brings luck to the island as long as it is writers, Caesar
a crane that has lived there safely preserved without mate or offspring for hundreds of
and, what is much more credible, a supply of the finest potheen in the G. P. Bevan. country.
years
First,
large
A NIGHT IN A SNOWDRIFT. In the following narration I have avoided I need
Council's
sterling. %
ways
guns
and
boko
at the cheapest
calibre of the
I*
who
In-
st<>
the brass,
iolish 'less
invoked on his enemies by means s brought down by wells, many villages to this day being fortunate enough to possess a cursing- well. This island, however, contains another stone, which appears to be much more useful in its for if any fuel which may chance to vocation ingniahed be laid on it, it is immediately rekindled. So that, on the whole, Innismurray possesses some decided advantages. But these are nothing in comparison with 1
of
stated
is
living,
cursmg-stones, which formerly were frequently be to this day Tt is a curious thing, that which the Irish peasantry it ions
or
i,
itself is ab-
2, 1S64.
because
I
I
Qg
in
it
is
deli-
mentioning names, dates, or places. not assign a reason ; the incidents of will
my
story
supply one. Some years ago never mind how many I was in America, employed in surveying, prior to the construction of one of those vast lines of railway which are now found of as utility for warlike as they were then int.
ul traffic.
had gone out from England with very few pounds in my pooket, but with I
may
1
ind,
say, with into
my
it
highly
    lity.
work, and found
    ve.
I
Although
I
thoroughly
the ocoupa-
and tometim dents inseparable from it, 1 oould h
i
with the a the onl