Morning journal and courier., 1889-03-09

1 and, as rather neatly intimated by my boat man, what was good enough for all these, itwelve or thirteen hundred years ago, would do for an ordinary American tramp. So l sprang in, and we were away in the crisp winter morning upon the tide.
 No other single object of use so frequent ly occurs in Irish tradition, ancient Irish his | tory and in every form of early romance and song, as this very currsgh. All the legenda- 1 " accounts of intercourse at remotest times | are redolent of it. Great hand to hand bat- ties were fought from it's cumbrous sides. | Fairies and demons constructed them at 8 l moments need. Isish fairy-lore is as rich 1 with impossible air-foatings in impalpable l curraghs as Dutch fairy lore is full of cloud
 vaulting horses. There are even Tory Is-
 land tales of tests of piety, where holy men | were sent back and forth to Horn Head in
 bottomless curraghs, without so much as
 wetting the soles of their feet. All this l gives one 8 strange sensation when first gIi- ding over the water in this frail and appa- rently insecure craft. The thought of to- day is in flash linked to so remote time by it that it sets one's head whirling. Lit-
 tie an incident as it is, it crowds host of ! weird reflections upon you. Your eye fol-
 lows the dark shore line. Behind are the ! mountains. There are the peasantry and
 the ruins. Two thousand years ago there
 stood the watch-towers, the raths, the places for Pagan pyrolatry. In the valleys were
 the herds and the helots. The signals
 flashed from crag to crag. Some savage ! chief with his thousands of serfs has come ! to give battle perhaps to old Beola himself
 The believing herds are huddled in the glen. | The shrieking women are herded within the I raths. On come the fierce invaders by land.
 Here, skulking along the bays and bights ! come the invaders by sea. Their shields are ! of rawhide. Their war raiment is of raw ! hide. Their navy is adoat upon rawhide. Then slaughter by land and by sea while the day lasts. Fire and sword, rapine and pill lage, while lasts the night. The grass grows richer in the valleys for the blood left there that day. The one "king' or the other Is victorious. It nattered little then as now which hands lit the beacon flames of victory upon those crags. You see all this as surely as though it is all before your eyes there above the jutting headlands. You see it be- cause that man at your side in the same or a worse, bestial ignorance, poverty, want, is drlVlng you across these waters just as his ancestor then carried the passenger pilgrim. You feel you are in craft identical with one of the savage art of that time. You see no better civilization on all the land where on your vision rests than then. Your most solemn consciousness asserts that the land king of to-day is even less merciful than the barbarian land-king of that day. The serfs and the helots are here, fighting 8 deadlier battle every day with hopeless conditions. Their masters are foes no longer. They are over there across the Irish Channel. They are the allies of woe and suffering and a Christian" government against them. That is all the difference. And I tell you if you do not wish to see all this do not come here with the key of thought about you, and ride in a curragh from desolate Irish mainland to more dolorous Irish island.
 The curragh as it is, and was, resembles in form diminutive square-end scow, with perpendicular sides, and long angles from it's ends to the square bottom Some are made with square sterns and raised square prows. Others again are similar in shape to the pe- can-nut shell cut in halves lengthwise. But they are all made with light oiser or bent- wood frames covered with tarred canvas. While their carrying capacity is usually from one to two thousand pounds, they are still 30 light that any western coast boatman will readily pick one up, with all of its belong ings, and carry it away upon his head. The ancient curragh, or coracle, was precisely the counterpart of the curragh of these waters to-day, save that it was covered with raw hides. All coastwise testimony has it that wonderful feats of seamanship and daring are performed in these curraghs; that the
 most savage seas are braved in them; and that the little craft skim the most dangerous serfs like birds of the air; but know noth- ing of this of my own experience; for our passage was as calm az upon @ land locked lake in June.
 The faint outlines of the Arran Islands soon came in view. The sunlight from the east playing upon their misty clouds formed
 a strange mirage above. This continued along the seals horizon to the north, with di- minishing but magical distinctness. The splendid scene drew from me an expression of enthusiastic surprise; and this led to some interesting revelations of belief which find is shared in varying degree and form by all
 the waterside folk of the Irish western coast
 "Yez may we'll say there's more nor three islands (the actual number of the Arran group) Aore's like they be three hundredl"
 "Three hundreda And where are they?' 'Where?" This with lofty disdain. "WhereI Beyant there"-with 8 comprs- hensive gesture towards the western horizon -ttto be sure." Then as if to give opportu- nifty for penetential introspection upon my surprising American ignorance, he relapsed into stern and wrinkly faced silence. Fi- nally he continued:
 "Sure any one knows thim islands,
 ''What are they calleda" ventured timor- ously.
 "Called, is ita An for phat an for whyp
 "Have they no naness-how dc you speak of them among yourselves?"
 "Anything's aisy among oursel's."
 ''But their names. Now you've name"
 s'I have that, bliss God!-Conn Leahy, sor. Sorra man would be, lackin' that lit tleln
 "But, come now, how would you speak of
 "Wid respect, sorl"
 "Thank you, Conn.,"
 put my note book away gently and gazed at the wondrous mirage, where lay these isles of Irish superstition. Then there came 6 long wrangle, in Celtic, between the boat man and his shock-headed lad assistant in which heard the words wanted Then a long silence; and finally a little rest in Conn's rowing
 "Wor it their namin' yez wor axln's" he innocently inquired.
 
 "Well, now, rally! Faith, an why didn't yez be axin' that to wonct!"
 "Have you the names now, Coma"
 "Now is ita-nowa Arrah, an the skamer ye are. Worn't me tongue blistherin' for ans'ering yez. Thim islands, sor, s High Brazzle' (Hy BrassiD an Tir-na-n'oge. High Brazzle' s bigger nor ould ireland. 'Twor a aoatin' hevin, sor. No rint-day there, an faith, no landlord an consthabulary, bad luck to the 'black- -mouths!' Mountains an strames, praties in piles, poteen an possets, an no thanks to any man. Worn't Jack cough, there! Worn't ould Mullaly av Black Head therea By the five grasses (crosses), it's no lie I'm tellin' yez. But" and this as if somewhat apologeticslly, "I'm thinkin' it's mostly shingauns (of. or related to, the fair ies) as sets eyes on High Brazzle'i"
 'sAnd Tir-na-n'oge, Conn?"
 s'Faith, an that's the great island enthire- ly. Did I it, though? Heughl Many an many time over wid my own two eyes-- from Slyne Head yon. Ye'll make ont slath- erin's of castles an the like, an grawls an girshas Children and girls) caperin' an gos- therin (gossiping) innocent as--as Mike there, the young divill For, dye mind, the Tir- na-n'oge's the charmed land sheery (eternal- ly.) Sorra the day ould Ireland, God save herl s not in it."
 s'And those other islands, Conn.'
 'fOeh, murther an yez have me there, me sundown Biased s lie wud be tellin' yez It's not afther me own eyes, about thim, sor. It's beknownst to all thim." This with
 sweep of bis arm towards the receding head
 lands ot Connamara "On wln is prayst
 muttherin' an wsndherin'. He wor aisy in his ways, sor, an chayted the rules by hug. gin his featherbed av mornin's, an sayin' no maths, sure. On wan a poor craythur's dig gin' peat wid blazin' spade for workin' av Sundays. On wan's miller feedin' his mill, sweatin' blood av his toll, shovelin' for life oceans av riches that's loss enthirely; an crowds of greedy craythurs, grabbin' like nod skeeuin, haart-randin' 1ika for