The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-12-08
THE KING OF INNIsHKEA.
He Dwells on an Irish Island and Rules .
Mayo Tribe.

He Dwells on an Irish Island and Rules .
Mayo Tribe.
About sixteen miles from Dugort, in
Achill island, out to sea, looking like a
thin line of sand in the waves of the
Atlantic, is the island of Innishkea.
One fine morning our party started to
visit it in a trusty hooker. AS the
hooker came in sight of the shore great
excitement was visible among the
islanders, and it was very hard to
realize hat we were still but thirty
six hours journey from London. The
inhabitants turned out en- masse, the
women and children in their scanty
garments of red flannel crouched out
side their cabins. while numbers of the
men ran down to the beach and put out
in their coracles on chance of rowing
us to land. 1t was a strange scene and
c~uriously like a picture plate in a boys
book of adventures. We knew there
was a king" of Innishkea, and soon
a tall, bronze-faced man was
pointed out to us as his majesty.
On landing all the party we're intro
duced and conducted by him to "the
palace" where the queen dowager with
her daughter babe us welcome in true
Irish fashion. The old lady was in her
picturesque native costume-red dress
and plaid shawl over her head; the
princess, however, had evidently on
first sight of the hooker arrayed her
self in modern fashion to do US honor;
and we were amused OF penetrating
into the reception room to find adver-
tisements from shops in buckingham
Palace road and st. Paul's churchyard
hung up to embellish the wall. though
only by a favored few could they be
read. The island was destitute of any
school or means of instruction for the
children, a very small proportion either
understood or spoke English, and there
was neither watch nor clock among
the people, who had a happy-go-lucky
idea of time and troubled themselves
little as to Greenwich regulations.
There were no church bells to ring.
no trains to catch, no office hours re-
quiring pu~nctuality; SO when the
sun was high in the heavens they
would get through their ne very
arduous farming duties, and when he
sank in the great waste of waters they
could sleep. The kings word settled
all disputes; it was a hereditary mon
archy. and his people, as far as he was
concerned, were untaxed. Happy
those states, thought some of the visit
ors. where royalty could be main.
tanned with so little cost and SOY.
ereigns content with so little grandeur.
However, I am. in honesty bound to
add that we found King Philip had
other means of filling his Golfers be-
sides levy1ng taxes on; his faithful
subjects and had learned the art of
making gond his opportunity when
ever the Saxon stranger ventured to
land on his shore. But Innishkea has
an interest altogether apart from its
situation. surrounded as it is by lovely
views of mountain cliff and rocky
headland. On this spot, hundreds of
years ago, early Christian missionaries
landed, and on the top of a shelly
mount, half a mile from the beach, are
Christian remains of great antiquity.
West of the island there stands also
the ruins of a church said to have
been built by the successors of St
Columba. Leisure Hours