The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15


features Of the language, but the result is a
sweetness, a huidity and a richness that
beats even Italian.
Very few Of th~e>people know any English.
This is the middle island Of the Aran group,
which lies well out in the Atlantic in front
Of Galway Bay. Inishmaan is the most
Irish Of the three.
The population Is 400. The climate Is
mild enough for maidenhair ferns 10 grow
in the open; already va have pnmroses In
full bloom. Pig rearing and fishing are the
only occupations. never tasted more eI-
quisite fish. We sometimes have a cod, a
turbot or a paddock for dinner that was
still alive when brought 10 the house.
These people are the descendants Of the
Frbolgs who we're driven 10 these isleo ae a
hst refuge out Of Ireland by tho Milesians.
Their forts still remain; some date from 1900
years B. c.
DR.. Petrie has described Dun EnguS as
the most magnificent barbaric monument
left in Europe, II is on the large island
(Aanmorel and stands on the verge OF a
olih rising perpendicularly 800 feet from the
Atlantic. q
II consists OF three horseshoe walls Of
Cyolopean masonry without cement Of any
kind. Outside the outermost walls there
are chevauK-de-frise consisting Of huge
bulks Of limestone stuck in the solid rock and
sioping toward the enemy. This was set
there at the time Of Christ. and is still din
cult 10 pass, although there are no Firbolgs
10 make il even harder.
II is a fine sight during a storm 10 see i'm
mense waves dash against these cliffs and
dissolve into spray, l have seen the spray
carried far inland over a cliff 200 feet high.
On the island there is an almost perfect
specimen ola pre-Christian beehive dwelling,
which was the earliest style Of Irish stone
architecture.
The customs Of the people are az curious
ss their island, They firmly believe in the
fairies. One wild night | visited some
people and gave an account Of the fairies
] pretended | had seen and the people
around the turf FIRE in the kitchen shivered
with fear.
One old fellow said he would not 20 home;
he was too afraid. He did not live Ave
minutes away! Finally | got a %,strapping
young fellow TO undertake to accompany
him on my lending him my stick (which they
consider a magic wand, and 6n'my giving
him a further safeguard should the fairies
come TO them. All he had TO say was
'Pocula nea' and they would fee screaming
away,
Horace never dreamed that his words
would be Used as a spell against fairies
10 a remote Irish isle in the twentieth CEN
fury! on they went, and they continued
70 repeat -Pooula mea" all the way and with
out waiting for the fairies to approach.
We had a funeral recently, and queer
customs prevailed at the ceremony. The
grave is not dug until the corpse is on the
spot. No priest was present, az the weather
was rough. When we got TO the quaint
old churchyard the whole population dis
persed 10 their own family graves and the
women melodiously keened their dead,
After a Wills they regathered around the
coffin, and then some Of the men set at work
10 remove the heavy slab covering the
grave. A gale was blowing and occa-
sionally it rained. 1t took a long time TO
remove the stone. and then several men
took out a lot Of loosa tones till they came TO
the earth, which they snoycllsd out.
Occasionally a bone or a skull came up
too, 50 that when poor pretty Mary Folan
was laid at rest she went in every sense
nd pdtres, for her ancestors we're both below
and above her, all the bones being replaced
on ton Of the Ooffn. While the digging
vent on, women keened, men smoked, and
occasionally a joke was cracked which Get
many laughing.
Il was Irish all over, for tears and laugh
ter blended together. There was nc con-
Scious levity, Lut Anglo-SaIon spectators
would have been nightly soandslised-
900 help them'
II is a pleasing habit here that no work
ls done while q corpse lies unburied, and as
potheen and porter are plentiful some Of
the mourners were in a deeply spiritual
vein. The climax was reached when one
of the relatives, who had evidently been
assiduous at the wake, suddenly bethought
himself that in the absence Of a priest he
could he a good substitute; 90 with all the
solomnity bogotten Of drink and grief he
ssi2ed holy water pot and gave ps q good
sprinkling.
II will he a great pity II the English ever
intrude here and spoil our charming sim
pBcity Of lie with their police, their courts,
their PRISONS and their w~orkhouses. II
. tae proud boast Of Inishmaan that il