54 Some ANCIENT CHAPELS OF KNAPDALE. 
hermit have gathered many strange legends. Of St. Carmaig 
and his miraculous origin, the following tradition is given in the 
Statistical Account of the Parish of South Knapdale, 1797 :— 
“Near the west coast of Knap lie a group of small islands, 
the most considerable whereof is Ellanmore-Kilvicoharmaig. 
Carmaig was an ancient proprietor of this island. His whole 
family consisted of a grand-daughter, who used to amuse herself 
by angling on the shore, which is surrounded with currents, and 
frequented, to this day, by vast crowds of fish. It happened 
upon an occasion of this kind that a bone, in place of a fish, 
came out with her line; she unhooked, and threw it back into 
the sea. Again and again it came out in like manner. 
Chagrined with disappointment, she carried it home and put 
it into the fire. The whiteness of its ashes struck her fancy. 
She endeavoured to preserve them, but burning her finger in 
the attempt, instinctively clapt it into her mouth. By this 
means she became pregnant of the saint, whose supernatural 
gifts were so long to survive himself. He founded Kilvicohar- 
maig, the mother-church of Knapdale, and, after a life spent in 
acts of piety and devotion, was buried in his native island. His 
tomb, a little oblong building, elevated three feet above the 
ground, remains uninjured by time. The saint is said to resent, 
with the most summary vengeance, the least indignity offered to 
his monument. Near his tomb is a small chapel, built by him- 
self. It is arched over and covered with flags. Within, in a 
recess of the wall, is a stone coffin, in which the priests are said 
to have been deposited. The coffin also, for ages back, has 
served the saint as a treasury; and this perhaps might be the 
purpose for which it was originally intended. Till of late, not a 
stranger set foot on the island who did not conciliate his favour 
by dropping a small coin into a chink between its cover and side. 
Upon an eminence not far off is a pedestal with a cross; 
and near to the cross is a cave possessing the wonderful power 
of causing sterility in every person who dares to enter it. This 
magic island, if we may believe the legendary story of the saint, 
possessed many singular qualities. Nothing could be stolen 
from it that did not of itself return. The master of a vessel, 
conceiving a liking to the cross, carried it along with him, but, 
being overtaken by a storm at the Mull of Kintyre, was obliged 
to throw it overboard; it floated back to a creek of the island, 
