83 
The cluster of islands, generally called Aran, are thus particu- 
larly enumerated :—Aran Mor, or the Great Aran—Inismeane, or 
the Middle Island—Inisur, or the Eastern Island— Straw Island— 
Branach Island—and Illane Eachach, or the Western Isle. 
Aran, so far as I can collect, means lofty or mountainous in the 
Gaelic. Several mountains in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, 
are so called. This name is not peculiar to the place now under 
consideration. There is an Island, so called, on the north coast of 
Ireland, near the county of Donegal; it is termed, for distinction, 
« North Aran.” There is also the Isle of Aran on the west coast 
of Scotland. It is reasonable to suppose, that, in each case, the 
appellation had been given by early settlers, holding a community 
of language and origin. With respect to the Western Isles, or 
Hebrides, it is no longer denied, since the dreams of the Macpher- 
sons and their few associates have passed by, that they and the 
Highlands were colonised in the third century, and re-colonised 
early in the sixth, by the Scots of Ireland, to whom history traces 
the name of Scotia, together with her long and illustrious line of 
Kings, of the Dalriadic stock. Of that ancient line our present 
Sovereign is the representative and descendant, by Sopura of 
Hanover, the daughter of Exizaseru of Bohemia, the daughter 
of James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland. 
The Islands of Aran lie on the west coast of Ireland, at the 
mouth of the Bay of Galway, about ten leagues to the west of 
that port, stretching south-east and north-west—Lat. 52 to 53 :—- 
Long. 9: 30to9: 42.* These islands constitute a half barony, 
* A modern historian, whom I shall have occasion to name presently, is minute in describ- 
ing the situation of Aran Mor. ‘It bears,’ he says, ‘ by compass, from Hog’s-Head, N. by 
W. 7 W. 16 miles; from Guilen-Head, S. 4 W. about 8 miles; from Black-Head, within 
the bay of Galway, W. by N. = N.18 miles; and from Mutton Island, near the town, W. + 
N. distance 29 miles.’ 
Hist, of Galway, 4to. Dublin, 1820, p, $20. 
