Some tell of the terror of the sea, some of its The 



mysteriousness, some of the evil and of the Sea-Spell. 



evil things that belong to it and are in it, some 



of its beauty, some of its fascination (as the 



Greeks of old-time told of the sirens, who 



were the voices and fatal music and the strange 



and perilous loveliness of alien waters), some 



of the subtle and secret spell deep-buried in 



the hearts of certain men and women, the 



Chloinn-na-Mhara, a spell that will brood 



there, and give no peace, but will compel the 



spirit to the loneliness of the wind, and the 



outward life to the wayward turbulence of the 



wave. More than two thousand years ago 



the great Pindar had these in mind when 



he wrote of that strange tribe among men 



'who scorn the things of home, and gaze 



on things that are afar off, and chase a 



cheating prey with hopes that shall never be 



fulfilled.' 



Elsewhere I have written much of this sea- 

 spell, of the Bronavara (to Anglicise an island 

 word), or Sorrow of the Sea, and do not wish 

 to write here of that strange passion or sinister 

 affinity : but of that other and happier Spell 

 of the Sea which so many of us feel, with 

 pleasure always, with delight often, at times 

 with exultation, as though in our very heart 

 were the sharp briny splash of the blue wave 



J 59 



