THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 135 



would allow the imprisoned stranger to quit those 

 dangerous shores. Hence, in his professional avocations, 

 the priest is obliged to watch the weather carefully 

 before he ventures to visit Inniskea and it has not 

 unfrequently occurred that the rites of religion have 

 been interrupted, and the celebrant obliged to embark, 

 at a moment's notice, to avoid the consequences of being 

 caught by a coming gale. The islanders, from constant 

 observation of the phenomena of sea and sky, generally 

 foresee the storm before it blows ; but even the oldest 

 and most skilful inhabitant will frequently be sur- 

 prised by an unexpected tempest. 



There are no people on earth more punctilious in the 

 interment of the dead than the peasantry of this remote 

 district. A strange and unaccountable custom exists 

 of burying different families, resident on the mainland, 

 in island cemeteries, and great difficulty, and oftentimes 

 imminent peril, attends the conveyance of a corpse to 

 its insulated resting-place. No inducement will make 

 those wild people inter a body apart from the tomb 

 of its fathers, and if a boat will live, the corpse will be 

 transported to the family tomb. At times the weather 

 renders this impracticable, but the deceased is kept for 

 many days unburied in the hope that the storm may 

 subside ; and only when frail mortality evinces unequi- 

 vocal tokens of decay will the relatives consent to unite 

 its dust with the ashes of a stranger. 



It is asserted, but with what truth I cannot pretend 

 to state, that the inhabitants of Inniskea are prone to 

 litigation, and a curious legend of a lawsuit is told upon 

 the mainland, illustrative of this, their quarrelsome 

 disposition. A century ago, two persons were remark- 

 able here for superior opulence, and had become the envy 



