THE eagle's cliff. 133 



I was indulging in delicious reverie, when something 

 like a bird flitted hastily by — again, and there was a 

 heavy plump in the water. I looked up, — a wild, 

 unearthly-looking creature stood on the cliff above, in 

 the very act of launching a huge stone at me ! Just then 

 a female figure rose beside him, and with threats and 

 blows drove him from the rock. It was my fair friend 

 of the curragh, who, seeing me take the lonely path I did, 

 hastened after to warn me of the danger. She told me 

 that the assailant was a dangerous lunatic ; he was 

 treacherous beyond description, and his antipathy to 

 women and strangers was remarkable. Many accidents 

 had occurred from his savage disposition. He feared 

 men and rarely attacked them ; but if he saw a female 

 at a distance from the village, he would lurk with malig- 

 nant perseverance for hours behind a bank or cliff to 

 attack her unawares. Some of the island women had 

 narrowly escaped death from this truculent monster, 

 and few of the males but had, at some time or other, 

 suffered injury from his hands ; a stone was his favourite 

 missile, which he threw with wonderful force and 

 precision. To my inquiry " Why this dangerous being 

 was not removed to some asylum ? " my protectress 

 replied with a smile, " He was but a poor natural, after 

 all ; he was born in the island, and God forbid that they 

 should send him among strangers." On conversing with 

 my cousin afterwards, he told me that, in the west of 

 Ireland, the peasantry had a superstitious veneration 

 for idiots and madmen, and, like the Turks, believed that 

 insanity and inspiration were only synonymes. 



The illicit whisky made in this island holds a first rank 

 in the estimation of the poteein fancier. The cause of 

 its superior excellency may arise from the insular 



