Browne — Ethnography of Inishbofin and Inishshark. 347 



on this subject, I shall not attempt the treatment of it myself, hut 

 shall quote the opinion of the Rev. Eugene O'Growney, who has an 

 exceptional knowledge of both people and language, and has kindly 

 furnished me with some of his notes relating to them. He says: — 

 " The Irish spoken in Boffin has a very poor vocabulary, as far as I 

 heard it spoken. I must say, however, that it was not easy to get 

 the people to si)eak it, and many children at first refused point blank 

 to utter a word of Irish. In most of the Irish-speaking districts of 

 the west, the people have preserved a number of old poetic prayers 

 and hymns. Many of these are very beautiful, and some appear to be 

 of great age. I was particularly interested at the time of my visit in 

 these hymns, but was told that the only hymn in use in Boffin and 

 Shark was the ortha Mhuire, or prayer of Mary. I could not find any 

 person in Boffin who could recite it, and the only person in Shark 

 who was supposed to have it in full was out at sea. An old man in 

 Boffin recited for me a portion of a quaint old religious composition in 

 English." In another place he states that the people speak neither 

 English nor Irish well, their dialect of the language containing many 

 corrupted English words, and at least one curious word. " I recollect 

 that the cove in which St. Leo's well is situated is called fuath Leo. 

 I take the word fuath, which is the usual word in Inishshark and 

 Inisboffin for a ' cove,' to be a corruption of uamh, which is used by 

 the Four Masters in the year 893 as meaning ' cave.' "^ 



IV. Sociology. 



1. Occupations. — Every family combines fishing and farming, and 

 has some share in a boat. The farms are small (see p. 340), about three 

 acres and a-half under potatoes and oats, being about the average 

 amount of tillage per family. All are held direct from the landlord, 

 who resides on Inishbofin, there being no subletting or con-acre. 

 The rents average about £2 per holding, but vary much according to 

 the extent and quality of the land. 



The holdings are not divided up into small fields, as in Aran, but 

 are often insufficiently fenced, allowing the cattle to stray, which 



^ The Eev. E. A. Lavelle has, since the above was written, sent a translation of 

 a curious old Irish litany used on both islands, both in Irish and English, which he 

 obtained from an old man, aged 84, whose father, Peter Lavelle, fought under 

 Nelson at Trafalgar. As the litany is in English and of great length, it is not 

 inserted here, but it is to be hoped that the Irish form will be recorded and pre- 

 served as it may possess the linguistic value wanting in a translation. 



