368 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Books was at that time ten shillings sterling. In neither of these 

 works is Inishshark mentioned. 



The islands seem to have remained in the possession of the Clan- 

 ricarde family until early in the present century, when they passed, 

 by exchange into the hands of the then Marquess of Sligo, from whorft 

 they came into the possession of the Wilberforce family, and from 

 them into the hands of the present proprietor, Cyril Allies, Esq. 

 The islands were transferred on 1st February, 1873, from the barony 

 of Murrisk, County of Mayo, to the barony of Ballynahinch, County 

 of Gal way, by an Order in Council. 



The establishment of the fishery station and the construction of 

 new piers at Knock, and at the landing-place at Inishshark, by the 

 Government in 1892, are the latest occurrences in the history of the 

 islands. 



YIII. — Ethnology. 



In the present condition of Irish ethnology, it would be vain to 

 attempt to propound any theory or form any exact conclusion as to 

 what race or admixture of races gave origin to the present inhabitants 

 of the islands. Their own traditional history speaks of the inter- 

 marriage of some of the islanders with members of the Cromwellian 

 garrison, and of an earlier introduction of a foreign element (some 

 say French, others Danish or Spanish) by a piratical colony ; and I 

 am informed by Mr. G. H. Kinahan that he has heard that " a good 

 sprinkling of foreigners remained in Bofin, that went there while the 

 mine was working." 



Judging from the list of surnames given on a preceding page, 

 it would appear that the amount of foreign blood introduced must be 

 considerably exaggerated, as an analysis of the list shows that a great 

 majority of the names are those of old Connaught families. If the 

 name of the proprietor of the' islands, who is English, be left out, 

 there are just fifty surnames on the islands, and thirty-three of these are 

 distinctively Irish, and most of them are to be found in the account 

 of the tribes of Hy Eiachrach, compiled by Duald MacEirbis 

 (though nearly all in Anglicized forms), eight are Welsh or Anglo- 

 Norman, but of old standing in Connaught, dating back to the 13th 

 century, two are Scotch (jSTaughton and M'Kendrick) ; one, Scuffle, is 

 asserted by the people to be of Scandinavian or other foreign origin, 

 and may probably be a corruption of Scholfield or Scovell ; another, 

 Lavelle, seems to be considered locally to be foreign also, but it is 



