Bury — The Itineyayi/ of PatricK- hi Connauyht. 167 



before he enters Connaught. And when he crosses the Sliannon, he 

 makes a long tour in Roscommon and Mayo before he comes to 

 Tirawley. The goal of his joiu-ney is entirely lost from view ; 

 Tirawley is almost the last part of Connaught he visits. It is mani- 

 festly absurd to suppose that Endae and his followers undertook to 

 accompany the apostle on this long round of missionary activity. Nor 

 is there, in the itinerary itself, the slightest indication that they did 

 so. Endae and his aiTangement to travel with Patrick are completely 

 forgotten in Tirechan's story, until suddenly — after the lapse of 

 months, or years — he reappears with his son Conall, as Patrick's 

 companion, when the saint at length crosses the IMoy and enters 

 Tirawley. 



At this point, indeed, the suture in Tirechan's compilation is 

 visible. The route can be traced from stage to stage thiough Eos- 

 common and Mayo to Mount Egli in Murrisk. After his fast on the 

 mountain, Patrick proceeds to the region of Corcu-themne, which 

 seems to have been near the Partry mountains and L. Mask. Then we 

 find him in regionihus maicc Hercae in Dicliuil et Aurchm'l {S24is), and 

 in the White Plain in regionihus nepotum rnaini. This was probably 

 in southern Eoscommon. Then there is an extraordinary leap :— 



Per Muiidam uero uenit et ecce andieiunt magi liliorum Amolngid quod sanetus 

 nil- uenisset, etc. (32525). 



The break here in the itinerary is manifest, and exhibits veiy clearly 

 the method of Tirechan. The narrative between 310i2 and 32625 — 

 between the starting for Tirawley and the coming to Tirawley — is 

 wholly or mainly concerned with the incidents of another jouraey, 

 or other journeys, than that which was taken expressly for the 

 purpose of converting the tribe of Amolngaid. 



In one passage Ti'reohan himself betrays a consciousness of the 

 incongruity. He states— ^inconsistently with the context and the 

 situation — the object of the expedition of Patrick and Endae to have 

 been Mount Egli (3IO3), whereas the tenor of his own account 

 implies that it was Tirawley. This is the only attempt he makes 

 to conciliate the actual itinerary with the avowed motive of the 

 journey. 



This investigation confirms the suspicion whicli 1 hazai'ded in a 

 former paper on Tirechan, that, while the notices of the particular 

 incidents which he records depend on sources written or oral, and may 

 in many cases be credible, yet the actual route which he traces and 



