66 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



innovations on the islands ; but, owing to the reticence of the people 

 on the subject, it Tvas found difficult to get even the mention of many 

 of them. A fe"w, however, were obtained, and are given here. 



The dun or fort in Inishturk is said by the inhabitants of the island 

 to have been built by pirates, whose boats or galleys used to Lie in the 

 little circular basin below it, screened by the high rocks of its narrow 

 and crooked entrance from observation from the sea. These pirates 

 were the last men in Ireland who possessed the secret of making beer- 

 from heather tops. The fort was surprised and taken by enemies, 

 who slew all the pirates except two — the chief and his son — to whom 

 they promised life if they would reveal the secret of how to make 

 heather beer. The old man promised to reveal the secret if his son 

 were first killed ; this the captors did at once, and then the father 

 broke from his enemies and threw himself over the cliff into the sea, 

 taking his secret with him."- It is also said that a few years ago a 

 man digging in the old fort found a pot of gold coins, with which he 

 went off to America. Both these stories were obtained from a verj" 

 old man in Inishturk, 



On Caher Island is a large stone, which lies on the altar of the 

 ruined church, which tradition says was once thrown at St. Patrick 

 by a "bad friend" of his; and he not being able to avoid it, and in 

 imminent danger of being brained by it, made the sign of the cross 

 between him and it, when the stone at once fell harmlessly to the 

 ground.- A sea captain once took away this stone from the island, 

 but met with such bad weather that he could not get away from the 

 neighbourhood until he restored it (E. O'MaUey). 



In spite of the improvements being introduced by the Congested 

 Districts Board, there are some old folk who take a pessimistic view 

 of the future of Clare Island. They say " it may all do for a time, 

 but cannot succeed for long " ; and allege, as the reason, that the 

 island is under a curse. The tradition about this is, that once on a 

 time long ago the shore of the one little sandy bay on the island 

 stretched out further than it does now, and that a weaver's cottage 

 stood just above the spot where now a large rock juts out from the 

 middle of the strand. A boat one day came ashore at this spot from 

 a wrecked ship, and a man stepped out from it. The weaver saw the 



^ A variant of tMs story is that the secret concerned the treasure which the 

 pirates had concealed. 



2 It is doubtful whether the stone mentioned in this stoiy is the large piece of 

 conglomerate known as leac na naomh which lies on the altar in the church, or, 

 another stone, a rounded piece of pumice, which is also there. 



