Browne — The Ethnography of Clare Island and InishfurJc. 71 



O'Dugan (as quoted and translated by O'Donoran) -wrote of them 



(1372):— 



"A good man never was there 

 Of the O'Malleys, but a mariner; 

 The prophets of the weather are ye 

 A tribe of affection and brotherly love." 



In tlie Annals of Ireland (a.d. 1235) -we get the follo-sving : — 

 •*' Donnal and Murtough, two sons of Murray O'Malley, were slain 

 Tjy Donnell, son of Manus, who was son of Murtough O'Connor, and 

 by Mall Eoe, son of Cathal, son of Conor (recte 0' Conor), in Cliara, 

 and was interred there. 



Clare Island and its inhabitants came greatly into notice in the 

 16th century through the deeds of the O'Malleys upon the sea, and 

 especially by those of the famous Grace O'Malley, whose birthplace and 

 one of whose chief strongholds was on the island, where, too, she was 

 buried. As a glance at the list of folk-names will show a large proportion, 

 of the population is still composed of O'Malleys. "W^e have no record 

 of any colony or foreign strain such as were introduced in Inishbofin. 



The population of Inishturk is composed of Malleys and Tooles, of 

 whom O'Donovan says : — " This island is said to be in the possession of 

 the 0' Tooles for an unknown number of centuries ; some say they 

 came from Leinster. Mr. Owen 0' Toole, the present occupier of 

 Inishturk (1839), says that he always heard from his father and the 

 old shanachies that the O'Tooles of this island are descended from 

 Tuathal O'Malley." This indeed seems to be the most probable origin 

 of the name. 



The islands underwent no great change until the present century, 

 when Clare Island passed into other hands. A few years ago, during 

 the "disturbed times," Clare Island got rather a bad name for 

 outrages, but there seem to have been none of them of a very serious 

 nature. The most important change that has yet occurred is the pur- 

 chase of the island by the Congested Districts Board, and the improve- 

 ments introduced by it, which it is to be hoped will open up a brighter 

 future to the islanders. 



VIII. — CoXCLUDIXG PtElTAEKS. 



Little remains to be said. It is evident from the list of surnames 

 given that there has been no great change in the composition of the 

 population during the last three or four centuries ; in fact, the bulk of 

 the people are descendants of the ancient inhabitants of this part of 

 Connaught. The taking over of Clare Island by the Congested 



