250 Proceedings of the Hoijal Irish Academii. 



endless deep," and when this was done he enjoined on the mer-folk to bear 

 from tlie shore tlie remains of her descendants for burial. Thenceforth the 

 colfins of the Cantillous were l)orne to the limits at low water, the human 

 mourners departed, and left the obsequies to the mermen. The task was to 

 end when human eye saw the sea-foU<: and human ear heard their dirge. At 

 last, late in the eighteenth century, a too curious Clare man hid behind a 

 rock, and saw and heard all. The " merrows " crowded round him, rejoicing 

 that their duty to mortal dust was ended, and bore off the coffin for the last 

 time. No other CantiUon was removed, and landward burial-places had to be 

 adopted.' The " Church Bank " is 1^ fathoms under low water. 



KiLSTAPHEEN, LooP Head, Co. Clare. — The Eev. John Graham, of 

 Kilrush, in 1816, told of au ancient city, south from Loop Head, overwhelmed 

 by an irruption of the sea long ago. The towers and splendid edifices were 

 sometimes seen beneath the waves by those sailing over them. It was peopled 

 by the enchanted inhal^itants, who raised destructive storms over it while the 

 waters were calm elsewhere. Graham heard it from the Behanes, Lauder, of 

 Kilrush, and the Contis and Coonerties, of Carrigaholt. Eugene O'Curry 

 confirms this in 1839, but gives uo details. I did not hear it at Carrigaholt, 

 Doonaha, Moveens, or Kilkee, where I collected most folk-lore in the Irrus of 

 Covcavaskin. There is, however, a tourist legend about it probably derived 

 by some guide-book from the Halls.^ It is 4 fathoms deep on the shoal. 



KiLSTUiTHiN, LiscANNOR, Co. Claee. — This is a dangerous reef on which 

 the sea boils and spouts high sheets of foam ; it is reputed to be the site of a 

 lost church and city, but no Saint Stuithin or Stuiffin is known. Eugene 

 O'Curry's identification with St. Sciothin's Island, off Co. Louth, and Canon 

 Dwyer's note on " St. Scioth," are inaccurate and unfounded.' Some have 

 connected its sinking with the great wave, and, presumably, earthquake, that 

 split Inis Fitae (Mutton Island, not far southward) into three, in about 

 A.D. 800. The belief in Kilstuithin seems common all round the bay from 

 Moher to Milltown Malbay. The legends are numerous and lengthy, so I will 

 only condense the principal. 



Three chiefs, Ceannur of Liseaunor, Euidliin of Moher, and Stuithin, 

 made a cattle raid to Loop Head, and were pursued and defeated at the creek 

 between Liscannor and Lehinch; or a Dunbeg man plundered them, or 

 Stuithin only, who was attacked at Bohercrochaun, south from Lehinch. 



' See Smith, toe. cit. : T. Crofton Croker's " Fairy Legends of tlie Soutli of Ireland " (ed. 1862, 

 p. 190, Cantillon's funeral) and Journal, Roy. Soc. Antt., Ir., vol. xl, p. 121. 



= Mason's "Parochial Survey," vol. ii, p. 490. Kilrush Parish, Co. Clare, hy Eev. J. Graham. 

 • Ireland, lU Scenery and Cliaratter," Mr. and Mrs. S. C. HaU, vol. ii, p. 436 ; and " Folk-lore," 

 vol. XXI, p. 486. 



Handbook to I.isdoonvama" (1876), p. 64. " This church under the waves." 



