252 Proceedings of the Roi/al Irish Acndemi/. 



fog "deemed they drew near to some couutry." They cautiously approached 

 the unseen shore, landed, and lit a fife (or shook the ashes out of a pipe, or 

 dropped a liglited turf, off a bunch of seaweed) ; then the fog cleared, and the 

 land stood fixed. They lay between the sea and a great water, and saw a hag 

 (or a lovely girl) driving a white cow to drink ; she struck it (or the elder 

 fisherman struck tlie woman, or the younger fisherman caught the cow's tail 

 and found a root of seaweed in his hand), and the woman and cow became 

 rocks, say the natives, or disappeared in the lake as told at Omey.' It is 

 most probable that this is the legend found in the " Topography of Ireland," 

 by Giraldus Cambrensis, at the end of the twelfth century. Among the 

 western isles was " Phantastica " ; a heap (of cloud) appeared on the waters, 

 which the natives fancied to be a monster. Seeing it motionless, some lads 

 rowed out in a currach, and failed to reach it during two days. On the third, 

 by the advice of an old man, they fired a red-hot arrow at it, and the island 

 became stationary and habitable, for " fire is hostile to anything phantasmal." 

 As we shall see, the same " cure " was attempted in the last century to 

 disenchant Manister Ladra. 



Imaire Buidhe. — The " cod bauk " of Imaire buidhe, some forty miles out 

 to sea, is believed to be an enchanted sunken land. Some fishermen were 

 carried to sea for two days from O'Maille's country, and saw an unknown land 

 with sheep on its pastures, yet dared not, for fear of illusions, touch the shore, 

 imagining that it was Brasil. The tradition was believed till recently in 

 North Mayo. It was probably of this bank that the Bofin fishers told how a 

 fog arose, and they heard in it the bleating of sheep and lambs, though sixty 

 miles out to sea. They saw leaves of apples and oaks, " and then the fog rose, 

 and nothing was seen but the foam curling on the billow and the tossing of 

 the porpoise."" 



Manister Ladra, Co. Mayo.— Lewis^ tells of " a shoal called Monaster 

 Ladizi (Ladui) over which the sea constantly breaks with great violence," 

 about a mile to the west of Annagh in the Mullet. It was probably believed 

 to have been an island with a church, or monastery, on it, and then to have 

 sunk, occasionally rising over the waves, but eluding pursuers. Otway, in 

 1839, fell (like myself) under the fascination of the Mayo coast and its beliefs, 

 and lovingly sought for their legends. According to "Mr. Mickletony" 



1 0' Donovan, "Ordnance Survey Letters, Co. Miiyo" (to which Bofin then belonged), vol. i, 

 p. 485 ; Otway's " Tour in Connaught," p. 391 ; and local legends collected by Dr. Charles K. Browne 

 (Proc. E.I.Acad., vol. iii, Ser. in, pp. 119), Dr. Fogarty, and myself (ibid., vol. xxxi, Part 2, 

 p. 58). Fire is a great preventive against magic ; only human beings can light it. See Lady 

 Wilde's "Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, &c." (1887, vol. i, p. 71). 



^ " hlar Connaught," pp. 68-72, " Tuur in Connaught," p.'sS, p. 394. 



' " Topographical Dictionary 06 Ireland " under Kilmore JSrris. 



