Maca LISTER, &c. — Bronse-Age Cams on Carrowlceel. ,S19 



said to haunt its depths.' Round this lake the valley assumes the name of 

 " Shroich Availe." A boulder in the bottom of the valley, quite natural, is 

 called " the old gate " by the local people. The next ridge, on which stands 

 the important earns E and F, is still called Cam Mor {cam being here always 

 pronounced corran) ; but in English, which is usurping the place of Irish in 

 this place-name, it is called " Big Cams," in the plural. The next ridge, on 

 which the smaller earns stand, is always called " Little Cams," the Irish 

 name being lost. Between these two ridges is a long, narrow, and cliff-walled 

 valley, called " Keelcoon," that is Gaol Cuan, " the narrow inlet " — a very 

 suitable name. The low-lyitig boggy tract at the mouth of this valley is 

 called Loch a' Bhdithte, pronounced " Lough Awatia " (the last word rhyming 

 exactly with " caught ye "). It is now dry, except after rains, when a little 

 water stands in the hollows. Professor MadSTeill has suggested, in conversa- 

 tion, that the name (" Lake of the Drowning ") might indicate that the death- 

 penalty by drowning had been inflicted here. There are several springs 

 hereabout. 



On the ridge of " Little Cams " is a huge and picturesque swallow-hole, 

 which we explored without any result of special interest, known as Poll 

 na gColmn, " the hole of the pigeons " ; though, strange to say, an idea seems to 

 have got abroad in the district that the name means " hole of the foxes." It 

 must be admitted that the latter is a more suitable name. A broad shelf on 

 the east side of this ridge, above one precipice and below another, is called 

 Bothar na Beinne, " the way of the hill-top " — this is possibly a tradition of a 

 road followed by the ancient inhabitants. It is not a natural way to foUow, 

 but that is not a conclusive objection : there might have been a ritual 

 significance in the road. The precipice below this " road " is called Caiseal. 

 " Castle." 



The next valley is called " Upper Cldr," a curious mixture of English and 

 Irish: it means "Upper table," i.e. "Upper flat land." In the precipice that 

 bounds this valley on the western side, a short distance north of the mearing 

 between Ceathramhadh Caol and Mullach Eearna townlands, is a curious rift 

 in the rock, which gives easy access to the top of the precipice. It is about 

 fifty-six feet in length, and perhaps on an average five feet wide : the cliff 

 bounds it on the west, and a great isolated wall of rock forms its eastern wall. 

 It is locally called BoitMn an tSagairt, " the priest's hut," and probably was 

 used during the penal times as a hiding-place for some priest — a purpose 

 which it would well serve, being out of tne line of traffic, and quite invisible 

 to anyone not acquainted with 'the district. The Irish name is being lost, 



' More likely, however, it may be simply Zoch an Bheil, the lake of the (valley) mouth, as 

 Mr. O'Koeffe has suggested to us. 



a.i.A. i'soo., VOL. XXIX., SECT. 0. r44l 



