1892-93.] 54 1 



making offerings at holy wells — these abound at Aran. At one 

 prayers for the sick are efficacious ; the water of this well won't 

 boil, and dead fish put into it come to life again. At St. 

 Eaney's well the women pray for children, and the men at the 

 rag- well close by the church of the Four Comely Ones; this 

 well contains numerous buttons, fish-hooks, bits of crockery, 

 nails, etc. There are numerous unlucky days — Mondays, the 

 Cross day, and the day of the week on which the Feast of the 

 Holy Innocents falls. On none of these days will a grave be 

 dug. The evil-eye is firmly believed in. 



(5) Archaeology : — Besides the holy wells already men- 

 tioned there are numerous other " blessed places," and several 

 broken carved crosses occur in different places, the most 

 interesting of which is a holed stone on which a cross is incised. 

 Aran was formerly famous for its saints, and this is borne out 

 by the numerous early Christian churches which occur, many 

 of which are of the highest interest. The pagan antiquities are 

 also of extreme interest. Only one cromleac was known to 

 the lecturer ; as usual it is called "Diarmad and Grania's bed." 

 There are several cloghauns or bee-hive stone huts ; but the 

 most unique feature is the number of stone forts which are to 

 be found in these islands. Four, at least, occur in Aranmore, 

 two in Inishmaan, and one in Inishsheer. They are built of 

 stones, but without cement ; the walls towards the interior 

 present three tiers with numerous steps, and inside some of 

 them are remains of stone huts. The finest one, Dun ^Engus, 

 is further protected on the landward side by three defence walls 

 and an almost impenetrable chevaux de frise. The fort itself 

 is semi-circular, and perched on the edge of the cliffs, which go 

 sheer down nearly 300 feet. This stray fortress is a silent 

 memento of one of the fierce race-struggles in Ireland, but the 

 page of its history is unwritten. 



We have now gained some conception oiwhat the " Aranites" 

 are, how they live, what they do and believe, and what monu- 

 ments they have left us from the past ; but we cannot at present 

 say who they are. In order to speak with assurance on this 



