The South Isles of Aran (County Galway) — A Reader’s Guide

Island of Aran--Galway bay, anciently Lough Lurgan--Population--Religion, etc.--Inishmore, ruins on--Inishmaan, ruins on--Inisheer, ruins on--Mail boat--Hotel--Aran landscape--Flora--Potatoes--Aran wildfowl--Capture of the puffin--Cragsmen--Geology of islands--Limestone terraces--Boulders--Cliffs on islands--Seaweeds--Moving sands--_Pinus maritima_ 1

Monuments of Druidism--Druids--Cairns--Cromlechs--Baal, worship of--Zodiacal rings--Sacred fires--Druidical religion--Sir Edward Coke, on--Groves--Immense fortresses--Dun AEngus--Its situation, dimensions, etc.--Dun Conor--Christian remains--St. Enda, romantic story of--His hapless love--Becomes a monk--Obtains grant of Aran from King of Cashel--St. Brendon--His leaving Aran for countries beyond the Atlantic--Rendered into verse by Denis Florence MacCarthy--St. Columba, his grief at leaving Aran--Rendered into verse by Sir Aubrey De Vere--St. Fursa--Residence in Aran--Pilgrimage to Rome--Buried in Aran--Aran monuments, pagan and Christian, vested in Board of Works--Churches facing the east--The north--Cloghauns--Dwellings of the monks--_Teampul-Chiarain_--_Teampul McDuach_--Holy well--Childless marriages--Description of churches--Lonely lives of the monks--One of the Popes said to be buried in Aran--Ordnance Survey--Its vast stores of learning unprinted 13

Aran, 14th-18th centuries--A.D. 1308. O'Brien, lord of the isles--In consideration of twelve tuns of wine annually engages to protect the trade of Galway--A.D. 1334. Aran plundered by Darcy--A.D. 1400. Henry IV. gives license to certain persons to attack rebels in Aran--A.D. 1485. Franciscan monastery built--A.D. 1537. Suppression of religious houses--A.D. 1560. Shipwreck of Teige O'Brien, lord of the isles--A.D. 1570. Mortgage of the islands--A.D. 1579. Mayor of Galway appointed admiral of Galway bay, including Aran--1586. O'Brien expulsed from Aran by the O'Flaherties--1587. Queen Elizabeth grants islands to Sir John Rawson--1588. Corporation of Galway petition in favour of O'Briens--Annals, 1618, 1641, 1645, 1651--Surrender of the islands to the Commander-in-Chief of the Parliamentary forces--Annals, 1653, 1670, 1687, 1691, 1700, 1746, case of _Mayor of Galway_ v. _Digby_--1754, 1786. Earldom of Aran--1857 31

Noble character of Aranite peasantry--Letters, 1841, by Dr. Petrie; 1852, by Sir Francis Head, K.C.B.; 1875, by Frank Thorpe Porter, Esq., B.L.; 1886, by Mr. R. F. Mullery, clerk of Galway Union; by Philip Lyster, Esq., R.M., B.L.--Rev. Fathers O'Donohoe, P.P., and Waters, C.C.--_Sta viator_--Isle of O'Brazil--Gerald Griffin's poem on 52

Healthful islands--Old age in--Land Commission in Aran--Aran fisheries--Letters, 1886, from Sir Thomas F. Brady, fishery commissioner, on; from C.T. Redington, J.P., D.L., on public works in islands; from Rev. William Killride, on employment and on timber--"Many places in the islands covered with trees" fifty years ago--Poverty of fishermen--Baltimore fisheries--Baroness Burdett-Coutts--Irish Reproductive Loan Fund--Bounties given by Irish Parliament, in 1787, to encourage deep sea fisheries--Trawling 65

Re-afforesting Aran--Dr. Lyons--Dermot O'Conor Donelan, J.P.--Forest industries in Germany--Supports 300,000 families--Paper from young timber, etc. 82

Superstitions of the grove--Concerning the oak--The ash--The mountain ash--The aspen--The pine--The holly--The ivy--The hawthorn--The blackthorn--The rose--The fern--The fairy flax--The hazel 88

Conversant with the O'Briens--Bryan Boroimhe--His descendants Kings of Thomond--and their descendants Lords of Inchiquin, junior branch of Kings of Thomond--Marshal MacMahon--Also junior branch, O'Briens of Ballynalacken 105

Statistics of Aran 110

THE SOUTH ISLES OF ARAN.

"Oh, Aranmore! loved Aranmore, How oft I dream of thee, And of those days when by thy shore I wandered young and free; Full many a path I've tried since then, Through pleasure's flowery maze, But ne'er could find the bliss again I felt in those sweet days."

[Sidenote: POPE GREGORY THE GREAT]