192 Collectanea.
bed, a shallow trench. A low wall ran along the edge of the steep over Lug na naomh, here the saint rang the bell and the toads and snakes plunged down the slope. There is another massive low wall, evidently of vast antiquity, along the northern edge. To the west is a cairn called the " Virgin's Station."[1]
Caher Island is now getting quite superseded in popular veneration by Croaghpatrick, but, at one time, seems to have been held, at least by the islanders and coast dwellers, in far higher reverence. So holy was it that in 1839 boatmen used to take off their hats to it and say in Irish: " We make reverence to the great God of all the powers and to Patrick the wonder worker." I understand that sails were dipped and oars raised to it, as was done at least down to 1878 (as I saw) in passing Cruach MacDara Island, in Galway Bay, and at Iniscatha in the Shannon, and in Gregory Sound opposite to St. Grigoir's tomb in Aran. I saw no homage done to Caher Island on the two occasions I passed it in a fishing boat in 1911. The mass of conglomerate called the Leac na naomh, of whose properties I will speak more fully in the section of "Rocks and Stones," lies in the oratory. Dr. Charles Browne was told by E. O'Maille that the Leac was thrown at St. Patrick by a "bad friend," the saint, unable to avoid it, signed the cross and the big stone fell harmlessly on the ground; the tale is identical with that of him and Geodruisge. The saint still cures epileptic patients who sleep in his bed on the island. Near the ancient ring wall of Caherpatrick an old track runs eastward to the shore and is called the Bohernaneeve (Bothar na naomh) or Saint's road; it is believed to run under the sea to the Reek, which raises its shapely blue cone beyond the waves. Patrick emulated the miracle of Moses by dividing the sea when he (driven in his chariot by Mionnán and accompanied by a crowd of holy men) passed through the deep in safety to the island. As the place is uninhabited (though a few fishermen, or devotees sometimes stay a day or two in the lonely holy spot) I had to learn about it from the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands of Turk and Cliara, or Clare Island. I was told that the dan-
- ↑ For all this see Otway's Tour in Connaught, The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick (Rolls series), etc.
