sake. I have seen one grieviously tormented by a thorn thrust into his eye, who by lying soe in St. Coeman's burying place, had it mi

raculously taken out, without the least feeling of the patient; the marke whereof, in the corner of his eye, still remaines.

As this Coeman gave the name of Ara Coemhan to the island, so he, from the island, is called Coeman-airne, i. e. Coeman of Aran. For Ara (signifying a kidney), the common name of the three islands, in the nominative, is Airne, or Arann in the genitive of the Irish; whence father Colganus (26 Mar. p. 750) thought Airne a distinct name of one of the islands.

There is another St. Coeman, disciple of St. Patrick, abbot of Ardcoeman or Airdnecoeman abby (Num. 12 in Colgan. in Vita 7ma. S. Patr. par. ii. cap. 54), near Wexford, wherein his feast is celebrated the 12th of June (Ibid. p. 177, num. 88). This likeness of the names of Airdncoeman and Coeman-airne, and other circumstances, induced father Colganus (Ibid. prope finem) to believe Coeman of Ardnecoeman, and Coeman-Airne were the same person,

Augustine's convent, Galway. The words "an extraordinarie," in italics, were inserted in place of "a miraculous,” evidently before the paper was attested; "cure" was displaced for "amendment," and "a vision" for "to him." At the first caret, after the word "advised," the words" in his vision" were expunged; at the second caret, after “ was," the word "miraculously" likewise appears expunged, amended," immediately following it, was inserted in place of "cured." These significant alterations shew, that however anxious the friends of the youth, and perhaps others, were, that the cure should be considered miraculous; or however convinced they might have been that it really was so, yet the attesting parties

and "

and

were of a very different opinion. The "amendment" may be attributed to hydropathy, i. e. cure by cold water.

s Father Colganus. The published works of this learned and laborious compiler of the lives of our national saints, so frequently referred to by our author, viz., the “Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ,” and "Triadis Thaumaturgæ, &c. Acta," are now seldom found except in public libraries. His unpublished works, mentioned in Harris's Ware, vol. ii. p. 141, are, as I am assured by a respectable member of his order, at present preserved in the Irish College at Rome. They may be classed among the most important documents connected with the ancient history of Ireland.

and worshipped the 12th June (Colg. 12 Mar. p. 586, num. 6. Item 21 Mar. p. 715, prope finem). But it appears by an old author, Engus-kele-de, quoted by fa. Colganus (12 Mar. p. 586, num. 4, 5, 6), that Coeman-Airne was brother to St. Coemgin; and elsewhere (supra, p. 177, num. 88, Vita 7m. S. Patr.), that Coeman, St. Coemgin his brother, is worshiped the 3rd November. It is another mistake of father Colganus (21 Mar. p. 714, 715, cap. 7) to write, that Ard-Olen was the same with this island, for Ard-Olen lyes as elsewhere he hath (20 Jan. p. 135, cap. 22, and p. 141, num. 13), of which hereafter. Neither is the most eastern the chiefest of the three isles, as he tooke it (21 Mar. p. 714, cap. 7), but rather the smallest, wherein, besides St. Coeman's church, is a chappell of St. Gobnat, V[irgin], worshipped 11th of February; and another of St. Paul.

On the south-east side of this island, is a great rock in the sea, remarkable for ship wracks, called Finnis"; which gave the name of Bealagh

Neither is the most eastern the chiefest. Colgan, p. 714, col. 2, has unaccountably mistaken this eastern island, which is the smallest of the three islands, for Aranmore, which is the largest and most westerly of them. It is probable, that he was led into the mistake by some incorrect map, in which these islands were either misplaced, or their position reversed; and that to the same cause may be attributed his mistake about Ardoilen, which occurs in the same place. See p. 76, note *, ante. Before Colgan's time the maps of Ireland were grossly inaccurate. In some of them this east Island of Aran is set down as the largest. In the government map, headed,

"Hibernia, insula, non procul ab Anglia, wlgare Hirlandia vocata, 1567," published with the State Papers, London, 1834, vol. ii., the middle island appears the greatest.

u Finnis. This rock is described by Mr. Nimmo in his Piloting Directions, p. 167, 6, as being "above a quarter of a mile from the shore, dry with spring tides only." He adds, "On the north-west part of Inishere, in Foul Sound, a rocky ledge extends one-third over, having six feet water upon it." Bealagh-na-Finnis, mentioned above, means the way or sound of the Finnis rock; but it is now always called the South Sound.

Bealagh-na-finnis to the ship road between this island and the county of Clare. All the ships bound for or from Galway, must saile by the isles of Aran, in either of the four roads, viz., Bealagh-Lougha Lurgan' (so called of old, Lough Lurgan, de quo p. 26) between the west continent and the great island. Bealagh-na-haite (so called of Binnaite, the next land over it in the great island), between the great island and the midle island. Bealagh na-fearboy, so called of the land next it in the middle island and the east island. And, Bealaghna-finnis, between that and the county of Clare. Having thus surveyed the three isles of Aran, as in a sea parenthesis, I will hence steere my course from the cape of Golam-head (the furthest point this side the west continent-of the west continent I touched) to the barony of Balinahinsy.

V

The barony of Balynahinsy" (known in Irish by the name of
Conmhaicne-

▾ Bealagh-Lougha Lurgan.-In Irish Bealać loca Turgan, the way or sound of Lough Lurgan. We have seen before, p. 42, that Lough Lurgan was the ancient name of the bay of Galway. This sound is always so called in Irish; but in English it is generally called the North Sound, and is the entrance to Galway bay by the Skird rocks.-See Nimmo's Piloting Directions, p. 168. The other sounds or passages mentioned above are, Bealagh-na-haite.-bealac na h-aite, now always called Gregory's Sound. It takes its name from Binn Aite, an elevated part of the Great Island in the townland of Killeany. See Nimmo, p. 167. Bealaghna-fearboy.—In Irish, bealac na Fear bac, or the Foul Sound. So called from

Feapbac, a part of the Middle Island verging on it. Bealagh-na-Finnis.- In Irish, Ŏealać na Finnire. See the last note". This South Sound" is between Dunmacfelin in the county of Clare and Inishere Island."-Nimmo, p. 168, b.

"Balynahinsy.-In Irish, baile na h-Inr, the town or bally of the island. This barony, which was the ancient district of Conmaicne-mara (now Anglicised Connamara), was created in A. D. 1585; and took its name from a well-known castle in the district, belonging to the western O'Flaherties. See, in the Appendix, the composition entered into in that year, for Iar-Connaught. This barony was for a long period divided into the two half baronies of Balinahinch, viz., north and

Conmhaicne-mara, i. e. the Sea Conmacny, to distinguish from Conmacny-rein), containing Angaly in the county of Longford, and Munter