eightpence each for admission to the island. He further states that, in order to prevent the seduced people from going any longer to this stronghold of Purgatory, and wholly to take away the abuse hereafter, he had directed the whole to be defaced and utterly demolished. Therefore, the walls, works, foundations, vaults, &c., he ordered to be rooted up; also the place called St. Patrick's Bed, and the stone on which he knelt. These and all other superstitious relics he ordered to be thrown into the lake, and he made James Magrath, the owner of the island, to enter into recognizances that he should not in future permit the entrance of Jesuits, friars, nuns, or any other superstitious order of Popery to enter therein."*

To aggravate the atrocity of this act of vandalism, it is related that Knox, whom James I. dubbed Bishop of Raphoe, witnessed from the shore of the lake and encouraged by his presence the work of destruction—a proceeding which completely casts in shade the sacrilege of the Protestant Archbishop, who unroofed the buildings on the Rock of Cashel.

But 'mid weal and woe the Irish heart had entwined round the holy island of Lough Derg. Though the Augustinian Canons were not destined to return to Saints' Island, a place of residence for the officiating priests was erected on Station Island; the ruined church and crosses and oratories were again put in some sort of repair by loving hands; and the pilgrimage rose again, phoenix-like, from its ashes.

Taken from Rev. Cæsar Otway's Sketches in Donegal.

Before tracing the onward progress of the pilgrimage on Station Island, I think it will not be unacceptable to give a sketch and outline of the ruins on Saints' Island, which have suffered little from the hand of man for the last two hundred and forty-six years. And, even making allowance for the "wear and tear of time," they remain in much the same state in which they were left by the Puritan soldiers of 1632.

The accompanying engraving of Saints' Island, which was sketched by W. F. Wakeman, Esq., of Enniskillen, on the 4th of September, 1877, will convey a pretty accurate idea of how complete was the work of the destroyer, as neither buildings nor ruined walls are to be observed on it. In order to obtain a favourable view for this sketch, we rowed out some distance from Saints' Island, in the direction of Station Island. Here in the background appeared, on the one side, Meenanellison, which signifies the mountain meadow of the little fort (this fort being still observable there); and on the other side, Croagh Breac-i.e., the speckled stack mountain--which derives its name from the numerous gray crags that here and there jut out from among the heather, giving it in reality this speckled appearance.

On the southern shore of Saints' Island the stone piers, on which rested a bridge of beams, are still to be seen. Between these piers there is a channel about twenty yards wide, and from twenty to thirty feet in depth; and through this channel flows a strong current from the upper lake. Some twenty yards down this channel a boatman on the lake, not long since, observed two fir

beams, with iron cranks attached; the inference being that they formed part of the old bridge, and were washed down the bed of the channel by the force of the current.

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A short distance to the west of this bridge, on the mainland, and at the very shore, may be seen the foundation-stones of an old building, the enclosure being completely filled with the fallen walls. Tradition points this out as the ferry-house of Teague O'Doherty, whose name yet lives in the folklore of the locality. It is also said that Teague had charge of the ferry from Portcreevy to Station Island-remains of his boat-quay at Portcreevy being yet in very good order, where a goodly sprinkling of oak, ash, and sycamore trees lends a sylvan charm to this once-frequented harbour. For four or five generations O'Dohertys lived on the slopes of Augh-Keen mountain; but they are long since extinct in that locality.

On the very summit of Saints' Island portion of the old Lir, which we have already referred to in Chapter V. of this work, may be seen. Immediately adjoining it, on the eastern side, is the cemetery, which measures thirtyfive yards in length, by twenty-seven yards in width. It was surrounded by a strong wall, now very much in ruin. In the centre of the cemetery may be seen the dilapidated remains of a very small structure. It measures externally, as far as I could make out, eighteen or nineteen feet in length, by about twelve feet in width. This was very probably the Caverna Purgatorii, though on the Ordnance Map it is marked towards the eastern extremity of the island; for it corresponds with the dimensions of this ancient cave, and agrees also with the description given