Collectanea. 445
fed on by the starving wolves in sight of the few survivors. ^ One ship, the " Rata Coronada," was wrecked in Blacksod Bay, the crew was taken off. There, too, a feeble, few-word tradition lingered if not derived from some book ; the same is true of Clare Island, where the very dryness of the tale favours the genuineness. Doonah tradition mentions a ship which lay near the castle for some time. There is said to be a great hoard of Spanish gold on Davillaun — two weird little rocky islets at the mouth of Blacksod Bay. Some claim to know where it is hidden and say that big ships from Spain were wrecked there.
The visit of " Black Tom " — Thomas, Earl of Strafford, the hapless Lord Deputy, the exponent of " Thorough " — is faintly remembered at Bunowen Castle, which he visited in 1637. Local story says the owner, Morogh na Mart (O'FIaherty), was absent, attacking his enemies of Galway city, but his people took his place, and gave such warm, if rude, cheer and welcome that, when Morogh hurried back, the earl knighted him. Alas " favour is deceitful " ; Black Tom had noted all his host's property and seized on the whole. The tomb of Sir Morogh O'FIaherty, in 1666, is shown in St. Enda's Church near Arkin in Aranmore.
Of Cromwell and his soldiers the usual chaos is " remembered." He (or his men) hunted, in the Mullet, a priest, surprised as he celebrated the Mass. The priest fled with the vestments, vessels and Host to the shore, whence there was no escape ; the shouting soldiers, in full sight of their victim, saw the rock split and turn seaward, bending so as to shelter him from their musket shots till they went away and he was rescued by his flock. It is told of three places on the Mullet, at Doona- dearg, at a rock near Dunnamo, and at Leimataggart (Priest's Leap), the northern, and, from its name, the most probable.
It is more than possible that some priest actually escaped by hiding in some cranny, or under some ledge, of the rock. Priest-taking records abound among the Cromwellian papers at Dublin, and colonies of the unfortunate men were kept under watch of the garrisons of Inishbofin and Aran on those islands. Soldiers were sent to pay surprise visits and destroy ^ See Capt. Cuellar's account.
