On an Irish jaunting-car through Donegal and Connemara . by the king-monk Roderic OConor in the twelfthcentury. He was the last Irish king,and lived the concluding fifteen yearsof his life within these walls as a monk,in the strictest seclusion; he died in 1198,aged eighty-two. The Cross of Cong, which was madefor Tuam, was brought here, it is thought,by Roderic OConor. It measures twoand a half feet high, one foot six andthree-quarter inches across arms, andone and three-quarter inches thick. Itis made of oak plated with copper, andcovered with the most beautiful gold tra-cery of Celtic patte
On an Irish jaunting-car through Donegal and Connemara . by the king-monk Roderic OConor in the twelfthcentury. He was the last Irish king,and lived the concluding fifteen yearsof his life within these walls as a monk,in the strictest seclusion; he died in 1198,aged eighty-two. The Cross of Cong, which was madefor Tuam, was brought here, it is thought,by Roderic OConor. It measures twoand a half feet high, one foot six andthree-quarter inches across arms, andone and three-quarter inches thick. Itis made of oak plated with copper, andcovered with the most beautiful gold tra-cery of Celtic pattern. In the centre ofthe arms is a large crystal; thirteen ofthe original eighteen jewels remain, setalong the edges of shaft and arms, whileeleven of those which were set down thecentre of arms and shaft and round thecrystal are lost. It was found by theRev. P. Prendergast early in the presentcentury in a chest in the village, and afterhis death it was purchased by ProfessorMacCullagh for one hundred guineas, andpresented to the Royal Irish BALLINROBE TO LEENANE Loughs Mask and Corrib are connect-ed by an underground river, as the po-rous nature of the rock will not permitthe water to flow on the surface. We wentdown thirty feet into the pigeon-hole,which is near the castle, to see the flowof water through the ground. The ar-rangements for seeing this place mighttruly be called hospitality in a high form,as everything is shown and nothing ex-pected in return for the courtesy. Thesolicitude of the old gate-keeper for ourwelfare was particularly marked, for whenwe returned to the gate after a verypeaceful inspection, he doffed his hat andexclaimed, Glory be to God, yer hon-ors have returned safe and in good health,too, I see! During the Irish famine an attemptwas made to dig a canal connecting thelakes, so as to give the people somethingto do, and an enormous amount of moneywas sunk in the project. The rocky bedabsorbed the water, however, as fast asit flowed in, and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidonirishjaunt, bookyear1902
