Chapter II

Monuments of Druidism--Druids--Cairns--Cromlechs--Baal,
worship of--Zodiacal rings--Sacred fires--Druidical
religion--Sir Edward Coke, on--Groves--Immense
fortresses--Dun AEngus--Its situation, dimensions, etc.--Dun
Conor--Christian remains--St. Enda, romantic
story of--His hapless love--Becomes a monk--Obtains
grant of Aran from King of Cashel--St. Brendon--His
leaving Aran for countries beyond the Atlantic--Rendered
into verse by Denis Florence MacCarthy--St.
Columba, his grief at leaving Aran--Rendered into
verse by Sir Aubrey De Vere--St. Fursa--Residence in
Aran--Pilgrimage to Rome--Buried in Aran--Aran
monuments, pagan and Christian, vested in Board of
Works--Churches facing the east--The north--Cloghauns--Dwellings
of the monks--_Teampul-Chiarain_--_Teampul
McDuach_--Holy well--Childless
marriages--Description of churches--Lonely lives of
the monks--One of the Popes said to be buried in
Aran--Ordnance Survey--Its vast stores of learning
unprinted 13