SCATTERY ISLAND.-THE SEVEN CHURCHES. England paid for spirit-duty.... £2,628,200 Scotland 113 Thus the two millions and a half in Scotland produce one and a half times as much spirits as the eight millions of Ireland, and only one half less than the fifteen millions of England. We have, however, no means of ascertaining how much of this they consume themselves, or how much of it is exported to England. CHAPTER X. SCATTERY ISLAND AND THE ROUND TOWERS. FOG ON THE SHANNON-ROUND-TOWER PASSION-DESCRIPTION OF THE ROUND TOWERS-THEIR NUMBER-PILLAR TEMPLES-HYPOTHESES AND THEORIES-FIRE WORSHIPPERS-SUPPOSED INTENTION OF THE ROUND TOWERS-CONNEXION WITH THE EAST-"THE SEVEN CHURCHES' FORTIFICATION OF SCATTERY ISLAND-MOUTH OF THE SHANNON. Kilrush is situated on a small bay of the Shannon. In part of this bay are two little islands, in the middle of the river, which is here from four to five miles in breadth. One of these islands is the famed Scattery Island, on which are the ruins of "The Seven Churches," and in the midst of them a round tower in good preservation. Having determined closely to inspect these monuments, I therefore intrusted myself and my portmanteau to a little row-boat, which was also to take me over to the county of Kerry. I seated myself at the helm, and a couple of able rowers, whom I had hired the evening before, undertook the propulsion of the little vessel. The morning was perfectly calm and warm, but the sun, as we pushed off from the shore, was obscured by a yellow fog, which concealed from my view the island towards which we steered, and even of the broad Shannon we saw little more than what danced and sparkled about our boat and our oars. The fog was of a dun yellow colour, and was spread along the water, which also seemed to be converted into vapour, as it reflected nothing but fog. Sometimes a tiny wave flashed in the distance, but as quickly disappeared, as if the eye of a Nereid had glanced out from beneath her veil as she swam past, and been hastily withdrawn. After rowing for some time, the fog cleared off, and the little green island lay before us with its ruined churches, amidst which the lofty column of the Round Tower first presented itself like a dark streak, and then gradually broke more distinctly and more defined through the murky atmosphere. These "Round Towers," as they are called, are the most interesting antiquities to be found in Ireland. Whenever I came into the neighbourhood of one, I lost no time in observing it closely. Like all travellers in this country, and all Irishmen themselves, I felt myself infected with a decided passion for round towers, and whenever I heard of one in the neighbourhood, I lost no time in carefully inspecting it. But as few of my own countrymen can have any idea of the nature of this passion, a short introductory notice of these ancient structures may not be deemed out of place. These towers are round, and built of large stones; when seen from a distance, they look more like strong lofty columns than towers, being nearly of the same diameter from the base to the very summit. At present, indeed, their height varies, some of them being more or less in a state of ruin; but those that remain entire, (which is the case with the majority,) are all of nearly the same height, thickness, and structure, and as like each other as the obelisks of Egypt. They are generally from 100 to 120 feet high, and are from 40 to 50 feet in circumference, with a diameter of from twelve to sixteen, which is very small when compared with th ir great height. Their walls are strong and thick at the base, but gradually become thinner towards the top. They are hollow within, and have no exterior opening except a narrow door-way about eight or ten feet from the ground, and near the top some narrow little window-holes, usually four in number, and generally facing the four cardinal points, north, south, east, and west. These peculiar buildings are found scattered every where throughout Ireland. Sometimes they stand on lonely islands, or on the bank of a river; sometimes in the middle of a plain; and again in the retired nook of a remote valley. Their number is computed at 118;* of which fifteen are wholly perfect and uninjured, whilst of thirtysix, little more than foundations now remain. Nothing could be less characteristic of these buildings than the name "Round Towers," for all towers are more or less round. Some writers call them "Pillar Temples," but the propriety of this name is disputed by others, who affirm that they never can have been destined for, or * On this point, however, authorities vary. Some reckon only 80, others 100. The above number is to be found on the map of Ireland published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and as the name of each individual tower is there given, it may be deemed the minimum. Of course critical doubts and questions may arise as to whether many ruined stumps are entitled to be considered as genuine" Round Towers. ORIGIN OF THE ROUND TOWERS. 115 used as temples. The most striking characteristic of these towers being their resemblance to mighty columns, (and yet they are not columns, since they are hollow within, and are furnished with doors and windows,) perhaps the most appropriate and impartial name that could be given them would be that of "Pillar-Towers." These towers are almost exclusively peculiar to Ireland, no buildings of a similar character being found throughout the rest of Europe, except in Scotland, where there are said to be two or three of them, which were most probably built by Irish colonists. In the distant East, however, we find edifices of the same construction and of similar dimensions; and the first thing that strikes the traveller, on seeing an Irish pillar-tower, is its resemblance to the minaret of the Mohamedans. There being no authentic records which show the period at which these towers were erected, whilst every thing denotes that they must have been built in very remote antiquity, innumerable theories and hypotheses have been formed respecting them; and although the truth has not yet been elucidated, the falseness and absurdity of many of these theories is very apparent. For instance, those learned personages who assert that these towers were built by the Danes, seem to have forgotten that they are found in parts of Ireland where the Danes never had any possessions, as in Donegal, and the more remote counties of Connaught; and they must also have shut their eyes to the fact that the Danes never built such towers in England, nor even in their own country. That they were not built by the Anglo-Normans, who succeeded the Danes, is equally certain, because no record of the fact is to be found, nor any traces of similar structures in the native land of the Anglo-Normans. Since, therefore, it is evident that these towers were erected long before the English or the Danish period, it is extremely probable that they were built either by the natives of the country, or by colonists from the East, where similar buildings are alone to be found. Popular opinion in Ireland has decided in favour of the latter; and the general tradition, which has descended from the most ancient times to the present day, is that they were built by the Phoenicians. The learned, in propounding their theories, are accustomed to place too much reliance upon written records, which they deem alone authentic, and generally either allow little weight to tradition, or seem to forget that the memory of a people is for thousands of years often more correct than books, and that traditions thus transmitted are equally indestructible as monuments of stone or brass. Ireland, standing alone in the ocean, and at fifteen times a greater distance from most parts of continental Europe than England, had, at the time she was partially conquered by the Danes, and subsequently chained by the English to their destinies, her own separate history and social development, and even in the time of the Romans was never dragged into the vortex of European trade. The Phoenicians were the only people of antiquity who visited and ruled Ireland, and by their commerce may have brought this remote isle (a stranger even in Europe,) into connexion with the distant East. There is, therefore, nothing improbable in regarding them as the builders of the pillar-towers; more especially as we know that similar towers now actually exist throughout the entire East-that in the Persian province of Masanderan modern travellers, acquainted with Ireland, have seen towers exactly resembling those in the latter country-that even in India there are similar buildings devoted to religious purposes-and that the Turkish minarets, which stand near their mosques, are in all probability no mere modern Mohamedan invention, but a venerable oriental form of building;-if, I say, we bear these facts in remembrance, we can scarcely avoid connecting these Irish towers with the East. Many are terrified by the antiquity which must thus be ascribed to them; but their extreme solidity renders it not improbable that they may yet endure for some thousands of years; and have we not Roman brick-buildings, which were erected before the birth of Christ? Not less various are the opinions concerning their object, and some of them are equally absurd. On account of their great height, some have fancied that they were intended as watchtowers, and that a chain of telegraphs was thus formed throughout the whole island. Ridiculous as this opinion may appear, it is very general. Most of these towers, however, are on low ground, in valleys, or on lonely islands, from whence little of the surrounding country could be seen, and therefore little or nothing could be communicated. The slightest reflection would show the absurdity of such an idea. Others, again, contend that they are fortresses of the Christian era, to which the elders and priests withdrew with the treasure of their churches, when the country was threatened with hostilities. But I cannot believe that men could have been foolish enough to build hollow pillars for fortresses. Their great height would not only render their defence difficult, but afford facilities for attacking and destroying them. Those who crept into the narrow space must have been compelled to stand upon each other's heads, and their only means of defending themselves was through four small holes, 80 or 100 feet above the ground, at which they were to stand with their bows, till the enemy approached near enough to be attacked. I have been informed that a work is now in preparation to prove that these ་ USES OF THE ROUND TOWERS. 117 towers were fortresses; but I would recommend the learned author first to publish a treatise on the formation of the skulls of the ancient Irish, wherein he may show that they had a particular organ in their brains for the construction of crazed defences. Had they been built for this purpose, it is probable that not one of them would now be standing, as the storms of war which never ceased to rage in Ireland have razed all fortresses to the ground; whilst the "Round Towers," on the contrary, seem as if they had been preserved with especial care and veneration. Another opinion is, that because they usually stand in the midst of the ruins of old churches, they were mere common-place Christian belfries. But irrespective of the fact, that Christianity as well as Mohamedanism has ever had its own particular architectural forms for its ecclesiastical buildings, to which from its very commencement it has strictly adhered, and that neither in oriental nor in occidental Christian countries have belfries ever been found constructed like the Irish round towers,-irrespective of this, I say that belfries are usually built so that not only may a bell be rung in them, but that it may also be heard outside, and for this end they are always provided with side openings through which the sound issues. These pillar-towers, however, are formed like a telescope, and have only four holes in the upper part, so that the sound of bells rung within them, if not completely deadened, would at least be so greatly diminished, as almost entirely to destroy their utility. 66 There are many opinions of a similar nature, but none of them coincide with the popular tradition, which assigns these temples to the fire-worshippers who accompanied the Phoenicians to Erin. Every Irishman acquainted with the ancient legends of his fatherland, when speaking of these towers, talks of "sun and fire-worshippers," and asserts that this belief has been handed down from generation to generation. Thomas Moore, and a few more of the learned, are inclined to rely upon this tradition, because the Pyreas" of the Ghebirs are said exactly to resemble the Irish round towers, and also because it is proved that fire-worship was once the prevailing religion in Ireland. As the towers are almost devoid of light inside, we may readily believe that they served for the preservation of the sacred flame, which may have looked adorable enough in the darkness. The reason for placing the entrance so far from the ground is sufficiently obvious, when it is considered that the fire was holy, and therefore was not accessible to every one. It has been objected, that if the towers were erected for this purpose, there was no necessity for building them so high; but in reply to this it may be alleged that the fire was probably kept in the upper portion of the tower, near the four little windows, and that the priests brought it down from thence, sym |