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| CORRACLE ON RIVER BOYNE.-The corracle, or corach, shown in the picture, is a reproduction of the ancient form of horse-skin boat-the hide stretched over a wicker-work frame-used by the Irish people for several thousand years, and useful in crossing rapid streams. It contains a single seat and is "worked" with a paddle. Larger, and safer, corachs are used by the hardy fishermen of the Aran and other islands on the Irish coast. The vessel shown above is still used at the crossing of the Boyne near Slane Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Conyngham, in the county Meath. But, in general, the modern Irish are as unfamiliar with the corrach as with the Indian "dug-out," and prefer a good, safe row, or sail, boat in making their neccessary voyages. It is a singular fact that the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other warlike Indians, use skin boats very much like the corrach. The latter is also known in the Basque country of Spain, in Brittany, and in other territories occupied by the Celts. When the brave Irish chieftain, O'Sullivan Beare, made his heroic march, at the head of his clan, from Glengariff to Breffni, in 1602, and found himself stopped by the Shannon at Carrigahorig, he caused his followers to kill their horses and construct corachs from the hides. To this incident Thomas Davis alluded when he sang Then my mind went along with O'Sullivan marching His corachs the waves of the Shannon o'erarching, Over Musk'ry's moors and Ormond's plain, And his pathway mile-marked with the slain! |
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