JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY neighbours who had gathered in) : "Ta se 'na luighe anois, agus nil oiread bearla i Min na Crois's a cuirfeas 'na shuidhe e" ("Bed, bed, sir! I arranged a sleep for you." "He is in bed now, and there is not ·as much English in Meenacross as will get him up"). It is probable, however, that the Prince by reason of his Scottish association and his intercourse with the Highland clans had more knowledge of Gaelic than he was credited with on that occasion. Traditim1, moreover, associates him with an Irish song-"La cols cuain" (One day beside the sea), which tells of his watch for a boat, and gives impressions of his Irish environment. The length of time he spent in Meenacross is disputed, but the keepers of, the record agree that he lived there PJ:".incipally at night, and spent his days in Port, an impregnable mountain fastness, three miles to the north-west, ringed on one side by an almost impassible bog, and on the other by the Atlantic. While in Port he made the acquaintal).ce of one Andrew M'Ginley, and seems.to have whiled away the time instructing the latter in the art of fencing. The sword he used was described to me as follows (by one Niall Crumlin, Malinbeg, who died in 1926, aged 87): slender-bladed, light, of medium length, having a short, plain grip and a cup-shaped guard. Andrew, as an occasional man on divers trading vessels,· sometimes visited Sligo, then a garrison town. The cnly heirloom he bequeathed to his family was the story of one of his fencing exploits in the distant city. A miUtary bully forced a quarrel on Andrew and challenged him to settle it by duel; choosing swords. He invited his Commanding omcer to be his second, and to witness the manner in which he would "spit the pig." The selection of the ground and other formalities having been completed, Andrew demanded his weapon that he might test it. Taking the blade in hand, he bent it until the point almost touched the hilt, and then released it. With a flash the sword shot whirling into the air and before the astonished onlookers could follow its dizzy flight Andrew had it in his hand again, and on guard. Impressed by this display, the omcer forbade further hostilities with a reminder to the bully that not alone would he be wiped out but the entire regiment could be picked off by such a swordsman in a series of duels. Thus did Andrew M'Ginley do credit to his royal instructor. Tradition stops abruptly in Meenacross and has left no record of his adieu; presumably the anxious watching 'Jf the royal fugitive was at last rewarded, and from the Donegal coast he secretly boarded the frigate which brought him to France. ~fl-IE DONEGAL LUSCj.\ COUNTY IDON1EGA[., poS:sesise1s a percuJJ.ar type of zusca, or carve as it ls c:aJlled Iooolly. It WlalS geneiralliy an artific:i1aJ. ciave a1thougih in s.ome cases it will be found to be an adruptation of a na:tJurial one. Some m ithem are a:djuncits olf forts, but most olf them ue no1t so, a,t preoonrt. Genemlly thtere i1s onJy one chamber btllt tihe·y ia11so rnaiy be forum! in parallel; serles or lin the- form of a T or L, _the!ilr maxim!um hieligh1t being five feet. When no1t hefw.n oUlt o'f solli:d rock, they are butl:t W!Lth the· uppe!l' pontions of thiell.r walls sloping il1!Wlards to pe1:rmllt roolftng WIL'tlh a n:arroiw ca.p-ston'e. Re:- ma:tlllS of :flres may be often fou:nd in tihtem a1nd these ·may be quit~ modern as they were often used as hide-outs by T!Olrles, 'Rla1parees arui PQ1theen-ma~ris. 114 Soruith-East of Ure v:1llilage oif !Ballyooorisky, .in Fanad., theire 1JS a. tl:Ire ~amplie Of Fosleac. ia.nd Lwsca OOIIIlbined. Tlhe ltu.sca. .ts a g,ood-sized re:C!ta!Il:giular cJ:lJambea:- 1CUlt out of ,the gmlili!te.rock and roofled: w:1tth a hmWolil.ta.J. g:riainLte fta.g-s1toine. From t.lhe N.W. corn:ex of the chiallillJ;>ier there is a passage .two and a h!al1f feet Wlide by tm-ee feet hd:gh, partliy cwt ouit olf the gra!Ild.te and in piar:tly bJatvd;n1g 11:.s Slidies built. ThJis pa:ssia:ge exteinded under the fos~ie1ac aind C'Ommuruciruted w:iltlh iit by a pmopem:i:ilc.Wa.r Shia:flt abrut tlwo feeit; square. The /01Sleac or surf.a,cie struciture wia:s a com'bina.t1m1 o;f sta.nd'Lnig-stones run.di :fla:gis roofed by ftags thiat flac:ed' souihwail'"ds. The doorway :f:a1c:ed nol'lt'blWM'ds, hiad' pUla!l"-stones on eiacih Side of' it, while cl!Ose to 1t, .stood a monolttlh.
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