_Legends of the County Clare._--On the west coast of Ireland, near the
Cliffs of Moher, at some distance out in the bay, the waves appear
continually breaking in white foam even on the calmest day. The tradition
among the country people is, that a great city was swallowed up there for
some great crime, and that it becomes visible once every seven years.
And if the person who sees it could keep his eyes fixed on it till he
reached it, it would then be restored, and he would obtain great wealth.
The man who related the legend stated farther, that some years ago some
labourers were at work in a field on the hill side in view of the bay;
and one of them, happening to cast his eyes seaward, saw the city in all
its splendour emerge from the deep. He called to his companions to look
at it; but though they were close to him, he could not attract their
attention: at last, he turned round to see why they would not come; but
on looking back, when he had succeeded in attracting their attention, the
city had disappeared.
The Welsh legend of the Islands of the Blessed, which can only be seen
by a person who stands on a turf from St. David's churchyard, bears a
curious coincidence to the above. It is not impossible that there may
have been some foundation for the vision of the enchanted city at Moher
in the _Fata Morgana_, very beautiful spectacles of which have been seen
on other parts of the coast of Ireland.