course. Columba's boat consisted of a frame of osiers, which was covered
with hides of leather, and it was received into a very narrow creek close
to this cave. After returning thanks for their escape, the Saint and his
people had great difficulty in climbing up to the cave, which is elevated
considerably above sea. They at length got sight of the fire which had
first attracted their attention. Several persons sat around it, and
their appearance was not much calculated to please the holy man. Their
aspects were fierce, and they had on the fire some flesh roasting over
the coals. The Saint gave them his benediction; and he was invited to
sit down among them and to share their hurried repast, with which he
gladly complied. They were freebooters, who lived by plunder and
robbery, and this Columba soon discovered. He advised them to forsake
that course, and to be converted to his doctrines, to which they all
assented, and in the morning they accompanied the Saint on his voyage
homeward. This circumstance created a high veneration for the cave among
the disciples and successors of Columba, and that veneration still
continues, in some degree. In one side of it there was a cleft of the
rock, where lay the water with which the freebooters had been baptized;
and this was afterwards formed by art into a basin, which is supplied
with water by drops from the roof of the cave. It is alleged never to be
empty or to overflow, and the most salubrious qualities are ascribed to
it. To obtain the benefit of it, however, the votaries must undergo a
very severe ordeal. They must be in the cave before daylight; they stand
on the spot where the Saint first landed his boat, and nine waves must
dash over their heads; they must afterwards pass through nine openings in
the walls of the cave; and, lastly, they must swallow nine mouthfuls out
of the holy basin. After invoking the aid of the Saint, the votaries
within three weeks are either relieved by death or by recovery. Offerings
are left in a certain place appropriated for that purpose; and these are
sometimes of considerable value, nor are they ever abstracted. Strangers