the companies, they sang, 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity,' and then the _Te Deum_, and the
voyagers set out again upon their way.

The voyage now continues with two or three comparatively trivial
adventures. For twelve days they lived upon the juice of the scaltæ,
after which they fasted for three days. Then a bird brought them a
branch of an unknown tree, bearing a bunch of bright red grapes, whereon
they lived for four days, and then fasted for three more. On the last of
these they sighted the island where grew the grapes. It was thickly
wooded, with trees bending under the weight of the fruit, filled with
all manner of good vegetation, and exhaling an odour like that of an
house full of pomegranates (_mala punica_). Here they landed, pitched
the tent, and stayed for forty days.

After they left this island they were much alarmed by the sight of a
griffin flying towards them, but it was killed by another bird which
fought it in the air, and its body fell into the sea. They reached the
isle Ailbey in safety, and there passed the midwinter as usual.

The following years are passed over with merely the general statement
that they went about much in the ocean, and passed the usual seasons in
the usual places. It is mentioned that one midsummer the sea was so
clear for about a week that they could see the marine animals lying at
the bottom; and when Brendan sang, these came up and swam round the
ship.

It must be, as far as the chronology of the romance can be said to be
fixed, intended to be represented as in the February of the seventh
year, that the narrative again becomes continuous. They saw one day a