The fame of the Blasket islands stems as much from their contribution to literature as to their unearthly beauty. Three autobiographies by islanders have becomes world classics Tomas O'Crohan's "The Islandman," Peig Sayers,' "An Old Woman's Reflections, and Muiris O Suileabhain's "Twenty Years A-Growing," and there are many others. These writings encapsulate a rich oral tradition of storytelling, poetry and folktales, and translators have captured much of the musical turns of phrase, sheer beauty of expression. A ship's bell near Peig Sayers' cottage likely came from one of the many shipwrecks which were to bring both sorrow and joy to the islanders. The Blaskets lie off the most westerly point of the Dingle Peninsula. At its closest point, the Great Blasket is only 3/4 mile from the mainland, but boatmen will not take you out unless they are sure of a calm day. As your boat approaches the Great Blasket, an instinctive silence falls, and all eyes are turned towards the ruined cottages, the time-worn pathways winding up and over the hill, the soft outlines of old field systems. Ring forts and beehive huts suggest settlement on the Blaskets from the Iron Age, while documentary references to an ancient church and an old stone cross, now both disappeared, indicate a medieval community. In the 13th century, Great Blasket was leased to the FERRITER family by the Earl of Desmond for an annual rent of two hawks. Ships of the Spanish Armada, sheltering here in the 1588, though the islands uninhabited, but it may be that the natives thought it wiser to keep out of sight. Ferriter's Castle, 2 miles NW of Ballyferriter, was the birthplace of Pierce FERRITER, one of the last Irish chiefs to hold out against CROMWELL. Eventually the Baskets came into the possession of the Earl of Cork and remained part of the extensive Cork and Orrery estate until 1907, when the Great Blaskets was bought by the Congested Districts Board and freeholds were sold to the tenant-occupiers. Inishvickillaune is now owned by the former Taoiseach, Charles HAUGHEY, who has built a! house there. Prior to the Great Famine (1841) the population of the islands was 153. Twenty years later it had dropped to 98 - not as severe as the 50% reduction found on the mainland. Fever and diseases associated with the potato blight did not cross to the island and the community fed itself by catching fish, rabbits, seals, guillemots, puffins and razorbills. Shipwrecks likely played a part, bringing life-saving supplies. O'Crohan recalled being told of the wheat ship which was wrecked on the White Strand in Famine times, and how every grain was gathered, washed and dried. "Baighrean," the people called it. By 1910, the population had recovered to 160, islanders had their own school and their own weaver. Dramatist John Millington SYNGE, who visited there in 1904, was struck by the fine quality of the flannel woven from the speckled sheep. Men fished the rough waters and risked their very lives climbing cliffs for seabirds and their eggs. At evening, the islanders would gather in each others' homes to sing, dance and tell stories. It was a tightly-knit community where everyone was known and all worked together in the struggle for survival. Over time their children were to leave to the mainland for an easier life. The supply of turf ran out in the 1930s, in 1947 with only 50 residents the school closed. By 1953, the remaining 22 people were evacuated, sitting silently in the boat sent for them, staring back at the homes they were leaving forever. Today, the Blaskets are showing new life. The passion felt by islanders has lived on in their descendants who have striven to ensure that the link is not permanently broken. There are newcomers, too, who comment that the place is in their blood, that they are completely happy there. Sue REDICAN has revived the island weaving tradition. Sue first came over from England to work at her craft in Dingle. Once she visited the Baskets, she said, she "had" to live there. Sue has been living on the Great Blasket for 18 years, for some of the year alone with her looms and spinning wheels, weaving intricate and colorful sashes (the traditional Irish "crios") as well as scarves and shawls. Visitors have found a cheerful tea-room in one house on the island where soup, brown bread and tea is to be enjoyed, and in the summer-time a student from the mainland has a bookshop where her grandfather once lived. Sue REDICAN enjoys the days where the sun is shining, the sky blue with large, fluffy white clouds, the birds chirping. Some of the island's docile rabbits may pay her a visit. When she works outdoors Sue sees dolphins and whales passing through the Sound. "When there is a gale blowing, the spray comes over the island 30 feet in the air, " but she feels this has prevented the Blaskets from having become over-commercialized - a good thing. Sue likes to read, do the crosswords in old copies of the "Irish Times, " and on the rare occasions she does go across the mainland it is get a stock of books. By 4:30, she is burning candles. "I have a Tilly lamp but it's still fairly dark in here in the kitchen, you wouldn't know what you're putting into the pot for supper!" The ferry brings essential supplies from the mainland. When asked if she was nervous on a stormy day or silent star-studded night? "Why would I be? What is there to harm me? I'd be at more risk in a cit! y. Out here, there's the waves and the wind and the memories of all who have lived on the Blaskets. I could not be in better company." The churchyard at Dunquin looks out towards Blasket Sound. -- Excerpts, "Ireland of the Welcomes" July-Aug 2001