whence ye are come." When he said thus, we asked him
whence he was, and by what name he was called. And he said unto me, "Why
dost thou ask me whence I am? and by what name I am called? Why dost
thou not rather ask as to this island? For even as thou seest it now, so
doth it remain since the beginning of the world. Hast thou any need of
meat or drink? Hast thou been overcome of sleep, or hath night covered
thee? Know therefore of a surety: there is always day here without
blindness or shadow of darkness. For our Lord Jesus Christ is the light
thereof, and if men had not done against the commandment of God, they
would have remained in the loveliness of this land." When we heard it,
we were turned to weeping, and when we were rested, we straightway took
our journey, and the man aforesaid came with us even to the shore where
our ship was. But when we got us up into the ship, the man was taken
away from our eyes, and we came into the darkness aforesaid, and until
the Isle of Delight some.' Barint goes on to relate his conversation
with Marnock's disciples, and how they told him that they often knew by
the fragrance of Marnock's garments, when he had been away from them for
a while and returned, that he had been in that garden of God, where, as
it is expressed, 'night gathereth not, nor day endeth ... for the angels
of God keep it.'

Incited by this narrative, Brendan proposed to some of his disciples to
set out in search of the Land of Promise, and after fasting for forty
days for three days at a time, they finally embarked from the
neighbourhood of Tralee. There is a very curious description of the
_corach_[2] or skin-boat in which they embarked. It was, it is stated,
'very light, with ribs and posts of wicker, as the use is in those
parts, and they covered it with the hides of cattle, dyed reddish in
oak-bark, and they smeared all the seams of the ship without; and they
took provisions for forty days, and butter for dressing hides for the
covering of the ship, and the other things which are useful for the life
of man.' Two of the MSS. add (and are justified by subsequent
passages):--'They set up a mast in the middle of the ship, and a sail,
and the rest of the gear for steering.' The voyagers were fourteen in
number besides Brendan, but at the last moment three other brethren came
and entreated to be taken, saying that if they were left where they
were, they would die of hunger and thirst. Brendan consents, but
predicts t