As I said before, there are few words in any of the Indian languages of North America in which the sound _ask_ occurs; at least as far as my limited acquaintance with them goes. The only two I can quote just now are both in the Chippeway. One only has direct reference to water; perhaps the other may indirectly. They are, _woyzask_, rushes, water-plants; _mejask_, herb, or grass. The only grass the forest Indians are likely to be acquainted with is that growing in the natural meadows along the river banks, which are occasionally met with, and these in general are pretty swampy. We may wind up with our _cask_ and _flask_. I could have added much more, but fear already to have exceeded what might hope for admittance in your pages; therefore I will only say that, in offering these remarks, I insist on nothing, and stand ready to submit to any correction. A. C. M. Exeter. * * * * * LEGENDS OF THE COUNTY CLARE. About two miles from the village of Corofin, in the west of Clare, are the ruins of the Castle of Ballyportree, consisting of a massive square tower surrounded by a wall, at the corners of which are smaller round towers: the outer wall was also surrounded by a ditch. The castle is still so far perfect that the lower part is inhabited by a farmer's family; and in some of the upper rooms are still remaining massive chimney-pieces of grey limestone, of a very modern form, the horizontal portions of which are ornamented with a quatrefoil ornament engraved within a circle, but there are no dates or armorial bearings: from the windows of the castle four others are visible, none of them more than two miles from each other; and a very large cromlech is within a few yards of the castle ditch. The following legend is related of the castle:--When the Danes were building the castle (the Danes were the great builders, as Oliver Cromwell was the great destroyer of all the old castles, abbeys, &c. in Ireland),--when the Danes were building the Castle of Ballyportree, they collected workmen from all quarters, and forced them to labour night and day without stopping for rest or food; and according as any of them fell down from exhaustion, his body was thrown upon the wall, which was built up over him! When {491} the castle was finished, its inhabitants tyrannised over the whole country, until the time arrived when the Danes were finally expelled from Ireland. Ballyportree Castle held out to the last, but at length it was taken after a fierce resistance, only three of the garrison being found alive, who proved to be a father and his two sons; the infuriated conquerors were about to kill them also, when one of then proposed that their lives should be spared, and a free passage to their own country given them, on condition that they taught the Irishmen how to brew the famous ale from the heather--that secret so eagerly coveted by the Irish, and so zealously guarded by the Danes.