Transcript

Tá oileán Ghabhla ina luí amuigh trí mhíle ón tír mór ar chósta Thír Chonaill, leath bealaigh eadar Toraigh agus Árainn. Tá deich dteaghlach agus fiche ann agus tuairim ar chéad go leith duine. Tá feirm[1] beag talamh ag gach teaghlach ach saothraíonn siad a mbeatha ar bharr na farraige. Tá na fir 'na n-iascairí agus 'na mbádóirí maithe. Bíonn siad ag iascaireacht gliomaigh, balláin, deargógaí, scadáin, murlaisc agus bradáin. Tá bádaí beaga agus bádaí móra acu. Bádaí beaga fá choinne iascaireacht chois talamh agus na bádaí eile fá choinne iascaireacht sa doimhneacht.

Tháinig caill mhór ar an oileán i mbliana. Tráthnóna amháin chuaigh ceathrar fear amach a dh'iascaireacht bradán. Bhí an oíche olc, gaoth mhór agus farraige mhór, agus í ag éirí níos measa gach bomaite. I mbáighe Thoraí bhí leabaidh na hiascaireachta. Bhí sin naoi nó deich a mhílte as Gabhla. Ní fhacaidh ceachtar acu Gabhla aríst ariamh beo. Cailleadh iad. Tháinig an bád isteach lá harna mhárach agus gan cearr uirthi. Ach ní fhacthas aon duine de na coirp ariamh. Ba mhór an tubaiste a thug an chaill sin ar an oileán agus go mórmhór ar a gcuid daoiní muin-... daoiní muintreacha, na daoiní a gcailleadh[2]. Triúr deartháireacha a bhí i dtriúr de na fir. Triúr buachaillí óga a d'fhág a máthair beo. Tá sí anois léithe féin, a croidhe briste brúite agus í ag amharc amach ar an fharraige mhór gach lá ag dréim lena cuid mic nach dtig achoíche. Mar ' dúirt sí liom lá amháin, "Chaill mé lán toighe de fhir. Is sin trioblóid an tsaoil."

I nGabhla, ní labhartar dadaí ach Gaeilig. Gaeilig atá ag na páistí, atá ag na daoiní móra agus na daoiní beaga. Labhaireann siad í sa bhaile agus ar scoil, ag goil go teach an phobail agus ag obair ar an feirm. Caitlicigh iad iad uilig ach níl teach pobail ar bith ar an oileán. Caithfidh siad a choil[3] amach go tír mór, agus tá cuid mhór trioblóid ag goil go teach an phobail, go háirid san gheimhreadh. Bíonn an fharraige mór. Bíonn an bealach olc. Bíonn na poirt olc. Agus corruair sa gheimhreadh ní thig leo a choil go teach an phobail ar chor ar bith. Tá scoil amháin ar an oileán agus téann páistí an oileáin uilig ar an scoil sin. Tá siopa amháin ar an oileán fosta ach tig siopaí isteach as tír mór agus níonn siad cuid mhór oibre ar an oileán. Díolann siad agus ceannann[4] siad.

Thart fá Ghabhla tá oileáin eile. Tá Inis Meáin agus Inis Oirthir, tá Oileán Uaighe, tá Inis Fraoich, Oileán Ghabha agus Oileán Eala. Tá áiteacha eile fosta, creagacha, agus tá a n-ainm féin ar achan chreag. Tá an Tor Ghlas, an Tor Rua, tá Iompainn ann, tá na Doichill ann. Sin an áit ar cailleadh bád fad ó shoin agus sin an t-ainm atá ar an áit anois, na Doichill.

Translation

Gola island lies three miles out from the mainland on the coast of Donegal, halfway between Tory and Aranmore. There are a thirty households there and around one hundred and fifty people. Each family has a small patch of farmland but they earn their livelihoods on the sea. The men are good fishermen and boatmen. They fish for lobster, wrasse, pollock, herring, mackerel and salmon. They have small boats and big boats. Small boats for fishing near land and the other boats for fishing in the deep.

The island was struck by a great loss this year. One afternoon four men went out salmon fishing. The night was bad, a strong wind and the sea running high, and it was getting worse every minute. The fishing ground was in the bay of Tory. That was nine or ten miles from Gola. None of them ever again saw Gola alive. They were lost. The boat came in the following day with nothing wrong with it. But none of the bodies was ever found. That loss was a great tragedy for the island, and especially for the relatives of those who were lost. Three of the men were brothers. Three young boys who left their mother alive. She is now alone, her heart broken and battered and looking out at the vast sea every day expecting her sons who will never return. As she told me one day, "I lost a houseful of men. That is a whole world of sorrow."

In Gola, nothing is spoken but Irish. The children speak Irish, the old and the young. They speak it at home and at school, going to church and working on the farm. They are all Catholics but there is no church on the island. They have to go out to the mainland, and it is very difficult to get to the church, especially during winter. The sea is high. The crossing is rough. The harbours are bad. And sometimes in winter they cannot go to church at all. There is one school on the island and all the island's children go to that school. There is also one shop on the island but [travelling] shops come in from the mainland and do much work on the island. They sell and they buy.

There are other islands around Gola. There's Inishmeane and Inishsirrer, there's Owey, there's Inishfree, Go Island and Allagh Island. There are other places also, rocks, and every rock has its own name. There's Torglass, Torroe and Umfin. There's 'Na Doichill'. A boat was lost there long ago, and that's what the place is called now, 'Na Doichill' ('the inhospitables').

Footnotes

Commentary

This is a straightforward account of life on the island of Gola, county Donegal, and is likely based on the author's own personal experiences or local knowledge. It does not seem to contain any important folk motifs. This story is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 158-61.