Hi-Brasil was the Otherworld where the dead resided. Belief in it was so strong that when John Purdy made the first maritime maps of the seas around Ireland in the 19C he gave it co-ordinates. It wasn't until the maps were revised 20 years later that the island 'disappeared'

The Mag Mel was the plain of honey. It was the ribbon of gold the setting sun cast on the sea in the west of Ireland. On this path of honey the days dead walked to get to Hy-Brasil.

Many natural phenomenon were given mythological and religious significance. The Mag Mel is but one example and this practice was not peculiar to Ireland.

Rural depopulation is still a feature of the West of Ireland