ジョン・ミリングトン・シング著姉崎正見訳「アラン島」（１８）

　此處では夏の間、食べさせる草がないので、六月から九月にかけて、全部の馬はコニマラの山の中の草地に送り出される。
　その船積み運搬は、牛の場合よりも一層むづかしくさへある。多くはコニマラ産の野生の小馬で、力が強くて臆病なので、狭い波止場では取扱ひに骨が折れる。また一方、船の中でも間に合ふ場所が少いので、それ等を安全に立たせるのが容易な事ではない。取扱ひの仕事は、前に牛の場合に云つたのと同樣あるが、騒はもつと激しく、一匹の馬が波止場から押し出されて、無事にその納まる場所に納つてしまふまで、嵐のやうに起るゲール語は形容が出來ない。二十人の若い男、年とつた男たちが、その間ぢう、譯も分らずに罵つたり、勵したりしつつ、亢奮して喚き叫ぶ。
　併し此のやうな原始的な騒ぎは別として、男たちの器用さや、力強さを見るのにこれまでになくよい機會であつた。私は、特に今朝荷を積んで北島からやつて來た漁船の船頭に目を止めた。馬が帆柱の頂きから搖れながら下つてゐる時、自分一人の重さでそれを持ち堪へて、而も熱狂の最中にありながら、面白さうに平靜を保つてゐた。或る時は大き牝馬が他の馬の脊の上に横樣に落ちかかつて來て、そこら中を蹴る。すると、小馬に害を與へまいと男たちが飛び下りて來るので、船艙はセントー〔神話の半神半馬〕たちが一塊となつて暴れ狂ふまでになる。先に入れられた馬の脊中は、時時その上に下りて來る他の馬の蹄でひどく切られる事がある。その他は大した害もないらしい。それ等は市に行くのではないから、どんな状態で陸上げされようと別に構はない。
　島には一つの轡と一つの鞍があるだけである。これは日曜のお勤めをした時、教會から波止場まで騎つて来る坊さんが使ふ。
　島の人たちは二筋の手綱と一木の棒切れだけで馬に騎り、大きな島では、無鐵砲な驅足で騎り廻はす事もある。馬は普通荷籠を背負つてゐるので、人は馬の肩骨の上に横騎りをし、荷籠が空（から）な時はその位置で、何んにもつかまる物なしに全速力で飛ばす。
　アランモアでは、キルロナンから西の方へ荷籠を付けて行く一隊に、私はよく逢つた。彼等の見えて來るずつと前から、蹄の音が聞こえて來る。すると彼等は唯一の止め手綱である細い索を全然無用視して、頭を前の方に突き出し、疾風のやうな速さで角を曲つてやつて來る。大概、前後五六尺の距離をおいて一列となつて來るが、車がないので間違ひの起る心配は少い。
　時時、男と女が合乘りしてゐる事がある。此の場合、男は普通の位置に坐り、女はその後に坐り、男の腰をつかまへてゐる。

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All the horses from this island are put out on grass among the hills of Connemara from June to the end of September, as there is no grazing here during the summer.
Their shipping and transport is even more difficult than that of the homed cattle. Most of them are wild Connemara ponies, and their great strength and timidity make them hard to handle on the narrow pier, while in the hooker itself it is not easy to get them safely on their feet in the small space that is available. They are dealt with in the same way as for the bullocks I have spoken of already, but the excitement becomes much more intense, and the storm of Gaelic that rises the moment a horse is shoved from the pier, till it is safely in its place, is indescribable. Twenty boys and men howl and scream with agitation, cursing and exhorting, without knowing, most of the time, what they are saying.
Apart, however, from this primitive babble, the dexterity and power of the men are displayed to more advantage than in anything I have seen hitherto. I noticed particularly the owner of a hooker from the north island that was loaded this morning. He seemed able to hold up a horse by his single weight when it was swinging from the masthead, and preserved a humorous calm even in moments of the wildest excitement. Sometimes a large mare would come down sideways on the backs of the other horses, and kick there till the hold seemed to be filled with a mass of struggling centaurs, for the men themselves often leap down to try and save the foals from injury. The backs of the horses put in first are often a good deal cut by the shoes of the others that arrive on top of them, but otherwise they do not seem to be much the worse, and as they are not on their way to a fair, it is not of much consequence in what condition they come to land.
There is only one bit and saddle in the island, which are used by the priest, who rides from the chapel to the pier when he has held the service on Sunday.
The islanders themselves ride with a simple halter and a stick, yet sometimes travel, at least in the larger island, at a desperate gallop. As the horses usually have panniers, the rider sits sideways over the withers, and if the panniers are empty they go at full speed in this position without anything to hold to.
More than once in Aranmor I met a party going out west with empty panniers from Kilronan. Long before they came in sight I could hear a clatter of hoofs, and then a whirl of horses would come round a corner at full gallop with their heads out, utterly indifferent to the slender halter that is their only check. They generally travel in single file with a few yards between them, and as there is no traffic there is little fear of an accident.
Sometimes a woman and a man ride together, but in this case the man sits in the usual position, and the woman sits sideways behind him, and holds him round the waist.

［やぶちゃん注：「セントーたちが一塊となつて暴れ狂ふ」“a mass of struggling centaurs”本作中でも最も印象的で劇的なシークエンスである。馬と人が一体となって、そこにかのセントウル（ケンタウルス）の、原初の神々の饗宴が再現されるのである。「無鐵砲な驅足」“a desperate gallop”は無茶苦茶なギャロップ（馬術の全速力）の意。］