30 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



origin of the custom, it appears, from a statement in another ancient MS. in the 

 same library, to have been perpetuated even long after the introduction of 

 Christianity into the country. As the passage to which I refer has not been 

 hitherto noticed, and will throw a curious light on the nature of this custom 

 and the history of the times, I shall present it to the reader in this place : 



Clacrja, ona, TTluvha DO nich h-i, ocup ip lac maccpaij rDuman DO comeoao Oacrja co 

 n-a cenneaib, con nach oencat ceine o'paooo a n-6ipmo no co ceannaijcea uaeha-puvh h-i ; oct;p 

 pcnepall oip jaclia h-aen chuaiehe a n-6ipmn ooiB ap in ceinio; tniach cpuichneachca ocup 

 cope ap each ppim-reallach a n-6pmn DO comapba IDioe ap in cemaio pin, .1. O'Cainoealoam. 



" TLACHTGHA ; Munster celebrated it (i. e. its fair) and it was the youths of Munster that kept 

 Tlachtgha with its fires, so that no fire was lighted in Erin until it was purchased from them ; and 

 a screpall of gold was paid them out of every territory in Erin for the fire ; a sack of wheat and a 

 In >sr from every chief hearth in Erin to the Comharba of Midhe (Meath), i. e. O'Caindealbhain 

 (O'Quinlan), for this fire." Class H. 3. 17, p. 732. 



In addition to the passages which I have already quoted from General Val- 

 lancey, there are many others connected with his hypothesis on the Round 

 Towers, interspersed through his works, which, as being wholly of a visionary 

 etymological character in reference to the local names of Towers, I do not feel 

 it necessary to notice in this place, as I shall present them to the reader, in con- 

 nexion with the Towers to which they refer, in the third part of this work. 

 There is still, however, one point which it is incumbent on me to notice, namely, 

 the supposed similarity which the Persian and Hindoo fire-temples, bear to the 

 Irish Round Towers ; and, as this similarity has been much dwelt upon by sub- 

 sequent writers, and appears to have had considerable weight with them, it will 

 be well to put the reader more fully in possession of the facts on which it rests. 

 They are thus stated by General Vallancey : 



" Mr. Pennant, speaking of the Polygars of the Circars of India, says, ' All the people of this 

 part of India are Hindoos, and retain the old religion, with all its superstition. This makes the 

 pagodas here much more numerous than in any other part of the peninsula. Their form too 

 is different, being chiefly buildings of a cylindrical, or round tower shape, with their tops either 

 pointed, or truncated at the summit, and ornamented with something eccentrical, but frequently 

 with a round ball stuck on a spike ; this ball seems intended to represent the SUN, an emblem of 

 the deity of the place.' (View of Hindoostan, V. II. p. 123.)" vol. vi. pp. 133, 134. 



" Hanway, in his travels into Persia, says, there are yet four temples of the Guebres, or wor- 

 shippers of fire, who formerly inhabited all this waste. It seemed inconsistent, that the Persians 

 suffered these temples to remain unmolested, after the abolition of a religion, which they now esteem 



