100 Mr. PETIUE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



Conaipe 7 Gpnai) h-i Cemaip Gpano ; pip ITIunnn, [.i. Depjcene] i n-Oenac cull, 7 i n-Oenac 

 Colman; Connaccu h-i Cpuacam." Leabhar na h-Uidhre, fol. 41. b. 



" HISTORY OP THE CEMETERIES HERE. 



"A great king of great judgments assumed the sovereignty of Erin, i. e. Cormac, son of Art, 

 son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. Erin was prosperous in his time, because just judgments 

 were distributed throughout it by him ; so that no one durst attempt to wound a man in Erin 

 during the short jubilee of seven years ; for Cormac had the faith of the one true God, according to 

 the law ; for he said that lie would not adore stones, or trees, but that he would adore him who had 

 made them, and who had power over all the elements, i. e. the one powerful God who created the 

 elements ; in him he would believe. And he was the third person who had believed, in Erin, be- 

 fore the arrival of St. Patrick. Conchobor Mac Nessa, to whom Altus had told concerning the 

 crucifixion of Christ was the first ; Morann, the son of Cairbre Cinncait, (who was surnamed Mac 

 Main) was the second person ; and Cormac was the third ; and it is probable that others followed 

 on their track in this belief. 



" Where Cormac held his court was at Tara, in imitation of the kings who preceded him, until 

 his eye was destroyed by Engus Gaibhuaiphnech, the son of Eochaidh Finn Fuath-airt ; but after- 

 wards he resided at Acaill, (the hill on which Serin Colaim Cille is at this day), and at Ceiiannas, 

 [Kells], and at the house of Cletech; for it was not lawful that a king with & personal blemish should 

 reside at Tara. In the second year after the injuring of his eye he came by his death at the house of 

 Cletech, the bone of a salmon having stuck in his throat. And he (Cormac) told his people not to 

 bury him at Brugh, (because it was a cemetery of Idolaters.) for he did not worship the same 

 God as any of those interred at Brugh ; but to bury him at Kos na righ, with his face to the east. 

 He afterwards died, and his servants of trust held a council, and came to the resolution of burying 

 him at Brugh, the place where the kings of Tara, his predecessors, were buried. The body of the 

 king was afterwards thrice raised to be carried to Brugh, but the Boyne swelled up thrice, so as that 

 they could not come ; so that they observed that it was 'violating the judgment of a prince' to 

 break through this Testament of the king, and they afterwards dug his grave at Ros na righ, as he 

 himself had ordered. 



" These were the chief cemeteries of Erin before the Faith, [i. e. before the introduction of 

 Christianity,] viz. Cruachu, Brugh, Tailltiu, Luachair Ailbe, Oenach Ailbe, Oenach Culi, Oenach 

 Colmain, Temhair Erann. 



" Oenach Cruachan, in the first place, it was there the race of Heremon, i. e. the kings of Tara, 

 were used to bury until the time of Cremhthann, the son of Lughaidh liiabh-n-derg, (who was the 

 first king of them that was interred at Brugh) viz. Cobhthach Coelbregh, and Labhraidh Loing- 

 wech, and Eocho Fedhlech with his three sons (i. e. the three Fidhemhna, i. e. Bros, Nar, and Lothor), 

 and Eocho Airemh, Lughaidh Riabh n-derg, the six daughters of Eocho Fedhlech, (i. e. Medhbh, 

 and Clothru, Muresc, and Drebriu, Mugain, and Ele,) and Ailill Mac Mada with his seven brothers, 

 (i. e. Cet, Anlon, Doche, et ceteri) and all the kings down to Cremhthann, (these were all buried at 

 Cruachan). Why was it not at Brugh that the kings (of the race of Cobhthach down to Crimh- 

 thann) were interred ? Not difficult ; because the two provinces, which the race of Heremon pos- 



