16 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



" Potter in his Grecian antiquities, says, the Pelasgi were Tyrhenians born, and (speaking of the 

 building of Athens) taught the Greeks the art of building houses of lime and stone, and from them, 

 walls and castles were called Tvpaei. [TuptTH?.] Is it possible that Potter could be ignorant that 

 the Hebrew and Chaldee TltD Tur, was a circular building, a tower, from the origin of languages ? 

 Observe the ancient history of the Irish in this particular, 'African sea-champions landed in Ireland, 

 conquered the country, introduced their language, and taught the inhabitants to build with lime 

 and stone,' to build what? Round towers undoubtedly, for no other buildings were erected in Ire- 

 land of lime and stone, for many centuries afterwards." p. iv. 



Again : 



" The ancient Irish Seanchas say, that Gan, Geanan, Conuing and Faovar, were African gene- 

 rals who drove the Nemedians out of Ireland. That they first settled at Toirinis, which was called 

 Tor Conning, or tower of Conuing, from the tower he built there : this is the first round tower men- 

 tioned in Irish history." p. xxxvi. 



And again : 



" With Nemed came many Tuatha Dadanan, and in his reign the Africans arrived : these 

 Africans were the Phoeni another tribe of the Pelasgi : it is not surprizing then, that our Irish his- 

 torians observe, that these Africans spoke the same language as the Irish. They conquered the 

 country and taught the inhabitants to build round towers, having first landed at the island of Tor 

 or Tor-inis called also Tor-Conuing from the name of the Carthaginian general (Conuing) and here 

 is the first account we have of our round towers." pp. Ixix. Ixx. 



On these passages it will be sufficient to remark, that if, as Vallancey asserts, 

 the ancient Irish historians state, that the Irish were taught by the Fomorians, 

 or African sea-champions who came here a few centuries after the deluge to 

 build with lime and stone, it would only show that such authorities were of 

 little value. But the fact is, that they make no such statement : and as to the 

 story of Tor-Conuing, or Tory Island, it appears to be a legend originating in 

 the natural formation of the island, which presents, at a distance, the appear- 

 ance of a number of towers, and hence in the authentic Irish annals, and the 

 lives of Columbkille, the patron saint of the place, it is called Torach, or the 

 towery island, and Latinized Torachia, and Toracha insula. It is true, in- 

 deed, that there is a Round Tower still remaining on Tory Island, but it would 

 require a more than ordinary share of credulity to enable one to believe that 

 this is the Tor-Conuing of the Africans ; or that its age is anterior to that of 

 St. Columb, to whom its erection is attributed by the common tradition of the 

 islanders, and the inhabitants of the opposite coasts. 



