118 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



" A. D. 980. Amlaff, son of Sitriuc, chief king of the Danes of Dublin, went to lona, on penance 

 (airpije) and pilgrimage (ailirpi)." 



The true nature of the penance performed on Irish pilgrimages is known 

 to every person acquainted with our ancient customs, and may be found fully 

 detailed in " Richardson's Folly of Pilgrimages in Ireland" (Dublin, 1727). 

 It consists, now as anciently, in performing a certain turas, or journey, round a 

 number of stations at a holy place, repeating at each station a certain number 

 of prayers, &c., " and so," as Richardson concludes in his curious account of 

 the penitential stations at Lough Derg(p. 134), " their Turras (that is Pilgri- 

 mage] is ended." 



In the preceding observations I am happy to find myself supported by the 

 approval of Mr. O'Donovan, to whom, as a most competent Irish scholar, I sub- 

 mitted them, and who has favoured me with the following remarks, which I 

 consider as too valuable not to lay before the reader : 



" I have read your observations upon Dr. Smith's Penitential Tower theory, and consider them 

 correct and judicious. With respect to his Irish MS. authorities, I cannot believe that he had any 

 such, and, from having read his published works and MS. collections, I have strong reasons to be- 

 lieve that he could not have understood it even if he had ; but, depending upon the interpretation of 

 others, who often imposed upon him, and perhaps upon themselves, he made a vague reference to MSS., 

 according to his usual mode, in order to add weight to his hypothesis. If Dr. Smith had MSS. in 

 his possession, relating to the origin and use of the Round Towers of Ireland, why has he not told 

 us something about their date, or whether they were of vellum, parchment, or paper, or who were 

 their authors or scribes ? Why has he not given us the original of some passage from one of these 

 MSS., with a literal translation ? To such questions I would venture, without fear of contradiction, 

 to reply, because he had no such MSS. I doubt not, however, but that he might have seen or been 

 told of some passage in some modern Irish MS., in which the word turas, pilgrimage, or penitential 

 station, occurs, and which he misunderstood as referring to Round Towers, a striking instance of 

 which kind of antiquarian juggling we have seen in Vallancey's quoting Cormac's Glossary as au- 

 thority for the pagan antiquity of the Tower of Kildare. I make no doubt that the MS. referred to 

 by Dr. Smith is a description, in Irish, of the Turas or Station of Lough Derg, many copies of 

 which were, in his time, extant throughout the country. 



" His asserting that the Irish ' Turas,' as resembling in sound the Latin Turris, is a corrobo- 

 ration of his hypothesis of the use of the Round Towers, has no weight with me. The Irish word 

 cupup is certainly not derived from the Latin, but is, as well as the English word tour, to be referred 

 to some original language of mankind. Cupar- signifies a journey, as 50 n-eipiio DO cupap tear, 

 'may you have success on your journey? cpuaj mo rupap 50 toe oeapg, 'pity my journey or pil- 

 grimage to Lough Derg.'' Unpap is sometimes figuratively used in the spoken Irish language to 



