227 



will see more upon this subject in O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 4. 

 p. 141. Saint Cormac, a disciple of Columba, about the same period, 

 as Adamnan relates,* undertook a laborious voyage from Eirros- 

 domnon, (supposed to be Errus in the County Mayo,)'|' into the 

 Atlantic Ocean. J And in the very chapter that records this adven- 

 turous excursion, notice is taken of " scapham," " naviculam," " na- 

 vis carinam," " latera puppimque," " proram," " tectum pelliceum,' 

 " remorum," and " sentinam ;" while, in the same work, Columba's 

 vessel is spoken of, as assailed by mountains of waves, yet gallantly 

 riding out the storm. § It is also worth adding, that, while the Annals 

 of the Four Masters record a great naval engagement, between the 

 Irish of the north and west in A. D. 728, Probus will be found 

 expressly mentioning ships of war, " naves bellicas,"ll as of the sixth 

 century. 



In reference to astronomical pursuits, the names of several Irish 

 proficients in that day are yet preserved. Cumian, about the year 

 634, was the author of that learned letter to Segienus, the Abbot of 

 Hy, concerning the paschal question, which displays such curious 

 scientific calculations. " In it," sa3's Ledwich, " we can discover 

 Cumian's acquaintance with the doctrine of time, and the chronologi- 

 cal characters. He is no stranger to the solar, lunar, and bissextile 



* Vita Columb. lib. 1. c. 6. . - . - ^ Vide, ante, p. 54. 



j Per infinitum oceanum plenis enavigans veils; ****** et post longos cir- 

 cuitus Orcadas devenit insulas ;**••* ejus navis a terns tertia navigatione in 

 oceano mari, per quatuordecim sestei temporis dies totidemque noctes, plenis velis austro fiante 

 vento ad septentrionalis plagam cash directo excurreret cursu, cujusmodi navigatio ultra 

 humani excursus modum irremeahilis videbatur." — Vit. Columb. lib. 2. c. 42. 



§ " Totum namque vas navis, valde concussum magnis undarum cumulis, fortiter ferieba- 

 tur, grandi undique insistente ventorum tempestate. Nautae turn forte sancto, sentinam cum 

 illis exhaurire conanti, &c."— Vita Columb. lib. 2. c. 12. 



II See post, section 6 of this Period. 



G G 2 



