6 Mr. Fetrif, on the Book of Mac Fir bis. 



with those of other districts and churches, they should be found to correspond ; 

 and it was ordained by law that there should be always seven ranks or orders of the 

 learned to inspect those books, namely, 1, the Ollamhs ; 2, the Anrads ; 3, the 

 Cli ; 4, the Cana ; 5, the Dos ; 6, the Mac-Fuirmid ; 7) the Fochlag. The 

 order oiFileas were, by law, to be of free families, and of spotless integrity with 

 respect to theft, murder, extortion, adultery, &c. 



" The Irish historians, not content with recording the history and customs of 

 the nobility, have also written concerning the physicians and tradesmen of old 

 times, and hence we know who the builders were of our first Baths and DunSy 

 from the poems of the ancients ; and if those ancient buildings have disappeared, 

 be it remembered how many fine castles have been levelled to the ground and 

 disappeared in our own memories, or fallen of themselves from neglect. I myself 

 have, within the last sixteen years, seen high and strong castles of lime and stone, 

 and now nothing remains but the moats of earth to indicate where they stood ; 

 and need we wonder if strong places which were built 2000 years, after the 

 manner of eastern nations, such as Spain, &c. whence colonies came into Ireland, 

 have disappeared also ? — Nor have they entirely disappeared either, for there are 

 still remaining royal and extensive Raths in all parts of Ireland, in which are 

 many chipped and smooth stones, and subterranean crypts or chambers, as at 

 Rath Maoilcatha at Castle Conor, and at Ballydowd in Tireragh, on the banks 

 of the Moy. There are nine subterranean chambers formed of smooth stones 

 within that ancient Rath. I was within this Rath, and deem it one of the oldest 

 in Ireland." 



He says that the history which he gives was written in books from time to 

 time, from the deluge, by elders and persons vouchsafed by God, down to the 

 time of Saints Patrick, Columb, Comgall, Finen, &c., who wrote after them, 

 and handed the accounts down to succeeding ecclesiastical and other writers, 

 so that it is to be found on holy altars, in libraries, in the hands of seniors, doc- 

 tors, and historians at this day, and will for ever. 



He then adds, that the work is divided into nine books. The first treats of 

 the arrival of the colony of Partholan, about 300 years after the flood ; the 

 second, of the arrival of the Nemedians ; the third, of the conquest of Ireland by 

 the Firbolg, or Belgae ; the fourth, of the Tuatha De-Dananns ; the fifth, of the 

 Gaels, or Milesians ; the sixth, of the race of Ir and Dal Fiachach ; the seventh, 



