448 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 293. 



says : " Tlie blood-red hand of Ulster is in Mo- 

 rocco stuck above every door," &c. (Pillars of 

 Hercules, vol. i, p. 201.) He refers to its appear- 

 ance in Mexico as a proof that the Phoenicians had 

 visited America. 



" It was not, however," lie continues, " until I entered 

 tlie room which I here (Rabat) occup}', that I perceived 

 direct proof of this connexion. There, hung up an or- 

 namental table of the law, such as is common in the 

 houses of the Jews ; that mysterious open hand on the one 

 side, on the other a diagram, which occupies a prominent 

 place in the symbols of masonry, the doable triangle," 

 &c. 



And he winds up with, — 



" The Moors have adopted it as their arms ; they, no 

 more than the Jews, can tell what it means. It is lost in 

 the mists of their common antiquity," &c. — Pillars of 

 Hercules, Sfc, vol. i. p. 357. 



Mr. Richardson (Travels in the Sahara, Sfc, 

 vol. ii. p. 27.) thus describes the Touarick salu- 

 tation, &c. : 



" A Touarghee elevates deliberately the right hand to 

 a level with his face, turning the outspread palm to the 

 individual, and slowly, but with a fine intonation, says, 

 •* SSlam-Aleikoum ! ' " 



And he farther observes : 



" Among the Moors and Arabs this mode of saluting 

 is their way of cursing. With outspread hand, menacingly 

 raised, a man or woman puts their enemy under the curse 

 of God," &c. 



It is interpreted, he says, as meaning " five in your 

 eye." The custom is so ancient that no explana- 

 tion of it can be given. The door-posts and rooms 

 of houses are imprinted with the outspread hand, 

 to avert the consequences of the " evil eye." 



The standard of Abd-el-Kader's regular cavalry 

 was a large white flag, with an embroidered hand, 

 the sign of command. See De Castellane's Mili- 

 tary Life in Algeria, Sfc, vol. ii. p. 21. 



Every one is familiar with the Roman standard 

 of the Manipulus, an outspread hand ; supposed, in 

 allusion to the word manipulus, a handful or bundle 

 of hay, which being stuck on a pole, was carried 

 before the warriors of infant Rome- But this is 

 only a supposition. In Persia the outspread hand 

 implies generosity ; could this be its meaning when 

 impressed, as is sometimes the case, on the Roman 

 quadrans ? 



Let us now return to the point whence we 

 started, viz. the red hand of Ulster, adopted by 

 James as the badge of his new order of nobility. 

 But why of Ulster alone? The motto of the 

 O'JTeales itself (Lamh derg eirin) would seem to 

 make it the bearing of all Ireland, that is, of all 

 Celtic Ireland. If so, we are farther at liberty to 

 conjecture that the Gael brought it with them 

 from Spain and Northern Africa ; where, as we 

 have seen, it is at this day so common among the 

 present dwellers of the land, though ignorant of 

 its meaning, and admitting its antiquity — rem- 



nant, no doubt, of the migrating Celtic tribes, 

 whose monuments still attest their former occupa- 

 tion of those regions. 



The tradition respect'ng its adoption as the 

 bearing of Ulster is, that in an ancient expedition 

 of some adventurers to Ireland, their leader de- 

 clared that whoever first touched the shore should 

 possess the territory which he reached. O'Neale, 

 from whom descended the princes of Ulster, bent 

 upon obtaining the reward, and seeing another 

 boat nearer the land, cut off his hand and cast it 

 ashore, &c. Is this historical, or only a myth ? 

 Dr. Prichard has shown how little we can rely on. 

 the monkish annals of Ireland, and we must there- 

 fore presume it may be the latter. As a myth, 

 then, it may have its foundation in truth. Would 

 it be. going too far to conjecture that amongst the 

 tribes of wandering Celts, this mysterious symbol, 

 this emblem of authority and power, may have 

 served as a standard, and that the tradition of the 

 O'Neales originated in an act of heroism similar 

 to that of the standard-bearer of the 10th legion ? 

 I have assumed the hypothesis which brings the 

 Gael from Spain and Africa, not on the authority 

 of Sir William Bethara, who (whatever may be 

 said to the contrary) certainly produces some 

 startling evidence, but because after all Dr. Pri- 

 chard admits its possibility, if not its probability. 

 He says, " We have no proof to the contrary, but 

 we must admit that there is an entire want of 

 evidence in proof of such a conclusion." (Physical 

 History, vol. iil. p. 149.) Would Dr. Prichard 

 have admitted as evidence what is advanced by 

 Mr. D' Alton (" N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 588.) ? 

 Perhaps so. Again, Dr. Latham does not deny it ; 

 he seems to take a similar view of the subject to 

 that of Dr. Prichard. _ ■ _ 



Much more might be said on the subject of this 

 almost ubiqultary symbol, but that I am conscious 

 of having already trespassed too much. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



BOUNDELS. 



(Vol. xl., pp. 159. 213. 267.) 



In the possession of Moreton Frewen, Esq., of 

 Northiam, Sussex, is a set of these curious relics 

 in a fine state of preservation, but without any 

 history attached to them. They consist of twelve 

 circular discs, which, as well as the box containing 

 them, are made of beechen wood. Each disc is 

 five inches three-eighths in diameter, and one- 

 eighth of an Inch in thickness. Within a central 

 circle, two inches in diameter, is inscribed a rhym- 

 ing legend in old running-hand with red initial 

 letters ; and it is encircled by a border one inch 

 wide, filled with an ornamental device chiefly of a 

 floral or foliated character, and coloured, each 

 disc having a different device as well as legend. 



