9 



After tliB arrival and destruction by a deluge of three Spanish 

 fishermen, we are told that Caesarea, the niece of Noah, accompa- 

 nied by Baronna and Balba, with fifty other women and only three 

 men, had disembarked at Dun na mbaix in Bantrv, a short 

 time before the flood.'- Partholanus or Bartholomew, (in En- 

 gUsh^, a relative of Japhet, with his colony, are next stated to 

 be the first inhabitants; and their arrival in Kerry is fixed at 

 the 312th year after the flood.'"- I suspect this colony to be 

 confounded with that of the Belgae, for two of those generals, 

 who are said to have headed the Belgge 688 years after, are called 

 Hudric and Slang,* which are the names given to two of Bar- 

 tholomew's sons. This supposition is corroborated by the confu- 

 sion of dates, and the short remainder of their history. They 

 continued in Ireland 30 years, according to some, 300 accord- 

 ing to others, when the colony was destroyed by the plague."- 



Ireland being now deserted thirty years, Nemethus and his 

 sons Starn, Hiarbanel and Fergus'^- (names of Gothic origin), ac- 

 companied by their nurses, as the family of Bartholomew had 

 been'^-, planted themselves among the woods of Ireland, and con- 

 structed foiis. The plague having thinned their ranks, and the 

 remainder being destroyed by the Fomharaig, Ireland, though it 

 presented a champ libre to the conquerors, was again left to its 

 native woods during 200 years, according to those historians, to 

 which O'Flagherty adds 212, when in A. M. 2657 he intro- 

 duces the Belgae,"- about 1440 years before their actual ar- 

 rival.'^- 



Another account states that Nemethus was a Scythian, and the 



VOL. XIII. c 



9. Antiq. Hib. cap. 2. et Ogyg. Dom. p. 162. 10. Ogyg. p. 163. * Ibid., p. 171. 

 11. Ibid. p. 168. 12. Ibid. p. 169. 13. Ibid, p. 163. 14. Ibid. p. 170, 171. 



15. Hist, of Manch. vol. 2. p. 241. 



