37 



guage, dress, and dense glibbs, denoting them to be of Gothic 

 descent ; as well as their arnis,''° composed, according to Spenser 

 and Ware, of large and long wicker shields, short bows and 

 quivers, and small bearded arrows. The Roman and British writers, 

 ignorant of their real origin, naturally inferred, that they must 

 have emigrated from the regions of Scandinavia, of which the 

 information of the ancients was solely founded in rumour, and 

 accordingly they designated them as Nordmans. 



Thus it will appear, that two tribes, originally of two great 

 nations, occupied the soil of Ireland at the same time. One 

 called Gaoill from Britain, but of Gaulish descent, inhabited the 

 centre of Iieland ; the other Scuit, synonimbus with Scythians, 

 Goths, Teutones, Germans or Belgae, planted themselves on the 

 coasts, and surrounded tlie former on the E. S. and W.^'- The 

 former seem to have devoted their lives to the care of their herds 

 and flocks : the latter to trade, fishing, and piracy. 



The report of traders, it is probable, authorized Aristotle, ^-• 

 or some writer of his age, Diodorus,"'- Dionysius,^*- Isacius,^^- Strabo, 



90. View of the state of Ireland, P. 82 and following pages. See Ma Geoghegan, p. 1 1 3. 

 and Ware, C. 2. 



Hist. d'Irlande p. 113. ' Leurs armes etoient la pique, le sabre, & la hache, comme 



les anciens Gaulois, dont pavle Marcellin." P. Hi. 'Leurs boucliers d'osier, leurs 



arcs, & leurs petites fieclies, faisoient voir leur rapport avec les Scythes, de qui ils avoient 

 tire leur origine. Ils se servoient, comme eux d'un cri martial, qui etoit, yu;-a/i, firah, comme 

 qui diroit prenez garde.' 



91. Ptolemy's map of Ireland, Whitaker, and others. 



92. De mundo . — '£>■ thtu yt jum »5t»i jilyiiam nyx^i'ncrit aVxi Wo B^CTlatn>iii Xiyifjunt, 'a>/5io», 

 x«l 'Is's'l- 



93. Ferocissimos esse Gallorum, qui sub septentrionibus habitant. Dicunt ex iis nonnullos 

 anthropophagos esse, sicut Britannos qui Irin tenent.' Diodor. 1. 5. 



94. Aicro-flw vJicroi i»yi B^ET»vyk^E? avr*» P»5wy, &c. Dionys. Perieget, 



95. ' Nomine Britannia occidentalis earn celebrat Isacius in Lyco^hronem." Theat. Geog 

 Tet. p. B. Bevero. 



