201 
it is sufficiently so to enable the reader to satisfy himself, that such a 
law exists, and that Davis is not to be depended on when he speaks 
of Irish laws and customs. 
That the lands of Ireland were highly cultivated in former times, 
is proved from the marks of the plough being still visible on the 
tops of now uncultivated mountains, and from similar marks being 
daily discovered in the bottoms of our bogs. That the Irish had a 
superior skill in agriculture will, perhaps, be allowed, when it is 
known, that the irrigation of their lands was practised by them at 
a very early period. In an ancient law-tract on artificial water- 
courses, or canals, to be found among the manuscripts in the library 
of Trinity College ;* in that of the Royal Irish Academy ; in the 
collection of the writer of this essay; and in some other private col- 
lections, we find the following :—* Cotbnius wisci toiridne hi _finte- 
“ daibh griain as as a tairnider, ar isse coibnius uisce tatridne la 
“ fenechas tir as a tairidnither, ar isse don ailes cach cét ld deo- 
“ laidh sech na cricha olchena, air ni confes cate bunad ind wisce 
“ach a tir as a tairidnither.”’ “ The common riglit of drawn- 
* water is in the tribes of the land from which it is drawn. For, 
“ according to the Fenechas, the common right of drawn-water be- 
“ longs to the land from which it is drawn. It is therefore that all 
“ require, that it shall run freely the first day over the entire 
* land.+ For the right in the water belongs to none but in the 
“ land from which it is drawn.’ 
It is confessed that the law of Tanistry, in the present state of 
society, is unnecessary, and would be inconvenient if put in prac- 
EE 2 
* Manuscript Room, Class H. No. 34. page 26, and Class H. No. 54: p. 398, 
+ The commentator informs us, that the water thus drawn was applied on different days to dif- 
ferent uses, and that no charge should be made for water thus applied to the use of the land. 
