310 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



of Scotland, or in northern Ireland, where the signi- 

 ficant name of the Fion, Fingall, Fingal, represents a 

 marine tribe, avowedly acquainted with Lochlin, Nor- 

 way, Friesland, or more properly, the eastern portion 

 of the Baltic ; by its name clearly assuming the mixed 

 origin of Finn and Gael. It was one marked as miners 

 and sword smiths, personified in the name of Luno, 

 and, moreover, a tribe with Finnic, not Celtic, religious 

 superstitions. These qualities ally the Fion closely 

 with the oldest Cymbers of the north-west, who were 

 themselves Scythian-Celts, which is the same as Finns 

 of mixed origin with northern Celtae.* 



Further north, from Denmark to the extremities of 

 the Baltic, Teutonic Finns were spread all along the 

 shores of that inland sea, perhaps even in Jutland, the 



* The Creon dynasty acquired supremacy over the Gael- 

 coch, or Red Haired Celts, in the second century of the 

 Christian era. From the fall of Galgacus, four genera- 

 tions, Trenmor, Trathal, Comhal, and last Fingal, ruled, 

 when the power appears to have passed to the Maeatee, or 

 to the family of Gaul, the more ancient head of the people. 

 During the Creon dynasty, the conquests of the Romans 

 were first arrested, and then thrown back behind the wall. 

 But whether the name of Fingal be derived from Vindgael 

 (head of the foreigners), may be questioned, though all the 

 Gallic nations then in the north were strangers. There 

 were iron works in Britain before Caesar's invasion, as is 

 proved by the chains and fastenings of the fleet he de- 

 feated on the coast of Gaul. The bardic similes still notice 

 "the hundred hammers of the furnace," "the stream of 

 metal from the furnace," &c. There is even the shieling 

 of Glenturret, called Renna Cardich, or the smith's dwell- 

 ing, with remains of cinders, scoriee, and ruins, all evidence 

 of antique iron works. 



