PLAINS OF LORN. . 401 



there occur in the old Fingalian ballads, and tales of the Fe"inne, 

 about the antiquity of which there has never been dispute ; 

 numberless local references which seem in a very remarkable 

 manner to point to this spot as the principal stronghold in Scot- 

 land (for they were of Ireland also) of the Fingalians at one period, 

 and that the most important, perhaps, in their history. Within a 

 short distance of Dun-Mac-Uisneachain, and commanding it, is a 

 steep, rocky eminence of considerable height, called Dunvallary or 

 Dunvallanry, the etymology of which may be Dun-bJiaiF-n-righ, 

 the Fortified Place of the King's Town ; or Dun-bhail' n 'fhrtth, 

 the Fort of the Town on the verge of the Hunting Forest. Stretch- 

 ing away towards Connel and Loch Etive is the wide moorland 

 flat of Achnacree, which, with its numerous cairns, Druidical 

 circles, monoliths, and other relics of the olden time, may very 

 well be the ancient " plains of Lora ; " Lora itself, frequently men- 

 tioned in Ossianic poetry, and meaning Luath shruth, the loud, 

 swift current, par excellence, meeting us face to face, so to speak, 

 in the turbulently impetuous rapids of Connel. 



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