CHAPTER IX. 



THE IRISH BREEDS OF CATTLE. 

 Including the Kerry of Modern Times. 



When treating on the cattle o-i ancient Ireland, one has to be careful 

 of one's statements, although most writers seem to think that beyond 

 the Kerry Mountains there were no other parts of Ireland possessed 

 of domesticated cattle. This opinion is largely shared by writer; un- 

 acquainted with the nature and character of the Irish race, and the 

 wonderful advancement which they had obtained in science and art 

 during that great period of learning, extending from the 8th to the 

 I3th century of the Christian era. 



Professor O'Curry, who is recognised as being one of the first to 

 reveal tc us the secrets contained in the Celtic manuscripts preserved 

 in the various schools of learning, states that he was visited on one 

 occasion by a gentleman who had received a large sum of money for 

 writing the History of Ireland, and when he examined the Professor's 

 (Mr. O'Curry's) collection of ancient Irish manuscripts exclaimed, 

 " How is it possible that I could have written so much about Ireland 

 without knowing anything of its real history ?'' This also applies to 

 a great extent to those writers who have from time to time attempted 

 to cast a gleam of light on the breeds of cattle in the possession of 

 the Celts before and after the Roman invasion of Britain, or before 

 the dawn of civilisation in Ireland. 



As has been shown elsewhere, the earliest inhabitants of Britain of 

 whom anything is known -ior certainty were Celts people of the same 

 race as the early inhabitants of Gaul (France). Those living inland 

 from the sea coast followed a pastoral life, and subsisted on milk and 

 flesh. However this may be, calm observers and searchers after truth 

 must admit that ages before the da.w.n of the Kerry revival by Mr. 

 Dexter there* existed in both Gaul and Britain cattle which were under 

 domestication; and that long before the dawn of our civilisai 

 tion which does not reach quite 2000 years back these cattle were 

 the current coin of both Gaul and Britain, by which all rents, taxes, 

 and tithes were paid to the Kings who ruled these people. 



In Coates' " Natural History of Ireland'' much information is 

 gleaned from an account given of the discovery of the fossil remains 

 of cattle deposited in ancient mounds to be seen in various parts of 

 Ireland. The first of these is New Grange, situated in the County of 

 Meath, on the banks of the historic Boyne, between Drogheda and 

 Slane. This mound is said to cover two acres of ground; its elevation 

 is about 7oft., but its original height is said to have been considerably 

 greater. For centuries it was resorted to as a quarry. The stones 

 of which this mound is constructed are small on top, but the base is 

 formed of shapeless rocks supposed to weigh 10 or 12 tons each. 

 There is no doubt of its construction by human hands, however an- 

 terior was that mound constructed. The interior was first explored 

 in the year 1699, or upwards of two hundred years ago. 



New Grange is one of the most remarkable of the antiquities of 

 Ireland, on account of the extraordinary collection of bones dis- 

 covered near the village of Dunshaughlin, of which a detailed account 

 has been laid before the Royal Irish Academy. Dunshaughlin is 

 situated between Dublin and Navan, and four miles eastward from the 

 famous " Tara," where the Prophet Jeremiah is said to have secreted 

 the " Stone of Destiny" prior to it being taken to Scotland. 



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