46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



So unmistakable is the Gaelic complexion of Torr, and so com 

 monly is it to be found in the Topography of Ireland and Scotland^ 

 that were other evidences altogether wanting, the constant occurrence 

 of it in the names of places in and around Dartmoor and elsewhere 

 in Devonshire, might furnish a strong argument in favour of the con- 

 tention, that Celts who spoke Gaelic must have occupied that part of 

 England for some time at least during the early settlement of 

 Britain. Were it to be maintained that Dart in Dartmoor is the 

 Gaelic word tart, thirst or drought, a striking correspondence would 

 be found between the very name and the sterile character of that 

 region. Moor, the latter syllable of Dartmoor, bears a close resem- 

 blance to mbr, the Gaelic adjective for great or extensive. Thus 

 interpreted, Dartmoor would signify the extensive drought. Nor can 

 there be any difficulty in seeing how Dart, the principal river which 

 issues from Dartmoor, and to which I have already assigned the 

 derivation doirt, would bear the name of the region in which it 

 rises, in spite of the incongruity that may attach to applying to any 

 river of considerable magnitude a name that is indicative of drought 

 or scantiness of water. 



Crochern Torr is the name of a hill in the centre of Dartmoor, 

 where the legislative business of the tin mines of Devonshire used 

 to be transacted. Grockern Torr, cnoc air an Torr, the hill on the 

 heap. The name is purely Gaelic, and the well-known word cnoc 

 occurs in it. 



In Torquay, Torcross, the word torr is present. Other names of 

 places in Devonshire are of Gaelic origin, e.g. : 



Carnmere, earn, a heap or pile of stones. Kenton, ceann, head ; 

 dun, a hillock. Hamoaze, camus, chamus, a harbour ; Culbone, cul, 

 back ; beinn, a hill. 



Beer, hior, water. 



Ness, an eas, cascade. 



Exbourne : uisge, water : burn, water. In such words as Cud- 

 leigh, Leigh, Chumleigh — , liath, grey or hoary appears. 



The Topography of Devon, in spite of all the political changes that 

 have passed over that county, and in spite of the different races 

 that have inhabited it, preserves unmistakable reminiscences of 

 Gaelic-speaking Celts, who must have been its earliest inhabitants of 

 any permanence. 



