324 A TOPOGRAPHICAL ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF THE 



calls them Scoti vagantes, i. e.', the wandering Scots, proving thus 

 that they could not be natives. Bede calls these marauders Hiberni, 

 i. e., Irish, and Gildas says that " the Hibernian robbers return 

 home." As it was only in the beginning of the sixth century that 

 the Scots came to have any permanent home in Albin, it is evident 

 enough that they came too late to have any material influence on the 

 Topography of that country. In his introduction to the Dean of 

 Lismore's book, p. 28, Skene thus effectually disposes of the allega- 

 tion of Irish historians that the language of the Scoti or of Gaelic 

 Dalriada had subsequently to the ninth century spread, with the rule 

 of a Scottish king, over the whole of the Highlands not embraced in 

 that limited territory : " They (the Irish historians) have never 

 attempted to account for the entire disappearance of the previous 

 language, and the expulsion of the previous population of so exten- 

 sive a district, so mountainous and inaccessible in its character, and 

 so tenacious of the language of its early inhabitants in its Topography, 

 which such a theory involves." 



Were it true that the Scoti, who eventually succeeded in giving 

 their name to the country which was formerly known as Albin, 

 displaced the Celtic tribes of that country, it is veiy strange that 

 no word representing S< oti has hitherto found its way into the Gaelic 

 language, and that to this day Scottish Celts are wont to say regard- 

 ing themselves, Is Albannaick mise : I am a native of Albin ; Is 

 Albannaich sinne : We are natives of Albin. Even respecting 

 those inhabitants of Scotland whose blood is not Celtic and whose 

 language is not Gaelic, the Scottish Gael always says, Is Albannaich 

 iad : They are natives of Albin. A refutation of the opinion that 

 the Scoti subdued or exterminated the Gaels who occupied Scotland 

 before their time, may surely be found in the entire absence from the 

 Gaelic language of any word representing Scotland. 



In turning attention to the Topography of Ireland, I shall, 

 deferring to the extraordinary and sensible importance which Taylor 

 assigns to the names of streams and rivers, first consider the names 

 of the Irish streams and rivers that it may be seen how purely Gaelic 

 they are. 



In Antrim are the rivers Bann, a bend or hinge ; Bush, buas, 

 abounding in cattle; Braid, braghad, neck; Main, min, soft, gentle; 

 and Don, dubh-an, the dark river. 



