185 
I then went forth to search the lands, 
To see if I could redeem my chief, 
And soon returned to noble Tara 
With the ransom that Cormac required. 
I brought with me the fierce Gezlt! 
And the tall Grib? (Osprey?) with talons, 
And the two Ravens of Fid-da-Beann, 
And the two Ducks of Loch Saileann.* 
Two Foxes from Shabh Cuilinn,‘ 
Two wild Oxen from Burren,* 
Two Swans from the dark wood of Gabhran,*® 
And two Cuckoos from the wood of Fordrum. 
Two Zoghmalls from Fidh-Gaibhle,’ 
Which is by the side of the two roads, 
And two Otters® after them, 
From the brown white rock of Dobhar.® 
Two Gulls” from Tralee hither, 
Two Ruzlechs from Port Lairge," 
we read of “‘ten hundred oxen” from Boirinn being part of the tributes of Cashel to the 
kings of Erin. This locality is also mentioned in Hardiman’s Minstrelsy as one of the 
‘‘three impassable places in Ireland—Brefny, Burren, and Bearra.” Achadhbd, the 
“ oxen field,” is sometimes called ‘‘ Campulus Bovis.” See ‘‘ Vita Sancti Kannichi,” 
published and presented to the Kilkenny and South-east of Ireland Archzalogical So- 
ciety by the late Marquis of Ormond. 
6 Gabhran, now Gowran, in the county of Kilkenny. 
7 Fidh Gaibhle.—The branching wood of Feegile, in the parish of Clonsast, near Por- 
tarlington, King’s County. This was the celebrated wood of Leinster, sacred to St. Ber- 
chan, who states ‘“‘ that the wood derived its name from the River Gabhal, and that the 
river is called Gabhal from the Gabhal, or fork, which it forms at the junction of Cluain 
Sasta and Cluain Mor. The river is now called Fidh Gaible, though the wood has dis- 
appeared.”—Leabhar na g-Ceart, note by O'Donovan, p. 214. What the Toghmall 
was we cannot yet say ; the meaning of the word is, ‘‘the slow bird.” It was, besides, 
capable of domestication, or being made a pet of; thus, it is related that, when Cuchu- 
lain slung a stone at Queen Meave, he killed the Toghmall which was resting on her 
shoulder. 
8 The otter, now called in Irish madaidh wisce, a water-dog, must have abounded in 
former times in Ireland, as we read of their skins being an article ofcommerce. In 1408 
we find John, son of Dermod, charged with two otters’ skins for his rent of Radon 
(Rathdown) for the same year ; five otters’ skins for the two years and a half preceding ; 
and one hundred and sixty-two otters’ skins for the arrears of this rent for many years 
then past, making a total of one hundred and sixty-nine otters’ skins. This, which is 
the last entry accessible relative to the family of Gillamocholmog, is recorded in an 
unpublished Pipe Roll of 10th Hen. IV. See the ‘‘ History of Dublin,” by J. T. Gilbert,” 
Esq., 1859. Peltry formed a large portion of the exports of Ireland in very early 
times. 
9 Dobar.—Probably Carrickdover, in the county of Wexford. 
10 Guils.—In Zeuss and the Leyden Priscian forlenn glosses alcedo. Cf. Er. goéland, 
in Welsh gwylan. 
11 Port Lairge.—W aterford—the Water Fiord, 
