266 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



facts known in the form of a communication by "himself to the 

 Academy. However, he has proposed that — as the subject was 

 already in my hands — I should be the medium of adding anything 

 that might be deemed relevant to it, and I am too sensible of the rare 

 value of facts in such an investigation to pretermit the opportunity of 

 using them, by reason only of their being associated with matter of 

 inference, which does not command the full assent of my own judg- 

 ment. 



I take the liberty of requesting the special attention of the reader 

 to those passages of the communication which furnish actual evidence 

 of the leading facts : viz., that periodic assemblies used to be held on 

 Callan Mountain ; and that a particular structure called Altoir na 

 Greine was used on these occasions for certain observances. 



The following is the communication of Professor O'Looney : — 



"I am slow in replying to your inquiries about the ancient assemblies 

 of Buaile na Greine, and the ceremonies which took place at Altoir na 

 Greine in olden times, and what is worse, I fear I can say but little of 

 any real interest on the subject. However, I may say I do not 

 believe that the names Buaile na Greine and Altoir na Greine, applied 

 to those places, will be sufficient to warrant the assumption that the 

 ancient Callanites were a sun- worshiping people. I think the topo- 

 graphical features of the place, and the fact that the sun is dominant on 

 this particular spot from early dawn till evening's close, is the true 

 origin of the name Buaile na Greine, which simply means the plain of 

 the sun, or the sun-beaten lawn. The application of the word Altoir is 

 not older, perhaps, than the time of Michael Comyn's romance of 

 Torolb MacStairn : the only written work in which the name Altoir 

 na Greine is applied to this great stone-altar, or table. It is more 

 probable that Alt na Greine, ' the height or eminence of the sun,' one 

 of the older names of this peak, was converted into Altoir in after 

 times, and the name Altoir na Greine, applied by Michael Comyn to 

 the great stone monument which then stood on this eminence, prevails 

 to the present day, while the older name of the place is entirely for- 

 gotten. 



" The theory of pig- worship on Mount Callan seems to me also 

 untenable, and is probably based on the frequent occurrence of muc (a 

 pig), tore (a hog), crain (a sow), and a variety of such names, in com- 

 bination with other epithets in the nomenclature of the place, and its 

 sxuToundings : e. g. Muc Inis (Pig's Island), Caeran Chinn Tuirc (the 

 Hog's Head Peak), and Cluain Cranach (the Field or Meadow of the 

 Sow). The occurrence of this class of names goes far to prove, if proof 

 were necessary, that Mount Callan was a great resort of pigs and 

 swineherds ; but I do not think it goes far to support the theory of 

 pig-worship, for which I see no other foundation, nor do I believe the 

 ancient assemblies on Buaile na Greine had much to do with worship 

 of any kind. 





