Bury — The Itinerarij of Patrick in Connaught. 107 



we shall see) close to Boderg ; and then he goes on to Elphin, 

 evidently crossing the Baune (Badgna) hills, which divide Mag Glais 

 from Mag'Ai. Accordingly, if we had no otlier knowledge, we 

 should, without much diffidence, conclude that the Vadum Duarum 

 Auiuni was in the neighbourhood of Boderg and Bofin. 



But when we consult modern authorities on Irish topography, we 

 find the Snamh-da-en placed, without any hesitation, far from the 

 scene of the events described by Tirechan. It is sliown by 

 O'Donovan that it was an old name for a part of the Shannon close to 

 Clonmacnois. It is mentioned as a landmark in a description of the 

 boundaries of the Hy Many, in a context which shows that it was 

 south of Athlone ^ ; and the situation near Clonmacnois is implied in 

 the story of the Aided Biarmada, published in Mr. O'Grady's Silva 

 Gadelica,^ and in a passage in the Agallamh na Senorach.^ 



It may be said without the least reserve that this situation is quite 

 irreconcilable with the narrative of Tirechan. It would mean that 

 this writer supposed Patrick to have travelled southward from Mag 

 Eein (in Leitrim) to a point south of L. Bee in order to cross the river, 

 and returned northward again along the western bank just for the 

 pui-pose of reaching Mag Glais. It is as if one who wanted to reach 

 Battersea from Hampstead were to go round by way of Henley. Mag 

 Eein lay on one side of the Shannon ; Mag Glais opposite to it on the 

 other. If Tirechan had intended to bring Patrick round by this 

 •circuit of seventy miles, it is inconceivable that he should not have 

 said something to explain it or indicated more precisely the route ; 

 nor is there any imaginable cause why such a route should have been 

 chosen, if it were not for the purpose of preaching and founding 

 churches in the districts through which it lay. Not a hint is given 

 of any such activity in the territory through which Patrick would 

 have passed, and the Yadum Duarum Auium is introduced as if it were 

 the direct and natural passage from Mag Rein to the northern part of 

 Mag 'Ai. 



In the case of another chronicler, we might suspect that, through 

 ignorance of topography, he had mixed up his information and failed to 

 perceive the incongruity of his story. But, as I have pointed out at 



^ O'Donovan, Hy Many, p. 5 ; compare the map. 



*Text, pp. 72-3; translation, p. 76: "two birds that Nar son of Conall 

 Cernach's son Finncha killed there on Eistine the Amazon's shoulder, whence it 

 is named Snamh-da-en.' 



3/3. Text, p. 134 ; transl. p. 147. 



