56 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadennj. 



Is it not probable that the names Caia or Gaya are simply older 

 forms of the word "Qiiai" or bas-latin Caium'^ and thus the thi'ee 

 names Oporto, Cale, and Gaya stand in the same relation one to 

 another as port, harbour, and quay in English actually. It would 

 further thus appear that a Celtic harboui' existed at the mouth of the 

 Deui'o before the arrival of the Phoenicians, and was the cause of their 

 extending their commercial relations along the coast. The river 

 Miiio or Minho which separates the present Galicia fi'om Portugal was 

 the Minius of the Eomans, and was said to have received its name 

 from the ^' Minium ^^ or " Vermillion" carried down by its waters, or 

 according to other authorities, found in its bed (Justin xiv., 3). Minium 

 is a red oxide of lead, and Yennillion the sulphui-et of mercury, both 

 of which are so heavy of themselves, that they could hardly remain in 

 suspension in the water of a river such as the Minho, unless under very 

 extraordinary conditions, both as regards the rate of flow of the river, 

 and as regards the quantities of these bodies existing at the surface of 

 the ground, or being produced by mining or metallurgical operations. 

 It is very likely, therefore, that the red colour implied by the name 

 arose from the presence of red oxyde of iron in a fine state of division, 

 which does actually colour many river waters, especially during their 

 periods of flood. In Irish onian signifies a "mine or ore," and the 

 Minho would be thus explainable as the river " carrying the ore," and 

 this would perfectly describe it as regards its upper waters, particularly 

 the river Sil, which is really the Minho in its upper waters, and the 

 basin of which is the gold region already referred to. 



According to Niebuhr (cited by TJlick E. Burke in his " History of 

 Spain," vol. i., p. 3), "the heights in the IN'orth of Spain whence the 

 Tagus, Durius, and Minius flow towards the sea, and whence on the 

 other side smaller rivers carry their waters towards the Ebro, were 

 inhabited by Celts, who were also called Cdtilerians^ other Celts 

 bearing the name of Celtici, dwelt in Algarbia and the Portuguese 

 Estremadui'a, others again inhabited the province of Entre Douro 

 e Minho, in the north of Portugal. These thi'ee Celtic nations were 

 quite isolated in Spain. The Celtiberians were not pure Celts, but as 

 theii' name indicates, a mixture of Celts and Iberians ; but the Celts in 

 Portugal are expressly stated to have been pure Celts (Mebuhr 

 Lectures on " Ancient and Modern Geography and Ethnography," it., 

 280-281). 



The fact of these three Celtic nations being isolated, as mentioned 

 by JSTiebuhr, in Spain, would point to the inference that the Celts were 

 the original inhabitants of the greater part of Spain, and had been 

 split up and driven into the mountain districts by invading races. 



