78 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academi/. 



IS'ow tlie dimmiitiye of " Cerd " is " Cerdan," and " Cerdaua " or " La 

 Cerdagne " would be territory inhabited by tbe " Cerds " or *' Cerdans," 

 and it may be that this was one of the principal centres of the tribes 

 which inhabited these elevated peaks and valleys along the whole 

 line of the Pyi-enees wherever metals were to be found, and worked 

 from east to west, and the wealth in metalliferous ores of the whole 

 chain has already been insisted upon. 



The conclusion which we may come to is, that seemingly the 

 Milesians introduced the art of working gold into Ireland, and that 

 they had acquired their knowledge and experience in Spain, and in the 

 Mediterranean countries which they are said to have visited. Taking 

 the date assigned for the reign of Tighearnmas by M'Geoghegan, and 

 mentioned by O'Curry as 915 b.c, and adding the years which 

 represent the reigns of the preceding kings mentioned by Keating, in 

 the " tables of the Kings of Ireland " which is given in his history, 

 and which amount to 129, between Heber and Tighearnmas, there 

 results as the date of the arrival of the Milesians in Ireland, 1044 b.c. 

 Going back about two generations from this date, to the arrival of the 

 colony in northern Spain, and their settlement there under Bartha, we 

 have the date of 1200 (approx.) B.C., which fairly corresponds with 

 that which has been assigned to the great famine in Spain. 



