Westkopp — Ancient Sanctuaries of Knockainey and Clogher. 61 



mentions " the hosts that go round the cairns " ; and long before the days of 

 Medb, Poseidonius tells how the Gauls made a turn to the right. The 

 reverence for the monuments is well shown by the tabu in the Book of 

 Rights not " to sit on the tomb of the wife of Maine " ; and another, in the 

 Agallamh, " not to walk on the sidh of Fenien (in Co. Tipperary, the residence 

 of the god Bodb Derg), by the new-kindled blaze of a red fire," like the cliar 

 at 'Aine. In the same work we are told that men feared to sit on the three 

 tulachs on Cean Febrat (till St. Patrick did it), for fear of the Tuatha De 

 Danann. I may add the oft-cited case at Croaghateeaun, where we were told 

 " to cross ourselves against the Dannans." 1 It should be remembered that 

 the god of the Galtees, the harper Cliu, came himself from Baine's sidh 

 mound. 2 



The Remains. 



The long, low hill (as the " Mesca Ulad " notes) has a noble outlook in all 

 directions. The view from such a place should be studied, and it is note- 

 worthy how many prominent points in legend and fairy lore are in sight — 

 the dolmen-topped Cromwell Hill and Duntrileague, the cairn-capped 

 Knockfirina, and the Loch Gur hills, the castled ridges of Knocklong and 

 Rathcannon, the fairy hill of Sid Asail, the flank of the cemetery of Clann 

 Deda on the edge of Cenn Febrat, and the boundary ranges named by the Mesca 

 TJlad. It is boldly curved, and the marshy fields and pools at its south- 

 west foot mark an ancient lake, 3 full when the woods of Coill Mor and Coill 

 Cruaidh condensed the mists of the mountain tops, and poured them into the 

 now shrunken Lubach, Saiiner, and Cainmoge. It was also once fenced by 

 deep marsh to the east. The Grossi Fines, Roll No. 14, names the Lake of Any 

 as existing in 132:2. 



The Cairns. — That of 'Aine, the Sid Cliach, occupies (as Cormac's 

 Glossary 4 says), the highest ground, standing on the eastern brow 537 feet 

 above the sea. Though so famous in legend and lore, it is a defaced, 

 insignificant heap of earth and stones wrecked by treasure-seekers, 5 daring, I 



1 Rev. Celt., vol. x, p. 287 ; Ann. Four MM., 555 ; Book of Rights, p. 5 ; Agallamh, 

 p. 125. Poseidonius, quoted by Athenaeus, Lib. iv, p. 152. Forts were used for magic. 

 See "Rath of the Incantations" and the " Duma nandruad '' in Irische Texte, vol. iv, 1, 

 and Eriu, vol. viii, p. 49. 



- Dindsenchas, Rev. Celt., vol. xv, p. 441, Crotta Cliach. He died of fright when 

 Baine, in the form of a dragon, burst out of the mound at his magic harping. 



3 Like Loch Lungae (Trip. Life, p. 209), Loch bo (Agall, p. 123), Loch Cenn, and other 

 lake sites. Much of Loch Gur and Mouaincha Lake and Coolasluasta Lake have been 

 drained away in modern times. 



4 Sanas Chormaic, p. 9. 



5 No new outrage ; not only the Norse but the Irish ravaged such monuments. See 

 many interesting accounts in Agallamh. 



