Maoaustku — Temair Breg : Remains and Traditions of Tarn. 351 



iv. Tt made a noise. 



v. It was looked upon as the invention of a prominent druid, or of his 

 daughter. 



vi. It was looked upon with awe, as a thing dangerous to touch, hear, 

 and see. 



I claim that these six facts constitute the clearest proof that we have a 

 right to expect, that the Voice of Fal was produced by a bull-roarer. This 

 conclusion is of some importance, as the bull-i'oarer has not hitherto been 

 identified in any region north of the Alps. In ancient Temair as in modern 

 Australia, at the remotest ends of the earth from one another, the sound of 

 the bull-roarer was used in initiation ceremonies, and was regarded as being 

 the voice of the god. 



It is perhaps possible to see a reminiscence of the bull-roarer and its 

 destructive powers in the description of the plague that ravaged Britain in 

 the time of Lludd, as related in the story of Lludd and Llefelys : a great 

 shriek that was heard every Beltene-eve over every hearth in Britain ; it 

 penetrated the hearts of the people, so that men lost their colour and their 

 strength, women the children in their wombs, boys and girls their reason. 

 Animals, trees, land, water were all barren. The sequel of the story explains 

 this as being the outcry raised by two dragons, which were ultimately 

 imprisoned and made harmless in Snowdon. But this may well be a late 

 explanation ; dragons are essentially mediaeval, but a mysterious noise that 

 brought destruction to unauthorized persons that came within its influence is a 

 primitive idea. Such a noise would be the sound of the bull-roarer. 



It is useless to expend many words on some of the minor details alluded 

 to in the extracts that have been set before the reader. The reference to the 

 " breaking " of the stone of Cuamchoill must point to a lost myth. 1 Indeed, 

 it is not very clear what place the " Stone of Forcarthu " and the " Pillar pi 

 Cuamchoill " occupy in the scheme ; it is most probable that these were cult- 

 centres, similar to Tlachtga, and that the stones were oracular stones similar 

 to Fal. We shall see presently that Fal was by no means the only "speaking 

 stone" in Ireland. That Tlachtga and Temair were closely connected is 

 indicated by the coincidence of date of the annual sacred fire lighted at these 

 two centres, as we shall see in the following section ; and by the Fact thai 



1 O'Curry's version, that Mug Ruith used the Wheel as a sort of flying- machine 

 (MS. Mat., p. 402), with the addendum that " it met with an accident " (Rhys, Hihl.it 

 Led., 211), explains how there came to be " fragments,'' but does not rest, so far as 1 

 can discover, on any very secure literary ovideuce. 



B.I. A. PROC!., VOL. XXXTY, SECT, 0, [48] 



