76 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Aeade?ny. 



substituted Augushis for Lug. If Ehys was correct in reading " this Hesus " 

 on a statue of the Gaulish " Mercury," Lug,' we have yet another proof of 

 the human sacrifices offered to the god of Light among the Celts. Some say 

 that the modern " Crom Dubh" folk tale is only derived from Keating's 

 " History "- of Crom Dubh about 1640 ; but, if so, how was " Cromrn duhan 

 Sunday" kept at least so far back as 1117?^ and why is the name of 

 Crom Dubh attached to a pillar stone at Loch Gur alone ? One natural rock 

 at Croom, in Co. Limerick, also has a vague " Cromm Dubh " folk derivation 

 (according to Windele)* ; so (as we see) has the Cromwell cliff. I know of 

 no other cases. 



The Eemaks. — The hill has two side spurs, the great dolmen occupying 

 the western, and the Cctsldn chridm duibh the southern. At the latter, a 

 deep, sickle-shaped, sloping glen runs up the hill. This glen was a favourite 

 fox covert in my memory, some forty-five years since. The Casldn is a rock- 

 knoll with (I think) traces of being fenced by a dry stone ring- wall, like that 

 of the Dun Hill at Howth, Co. Dublin, with its mound and cairn. Its bold 

 ci'own on the noble white cliff recalls the fortified rocks of Cashlan Gar 

 and Cahercashlan in Co. Clare. Below, in the glen, is a cave, called, like 

 the dolmen, "Diarmuid and Graiune's bed " ; another is named after a " fairy 

 piper " ; and a huge split rock has its halves called '' the old man " and " the 

 old woman," but Mr. Frewen gave me no tale of its origin. 



"We ascend to the summit of the plateau and get a noble view ; the 

 Galtees, Slievereagh, and Ballyhoura lie southward ; and, far away, in Kerry, 

 the Paps, " the two breasts of Dana, mother of the gods."^ In the opposite 

 direction are the distant hills of Co. Clare, the long flank of Slievephelim, 

 and the dark pyramid of Knockroe, near Pallis, each crowned with three 

 earthworks. We stand within a ring of the hill gods" ; " their god is the god 

 of mountains," seems to apply to the tribes of Munster, Oebinn, of Craglea ; 

 Echtge, the god Nuada's daughter,' of Slieve Aughty ; Ebliu, of Slieve- 



' Brit. Acad., 1906, p. 326; Esus is Blercury, i.e., Liig, one of Lucan's horrid triad 

 of man-eating gods (i, 444-6, the ancient comment, " Hesum Mercurium credunt," 

 supports this). 



- History (Ir. Texts See), ii, p. 123, "Crom Cruaidh." 



^ Annals of Ulster, a.d. 1117- 



^ Croom in early records is " Cromadh," in 1151; " Crumech," 1215 ; " Crometh," 

 1302; "Cromothe," 1581. Perhaps a "crooked ford" on the Maigiie. See also 

 "Dolmens of Ireland" (Borlase), pp. 771-2, Crom Dubh. 



^ Da cich Danainne, "Cormac's Glossary" (ed. W. Stokes), p. 4. John Windele's 

 very striking sketch of the "Two breasts" is given in Topography, Co. Kerry (MSS., 

 R. I. Acad., C. 123, p. 56). ^ Supra, xxsiv, p. 53, p. 151. 



^ Silva Gadelica, ii, p. 126 ; Galway Arch, and Hist. Soc, p. 59 ; Rennes Dind S. : 

 Rev. Celt., xv, p. 458. The "child-eating legend " also attaches to Ethni, daughter of 

 Crimthann. Lady Gregory found Echtge was still remembered in her mountains. 



