318 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



at Mohill I found the country people quite familiar with the Valley of the 

 Black Pig. I'hey pointed out an eminence beside the banks of the Shannon, 

 at Eoosky (where the liver expands into a series of lakes — called L. Boderg) : 

 which they call. Crook na muck, that is Cnoc 11.6. muice, the hill of the 

 pig, and show two large stones there which mark the place where it 

 was killed ! ISTear this, stretching from the river in the direction of Mohill, 

 across the high road, there is a short line of what appears to be the remains 

 of the entrenchment. Thence they say it went to Mohill, and on 

 towards Cloone, turning off through the country to Ballinamuck. They 

 tell how the French troops passed through Mohill in 1798, and "followed 

 the Valley of the Black Pig all the way to Ballinamuck, where they fought 

 and were defeated." Here, therefore, in Longford and Leitrim we have 

 identified the border, and have discovered that the remains of the Dyke follow 

 it north to L. Gowna, and that the direction of its track thence is pointed out 

 by the country folk by Ballinamuck through Mohill to the Shannon. 

 Unfortunately, my visit to these parts was much curtailed ; and I was unable 

 in consequence to accomplish much exploratory work, but spent my time 

 chiefly in visiting some of the old residents, and gleaning legendary lore, of 

 which more anon. To return to the Longford entrenchment. Besides its 

 usual designation, " The Black Pig's Eace," I found the name "Duncla " (•oun- 

 cLmq-o), which may be translated ' fortified ditch,' was applied to it by some 

 of the inhabitants. O'Donovan renders it " The Barrier." From L. Kiuale, 

 which is separated by a very narrow strip of land from L. Sheelin, it runs 

 north in broken sections to very near the town of Granard, and evidently 

 follows the boundary of some local territory. Though there are some 

 considerable mounds and fosses in this part of its course, showing the plan of 

 construction to agree with that of the Worm Ditch in Monaghan, namely, in 

 having a great central rampart and two fosses bordering it, yet the best- 

 preserved lengths are to be found on the way to L. Gowna, where it crosses 

 the road from Granard to Scrabby. Here at Dalystown there is a portion 

 whose cross-section from out to out measures about 90 ft., the central vallum 

 being about 10 ft. high above the bottom of the fosse, which is here about 

 15 ft. in width, and must have been much deeper. In other parts of its 

 course, where the ramparts have been levelled and carted away, the deep 

 excavation of the trench still persists, traversing the country like a dry water- 

 course, and ending at the southern shore of L. Gowna. In the lake is an 

 island called after St. Columbkille; and O'Donovan states the trench was 

 continued across it ! A section of the Dalystown segment, where it 

 runs through flat ground, will show that the fosse on the Meath side was 

 deeper than the other, and the face of the vallum steeper. But in most 



