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1888.] 247 [Mooney. 
originally from Africa. Then we hav accounts of successiv colonies which 
made no permanent impression until the landing of the Firbolgs (pro- 
nounced Firbullag), supposed to hav taken place about seven hundred 
years before Christ. The Firbolgs conquerd the country, establishd a 
regular form of government and drove the aborigines before them until 
the remnant took refuge on the islands which skirt the western coast, 
where they earnd the name of Formorians or Pirates (Gaelic, Homoraigh) 
by their forays upon the settlements of the invaders upon the mainland. 
About one hundred and seventy years later another people, the Tuatha- 
de-Dananns (pronounced Thua-dhé-Dhan-yawn), landed upon the eastern 
coast and demanded a portion of the island. This demand being refused, 
the invaders advanced rapidly into the interior while the Firbolgs retired 
before them until the latter, having apparently been joined by the Fo- 
morians, concentrated all their forces on the plain of Moytura, on the 
southern border of the County Mayo. Here about five hundred and thirty 
years before Christ, took place the most celebrated battle in the ancient 
annals of Ireland, the struggle lasting four days and resulting in the total 
defeat of the Firbolgs and the death of their king. The magnitude of the 
confiict is attested by the number of sepulchral mounds and monumental 
pillar stones extending for miles and giving to the plain the appearance of 
one vast cemetery, as it is in fact the grave of the Firbolg nation. ‘Ehe 
survivors wer allowd to remain in the western province of Connaught 
and the adjacent islands, where the remnant of the Fomorians stil ex- 
isted. Here they wer joind by their kindred from all parts of the island, 
while the conquerors took possession of the other portions of the 
country.* 
Stil later the Milesian invaders, from whom the ruling families of Ire- 
Jand traced their descent, obtaind control of the island, but they seem to 
hav differd from the Tuatha-de-Dananns chiefly in the degree of their 
civilization. It is notable that all of these invasions ar said to hav come 
from the continent, instead of from the adjacent island of Britain, 
Here we hav the names of three distinct peoples successivly ruling in 
Ireland—the aboriginal Fomorians, the Firbolgs and the Tuatha de-Dan- 
anns—and tbe question arises, Who wer they? As Gaelic is a Keltic lan- 
guage we may assume that the Tuatha-de-Dananns, who left the final 
impress upon the country, wera Keltic race ; but with regard to the others 
it seems equally certain that one at least was not Keltic, if indeed it be- 
longd to the Aryan stock at all. In the manuscript Book of Mac Firbis, 
written about 1650, we ar told that ‘‘every one who is black, loquacious, 
lying, tale-telling or of low and groveling mind, is of the Firbolg de- 
scent,’’ while ‘‘every one who is fair-haired, of large size, fond of music 
and horse riding, and practices the art of magic, is of Tuatha De Danaan 
* The original MS. account of the Cat:Mag' Tuiread: or Battle of Moytura is preserved 
in the library of Trinity College in Dublin, besides which there ar two or three copies. 
An excellent summary of this account, with an identification of the locations, is given 
by Sir Wm. Wilde, Lough Corrib., Dublin, 1867. 
PROC. AMER. PHILOS. S00. xxv. 128. 2F. PRINTED DEC. 21, 1888. 
