377 



twenty-six years this scourge endured, that our forefathers, who had fled 

 from the country, returned to it."'^' 



It would appear, in this instance, that D'Ocampo was not indebted 

 to Annius de Yiterbo for the date assigned to the commencement of the 

 great drought. 



The 2nd chapter of the 4th book of D'Ocampo' s " General History," 

 is taken up principally with " an account of certain natives of Spain, 

 called Siloros (the Siluri), a Biscayan tribe speaking the Biscayan lan- 

 guage, joined with another, named Brigantes, who, having migrated to 

 Britain (about 265 years before our era), obtained possession of territory 

 there, where they settled, and they and their descendants were perma- 

 nently established."! 



But, long previously to this expedition, D'Ocampo tells us, " there 

 were Spanish Brigantes established in Bristol and Wales." But, " of 

 these Brigantes," he observes, "we neither know the time, nor the 

 cause, nor the means of their migration into Britain. Solely we know 

 it has been affirmed that by them, and also the Siloros above mentioned, 

 after having long been settled, and greatly augmented in Britain, they 

 dispatched numbers of their people into Yrlanda, by whom that island 

 was populated ; and that the tradition of this migration endures to this 

 day amongst them, and that they publicly confess to all who speak with 

 them on this subject that they are descended from Spaniards, as I have 

 previously stated." J 



Estevan Garibay, in his extensive work, " Compendio Historial de 

 las Chronicos y Universal Historia de todos los Eeynos de Espana." 

 Barcelona, 1628, torn, i., chap. 8, page 83, refers in a remarkable pas- 

 sage to Spanish migrations to Ireland : — 



" This chapter treats," says Garibay, " of Brigo, fourth king of 

 Spain, and how the Spanish peopled the island of Ireland, and were in 

 the habit of giving to their towns the name of Briga (as Cantabriga, 

 Mirabriga, _&c.), and also furnishes examples from divers nations in proof 

 of this custom, and other notable circumstances, and treats of the death of 

 King Brigo. 



" Brigo, the only Spanish sovereign of that name, it is recorded, suc- 

 ceeded his father, Idabeda, the year before Christ one thousand eight 

 hundred and five. This King Brigo was, by the male line, a grandson's 

 grandson of father 'Noe. He is spoken of in the accounts given of him 

 as a yerj good prince, fond of founding and peopling towns, and con- 

 structing fortresses, the existence of which shows wars and factions had 

 already commenced amongst the Spaniards, inasmuch as fortresses are only 

 for those who are at strife. Some authors affirm that the King Brigo 

 sent an expedition to Ireland to people the island of Ireland, adjacent to 

 Scotland, primitively called Hybernia, the natives of which country, 

 though in many places rude and uncivilized, and having wretched habi- 



* Florian D'Ocampo, " Cron. Gen. de Espana," p. 54. f Ocampo, ib., p. 140. 

 X Florian D'Ocampo, ib., p. 141. 



