547 



the plains, the erection of forts, raths, and cashels, and the battle of 

 Sleamhnai, Maighe Ithe, on the banks of Lough Swilly, in the county 

 of Donegal, between the Fomorians, the possessors of the island at that 

 period, and the newly arrived forces ofParthalon, the so-called Oriental 

 or Grecian leader. The Firbolgs, or Belgse, so called from their assumed 

 Belgic origin, next occupied the country, and established a Kingly Pen- 

 tarchy. 



"When the Tuatha DeDannan, who were a Scandinavian and decidedly 

 a superior race, and who undoubtedly possessed a knowledge of metal, 

 established themselves in the north-east of Ireland, they demanded a 

 division of the kingdom from the Firbolgs ; and a meeting took place 

 between their respective ambassadors upon Magh Eein, on the shores of 

 Lough Allen, near Slieve-an-Icrin, in the county of Leitrim; and upon 

 the latter refusing to accede to this modest request, the Tuatha De Dan- 

 nans marched westward, and, according to our histories, occupied the 

 plains of Southern Moytura ; and Nuadha, their king, with his staff, 

 took up his position on the heights of Benlevi, from which a view can 

 be obtained of the plains beneath to an immense extent, and a secure 

 retreat preserved towards the fastnesses in their rere. 



The Firbolgs, under Eochy Mac Ere, their king, marched from Tara 

 to the eastern end of the plain of jSTia, where it rises into the picturesque 

 hill ofKnockma, now known as Castle Hacket, and where, according to 

 the legends of the land, the Fairy King Finvarra (the Oberon of Irish 

 Sylvan mythology) holds his court. From thence may be obtained one 

 of the grandest views in Ireland. To the east, the great plain stretches 

 beneath and around, from the hill of Knockroe to the towers of Athenry, 

 or City of the Ford of the Kings, and includes the Tuam of St. Jarlath, 

 the round tower of St. Benan, the beautiful abbey of Knockmoj^, and the 

 ruined keeps of the De Burgos — to the south, the ships riding in the 

 Bay of Galway can be discerned in a clear day, and the Slievebloom 

 and Clare mountains; and to the west the blue island-studded waters 

 of Lough Corrib, and in the far western background the Connemara 

 Alps, stretching from Lecanvre and Sheanapholia, with their clear- 

 cut edges, and their sides momentarily varying in tints from the mar- 

 vellous atmospheric effects of that region, round to the lofty peak of 

 Croagh Patrick, and the bulky form of Nephin, and even some of the 

 Achill mountains skirting Clew Bay, are all within view. Certainly, if 

 the son of Ere had an eye for the picturesque, or a soul for poetry, his 

 patriotism should have warmed when he viewed the fair scene which 

 was sought to be wrested from him by the invader. 



On the summit of Knockma an immense cairn of small stones has been 

 erected over the remains of the female Ccesair, the first of that great west- 

 ern chain of similar monuments that stretch from thence to the valley 

 of Maam, and finally abut upon the shores of the Atlantic near Kenvyle. 

 Arou nd this cairn, in the month of May, the ground is literally blue with 

 the flowers of the Gentiana verna. The battle is said to have been com- 

 menced on the 1 1th of June ; it lasted four days, and ended in the defeat 

 of the Firbolgs, and the death of their king, the pillar stone of whose 



