109 



Q, F E C I 



The characters are well cut, and quite legible, and no controversy- 

 can arise as to their values. I have ventured on a reading of a portion 

 of this interesting inscription ; the rest I confess my inability to trans- 

 late. I read it — 



" CTJ-NALEG EA MAQI CET AI DESRAD." 



That is, " Cu-Naleg of the tribe of the Son of Cet, the learned Brehon." 



The prefix " Cu" is very usual, at least very frequently found to an- 

 cient historic names; many examples will be" seen in the "Index 

 Nominum" of Dr. 0' Donovan's " Annals of the Four Masters." From 

 the peculiar position of the letters " ea," I take them to be an archaic 

 form of " Ua," which, according to O'Brien, " signifies any male descend- 

 ants, whether son or grandson, or in any other degree or descent from 

 a certain ancestor or stock." This " ea" I have found in the same 

 position upon other Ogham monuments. " Cet." This name is found in 

 some ancient authorities : according to Keating, Mac Ceacht was one of 

 the three Tuatha De Danan Kings of Ireland when the Clanna Miledh 

 landed. Again, we have Cet Mac Magach, who slew Connor Mac 

 Nessa with the mythic brain ball of Mesgedhra, as related in the 

 historic tales called " Oitte," i. e., " Tragedies," and which are to be 

 found in the " Book of Leinster." We have also Mac Cecht, one of St. 

 Patrick's smiths. 



It also occurs as a prefix to several names in the "Annals of the 

 Four Masters." "Ai," according to O'Brien, " the learned," " Desrad" 

 the same as " Desrut, a judge" (O'Eeilly's Diet.), the D and T being 

 commutable in the Irish language. 



The other six characters in this inscription I have been unable to 

 render with any degree of probability. 



Hoofing Slab, No. 8. — This is a coarse and very irregularly-shaped 

 stone, three feet nine inches in length. The inscription is in one line 

 upon an under angle, the arris of which is very irregular and rather 

 rounded. 





H-IHII HIM HI h-fr 



Mill -j| 111— | 





IGX7MAQ I DAG 



The rendering of this is very simple, 



"IGU, SON" OF DAG." 



I have been unable to trace these names in any of our ancient 

 pedigrees, as far as I have been able to consult them. 



"We are familiar with one of the names as a compound in that of a 

 celebrated mythic personage, the Dag-da, a deified chief of the Tuath De 



