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of the district ; take the map of Kerry and examine the country lying be- 

 tween the bay of Kenmare and the Sliabh Mis mountains, which run 

 south of Tralee into the remote barony of Corcaguiney, and we find 

 between these points an immense tract of the most rugged, mountain- 

 ous, and wild moorland country in the three kingdoms, comprising the 

 baronies of Iveragh and Dunkerron, with their mountain ranges, includ- 

 ing the Reeks, the highest mountain range in Ireland. To an invading 

 force, ignorant of the district, such a march was an impossibility. 

 Again, did they land at the south side of the bay, and making a detour 

 eastward, skirt round the Killarney mountains and lakes; and then 

 bending to the north-west, make a long and weary march through the 

 great bog district between Killarney and Tralee, could they have ac- 

 complished their march, and be in fighting order, within three days 

 after their landing? Again, what business had they making a long 

 and painful march into a wild and remote district, if their object was 

 the conquest of the island ? As I have stated before, their natural course 

 was to march eastward into the centre of the country, and towards the 

 seat of government. Again, what object had the army of the Tuath De 

 Danans in marching to Sliabh Mis, when their intention was to en- 

 counter and cut short the progress of an enemy landing in the bay of 

 Kenmare ? In the former place there was nothing to defend, no strate- 

 getic point to cover ; on the contrary, such a proceeding would leave 

 all the passes into the rich and fertile provinces quite open and unpro- 

 tected. The natural course of the defenders of the country would be 

 to select some strong and defensible position covering the direct route 

 into the heart of the island, and there await the enemy's approach. In 

 truth, the details of the narration are opposed to all probability, and to 

 the physical features of the district. But while I am disposed to reject 

 the details, I am by no means disposed to give up the broad facts upon 

 which they are founded. I accept the statement, that at some remote 

 period an emigrant colony from the maritime coasts of Spain, or north- 

 western Gaul, landed in the western district of Kerry, and who, under 

 the name of Scoti, or Gaedhelians, or Milesians, became the dominant 

 race in Ireland. 



That in remote times such a migration was probable we must ad- 

 mit, if we look back at the history of Spain and Gaul, during the 

 Carthagenian and Roman occupations. We know that each of these domi- 

 nant states harassed and oppressed the natives, and where more likely 

 should they flee for shelter but along the shores of Spain and Gaul, into 

 these remote and then undisturbed islands ? Such a migration will 

 account for what has been deemed mythical in our early history, as 

 I firmly believe the pedigree of the Scoti to be Cuthite, and the course 

 of their migration to be from Asia Minor, through Northern Africa, 

 into Spain, and from thence to Ireland. 



The Scoti, then, must have been a seafaring people, and consequently 

 must have attained to a respectable civilization, in accordance with the 

 age : they could not have come to our island in any great numbers, 

 consequently they could not have effected its conquest in the quick 

 and off-hand manner described in the Book of Invasions. That they 



E. I. A. PROC. VOL. X. 3 G 



