393 



I am not, however, disposed to accept Keating' s narrative as to 

 time. I think our bardic writers have misrepresented the nature of the 

 Scotic invasion, which, I believe, came more in the capacity of a colony- 

 seeking for a permanent settlement, than of an invading army bent on 

 conquest. According to the bardic annals, our island had seen at least 

 two dynasties — the Eirbolgs, and the Tuath De Danans — who are re- 

 presented as having been engaged in a fierce conflict, ere the former 

 were subdued by the latter ; therefore an invading force must have 

 been numerous and powerful to effect the subjugation of the country in 

 a short time. Now, the Scoti are stated to have come in thirty ships, 

 thirty men in each ship : this is a moderate computation, and a likely 

 number to form a colony, but quite inadequate to conquer a kingdom, 

 more particularly when we find 300 out of the 900 killed in the first 

 battle, to say nothing of the wounded and missing. Again, the people, 

 likely to have invaded our island at that remote period were not likely 

 to possess fleets capable of transporting an army equal to the sudden 

 subjugation of a country having a settled government, and large mili- 

 tary resources for a semi- civilized people. 



"We must therefore, in my opinion, conclude that the Scoti came as 

 quiet colonists, and selected this remote and favourable district as a 

 place where their infant state might mature unmolested. It is very 

 probable that they were superior in arms and civilization to the natives ; 

 that, increasing in numbers, they pushed their way inland through the 

 counties of Kerry and Cork, occupying the southern and western districts 

 of Munster, and ultimately becoming the dominant race in Erinn. I 

 should not be surprised if future investigations will sustain the view I 

 present of this subject. That a very numerous archaic population oc- 

 cupied this remote barony at a period far back in our pre-historic annals 

 will appear to any person who visits the locality, and investigates its 

 antiquities, as I have done. 



The aboriginal town of Fahan, with its stone-roofed huts, its cashels, 

 forts, and souterrains, the headland fortifications on almost every pro - 

 minent point, the cromlechs, stone circles, pillar stones, and raths, form 

 a collection of ancient remains, unequalled for number and importance 

 in any other district of our island. The late Mr. Richard Hitchcock, 

 who so thoroughly explored Corcaguiney, in a valuable and interesting 

 paper contributed to the " Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological 

 Society" (vol. iii., p. 136, 1852), thus enumerates them: — " Eleven 

 stone cahers, three earns, forty cealluraghs, or obsolete burial grounds, 

 where unbaptized children only are interred ; . . . eighteen artificial 

 caves; . . . two hundred and eighteen cloghauns, or bee-hive shaped 

 stone houses; sixteen cromlechs ; .... three hundred and seventy- six 

 earthen forts or raths ; one hundred and thirteen gallauns, or immense 

 rude standing stones, fifty-four monumental pillars, most of them bear- 

 ing Ogham inscriptions, and seventy-six holy wells." He further re- 

 marks: — "I have made no mention in the above list of the stone 

 circles, so numerous in Corcaguiney. They are to be found in all parts 

 of the barony." That even in Christian times this district was densely 

 populated, we have undeniable evidence. Mr. Hitchcock enumerates 



