456 



well, and [by their fall] they raise a succession of purple bubbles on 

 it [the well]. The salmon then [come forth from the rivers and] 

 chew the fruit, and it is the juice of the nuts that is sent up [in the 

 well] that produces the purple spots on their bellies ; and seven streams 

 of knowledge flow forth from it [the fountain, and as the poem states 

 Sinann was the seventh stream], and they [the salmon] return back 

 again [to the rivers]. Sinann then went to seek the [fruit of] know- 

 ledge, for she was not deficient in any thing else but perfect knowledge 

 [i. e., science] ; and the stream [of knowledge] ran before her, and the 

 well ebbed, and she followed [the stream] to the brink of the Eiver Tarr- 

 chaen [which means the place where she was upset by the confluence of 

 the two streams]. "When she had come there, her Tarr Faen [i. e. belly 

 uppermost or upsetting] came upon her, and she tasted death in the 

 confluence, and hence Smarm, and Linn Mna Fele, and Tarrchain di- 

 cuntur." 



Perhaps a more simple derivation of the Sinann may be accept- 

 able — viz., from Sin, old, and abamn, river — the Old River. 



Skirt [Scipcac]. — In the reign of Siopna TYlac Oen, a. m. 4169, 

 the eruption of the three following rivers happened : — the Scipcac, or 

 Skirt, in Leinster, which may signify the Slippery, i. e. Slimy River ; 

 the Domic, compounded of bo, a negative or intensive particle, and ale, 

 a precipice or high bank, in Cpioc Roip, in the south of the county of 

 Monaghan, and the "Nich in the county of Louth, now the Eiver of 

 Ardee. See Dee Eiver. 



Slaine [Slain e]. — The River Slaine is a small stream which falls 

 into the Boyne, near Slane, on the north side of the river. It is stated 

 that it first began to flow a. m. 4169, in the reign of Siopna paoglac, 

 or Siorna the long-lived ; and is, therefore, one of our oldest rivers. 

 The name signifies the Healthy Eiver, derived from plan, healthy. 



Sligo [Sligeach]. — Sligeach is the name of the Eiver Sligo, and 

 signifies the Shelly Eiver, from pli^e, a shell. It is stated that this 

 is one of the rivers found by Partholan on his arrival in this country, 

 about 300 years after the Mood. It flows out of Loc 5^ e ' or tne 

 Lake of Gile, who was the daughter of TYlananndn TTlacLip, the great 

 Irish navigator, and it falls into the Bay of Sligo. 



"Seubh- Brain- [Spub bpam] is the name of a river in the west of 

 Kerry. It is mentioned in the Book of Conquests, in the Dinnsean- 

 chus, and in Keating's History of Ireland, and to the following effect : — 

 The great champion Cuchullin, about the beginning of the first cen- 

 tury, happening to be on the peaks of Boirche, near the source of the 

 Eiver Bann, he saw a great flight of black birds coming on the sea to 

 the north ; and on their landing upon the shore, he pursues them, and by 

 a feat called caic b6im killed one of them with his sling in every dis- 

 trict he passed through, until the last great bp an fell in the west of 

 Kerry. And the Dinnseanchus states that a stream of blood flowed 

 from this monster bird, in which Cuchullin washed his hands, and then 

 named the stream Spub bpam, which signifies the Raven River. On 

 his return from the west, he carried off Blathnaid from Cacaip Conpaoi, 



