140 



MARTIN L. EOUSE^ ESQ.^ ON 



in Germany, the Moldau in Bohemia, the Drave ( = I)iir-ave) and 

 the Save { = ls-ave) in Southern Austria and Hungary. 



ll^ysg in Kumric means a current, and uisge in Erse and 

 GaeHc water ; and so we have the river Wissey in Norfolk 

 along with such hybrid and suggestive names in the Fen country 

 as Wishford, Wisley, Wistow^ and Wisbeach ; while we have 

 also Islas in Scotland, an Isle in Somerset, an Isle and an Isac 

 in Brittany and an Isere in France proper; and shnilarly we 

 have the Isella (the modern Yssel) in Holland, German streams 

 called Isen, Isar, and Eisach, and Ister ( = /s-ter or tur) the 

 classic name for the Danube, perhaps given to it at a different 

 point in its course better known to the Eomans. Again, we have 

 -is as an ending to river-names in known Keltic lands such as 

 the Ligeris (now the Loire) and the Atesis (now the Adige) ; and 

 similarly we find the Scald^'s, or Scheldt, and the VahaKs, or 

 "Waal, in Holland, the Alb^s,* or Elbe in Germany, and the 

 Tanais, or Don, in Southern Eussia. 



Lastly, cam means crooked in Kumric ; and we have two 

 river Cams, a Camil, a Camlad, and a Cambeck in England and 

 a Camlin and a Camon in Ireland : and, in like manner, we 

 have the river Kam in Switzerland and the Kamp and the 

 Cham in Germany. 



It is manifest, both from these geographical records as well 

 and from the stories of Herodotus and Strabo, that the Keltic 

 movement, carried on for many hundred yearsf before the 

 Christian era, was from east to west. Yet Julius Ciesar 

 (50 B.C.), in speaking of the religion and sway of the Druids in 

 Gaul and especially of their acting as judges in all disputes, 

 writes thus : " It is thought that this lore of theirs was discovered 

 in Britain, and thence brought over into Gaul, and now they who 

 wish more carefully to obtain the knowledge mostly go thither 

 to learn it."J And, when we pass over to Britain, we find that 

 the centre of Druidism was in that part of the island where 

 the people have always called themselves Kunnic : for it was 

 in Mona, or Anglesey, in northern Wales ; and a hundred years 

 latter Suetonius overthrew for a time the ])ower of the Druids 

 for kindling insurrection by a wholesale slaughter of them in 

 that island. 



* Probably meaning vhite water (Taylor). 



t ProbaljJy two tlionsaiul, for by the recent astronomical calculations 

 of Lockyer and Penrose founded upon the orientation of Stonehenge, it 

 was found to liave been erected about B.C. 1600. 



X DcBdL a all., VI, 13. 



