EOYAL IEISH ACADEMY. 
277 
the old cow; Dun-bo, the fort of the cow; Agha-bo, the cow-field or plain; 
Bally-bo, cow-town; Daimh-inis, Ox Island, now Devenish, in Lough 
Erne; Bo-dhun, orBawn, a cow fortress or enclosure; Dun-na-mbo, a great 
cattle fort of stone, in Erris; Cluain-da-damh, the pasturage of the two 
oxen, in the county of Galway. Other places are called after calves, and some 
after bulls—.as Cluan-da-tarbh, the enclosure of the two bulls, now Clon- 
tarf, near the city of Dublin; and Eden-na-Tarve, in the county of Down. 
The glen of the heifer, Glen- Samhaisce, in Dalaradia, is one of the oldest 
local names in Ireland. Legends without number upon the subj ect of 
“cow lore,” as we might call it, float among the peasantry in every part of 
Ireland; and stories relating to horned cattle, bulls, cows, and calves, are 
intimately interwoven with Irish fairy mythology, and become interest¬ 
ing to the archaeologist from their topographical references. Many of our 
popular superstitions, and much of our folk-lore, more particularly con¬ 
cerning the merry month of May, abound in reference to cows and oxen. 
Cattle raids and forays afforded fruitful themes for the early metrical 
romance writers and compilers of what is termed Ossianic poetry, the 
most remarkable production of which is the Tain bo Cuailgne, or great 
cattle raid of Louth-—the “JSTiebelungen Lied” of Irish history. From 
all these sources I might cull numerous anecdotes to amuse, if such were 
the object of this communication. Even the celebrated abduction of 
Dervorgil partakes, when we come to examine it by the light of modern 
investigation, more of the nature of a black-mail foray, for abducting 
cows and bullocks from the plains of Brefny and the slopes of She- 
more, than a romance or love passage between an Irish chieftainess, aged 
44, and Dermot Mac Murrough, then in his sixty-second year, and, if we 
can rely upon contemporaneous historians, not remarkable for his amiabi¬ 
lity of character. Cattle formed not only, in early times, the chief wealth 
and produce of the country, but were also employed as a means of barter. 
Thus we read of ransoms being paid with oxen, and as many as 140 
milch cows being given for a manuscript. Quantities of the butter and 
cheese of remote periods have been dug out of our bogs (upon which 
subject I have already made a communication to the Academy), and many 
specimens of bog-butter may now be seen in our Museum. In the Leabhar 
na g-Ceart, or “Book of the Bights and Privileges of the Kings of Erin,” 
cattle are frequently mentioned as being derived from those localities, such, 
for example, as Bathcroghan and Moylurg in Boscommon, parts of Lime¬ 
rick and Tipperary, the plains of Meath and Westmeath, &c., &c., which 
are to this day celebrated for producing the best stock in Ireland. As 
an example of the amount of cattle existing in Ireland in the fifth cen¬ 
tury, I may cite the following among the tributes paid to the King of 
Cashel alone, from distinct and separate localities, most of which can be 
identified at the present day;—“ Cows at the time of calving; cows 
that enrich the farmer’s dairy; cows frisking and skipping ; cows not 
like those of ravens, lean or dying ; brown oxen ; strong oxen; oxen to 
supply the ploughing,” &c., amounting in all to about nine thousand 
head of cattle. Erom our collected “ Annals” by the Four Masters, 
2 o 
VOE. V.-PBOC. SOC. 
