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Page 2
King Eochaí, with his Fir Bolg host, descended into the plain of Moytura, and, passing westwards, was met by the heralds and ambassadors of Nuadu, on that portion of it subsequently called Conmaicne Cúile Toladh, extending from the present village of Cross to the neck of land that divides Lochs Measca and Coirib.They then, as was not uncommon with nations in kindred states of civilization, agreed upon a trial of skill and manly prowess; and twenty-seven youths from each army engaged in a game of hurling, in a valley denominated in the tale The Plain of the Hurlers. This extends in an eastern direction for three-quarters of a mile from the bridge of Garra Cluana to the rise of Cath na bPunnán, south-east of Nymphsfield, and is bordered on the north by Cathair Dubh, and on the south by the rise of Cnoc, on both of which we find several monuments of the battle that subsequently ensued. In fact, it is the only hurling ground in the district; it was used as such within the memory of the present generation; and it is said the fairies still have their games of "camán" there on bright moonlight nights.The northern boundary of this smooth valley is the rocky space, covered with dwarf hazel, which gives the name of Caisleán na Coille, "The castle of the wood," to the old haunted ruin shown in the above illustration; and to the west of which is the cave of Cathair dubh. This castle--so often seen, it is said, "afire" on summer nights, when the fairies, after their game of hurling, hold their banquets there--is, however, a mortared structure of great strength, about five centuries old.This warlike pastime ended in the defeat and death of the thrice nine youths of the Dananns, over whom was erected the great carn or stone monument figured on this page, and which would appear to be that called in the MS. Carn an chluiche, or the "monument of the game;" and the valley of the hurlers, where they were interred, was then denominated Glen mo Aillem. There it stands to this day, about fifty feet high, and four hundred in circumference--an historic memorial as valid as that which commemorates the spot on the shore of Attica where the Athenians fell beneath the long spears of the Persians on the fields of Marathon.
Next day, supposed to be the 11th of June, in the year of the world 3303, the battle commenced; it lasted four days, and it is said one hundred thousand men were engaged in it. Each army sank a royal rath or fortress; that of the Fir Bolg called Rath Crófearta, and that of the Dananns, Rath Fearainn; both are probably still remaining but not capable of identification among the many monuments of which vestiges still exist in this locality. Both parties were armed with swords, spears, darts, and shields, but no mention is made of either slings or arrows, so it must have been a hand-to-hand fight. They did not, however, forget the wounded; for each sank a "sanative pool" or medicated bath in the rear of their lines, in which the wounded bathed. That of the Dananns was presided over by Dianceacht, the Machaon of the Irish Iliad; and the circumstance is commemorated in the name of a district bordering the Shannon, called Lusmagh, "the plain of the herbs," from the fact that on it were collected the plants that formed the materia medica with which the milk of the bath was endowed with its healing virtues. Forward marched the Fir Bolg host, headed by the Fathach, or Druid poet--a character still remembered traditionally by the people as the Fdthach Ruadh, or red giant, who raised a pillar-stone against which he rested, and sang the exploits of his warriors. The stone has disappeared, but the eminence on which he stood is still pointed out within the demesne of Moytura, on Cnoc Ard na gCuach, or "the lofty hill of the cuckoos," because, it is said that that visitor is usually first heard there in spring. In the history of the battle this pillarstone is called Cairthi Fáthaigh, and is said to have been the first of the kind erected on this plain.
On the other hand, we can well imagine the Dananns marching to battle, incited by the Miriam-like chaunt of Édaín, or Edena, the poet-prophetess, whose name often occurs in the history of the engagement. The Dagda Mór, afterwards a king, and whose monument undoubtedly stands on the banks of the Boyne, near Newgrange, performed deeds of surpassing valour, until withstood by the hero Cerb, the son of Buan of the Fir Bolg. Adleo, the son of Allai, another of the Dananns, was slain by Nearchu, grandson of Semeon, and a pillarstone called Cairthi Adleo, was erected where he fell--probably the Cloch Fhada Cunga, or "long stone of Cong," which not long since stood on the old road to the east of that village, and a portion of which, six feet long, is still in an adjoining wall. The only other pillarstones in the district are, one on the east shore of Holly Island, in Loch Coirib, and the Cloch Fhada na hEille, or "long stone of The Neale," at the junction of the roads passing northwards from Cross and Cong, where it is said by tradition the king stood at one period of the battle.
The Fir Bolg, although not absolutely victorious, had rather the best of the first day's fighting, having driven their enemies back to their encampment, which probably extended from the site of this pillar of Adleo to the western end of the Plain of the Hurlers, along by Nymphs- field to the cross roads leading to Loch Measca, and from thence through Craobhach, in which still stand the remains of carns. Each Fear Bolg having carried with him a stone and the head of a Danann to their king, he erected ' a great carn " to commemorate the event. Taking into consideration the line of the two armies, this must be the cam of Baile Mac Giobuin, shown in the above cut, which stands near the road passing from Cong to Cross. It is one hundred and twenty-nine yards in circumference, and about sixty feet high; and its original base may still be traced by a number of upright stones. Within it there is a large cave, but it is not at present accessible.
The next morning, before the second days' fight was commenced, the following incident occurred: King Eochal, unattended, went down into a certain well to perform his ablutions, and while there observed three of the enemy " overhead," about to seek his life. A colloquy ensued, but the Dananns would give no quarter. He was saved, however, by one of his own band, who slew the three, but died immediately from his wounds on an adjoining hillock. The Fir Bolg, coming up to look after their king, there and then interred the hero who so bravely defended him; and, each taking a stone in his hand, erected over him a monumental cairn. The well is not named in the ancient account of the battle; but, the little hill on which the conflict took place is called Tulach an trír, "The Hill of the Three," and the monument erected thereon Carn an éinfhir, "The Carn of the One Man." Such is the simple narrative of the transaction sent down to us through bards and wandering poets and chieftains' laureates, who perhaps, as already remarked, recited it at feasts and in public assemblies--as the tales of Troy were sung possibly before Homer was born - until the days of letters, when the tradition was transmitted to writing, and the annalist sped it on to the present time. Is it true? Can it be that a trifling incident of this nature, occurring so far back in the night of history, can possibly bear the test of present topographical investigation, while many of our classic histories have been questioned, and in some instances their statements disproved ? Yes; there they both remain to the present day - the deep well, now called Mt'n or Mion-uisge, in a chasm of the limestone rock through which the floods of Loch Measca percolate into Loch Coirib - the only drop of water that is to be found in the neighbourhood - and so deep under the surface, that the king must have looked upwards to see his enemies overhead. Immediately adjoining it, on the south-east stands the hillock referred to in the manuscript, and now crowned with a circle of standing stones, one hundred and seventy-six feet in circumference, in the centre of which are the remains of the carn, shown by the illustration below; and still called Carn Mín-uisge.
This well of the Mín-uisge answers well the description afforded by the narrative; for it is reached by a flight of steps like those in the Pigeon Hole and other similar natural caves near Cong. At certain seasons, when the upper floods accumulate, the water rises almost simul taneously in a jet through this aperture, and forms a turloch to the south of it.
After a careful examination of the locality, with a transcript of the ancient manuscript in his hand, the author, feeling convinced of the identity of the stone heap standing within the circle figured above, and by the kind permlssion of its proprietor, Charles Blake, Esq., made an excavation in the centre, telling the workmen beforehand that they would assuredly find a chamber in it; and if it had not been already rifled, the remains of the hero who so bravely defended the Fir Bolg king. As much of the top of the heap had been removed for buildings purposes some years ago, we soon came upon a large, smooth, horizontally placed, gritstone flag, on raising which another, somewhat larger in size, was discovered. The latter remains in situ, and covers a small square chamber, twenty-eight inches high, and thirty-seven wide, the walls of which are formed of small stones. On removing some of these on the western side, we found imbedded in the soft black powdery earth that had fallen in through the apertures, and probably mixed with charcoal, the urn here figured, and which contained the incinerated remains of human bones. It is now in the Museum of the Academy. This very beautiful object is about five and a half inches high, and six inches wide in the mouth, tapering gracefully to the bottom, which is only two inches broad. It is also highly decorated all round the lip, and has six fillets beneath the outer edge of the rim; and, what is unique in vessels of this description, four slightly elevated knobs, like handles. The lower plain surface beneath the fillets and handles is covered with herring-bone ornamentation. The surface of the vessel is of a reddish-brown colour, and the interior of its substance black, showing that it was submitted to the process of baking or roasting, either in its original formation, or at the time of the pyre, or when the hot embers of the human remains were placed within it.
Here, no doubt, the body of the loyal Fir Bolg youth was burned, and his ashes collected and preserved in this urn. Perhaps a more convincing proof of the authenticity of Irish or any other ancient history has never been afforded.
Immediately over and to the north and west of the site of the foregoing incident the ground rises into the slope of Toin a' liadhain, the " trowel-like elevation " that of Cailleach Dubh, the " black woman," probably in reference to the Danann poetess, the daughter of Dianceacht, and from which name in all probability the present townland of Nymphsfield takes its name; and the little hollow called Cath na bPunnan--upon all of which the chief battle monuments of the Dananns still remain.
The second day's contest commenced under a new set of commanders, among whom " Aengubha of Norway," Ogma, Midir, Bodhbh-Dearg, and Dianceacht the Physician, were conspicuous as Danann leaders; and Mella, Esc, Ferb, and Faebhar, the four sons of Slainge Finn, son of King Eochal, led the Fir Bolg. The battle raged with great fury, and, according to the spirited description in the narrative, a Danann chief named Nemhid, son of Badhri, was slain by Slainge, and " his grave was dug, and his pillar-stone was raised; which is from that day to this called Lia Nemhidh." If this still exists, it is not at present susceptible of identification.
It would now appear that the battle surged northwards; the lines extending towards the western shores of Loch Measca, where Slainge Finn, the king's son, pursuing the two sons of Caelchu and their followers, who had fled from the left wing of the Danann army to the margin of the lake, killed them there, and " seventeen flagstones were stuck in the ground in commemoration of their death."
Here is another most remarkable confirmation of the tale; for by the margin of the lake in the island (or peninsula as it is at present in summer time) of InisEoghain, or Inishowen, there stands this remarkable monument to this hour, within an elevated and entrenched fort, as shown in the following illustration, with thirteen of these flat " flagstones " still occupying the edge of the rath, some of them over six feet high, by nine inches wide, and about four or five inches thick. The site commands a glorious prospect of the lake and the Partral range, as well as Neifin and Baile Cruaidh mountains, and the deep valley through which the waters of Loch na Fuatha communicate with Loch Measca. The fort is oval, and measures twenty-two paces across; some of the stones are perforated; upon the west or water side the ditch is remarkably steep, but now much overgrown with bushes. There was great slaughter on both sides during this day's fighting, and the Norwegian general was nearly overpowered in a personal conflict by the Red son of Mogharn, one of the Fir Bolg; but at nightfall the Fir Bolg gave way. They carried home, however, into the presence of their king, the heads of the slain Dananns
The Fir Bolg, says the narrator, " rose out early the next morning, and made a beautiful scell [sceall, or testudo] of their shields over their heads, and placed their battle spears like trees of equal thickness, and thus marched forward in Tuireadhs [columns or battalions] of battle.
Cairn Mín Uisce.
Images & text © William Wilde (father to Oscar) 1839
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