Page:On the Ancient and Modern Races of Oxen in Ireland (IA jstor-20489834).pdf/2

65 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; Bgdhun, or Bawn, 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 Gal way. Other places are called after calves, and some after bulls—as Cluan-da-tarbh, the enclosure of the two bulls, now Clontarf, 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 subject 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 interesting to the archaeologist from their topographical references. Many of our popular superstitions, and much of our folk-lore, more particularly concerning 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 "Niebelungen 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 Shemore, 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 amiability 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 Rights and Privileges of the Kings of Erin," cattle are frequently mentioned as being derived from those localities, such, for example, as Rathcroghan and Moylurg in Roscommon, parts of Limerick 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 century, 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. From our collected "Annals" by the Four Masters,