Page:Rude Stone Monuments.djvu/205

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Chap. V.
MOYTURA.
179

deposited in the Museum of the Royal Academy at Duhlin, the excavation thus confirming the narrative in the most satisfactory manner.

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56.
The Cairn of the "One Man," Moytura.

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57.
Urn in the Cairn of the "One Man," Moytura.

"The battle took place on Midsummer day. The Firbolgs were defeated with great slaughter, and their king, who left the battle- field with a body-guard of 100 brave men in search of water to allay his burning thirst, was followed by a party of 160 men, led by the three sons of Nemedh, who pursued him all the way to the strand, called Traigh Eothaile, near Ballysadare, in the county of Sligo. Here a fierce combat ensued, and King Eochy (Eochaidh) fell, as well as the leaders on the other side, the three sons of Nemedh."[1] A cairn is still pointed out on a promontory jutting into the bay, about a mile north-west of the village of Ballysadare, which is said to have been erected over the remains of the king, and bones are also said to have been found between high and low water on the strand beneath, supposed to be those of the combatants who fell in the final struggle. It


  1. Eugene O'Curry's 'Materials for Ancient Irish History,' p. 246.