The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

136 THE HIGHLANDERS [part i
The proof of these facts will be taken from the Annals of
Tighernac and Innisfallen, the oldest and most authentic annals
which the Irish possess. The former is a work of the eleventh
century ; the latter was written in the beginning of the thirteenth.
The book remained inaccessible to all but those who
could read the ancient Irish language and character, and were
for the first time printed, along with a Latin translation, in
the year 1825. Before entering upon the subject of inquiry,
it will be necessary to make one remark, in order that the
argument may be distinctly understood, which is, that in all
the Irish annals the name given to the earliest inhabitants of
Scotland is Cruithne, and this appellation is always applied
b}- them to the inhabitants of Scotland, in contradistinction
to the Scots, or inhabitants of Ireland.
In the first place, therefore, it can be proved from Tighernac
that the Ultonians, or inhabitants of the north of Ireland,
were Cruithne, and therefore must have come from Scotland.
The kings of Ulster were also called kings of Eamania ;
thus,
Tighernac says, Elim, son of Conrach, reigned in Eamania
ten years, and afterwards Fiachia was killed by Elim, son of
Conrach, that is, by the king of Ulster. Again, he says,
Angus F"in, king of Eamania, reigns, and afterwards he says
a battle was fought by Cormac against the Lltonians, in
which Angus Fin, with his Lltonians were routed ;
and
that
the kings, both of Ulster and Eamania, were called kings of
the Cruithne, appears from the following passages. In 236,
he says, Fiacha Araide reigns in Eamania ten years, and
afterwards he reports a battle between Cormac and the king
of Munster against Fiacha Araidhe and the Cruithne. Again,
he .says, in the year 565, Diarmait is killed by Black Hugh,
king of Ulster ; and Adomnan, alluding to the same transaction,
says that Diormit was killed by " Aidus nigrus Cruithnicum
gente," by nation a Cruithne.
It appears, therefore, from Tighernac, that the north of
Ireland was inhabited by a people of the same race with the
inhabitants of Scotland. Secondly, it can be proved from
Tighernac and the Annals of Innisfallen, that a people called
Bolgas inhabited the we.st and south of Ireland. Thus
Tighernac says, that Fiacha, King of Ireland, was killed in