That
ancient book, the "Cin of Drom-Snechta," is quoted in the "Book of
Ballymote" as authority for this legend.
The Irish annals speak of the Formorians as a warlike race, who,
according to the "Annals of Clonmacnois," "were a sept descended from
Cham, the son of Noeh, and lived by pyracie and spoile of other nations,
and were in those days very troublesome to the whole world."
Were not these the inhabitants of Atlantis, who, according to Plato,
carried their arms to Egypt and Athens, and whose subsequent destruction
has been attributed to divine vengeance invoked by their arrogance and
oppressions?
The Formorians were from Atlantis. They were called Fomhoraicc,
F'omoraig Afraic, and Formoragh, which has been rendered into English as
Formorians. They possessed ships, and the uniform representation is that
they came, as the name F'omoraig Afraic indicated, from Africa. But in
that day Africa did not mean the continent of Africa, as we now
understand it. Major Wilford, in the eighth volume of the "Asiatic
Researches," has pointed out that Africa comes from Apar, Aphar, Apara,
or Aparica, terms used to signify "the West," just as we now speak of
the Asiatic world as "the East.
Pages:
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581