bodily suffering. Some idea of what this ordeal really was like may be inferred from the Dinnsenchus account:

"The all prostrated themselves before him so that the tops of their foreheads, and the gristle of their noses and the caps of their knees, and the ends of their elbows broke, and the three-fourths of the men of Erin perished at these prostrations.

Beside the hill of Derryragh is a townland named Porturlan, the older name of which, in seventeenth century INQUISITIONS is portnerilinchy, which Mr. Dalton surmises to represent the slaughter bank of the island... The interpretation is a likely one, and the name seems to be a survival of the early sacrificial rites.

In those days a great oakwood stretched from Porturlan to the summit of Derryragh, abnove which the figure of Cromm, facing the south, was visible over the great plain stretching south and east.

As late as the 17th century the levels of the lakes were considerably higher. The Downs Survey Map of 1654 has 'Lough Finvoy' an extensive sheet of water which joined the Lakes of Ballymagauran and Garadise.

This lake, the Lolch Finnmaighe, or lake of the white plain , mentioned in the Annals of Loch Ce., 1418, has since disappeared, owing to drainage operations, and the lakes of Ballymagauran and Garadise are now about a half a mile apart and joined by a canal.

The Down Survey marks Garadise, which then extended farther towards the southeast than now.

Evidently there were two Guthard lakes.. Guthard south and Guthard north, the junction of which was near the present Moat of Toomonaghan and over this narrow neck lay the route from Magh Rein to Magh Sleacht.

The lowering of the water levels has altered considerably the topography of the district, and it is important to remember that at the time of St. Patrick, and until a few centuries ago, the small lakes which are now visible to the south and east of Derryragh formed one continuous sheet of water.. the water named "Guthard."

The title Magh Sleacht must have been originally applied to the plain in the immediate neighborhood of Cromm's shrine, but afterwards the name came to be applied to a much larger area.

The various accounts of the Battle of Magh Sleacht (1256 a. d.) illustrate in many particulars the boundaries and extent of the territory, especially on the north and northwest.

According to the Annals, the battle was fought on bealach na beithige, at the head of Sliabh-an-Iarand. These entries demonstrate that the site of the battle is beside the well-known Gap of Glan. the gorge separating the Cuilcagh from Sliabh-an-Iaraind. (These are two mountains)

The road or highway passing through this Gap of Glan was the road O'Ruairc used between Connacht and Breifne, it is now known as Pedheravores road.. .from one Peter (his surname does not seem to be remembered locally but it is most likely that he belonged to the

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