Paesaggi suggestivi

Long tail boat in Thailand's spectacular Khao Sok Lake national park



At Cong it was at Midsummer that a great battle took place between the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha Dé Danann on the great plain of Moytura in Cross. They played the first ever hurling match on those plains. The Firbolgs outshone that day, but the battle was won by the Tuatha de Danann. Ballymagibbon Cairn was erected to celebrate the battle. . The neighbourhood of Cong still preserves both relics and traditions of the fight. Upon the plain of "Southern Moytura" (as it is called, to distinguish it from the "Northern Moytura" of the second battle) are many circles and tumuli. These circles are especially numerous near the village itself; and it is said that there were formerly others, which have been used for making walls and dykes. Large cairns of stones, too, are scattered over what was certainly once the scene of a great battle. These various prehistoric monuments each have their still-told story; and Sir William Wilde, as he relates in his Lough Corrib, was so impressed by the unexpected agreement between the details of the legendary battle, as he read them in the ancient manuscript, and the traditions still attaching to the mounds, circles, and cairns, that he tells us he could not help coming to the conclusion that the account was absolutely historical.



Sotto: Collège de Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada