"The grave of Carman, by whom was it dug?
Will you learn, or do you know?
According to all our beloved forefathers,
It was Bres, son of Gladen. Listen:—
"Four score and five full hundreds,
Is the number true of years.
From Carman of demoniac spells,
To the birth of Jesus after humanity.
"And the people of Leinster celebrated this fair by their tribes and by their families, down to the time of Cathair Mor. There were seven races there, and a week for considering the laws and the rights of the province for three years. It was in the kalends of August they assembled there, and it was on the sixth of August they used to leave it; and every third year they were wont to hold it; and two years for the preparations."
Besides the markets of cattle, merchandise, arms, etc., there were poems read, laws revised, contests by bards, seven horse-races, and various kinds of military shows and athletic contests, chiefly with arms.
Another description of this ancient Irish assembly, or fair, is given in the Gaelic poem contained in the ancient "Book of Ballymote," translated by Prof. Eugene O'Curry, M. R. I. A.
"Five kings and thirty, without sorrow, here,
Of the Leinstermen, before the faith of Christ,
Their pride over Erinn had spread,
From thy sweet-sounding harbor, O Carman!
"The Leinstermen continued to hold this fair,
By their tribes and by their families.
From Labraidh Loingsech—theme of poets—
To powerful Cathair of red-spears."
