the crew, as they would say, of one boat that escaped. According to Keating,[1] who wrote his History of Ireland out of materials such as were accessible in that country in his time, certain of the Fomori called Morc and Conaing[2] held Ireland under a grievous tribute: they had built themselves a stronghold called Tor Conaing, 'Conaing's Tower,' in Torinis, or Tower Island, now better known as Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal; and that spot served them as a rendezvous for their predatory fleets. At length the children of Nemed, who were then the inhabitants of Ireland, mustered 30,000 armed men by sea, with as many by land, and succeeded in demolishing Conaing's Tower and slaying its owner; but Morc arriving with reinforcements, another battle ensued, in which the combatants, busied in the fray, allowed the sea to overwhelm them so completely that on the Fomorian side only Morc and a few followers escaped, while the surviving children of Nemed consisted of only thirty strong men, the crew of a single boat. One of the chief men of the thirty is mentioned as bearing the name Iobath son of Beothach, who should be the counterpart of Cúchulainn, or more likely of Gwydion; but nothing is known further about him, except that he is represented as being grandson of a faith or vates called Iarbhoinel.[3] The Four Masters undertook in their Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland to date the event they call the Demolition of Conann's Tower, and to fix on the year
