SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS IN ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 79 III. SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS IN ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY AND MAPS. BY REV. ANGUS MACKAY, M.A., CORK,. MEM. S.A. SCOT., WKSTERDAIE, CAITHNESS. Ptolem f Alexandriao y o flourishe 0 wh A.D.,14 . ,c dcompile a d geograph e theth nf o yknow n worl n eighi d t books, whic s suci h n ha improvement upon earlier attempt a simila f o s r kind tha t continuei t d n usi e until afte e revivath r f learnin o e l 15tth h n i g centurys Hi . longitudes were calculated fro e Canariesmpoina th n i t , supposee b o dt the westernmost part of the world; but he reckoned it as only 2J° west of Cape St Vincent, whereas the real distance is over 9°. Partly owing to this miscalculation, some countries are thrown considerably out of place when his data are reduced to map form; and this is especially true of Scotland, which fro e Clydm th Fortd ean h northwar s twistei d e du d east, making thence a right angle with England. Notwithstanding this glaring defect, however, his geography of the north of Scotland cannot fail to interest the antiquary in search of light upon the place-names and people of that part. Starting from the VOLSAS SINUS in the W., which he sets down in 30'whic° d latd an 60 ,.an long ° h 29 scholar. generallw sno y understand to indicate Lochalsh Kyle, the names of the places given by him, workin e easge th nort th roun ts follows o a t side hy e b dar , , with Ptolemaic long latd .an , respectively rivee Th r 30'° .Nabarus 60 ; x ° 30 , e promontorth y Tarvedu r Capmo e Orkas 20'° ° 15'e 31 pro,x 60 th ; - montory Virvedrum, 31° x 60°; the promontory Verubium, 30° 30' x 59° 40'; the river Ila, 30° x 59° 40'; and Alta Eipa, 29° x 59° 40', the bank e Oykelloth f , between. Ros Sutherlandd an s districe th calle w n I no td . Caithness he locates the Cornavii; the Caereni he places in the Strathnaver country, arid the Lugi in South Sutherland. The above too meagr el thadatal ts i a Ptolemy give r tha fo sshale t w part d l an ; 80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JANUARY 13, 1903. now e variou looth t ka s name n detaili s , endeavourin o extract g t from them their story.1 CORNAVII.—This was the name of the tribe occupying .Caithness, and means "peopl e Horn,th f o e " fro a mCelti c root appearin n Gaelii g c corn, Cymric corn, Breton korn, all cognate with Latin cornu, a horn. The people occupying-the peninsula between the Dee and the Mersey in England were also designated Coruavi y Ptolemyb i ; whil o thit e s have w ey Cornwalda l wit s Cornishit h d alsan ,o Cornouaillais a larg, e district in Brittany to the south of Cape Finisterre, running out into a"sharp point. Thu e Cornavith s f Caithneso i t theigo s r name froe hornshapemth d territory which they e otheroccupiedth d sdi s a , above mentioned t whe e NorsemaBu nth . n mad appearancs ehi e th n i e north, instead of giving a brand-new name to the land, he translated the old Gaelic corn into his own ness, a snout or nose, by which he often designates this part, althoug s moshi h t common forKatanesa,s mwa e th Nes Kataf so name th , e tha s stili t l used d thian ,s latte distinguiso t r h it from Gatuv, Catland, which in his hands became Sudrland, now Sutherland, meaning "Southland." CA.BRENI.—These e Strathnavedwelth n i t r countr d awaan y y west towards Assynt e wor Th s understoodi . Latinisea e b o dt de th for f mo Gaelic caora, r sheepAlexandeD s a , r Macbai d othean n r well-known authorities acknowledge meand an , s e shee"th p people. rooe s i Th t " also to be found in the Cymric caeriwrch, roebuck, and seems to be common to the Celtic languages. About one thousand years after the time of Ptolemy such a name well suited the people of these rugged parts, for this is how Matthew of Paris describes them in his quaint . c 1250ma f o p, "Eegio, montuos t e nemorosaa , gentem incultam generan t pastoraleme s , propter mariscu t mharuudinetume mounA "( - tainous and woody region, producing a people rude and pastoral, by herp ema givee 1Th thas n i t prepare Captaiy db n Thoma papes e hi "n r Th o r fo s Ptolemaic Geography of Scotland," in the Proceedings, vol. xi. (1875). It does not show the Lugi tribe as it should be shown, but as a place-name Logi ; and Nabasi, at the mouth of the Nauer, should be Nabaei. OCEAN ITS: DCTECALED 0NIUS X p OCEAN US GERMAN TC V S EUROPAE TABULA PRLMA . ALBIONIS INSULAE BRITANNICAE SITUS. 2 8 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , JANUAR , 190813 Y . reason of marshes and fens). This country, so full of straths and so suited for his favourite sheep, the Norseman dubbed Dalir, the Dales. Niale th n I Saga, translate y Dasente tolb dar d e thaw , t Earl Sigurd of Orkney held,'besides Caithness, the following lands in Scotland, viz. " Ros Morayd san , Sutherlan e Dales.th r Skened D "an d , howevern i , s Celtichi Scotland, without givin reasoy gan n whatever, jumpe conth -o st clusion that Dalir is to be found on the west of Scotland; and that it is to be identified wit Dalriade h th Irise th f hao annalists. From plaia n read- ing of the saga we should naturally expect to find the " Dales " in question not on the west coast, but in the immediate neighbourhood of Sutherland, and, further plurae th , l form dalir indicate singla t sno e dal t manyebu . Besides e Orcadesth n i ,f Torfaeuso s translatea , y Popeb d e heaw , r again of the " Dales," but this time they are associated with Caithness. Evidently by the Dalir of the Norsemen we are to understand the col- lection of straths extending from the borders of Caithness and along the north of Sutherland to Assynt in the west, known at a later period s Strathnavera collectioa o T . f valleyo n s e pasturagsuiteth r fo d f o e shee e Norsemepth n were pron o givt e e suc a nameh , r exampleasfo , , shoree Dalith f Hvamsfirtn so o r n Icelandhi e wesd Dalith f an o ,t n i r Norway—o e latteth f r Rumsdal d Gudbrandsdaan e l for a mpart . Strathnaver, that was the sheep-rearing country of the Caereni about e beginninth e Christiath f o g ne devote b d s saithaera o an t dwa ,t d e pasturtoth e 13tf flockeo th hn i scentury depopulates wa , a larg o t de exten d turnean t d into sheep-walk e earlth y n e i 19tsyear th hf o s century. It may well be called the country of the Caereni at the present day, for too much of it is under sheep and deer. LTJGI.—This tribe inhabited the coast side of Sutherland from about the river Ila at Helmsdale to the neighbourhood of Strathflete in the south, iu other words, wha stils i t l knowe Machair,th s na lowlan seae th , y db from Gaelic magh, a plain, the most fertile part of the county. An echo of this old name Lugi is still to be found in the parish name Loth,1 as also By Gaelic speakers Loth is pronounced Logh, with an emphatic y sound— 1 Second Stat. Account, Loth, p. 188. SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS IN ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 83 in Lotlibeg and Lothmore, flat swampy places that had to he drained about a century ago. The low, fertile stretch of rnaritime land now known as Louth, in Ireland, was in ancient times called Lug-mag,^ Lug-Held, showing a change from Lug to Louth not unlike that presented by the forms Lug and Loth in Sutherland. e namwell-knowa th f s o e wa g BunLu t Irish pagan divinity, whose dwellin s undergroundwa g d whosan , s Lugnasad,e wa festa y w da l no Lunasdainn, on the 1st of August,2 corresponding with the Saxon Lammas, originally als a opaga n feasts votivA . e offeringe th f o s first-fruits of the harvest.were rendered at Lugnasad, the god Lug was in somconnectey ewa d wit e probabilith th tillag d an s e; s wa ythai e h t a personificatio e humblth f o n e worm, from Gaelic lug, mud-worm, showing in Sutherland the adjective form lugaideaeh, long-necked like a worm. Even so the Celtic divinity Ogma, 3 the patron of letters, whence comes ogham writing, derive s namhi s e from Gaelic , lateog , r eag, a notch. With Lugi compare Lugu-baliam, the ancient name of Carlisle, as seen in the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 298, and also the Gaulish Lug-dunum Lyonsw no , . Both these towns e confluencstanth t a d f o e rivers, and in a fertile neighbourhood. But to follow up : two thousand years ago the Highlanders of Strathnaver were sheepmen and the low- land ers of the Machair were earth-tillers or given to agriculture, a distinction which still holds true.