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ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT.
'Book of Leinster,' that chieftain is said to have given one of his assailants a blow of his fist, which knocked out his brains."
"Next to hurling, the great out-door sport of ancient Ireland was horse-racing. Tailten and Carman were the places for it. There is much mention of horse-racing, a 'sport for kings'; but I am glad to say that there is no mention of betting at horse-races at all; but the Irish are mentioned as betting at chess, and betting heavily, too.
"As for hunting, Irish MSS. are full of it. The game most mentioned—in fact, the only game mentioned—is the deer. The usual way of hunting was with hounds. There are the names of more than a hundred hounds given in one of the Ossianic poems I have. The boar is, to my knowledge, only once mentioned, and that is in the 'Boyish Exploits of Finn,' where he is said to have killed a fierce, wild boar, and presented his first wife with its head. Chariot-racing was much practised. I do not remember any book in which there is any particular account of it; but I remember to have seen it mentioned in many places. Swimming is often mentioned. Another of Finn's boyish exploits was to drown nine boys who enticed him to swim with them in order that they might drown him. There is, also, some mention of boat-racing, but not very much. So much was the deer hunted, that, in many parts of Ireland, a hunt is still called fiach instead of seilg pro-at least, was practised; and that the 'cross-buttock ' was as well known in ancient as in modern Ireland:"—
"Then, said Dubh-Chosach, that he, himself, would go to fight with Diarmuid.... Then he and Diarmuid rushed upon one another, like wrestlers, straining their arms and their sinews. And this is the fashion of the sore strife that took place between them: They threw their weapons out of their hands, and ran to encounter each other, and lock their knotty hands across one another's graceful backs. Then each gave the other a mighty twist; but Diarmuid hove Dubh-Chosach upon his shoulder, and hurled his body to the earth, and bound him firm and fast upon the spot."
