Page:Atlantis - The Antediluvian World (1882).djvu/427

This page has been validated.
THE IRISH COLONIES FROM ATLANTIS.
409

The Formorians were from Atlantis. They were called Fomhoraicc, F'omoraig Afraic, and Formoragh, which has been rendered into English as Formorians. They possessed ships, and the uniform representation is that they came, as the name F'omoraig Afraic indicated, from Africa. But in that day Africa did not mean the continent of Africa, as we now understand it Major Wilford, in the eighth volume of the "Asiatic Researches," has pointed out that Africa comes from Apar, Aphar, Apara, or Aparica, terms used to signify "the West," just as we now speak of the Asiatic world as "the East." When, therefore, the Formorians claimed to come from Africa, they simply meant that they came from the West—in other words, from Atlantis—for there was no other country except America west of them.

They possessed Ireland from so early a period that by some of the historians they are spoken of as the aborigines of the country.

The first invasion of Ireland, subsequent to the coming of the Formorians, was led by a chief called Partholan: his people are known in the Irish annals as "Partholan's people." They were also probably Atlanteans. They were from Spain. A British prince, Gulguntius, or Gurmund, encountered off the Hebrides a fleet of thirty ships, filled with men and women, led by one Partholyan, who told him they were from Spain, and seeking some place to colonize. The British prince directed him to Ireland. ("De Antiq. et Orig. Cantab.")

Spain in that day was the land of the Iberians, the Basques; that is to say, the Atlanteans.

The Formorians defeated Partholan's people, killed Partholan, and drove the invaders out of the country.

The Formorians were a civilized race; they had "a fleet of sixty ships and a strong army."

The next invader of their dominions was Neimhidh; he captured one of their fortifications, but it was retaken by the Formorians under "Morc." Neimhidh was driven out of the

18