of dyeing in colours were introduced; and the distinguishing
of classes by the number of colours they were permitted
to wear, was decreed. Ollamh ("the Wise") established
the Convention of Tara, which assembled habitually every
ninth year, but might be called oftener; it met about
the October festival in honour of Beleus or _Crom_; Eocaid
invented or introduced a new species of wicker boats,
called _cassa_, and spent much of his time upon the sea;
a solitary queen, named Macha, appears in the succession,
from whom Armagh takes its name; except Mab, the
mythological Queen of Connaught, she is the sole female
ruler of Erin in the first ages; Owen or Eugene Mor ("the
Great") is remembered as the founder of the notable
families who rejoice in the common name of Eugenians;
Leary, of whom the fable of Midas is told with variations;
Angus, whom the after Princes of Alba (Scotland) claimed
as their ancestor; Eocaid, the tenth of that name, in
whose reign are laid the scenes of the chief mythological
stories of Erin--such as the story of Queen Mab--the
story of the Sons of Usna; the death of Cuchullin (a
counterpart of the Persian tale of Roostam and Sohrab);
the story of Fergus, son of the king; of Connor of Ulster;
of the sons of Dari; and many more. We next meet with
the first king who led an expedition abroad against the
Romans in Crimthan, surnamed _Neea-Naari_, or Nair's
Hero, from the good genius who accompanied him on his
foray. A well-planned insurrection of the conquered
Belgae, cut off one of Crimthan's immediate successors,
with all his chiefs and nobles, at a banquet given on
the Belgian-plain (Moybolgue, in Cavan); and arrested