388
CBUACHAIN.
must
have
been
when,
as the
poem
says,
it
was
"
closed
at
the
top
with
one
stone."
Were
these
Round
Towers
?
The
material
of
this
house,
we
are
told,
was red
yew,
carved
and emblazoned with
gold
and
bronze,
and so
thickly
set with
shining gems,
that
day
and
night
were
equally
bright
within
it. I
may
observe that
Aileach is
one
of
the few
spots
in Erinn marked
in
its
proper
place
by
the
geographer,
Ptolemy
of
Alexandria,
who
flourished in
the second
century,
or
nearly
two
hundred
years
before
the time of
Frigrind.
DESCRIPTION
OF CRUACHAIN.
There were
seven
companies
in it
seven
compart-
ments
from the fire to the
wall,
all
round
the
house.
Every compartment
had a front
of
bronze.
The
whole
were
composed
of
beautifully
carved red
yew;
three
strips
of bronze
were
in
the
front of each
compartment ;
seven
strips
of
bronze from the foundation of
the
house
to
the
ridge.
The
house from this
out
was
built
of
pine,
(gins).
A
covering
of oak
shingles
was
what
was
upon
it
on
the outside. Sixteen windows
was the
num-
ber that were
in
it,
for the
purpose
of
looking
out of
it,
and
for
admitting light
into it. A
shutter
of
bronze
to
each
window
;
a
bar
of
bronze
to each
shutter
;
four
times seven
ungas
of
bronze was what each
bar contained.
Ailill and
Medbh's
compartment
was made
altogether
of
bronze
;
and
it was situated
in
the
middle of
the
house,
with
a
front of silver
and
gold
around it.
There
was a
silver
wand
at one
side
of
it,
which
rose
to
the
ridge
of
the
house,
and
reached
all
round it from
the one
door to
the
other.
The
arms
of the
guests
were
hung
up
above
the
arms
o*
;;."!!
olbv:- nersons
in
that
house;
and
they
sat them-