Note 203 — Chapter IV · ETHNOLOGY OF BRITAIN.

The colony of Partholan seems to have been the same with the Firbolg. Partolan has three sons—Slainge, Rudhraige, and Laighlinne—and two of these, Slainge and Rudhraige, are among the leaders of the Firbolg. If we may consider the following passage from the Welsh Bruts as containing genuine tradition, they seem to have considered them as Iberian or Basque: ‘Gwrgant, on his return, as he was passing through the isles of Orc, came up with thirty ships, which were full of men and women, and finding them there, he seized their chief, whose name was Partholym. Hereupon this chief prayed his protection, telling him that they were called Barclenses, had been driven from Spain, and were roving on the seas to find a place of settlement, and that he therefore entreated Gwrgant to grant them permission to abide in some part of the island, as they had then been at sea for a year and a half. Gwrgant having thus learned whence they were and what was their purpose, directed them with his goodwill to go to Ireland, which at that time lay waste and uninhabited. Thither therefore they went, and there they settled, and peopled the country, and their descendants are to this day in Ireland.’