J. F. Campbell Collection > Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books

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SUL-MALLA of L U M O N:
o
E
M.
* T T 7 H O moves fo ftately, on Lumon, at the roar of the
V V foamy waters ? Her hair falls upon her heaving breaft.
White is her arm behind, as flow fhe bends the bow. Why doft
thou wander in defarts, like a light thro' a cloudy field ? The
* The expedition of Oflian to Inis-
huna happened a fliort time before Fingal
pafled over into Ireland, to dethrone Cair-
bar the fon of Borbarduthul. Cathmor,
the brother of Cairbar, was aiding Con-
mor, king of Inis-huna, in his wars, at
the time that Offian defeated Duth-carmor,
in the valley of Rath-col. The poem
is more interefting, that it contains fo
many particulars concerning thofe per-
fonages, who make fo great a figure in
Temora.
The exa£l correfpondence in the man-
ners and cuftoms of Inis-huna, as here de-.
kiibed, to thofe of Caledonia, leaves no
room to doubt, that the inhabitants of both
were originally the fame people. Some
may alledge, that Offian might transfer,
in his poetical defcriptions, the manners of
his own nation to foreigners. This objec-
tion is eafily anfwered. Why has he not
done this with regard to the inhabitants of
Scandinavia ? — We find the latter very
diiFerent in their cuftoms and fuperflitions
from the nations of Britain and Ireland.
The Scandinavian manners are remark-
ably barbarous and fierce, and feem to
mark out a nation much lefs advanced in a
ftate of civilization, than the inhabitants
of Britain were in the times of Offian.
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