hey say,
are descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating
says: "We will set down here the branching off of the race of Magog,
according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland), which was called the
Cin of Drom Snechta."[43] It will be remembered how curiously O'Curry
verified Keating's statement as to the authorship of this work,[44] so
that his testimony may be received with respect. In the Scripture
genealogy, the sons of Magog are not enumerated; but an historian, who
cannot be suspected of any design of assisting the Celts to build up a
pedigree, has happily supplied the deficiency. Josephus writes:[45]
"Magog led out a colony, which from him were named Magoges, but by the
Greeks called Scythians." But Keating specifies the precise title of
Scythians, from which the Irish Celts are descended. He says they had
established themselves in remote ages on the borders of the Red Sea, at
the town of Chiroth; that they were expelled by the grandson of that
Pharaoh who had been drowned in the Red Sea; and that he persecuted them
because they had supplied the Israelites with provisions.

This statement is singularly and most conclusively confirmed by Rabbi
Simon, who wrote two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He says
that certain Canaanites near the Red Sea gave provisions to the
Israelites; "and because these Canaan ships gave Israel of their
provisions, God would not destroy their ships, but with an east wind
carried them down the Red Sea."[46] This colony settled in what was
subsequently called Phoenicia; and here again our traditions are
confirmed _ab extra_, for Herodotus says: "The Phoenicians anciently
dwelt, as they allege, on the borders of the Red Sea."[47]

It is not known at what time this ancient nation obtained the specific
appellation of Phoenician. The word is not found in Hebrew brew copies
of the Scriptures, but is used in the Machabees, the original of which
is in Greek, and in the New Testament. According to Grecian historians,
it was derived from Phoenix, one of their kings and brother of Cadmus,
the inventor of letters. It is remarkable that our annals mention a king
named Phenius, who devoted himself especially to the study of languages,
and composed an alphabet and the elements of grammar. Our historians
describe the wanderings of the Phoenicians, whom they still designate
Scythians, much as they are described by other writers. The account of
their route may differ in detai