The people of Ireland carried on considerable trade with England, Scotland, and the Continent. So constant was their communication with the Continent, that, as we are told by a great Roman writer, foreign merchants were, in those early days, better acquainted with the harbours of Ireland than with those of Britain.
The various articles mentioned in our records as brought from foreign lands to Ireland were imported to supplement the home produce; in which there was nothing more remarkable than our present importation of thousands of articles from foreign countries, all or most of which are also produced at home. The articles anciently imported were paid for in home commodities—skins and furs of various animals, wool and woollens, oatmeal, fish, salted hogs, etc.
CHAPTER XXI.
HOW THE PEOPLE HELD GREAT CONVENTIONS AND FAIRS; AND HOW THEY AMUSED THEMSELVES.
Public assemblies of several kinds and for various purposes were held all through Ireland; they were considered very important, and were looked forward to on the several occasions with great interest. Affairs of various kinds, some affecting the whole kingdom, some the particular province or district, were transacted at these meetings.
The laws were, when necessary, publicly recited to make the people familiar with them. There were councils or courts to consider and settle such matters as the claims of individuals to certain privileges; acts of tyranny by rich and powerful people on their weaker neighbours; disputes about boundaries; levying fines; imposing taxes for the construction and repair of roads; and such like. In fact the functions of these meetings of more than a thousand years ago were in many respects like those of our present county and district councils. In all the assemblies of whatever kind there were markets for the sale and purchase of commodities.
Some meetings were established and convened chiefly for the transaction of serious business: but even at these there were sports and pastimes: in others the main object was the celebration of games: but advantage was taken of the occasions to discuss and settle important affairs, as will be described farther on.
The three great assemblies of Tara, Croghan, and Emain were not meetings for the general mass of the people, but conventions of delegates who represented the kingdoms and sub-kingdoms, i.e., the states in general of all Ireland, and who sat and deliberated under the presidency of the supreme monarch. The word Féis [faish] was generally applied to these three meetings.