course directly to France_, had the advantage of a prosperous wind, and
in a few days landed upon the coast. He immediately set himself to
spoil and ravage the country near the river Loire. Here it was that the
General of the Dalraida found him, and both armies being joined, they
committed dreadful hostilities, which obliged the inhabitants to fly
and leave the country to the mercy of the invaders.

"The commanding officer of the Dalraida in this expedition was Gabhran,
the son of Dombanguirt, who brought over with him Eochaidh, the son of
Ena Cinsalach, King of Leinster. This young Prince had been formerly
banished into Scotland by Niall, but resolving to be revenged when
opportunity offered, he desired to be admitted as a volunteer in the
service, and was by that means transported into France. The King of
Ireland being informed of his arrival, would on no account permit him
to visit him, nor suffer him in his presence. But Eochaidh soon found
an opportunity to execute his design; for one day, perceiving the King
sitting on the banks of the Loire, he hid himself secretly in an
opposite grove on the other side, and shot Niall through the body with
an arrow; the wound was mortal, and he died instantly" ("General
History of Ireland," pp. 311--313). According to O'Donovan's
translation of "Muir N'Icht," Niall lived long enough to reach his
fleet at Boulogne, where he expired.

Notwithstanding, then, Lanigan's positive assertion, it is quite
evident from Keating's history that King Niall twice invaded Armorica;
first, after he had devastated the Island of Britain in the ninth year
of his reign, when St. Patrick was captured, and again in the twenty-
seventh year of his reign, when he sailed directly from Ireland to Gaul
and expired at Boulogne.