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New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1915, Page 36

When the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, Britain at once realised its great importance to her sea routes and trade, and paid Khedive Ismail, father of Prince Hussein, .£4,000,000 for his shares. Last year' 5000 vessels passed through the canal, 3000 of which were British. The Book of Annayh is a celebrated Irish-Latin manuscript known as Liber Ar Machanus. This is kept in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The name of the writer of perhaps the entire work was Ferdonnack of Armagh, who wrote the first part of it in the year 807 or 808. This book is highly prized, especially by the Irish. It is, for the most part, a transcript of documents written in former times, and is of inestimable value as a record of the. early history and civilisation of Ireland, and . especially as containing the earliest writings which we have of St. Patrick. It is most important for the history of the Irish language, for it is the oldest manuscript extant of Old Irish arid of com tinuous narration in Irish prose,', * 5