[293] That in many cases the quarters had become townlands as early as the year 1683, see _Tribes and Customs of Hy Many_, Introd. p. 454. See also Dr. Reeve's paper 'On the Townland Distribution of Ireland,' _Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy_, 1861, vol. vii. p. 483. [294] Many thousands of these circular enclosures are marked on the Ordnance Map of Ireland. [295] _Calendars of State Papers, Ireland_. 1607, p. 170. [296] Taken from Shirley's _Hist. of Monaghan_, part iv. pp. 480–482. [297] 'Neither did any of them in all this time plant any gardens or orchards, enclose or improve their lands, live together in settled villages or towns.'--_Discovery of Ireland_, p. 170. Compare this with the description of the Germans by Tacitus. It was, as Sir John Davies remarks, a condition of things 'to be imputed to those [tribal] customs which made their estates so uncertain and transitory in their possessions' (_id._). [298] _Early History of Institutions_, p. 113. [299] Skene's _Celtic Scotland_, iii. p. 381. [300] As to joint-tenancy between co-heirs, see tract called 'Judgments of Co-tenancy.' _Brehon Laws_, iv. pp. 69 _et seq._ [301] See the tract 'Crith Gablach.' _Brehon Laws_, iv. pp. 300 _et seq._ One grade has 'a fourth part of a ploughing apparatus, _i.e._ an ox, a plough-straw, a goad, and a bridle' (p. 307); another 'half the means of ploughing' (p. 309); another 'a perfect plough' (p. 311); and so on. And the size of their respective houses and the amount of their food-rent is graduated also according to their rank in the tribal hierarchy. There is a reference to 'tillage in common' in the 'Senchus Mor.' _Brehon Laws_, iii. p. 17.