Lough Rea is the name of the lake above referred to, which, from its proximity to Athlone, gives concurrent sanction to the derivation above assigned. For _Rea_, in Irish, corresponds to Malcoth, or Astarte, _i.e._ queen, that is, Shamaim, of the heavens; as _Righ_ does to Baal, or Molock, master, or king of the same; and both re-echoed in the _regina_ and _rex_ of the Latins.[226] I should further notice, that in the Barony of Castle-_reagh_--a name, which, though prefaced by a _modern_ adjunct, still testifies its devotion, at one time, to the moon--there has been, some years ago, dug up one of those beautiful plates of gold, shaped like a half-moon, at once confirmatory of the propriety of the local name, and of the nature of the worship of its primitive incumbents having been lunar or Sabian. This relic is now in the possession of the Downshire family. In reference to _Shannon_, to which I have before adverted, as being one of the names of the _Ganges_, it is not a little curious that _Durga_, the supposed divinity of this water, and whose festival is annually solemnised all through Hindoostan, should be represented by _Derg_, the supposed divinity of the _Shannon_, and should have its name still more perpetuated in the Irish word _Dearg-art_, that is, the abode of Derg, in Lough Derg, the lower lake upon this river. From its mouth to its source this noble stream is characterised with relics of primeval worship, corresponding, in form and tendency, with those on the banks of its Indian namesake. Scattery Island, or, as it should more properly be called, Inis Catty, situated very near where it discharges itself into the sea, retains a beautiful Round Tower, to which has been afterwards appended, in the Christian times, the mystical number of seven churches, and the ruins of which are still perceptible. The circumstance of an early professor of our heaven-taught religion having taken up his secluded residence within the precincts of this spot, has led many moderns to suppose that the river obtained its name from him, whereas the word _Shannon_ is derived from _Shan Aoun_, that is, the “aged river”; and the saint received his name from that _pious policy_ before explained, as well as from the constancy of his abode in its vicinity--not _vice versâ_.[227]