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 c 
 
 TRACES 
 
 ELDER FAITHS OF IRELAND
 
 *5f an^ tbcrc be wbicb arc &C9lrou6 to be strangers fit 
 tbcir owne soilc, au^ forrainers in tbcir owne Cltie. tbeg 
 mas 60 continue, ani? tbcrein flatter tbcnisclvcs. ^ot 
 sucb lihc 5 bavc not written tbese lines nor tahen tbese 
 
 painCS/— Camden, 
 
 TUKPE E.ST IX I'ATKIA PEREGllIXAUI, ET IN EIS UEHIS QVM AD I'ATltlAM 
 PEUTINENT HOSPITEM ESSE.' 
 
 IN NOVA EKKT ANIMUS MLTATAS DICERE FOKMAS 
 COKPOKA.' 
 
 ' THOLQH KNEELING XAIIONS WATCH AND VEAKN, 
 DOES THE PKIMOltDIAL PURPOSE TURN?' 
 
 ONE ETERNAL AND IMMUTABLE LAW EMBRACES ALL THIXGS AND ALL 
 TIMKS.'
 
 I#'l'f^*^'"t
 
 TRACES 
 
 ELDER FAITHS OF IRELAND 
 
 A FOLKL ORE SKE TCH 
 ^ f^antiljook of \x\%\ Pre=(!i:i)ristian Erat(itioits 
 
 BY 
 
 W. G. WOOD-MARTIN, M.R.I.A. 
 
 Author of 
 
 Pagan Ireland, The Lake Dwellings of heland 
 
 The Rjide Stone Momtmenfs of heland [Co. Sligo and the Island of Achill) 
 
 History of Sligo, County and Town (3 vols.) 
 
 Sligo and the Enniskillcners 
 
 &>C., &'C. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 LOjS'DON, new YOKK, and BOMBAY 
 
 1901
 
 Printed at the 
 
 By Ponsonbv \ Weldrick.
 
 Eo tije lEemorg of 
 Jig Jilotjjer 
 
 2060785
 
 FOREWORD. 
 
 A SARCASTIC writer lately advised authors treating on Irish 
 subjects not to omit commencing their essays from the starting 
 point of the Biblical Deluge, so that no fact, direct or collateral, 
 in the matter under consideration, might escape notice. Critics 
 do not, as a rule, confine themselves between too narrow limits, 
 but the above recommendation, though good in its way, does not 
 give a wide enough field to work on, at least when Ancient Erin 
 itself is in question. The liberty, therefore, is taken of ignoring 
 the well-meant advice, of exceeding the prescribed limit, and the 
 subject is opened somewhere in the early Glacial, or perhaps in 
 the Tertiary period. The writer has, in fact, placed himself in 
 the unenviable position of the advocate who, opening his speech 
 with the sentence, " Before the birth of the world," was cut 
 short by the Judge who exclaimed, " Do you not think that we 
 might pass on to the Deluge? " 
 
 Many Continental writers throw back the origin of man to 
 even geologically distant ages, but evidences of this early 
 existence of our race rest on such fragile proofs that they are, 
 for the present, regarded with scientific scepticism by most 
 English authorities. On this subject the late Professor Huxley 
 observes, that " evidence has been adduced in favour of man's 
 existence in the Pliocene or even in the Miocene epoch. It does 
 not satisfy me ; but I have no reason to doubt that the fact may 
 be so, nevertheless." 
 
 Speculations on the Great Ice Age would also, at first sight.
 
 vui FOREirORD. 
 
 seem to have little connection witli primitive reli^t^ion. The con- 
 sideration of the subject has, nevertheless, an important bearing 
 upon the antiquity of man in the British Isles ; for as almost 
 all parts of the world, save these Islands, have been suggested 
 as the cradle of the human race, man must necessarily have been 
 some time in existence, and must have acquired some faint 
 religious ideas, before he found a home on these, at that time, 
 icebound shores. Thus it is sought to conduct the reader through 
 ages so vast that, if they were represented in figures, it would 
 probably only confuse the imagination. All we can say is that 
 it is a tale of progress, slow but sure, which began at the first 
 appearance of life, and will probably continue until time shall be 
 no more. 
 
 To work one's way behind the scenes of the prehistoric 
 past is, undoubtedly, most interesting. Not only are the results 
 obtained of great importance, but the mere process of searching 
 for facts, and then putting them together into a consistent whole, 
 is a continual source of pleasure and excitement ; so that an 
 attempt to pierce the mist which envelops the past, and to 
 review, to the best of our present knowledge, the primitive faiths 
 of the Eld, needs no excuse, nor preface, for a preface is but a 
 more or less lengthened excuse. 
 
 Christianity is generally supposed to have annihilated 
 heathenism in Ireland. In reality it merely smoothed over and 
 swallowed its victim, and the contour of its prey, as in the case of 
 the boa-constrictor, can be distinctly traced under the glistening 
 colours of its beautiful skin. Paganism still exists, it is merely 
 inside instead of outside. In a previous work entitled " Pagan 
 Ireland," the writer attempted to draw a picture of the early 
 civilization of the country, from an archaeological standpoint, by 
 analysis of existing material evidence of long-past life ; in the 
 present work the same svabject is approached from a folklore 
 point of view, by th« aid of legend and tradition. These two 
 aspects of the question, viz., those of archeology and folklore, 
 blend the one into the other, so that it is almost unnecessary to
 
 FOREWORD. IX 
 
 explain that, in many places, the same ground has to be traversed. 
 To avoid repetition, when this occurs, the text has been con- 
 densed, re-arranged, and re-written, so that it will doubtless be 
 regarded by readers of "Pagan Ireland," even at these points of 
 junction, as an almost new work. 
 
 Like a dissolving view, traditional folklore is passing away 
 before the eyes of the present generation. It was clear and 
 strong in the days of our fathers, and there is hardly a legend or 
 superstition narrated in the following pages for the currency of 
 which, amongst the peasantry, our grandfathers would not have 
 vouched. 
 
 The interest taken in Irish folklore is a comparatively new 
 phase of modern inquiry, but so much information has been 
 already garnered, that it is almost an impossible task to compress 
 an outline of the subject within the limits of a book of moderate 
 size. The study of folklore, greeted at first with contempt, has, 
 by the inevitable reaction which its acceptance into the ranks of 
 science occasioned, given birth to numerous extravagant and ill- 
 considered theories, for its study gives great scope to the imagin- 
 ation. But the latitude granted to the imagination should not 
 be based on mere guess-work, but on ascertained facts. 
 
 " Im Auslegen seyd frisch unci munterl 
 Legt ihr's nicht aus, so legt was unter." 
 
 A writer should carefully follow Goethe's advice as given in 
 the first line, and as carefully shun adopting that given in the 
 second line. A few of our folklore theories are at present merely 
 tentative, for no very definite assertion can yet be made with 
 regard to some points in the analysis of Irish traditional lore. 
 It has been remarked that, in this branch of investigation, a 
 theory to stand unchallenged must be more than clear ; it must 
 be not only in harmony with and explain facts known at the 
 time it is enunciated, but it must also be in harinony with 
 and explain new facts as they are brought, one by one, to the
 
 X FOREWORD. 
 
 light of day, or else it must give place to a new theory which 
 fulfils these requirements. 
 
 Every new investigation clears some point from obscurity ; it 
 is hoped that this attempt may clear up many. The opinions 
 expressed in the text are the individual views of the writer; 
 should the reader not agree with them he can form views of his 
 own, and he may, perhaps, in some instances, arrive at more 
 accurate conclusions than those set forth in the following pages. 
 But though minor theories may be subject to modification, it is 
 hoped that the main deductions are sufticiently well founded to 
 make them incontrovertible. 
 
 The idea of giving authorities in foot-notes was abandoned 
 for two reasons : it seemed too pedantic, and the work would 
 have expanded into inconvenient bulk ; but a compromise is 
 made, and books and papers consulted are enumerated, in a 
 Bibliography, at the end of the second volume. 
 
 Many changes in the arrangements of the subjects treated of, 
 suggested by literary friends who kindly looked over the proofs, 
 have been carried out ; but if every recommendation had been 
 adopted the writer would have found himself in the position of 
 the man in the fable, who listening to and adopting all the advice 
 tendered by onlookers, finally destroyed his property, for, "he 
 labours in vain who tries to please everybody." The writer's 
 object has been simply to discharge the useful but humble r6lc 
 of presenting to the general reading public, in condensed form 
 and in popular shape, the many sides of a great subject. Such a 
 treatment should interest those who have neither time nor oppor- 
 tunity to study, in more complete arch;T3ological and folklore 
 treatises and papers, each special branch of the great whole ; for 
 the fields of Irish archseological research are now so many, of 
 such vast extent, the workers therein are so numerous, and have 
 left behind them such voluminous records of their labours, that 
 a specialist has but little time to afford himself a general view of 
 what is going on around him. And yet all branches of archaeo-
 
 FOREWORD. xi 
 
 logical research are so interdependent, that it is impossible to 
 understand even one branch thoroughly without a sound know- 
 lodge of the entire series. 
 
 The present work has been also undertaken with the object of 
 showing that a great literary opening lies ready at hand for a 
 writer capable of rising to the occasion, and of doing for Irish 
 archaeology what a Prescott and a Motley have done for History 
 at large. The author wishes he could make the story as fasci- 
 nating to his readers as it is to himself, but he thought it was 
 better to have it told roughly than not told at all. Should 
 therefore the following pages be considered dull reading, the 
 failure must be attributed to want of skill rather than lack of 
 interesting material in the subject under review, which may be 
 designated the Romance of Religion in Ireland. An outline of 
 its development, together with a description of its stereotyped 
 customs and ceremonies — relics of the ancient world, still holding 
 their position amid the din and bustle of modern civilization — is 
 here presented. 
 
 The writer cannot conclude without returning thanks to the 
 public in general for the manner in which his previous work — 
 " Pagan Ireland " — was received, as well as to his numerous 
 critics, in particular, for their favourable and friendly criticism. 
 In the general purport of these notices there is indeed but one 
 statement to which he must take exception. Several reviewers 
 appear to consider that archaeological remains throw a mere side- 
 light on the history of Ancient Erin. Now the study of Irish 
 Archaeology is no mere side-light, and folk-lore is a most impor- 
 tant branch of Archaeology. Archaeology is the light, and the 
 only light, in which so-called " ancient history " must be judged 
 by dispassionate modern criticism. If the archaeological theories 
 of the present day are based on well established facts, it follows 
 that the reputed records of Ireland, prior to the date of the intro- 
 duction of Christianity, must, of necessity, be adjudged to be 
 mere emanations from the inner consciousness of comparatively 
 modern writers.
 
 xii FOREWORD. 
 
 It should be stated tliat the greater portion of Chapters I. 
 and II., Volume II., appeared in the pages of the " Ulster 
 Journal of Archaeology," and are reprinted by kind permission 
 of the Editor, Mr. F. J. Bigger, m.r.i.a. 
 
 Clkvekagh, Sugo, 
 
 Scptemhir, 1901.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Speculative Geological Archaeology, .... 1 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 Ancient Fauna and their Exterminator, . . .31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Early Man, ......... 78 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Man as Author, Artist, Sculptor, .... 12G 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Some Arch.eolochcal Problems, . . . . .171 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Borderland ok History, 200
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 Advent of St. Patrick — Side-lights on PA(tANisM, . 244 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 Ideas Regarding the Dead, ...... 285 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Gods, Goddesses, Ghosts and Goblins. . . . 841 
 
 Additional Notes, ........ 384 
 
 Index 889
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Figure Page 
 
 ideal landscape off the north coast of ireland in thf. 
 TERTIARY PERIOD, ..... Frpiitispiecc. 
 
 1 MAP SHOWING AREA OF VOLCANIC ACTION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND 
 
 IRELAND DURING PART OF THE TERTIARY PERIOD, . . 5 
 
 2 SKETCH MAP SHOWING LAND AROUT 400 FEET AROVE THE SEA, . 9 
 
 3 IDEAL IRISH LANDSCAPE IN THE RUDE STONE AGE, . . .11 
 
 4 IDEAL SKETCH MAP, SHOWING APPROXIMATE OLD QUATERNARY 
 
 CONTINENT AT ITS MAXIMUM EXTENT, ..... 20 
 
 5 LIGHTING THE FAMILY FIRK. A SCENE IN THE STONE AGE, . 34 
 
 G LIGHTING THE " NEED-iaRE. " A SCENE IN THE NINETEENTH 
 
 CENTURV, .......... 35 
 
 7,8,9 BONE ARROW-HEADS, ........ 40 
 
 10 A MODERN MAKER OF FLINT ARROW-HEADS, IN THK ACT OF 
 
 FABRICATING HIS GOODS, 44 
 
 11 RECENT REPRODUCTIONS OF ANCIENT FORMS OF FLINT ARROW- 
 
 HEADS AND AXES, ........ 45 
 
 1 2 GENERAL VIEW OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE OF BALL YNAMINTRA, 
 
 FROM NEAR THE CAPPAGH RAILWAY STATION, . . . 52 
 
 13 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTRY AROUND THE BALLYNAMINTRA 
 
 CAVE, SHOWING FLAT GROUND MARGINED WITH SCARPS, 
 
 REPRESENTING AN ANCIENT RIVER BED OR ESTUARY, . . 53 
 
 14 THE PREHISTORIC CAVES OF KNOCKMORE, ..... 54 
 
 15 THE POOKA AND ITS INVOLUNTARY RIDER, 56 
 
 IG " FOSSILIZKD IRISH GIANT," ....... 58 
 
 17 THE MAMMOTH. AN INHABITANT OF IRELAND DURING THE GREAT 
 
 ICE AGE, 60 
 
 18 MAMMOTH WITH CURVED TUSKS, 61 
 
 19 THE GIGANTIC IRISH DEER, OR CERVUS MEGACEROS, . . . C3
 
 XVI L IS J ■ OJ-' IL L USTRA TIO^ 'S, 
 
 Figure Pagk 
 
 20 THE KEIXDEKU. A.N IMIAlilTANT Ol lUELANU DVUIXG THE GREAT 
 
 ICE AGE, . 66 
 
 ■Jl THE DEATH OF THE GRIZZLY ]IEAU. A SCENE IN THE STONE AGE, . 67 
 
 22 RED DEER, .......... 68 
 
 23 SVPPOSED PITFALL FOR CATCHING DEER OR OTHER WILD ANIMALS, . 69 
 
 24 HEAD OF LONG-FACED IRISH FIG, . ... ... 70 
 
 25 ANCIENT BREED OF LONG-FACED IRISH FIG, ..... 71 
 
 26 CHALK CLIFFS, ANTRIM COAST RO.\D, NFAR GLEN ARM, SHOWING 
 
 UASALT COVEIUN(; THE FLINT-BEARING CHALK, ... 83 
 
 27 HAMMER-STONES AND RUDE FLINT IMFLE.MENTS OF THE PAL.liO- 
 
 LITHIC TYPE, ......... 87 
 
 28 TYPICAL FLINT FLAKE, 88 
 
 29 HAMMER-STONE, FOUND WITH ITS SURFACE BATTERED ALL OVER, 
 
 EVIDENTLY HY CONSTANT USE AS A POUNDER, ... 90 
 
 30 STONE AXE, RETAINING ITS AVOODEN HANDLE, FOUND IN PE.iT, 
 
 WHICH HAD FORMED THE RED OF A SMALL LAKE IN CUMREK- 
 LAND, . 90 
 
 31 SHELL-MOVNU, ISLAND OF ACHILL, . . . . . . 94 
 
 32 ANCIENT SHELL-MOUND, BROWN ISLAND, CORK HARBOUR, . . 94 
 
 33 ANCIENT SHELL-MOUND, BRICK ISLAND, CORK HARBOUR, . . 95 
 
 34 IDEAL SCENE IN AN UNDERGROUND DWELLING, .... 96 
 
 35 GRAIN-RUBBER, ......... 99 
 
 36 GRAIN-GRINDER STILL USED IN THE ARAN ISLANDS, ... 99 
 
 37 A GIFT FROM THE OCEAN. A SCENE IN THE STONE AGE, . . 100 
 
 38 CAPTURE OF A BASKING SHARK, ISLAND OF ACHILL. A SCENE IN 
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY^, . . . . . .101 
 
 39 WHITEPARK BAY, I,OOKING WEST. A TYPICAL SITE OF AN .\NCIENT 
 
 SEA-SIDE SETTLEMENT, 103 
 
 40 IDE.\L SCENE. INLAND SETTLEMENT OF THE STONE AGE, . . 105 
 
 41 IMAGINARY SCENE OF OLD SEA-SIDE LIFE IN THE STONE AGE, . . 106 
 
 42 SKELETON FRAMEWORK OF KAFFIR HUT, SOUTH AFRICA, SHOWING 
 
 ROOF AND SIDE-WALLS COMPOSED OF BENT BOUGHS, . . 107 
 
 43 SKETCH -PLAN OF UNCEMENTED STONE WALL IN AN IRISH PRE- 
 
 HISTORIC SEA-SIDE SETTLEMENT : THE SAPLINGS THUS SECURED 
 IN POSITION FORMINf; THE FKAMKWOHK OF SIDE- WALLS AND 
 HOOF, lOS
 
 LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS. xvu 
 
 Figure Page 
 
 44 SKETCH SHOWING MANNER IN WHICH THE CAPE WAS PIIOUABLY 
 
 WORN, . .110 
 
 4-5 SEVEN FIGURES ON THE CROSS OF KILKLISPEEN, SHOWING HOODS 
 
 TO CLOAKS, . . .111 
 
 4G THREE FIGURES ON THE CROSS AT TUAM, SHOWING HOODS TO CLOAKS, 111 
 
 47 "the lUISH MUMMY," ........ 112 
 
 48 GLIBB FASHION OF WEARING THE HAIR, . . . . .112 
 
 49 TWO HUNTERS ON THE NORTH CKOSS OF CLONMACNOISE, WITH 
 
 CONICAL CAPS, 113 
 
 50 ANCIENT COSTUME, . . .114 
 
 51 " WILD IRISHMAN," ......... 114 
 
 52 " WILD IRISHWOMAN," ........ 114 
 
 53 IRISH AND HIGHLAND COSTUMES, FROM MSS. AND EARLY PRINTED 
 
 BOOKS, ...... .... 115 
 
 54 HEAD OF MAORI CHIEF, SHOWING TATOOED PATTERNS, . . .158 
 
 55 "scribbles," or "wild runes," in the LETTERED CAVE AT 
 
 KNOCKMORE, COUNTY FERMANAGH, . . . . .159 
 
 56 INSCRIPTION AS GIVEN BY TIGHE IN " STATISTICAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE CO. KILKENNY," . . . . . . .160 
 
 57 INSCRIPTION AS ORIGINALLY CUT BY E. CONIC IN A.D. 1731, . 160 
 
 58 SAME INSCllIPTION REVERSED, ....... 160 
 
 59 REVERSED INSCRIPTION ON THE TORY HILL STONE, . . . 161 
 
 60 IDEAL LANDSCAPE OFF THE WEST COAST OF IRELAND IN THE GLACIAL 
 
 PERIOD, .......... 173 
 
 61 A RELIC OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD : AN ERRATIC. CLOGHVORRA OR 
 
 THE giant's STONE, . . . . . . . .175 
 
 62 THE INITIATORY STAGE IN THE INVENTION OF THE COMB, . . 182 
 
 63 COMBS FROM THE SITES OF LAKE DWELLINGS IN THE WEST OF 
 
 IRELAND, . . . . . . . . . .183 
 
 64 AMBER BEAD, WITH OGHAM INSCRIPTION, ..... 1S5 
 
 65 FINE GOLDEN-COLOURED BRONZE BELL OF THE CLASS STYLED 
 
 " CROTALS," FOUND AT DOWRIS, NEAR BIRR, IN A LARGE 
 BRONZE CALDRON, TOGETHER WITH OTHER ANTIQUES, . . 196 
 
 66 ECCLESIASTICAL BELL, MADE OP IRON, ..... 19l) 
 
 67 CHART FROM " LA NAVIGATION l'iNDE ORIENTAL," 1609, ON 
 
 WHICH THE TWO ISLANDS OF BRASIL AND BRANDON ARE 
 MARKED, . 214 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 xviil LIS! OF 1LLUS7 RATIONS. 
 
 FiouRE Page 
 
 (5S CHAltT HYTHE FKKNCH GKOOUAl'HKK UOYAL, IC'Jl, ON \V!II( II T11K 
 
 ISLAND OF HHASIL IS MAUKF.D, . . . . . .215 
 
 C9 SKKTCH MAI', SHOWING TIIK AI'l'KOXIMATi: I'OSITIOX OF THF. I'OK- 
 
 CLTINE AND ItOCKHALL BANKS WITH HEGAUD TO IllELANl), . 21G 
 
 70 I'KERENT APFEAllANCE PUESENTED liY LOUGH EYES AND ITS AUTI- 
 
 FICIAL ISLETS, ......... 222 
 
 71 FOKMER APPEARANCE PRESENTED KY LOUGH EYES AND IIS ARTI- 
 
 FICIAL ISLETS. AN ATTEMPTED RESTORATION OF THE ANCIENT 
 SETTLEMENT, . . . . . . . . .223 
 
 72 THE BURNING OF A CLUSTER OF LAKE-DWKLI.INGS. RESTOKATIOX 
 
 OF THE ANCIENT SINGLE-PIECE WAR CANOE IN THE SCIENCE 
 
 AND ART MUSEUM, DUBLIN, ....... 224 
 
 73 HIBEUNIA SURROUNDED WITH THE I'ltlNCIPAL PP.O DUCTS OF THE 
 
 KINGDOM. TITLE-PAGE OF SIR JAMES WARe's " DE HIHERNIA 
 
 ET ANTIQUITATIBUS EJUS DISQUISITIONES," .... 227 
 
 7-1 MAP OF IVERNIA AND THE BlUTTANIC ISLES, . . \To f(lCc\ 229 
 
 75 IRELAND ACCORDING TO PTOLEMAIC GEOGRAPHY, . . . 230 
 
 7() ROMAN MEDICINE STAMP FOUND NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GOLDEN 
 
 HILL, CO. TIPPERARY ; LETTERS IN INTAGLIO AND INVERTED, 237 
 
 77 IMPRESSION PRODUCED BY ROMAN MEDICINE STAMP, . . . 237 
 
 78 ROMAN ANTiaUES FOUND NEAR COLERAINE, ..... 238 
 
 7'J ALLEGED ROMAN ANTIQUES FOUND NEAR DONAGHADEE, CO. DOWN, 
 
 ABOUT THE YEAR 1850, ....... 241 
 
 80 BILINGUAL INSCRIBED STONE AT KILLEEN CORMAC, . . . 249 
 
 81 THE TRADITIONAL GRAVE OF ST. PATRICK AT DOWNPATRICK. . 265 
 
 82 INTERIOR OF " THE CHURCH OP THE FIRE " (tEACH-NA-TEINEDH), 
 
 SHOWING IN THE FOREGROUND THE POSITION OF " THE FLAG- 
 STONE OF THE FIRK," ...... 
 
 S3 "the FLAGSTONE OF THE fire" (lEAC-NA-TEINEDH) , 
 
 84 SCENE AT AN IRISH WAKE, ...... 
 
 85 TOBACCO PIPES ON A GRAVE IN A CHUHCHYARI) IN THE WEST Ob 
 
 IRELAND, ......... 
 
 S6 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGE.MENT OF CISTS IN A TUMULUS IN THE COUNTY 
 DOWN, ......... 
 
 87 THE KEENER, 
 
 88 MARlill HANN OSCAR THE DE.VTH -SONG OF OSCAR, 
 
 278 
 
 279 
 300 
 
 ,301 
 
 308 
 309 
 310
 
 LIS! OF ILLUSTRAIIONS. xix 
 
 Figure Pack 
 
 89 BIKd's-EYE VIEW OF THE CASHEL OF DUN CONOR, . . . 317 
 
 90 RATHKELTAIX, A LARGE EARTHEN FORT NEAR DOWNPATRICK. . 319 
 
 91 IDEAL RESTORATION OF A RATH, . . . . . .320 
 
 92 THE CHALLENGE TO THE ORDEAL, ...... 324 
 
 93 THE KEEN, 32G 
 
 94 THE REMAINS OF A PREHISTORIC BRITOn's DINNER. HI'MAN SKULL 
 
 AND BONES ARTIFICIALLY FRACTURED FOR THE PURPOSE OF 
 
 EXTRACTING THE BRAINS AND THE MARROW, . . . 339 
 
 95 THE YOUNG AND WHITE-ROBED PAGAN SPIRIT, .... 354 
 
 96 THE OLD AND BLACK -ROBED CHRISTIAN SPIRIT, .... 355 
 
 97 THE WAIL OF THE BANSHEE. ARCHETYPE OF THE KEEN, . . 3G7
 
 ERRATA 
 
 Pago 12, lino 7,/o)' "of tlichulls aiulof the stags" »r«f/"ot' Lulls and of stags". 
 81, ,, 36, /or '• embued " ?rrt(/ " imbued". 
 
 107, ,, b, for '■'■World Magazine^'' rend '■'Wide World Magazine". 
 132, ,, 31,/o?-"have" »r«<^"had". 
 164, ,, 2, /&>• "gather" j-mrf "together". 
 322, ,, 5, for "it is " read " are ".
 
 TRACES OF THE ELDER FAITHS 
 OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. 
 
 The unknown impressive and imposing — Tlie Glacial Period — Earliest move- 
 ment of the Ice Sheet a subject of controversy — The Ice Age divided by 
 some geologists into three distinct epochs, each of prolonged duration : 
 First Ice Age, Inter-Glacial Epoch, Last Ice Age — Quaternary animals — 
 Cave-men, Flint Implements of the gravel —Immense duration of time 
 covered by the Old Stone Age — Quaternary Continent — Its gradual curtail- 
 ment — Its Forests, Flora, and Fauna — Primeval Race — No recognizable 
 Crania found in Ireland — Later Period — Two distinct Races of Immigrants 
 — One race fair, the other dark — Hxtreme types of Crania — Abrasion of the 
 Teeth — The entire enigma of the past still invites solution. 
 
 The unknown is always both impressive and imposing. With 
 regard to the past of ancient Erin, no skilful writer yet has 
 arisen to lift the veil and show us the far-off days, and to depict 
 the many hordes of immigrants fighting for and appro})riating 
 the country. Whatever they were, let it be hoped tliat under 
 the influence of patient study they may be made, at least in 
 imagination, to live again, but at present, at the very best, the 
 process represents only a groping after truth. 
 
 Although civilized man is, in some respects, different from, 
 and an improvement on, the Eude Stone Age, and even on the 
 Polished Stone Age savage, yet that difference arises, not only 
 from inheritance, but also from the continual impress of his every- 
 day surroundings. Place a present-day infant back in the Piude 
 Stone Age, and his offspring Avould doubtless grow up little, if 
 
 B
 
 2 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCLIyEOLOGY. 
 
 anything, better than their fellows. Merged in their environment, 
 the intellectual enlargement of their descendants would keep pace 
 with, but would not outstrip, at any rate to any appreciable degree, 
 the improvement of the masses which appear ever to attain,-sl()w]y 
 but surely, a higher level. Although general appearance and 
 features may, in many instances, bear strong evidence as to 
 parentage, yet constitution of miiuT and bent of thought are 
 determined and directed by environnu^nt. The Khalif Ali, the 
 son-in-law of Mohammed, is credited witli the profoundly philo- 
 sophical remark that " j\Ien are more like the times they live in 
 than they are like their fathers." 
 
 One school of modern evolutionists attributes the existence 
 and continuance of the Universe to some unknowable mystery of 
 which it is impossible to assert that it takes any special heed of 
 the existence of man. According to the other school, the evidence 
 producible almost compels belief in a supreme and intelligent 
 Being, who has created all things with a definite purpose. 
 Some of the Eoman poets formed a rough working sketch of evo- 
 lution ; but this classic philosophy was a mere speculative idea, a 
 fancy picture of development, not based upon observation of facts, 
 but wholly evolved out of their author's own inner consciousness. 
 It was a happy guess at the truth, but iiothing more. It is not 
 thus that discoveries of the truth are made which revolutionise 
 the train of human thought. He who would build his theory for 
 all time must first make sure of his foundation. Nevertheless 
 we find " the same ideas, the same speculations, the same plays 
 of fancy, reproduced generation after generation, with modifica- 
 tions peculiar to the time, as though they w^ere living descendants 
 of original ideas which were brought into being before the dawn 
 of history." 
 
 L'rdess it be unreservedly accepted that the first human being 
 was created an adult with mature intellect and possessing an 
 innate knowledge of multitudinous subjects, and that his partner 
 originated in an even more remarkable maimer, a sui)position 
 to which archffiology, or indeed any other science lends no con- 
 firmation, the inquirer can but begin at the beginning, and draw 
 infei'ences only from such realistic data as are at present forth- 
 coming. There is much to be learned, even from what are 
 apparently the simplest things, in the study of arclueology ; and 
 when an outside inquirer asks questions, it is astonishing how 
 little is known on the subject, even by otherwise well informed 
 persons. An account of the correction of mistakes would furnish 
 nmch amusing matter. Few archaeologists, to say nothing of the 
 general ))ublic, have any idea of the extent to which opinions, 
 witliin the last few years, have become almost imperceptibly 
 modified in many important departments of arclueological
 
 GREAT GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. 3 
 
 science ; ■svhilst there have been many recantations of opuiions 
 occasioned and enforced by the deductions drawn from great 
 discoveries. The valet of Beau Brummel threw down a bundle 
 of his master's cravats, exclaiming; "These are our failures." 
 An archaeological writer may say the same of his fellow -workers' 
 discredited theories. 
 
 We are astonished at the magnitude of the results of geological 
 changes in the older epochs of the history of the Earih's crust, 
 and imagine that they were the product of a time when natural 
 causes were far more powerful than they are at present, but in 
 so doing we ignore the fact that those now operating, atmospheric 
 influences, and the wear and tear of rivers and oceans of the 
 present day, are producing, little by little, changes on the Earth's 
 surface, the total sum of which will one day be as great as any 
 which occurred in the past. Although there is irresistible evi- 
 dence of distinct ages there is, in truth, no real distinction, no 
 line of fixed demarcation, for one period glides into the next as 
 imperceptibly as an old year is followed by the neAv — 
 
 " There rolls the deep where grew the tree, 
 Earth, what changes thou hast seen ? 
 There where the long street roars hath been 
 The silence ot the central sea ! " 
 
 It is a curious fact that along various parts of the shores of 
 Lough Neagii fragments of fossil wood are frequently found. 
 From its appearance the peasants arrived at the conclusion 
 that the wood was originally holly, and further that the process 
 of petrifaction took exactly seven years. Not long ago fragments 
 of this fossil-timber were fabricated into whetstones, and vended 
 about with the cry : — ■ 
 
 " Lough Neagh hones, Lough Ncagh hones ! 
 You put them in sticks, you take them out stones ! '' 
 
 However, the conversion of these articles from wood into 
 stone must be transferred from modern to far distant geological 
 times, as they are found in Post-Pliocene Clay, to which they 
 have been transferred after silicitication, probably by the action of 
 ice, from their original position in older beds. The cypress 
 of which the fossilized remains arc found was a tall and stately 
 tree, towering to a great height, conical in outline, and the 
 quantity of these petritied fragments show how largely the 
 Tertiary forests of Antrim were composed of this class of timber. 
 Ireland in those days enjoyed a climate almost tropical in 
 character. Conifera, resembling the innnense trees of California, 
 covered the slopes of the Antrim highlands ; as to age, geological 
 
 B 7
 
 4 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. 
 
 experts tlifier as to the precise era to which they should bo 
 assigned : they go back, at any rate, to days when gigantic and 
 unshapely monsters crashed through the weird forests of the 
 Tertiary Age. 
 
 " Yes, where tlie huntsman winds his matin lioin. 
 
 And tlie crouched liari; hencatli tlio covert trembles ; 
 
 "Where shcplienls tend their tlocks, and grow their corn ; 
 Where fashion in our gay Parade assembles — 
 
 Wild horses, deer, and elephants have strayed, 
 Treading beneatli their feet old Ocean's races." 
 
 In the present day it is difficult to imagine, when surveying 
 a quiet fertile valley or a green undulating ridge, that in the 
 past, when Ireland was above water, its surface was, in places, 
 scarred with volcanoes, or to pictixro volcanic activity throughout 
 the vast period of geological time down to the middle of the 
 Tertiary Period, when the fissure-like eruptions of the basalt dis- 
 tricts of the North poured out intrusive lavas which now form 
 part of the surface of our land, and furnish soil to stimulate 
 vegetation. 
 
 A glance at the accompanying map (fig. 1) shows how the 
 North-western Highlands of Hcotland, together with an area 
 extending southwards and embracing a portion of Ulster, were 
 a centre from which radiated movements, which, in many 
 instances, appear to have totally changed the south-lying region. 
 When once formed, these highlands have, as a whole, ever after 
 held a relatively elevated position, and in the subsequent sinking 
 of the area, some peaks were never completely submerged. 
 
 It requires a great fund of reconstructive imagination to 
 conjure up to the mind's eye, this innnense region of volcanic 
 activity, this mass of lofty and probably snow-capped cones 
 towering into the clouds, every cone pouring forth floods of 
 liquid lava, like so many Vesuviuses, over the then land- united 
 Great Britain and Ireland. We speak of the Eternal hills, when 
 many of these ancient mountains have been planed down to 
 mere table-lands, and it is quite within the bounds of possibility 
 that some remote ancestor of man Avitnessed the transformation 
 scene, saw fire reigning apparently supreme, to l)e in turn 
 conquered by water. 
 
 The succeeding Glacial Period, in the Ihiropean area, has 
 been divided by some geologists into three distinct epochs each of 
 prolonged duration. The transition from one set of conditions to 
 another was gradual and slow, and at the culminating points of 
 each period climatic conditions and the relative proportions of 
 land and ocean were very dissimilar. The earliest movements of 
 the ice-sheet are a subject of controversy ; the later movements
 
 THE TER TIA R \ ' PERIOD. 5 
 
 are more or less distinctly marked, but there is still much 
 obscurity over the entire subject. The difficulty is further 
 complicated by observers arriving at difterent conclusions after 
 a careful study of the same phonnmona. A writer on the Ice 
 
 Map showiiij^ area of volcanic action in Great Britain and Ireland during part of the 
 Tertiary i'eriod. (From Professor Edward Hull's "Physical History of the 
 British Isles.") 
 
 Age is, therefore, on very debatabli! gi'ound ; probably no two 
 men would treat the subject from the same standpoint: and 
 a geologist, who good-naturedly looked over the proofs of this
 
 6 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. 
 
 chapter, enigmatically observed : " I think yonr way is as good 
 as anybody else's, which is all one can aim at ! " "I think so " 
 is the whole residuum which can be found after evaporating the 
 " prodigious pretensions" of tlic present-day sclinnl of " the great 
 Ice Age" geology. 
 
 In the first epoch, during which the climate was Arctic, the 
 European continent stood at the greatest elevation it ever 
 attained. The land in general, and all the mountain i-anges, 
 were much higher than at present, whilst Great Britain and 
 Ireland formed part of the Continent ; they were also connected 
 with northern Africa, by low lying land or desert tracts, of 
 which the Sahara now alone remains; the straits of (Hbraltar 
 were closed, and an isthnuas, of which Sicily and Malta are 
 vestiges, divided the Mediterranean into two lakes or inland 
 seas ; further eastward the European area was severed, by water, 
 of which the Caspian is a remnant, from tlie major portion of 
 Asia, with which it is at present connected. According to the best 
 evidence now procurable man did not appear in Ireland before 
 this great Glacial Age; but it is highly probable that, as the 
 outcome of steady research, man's antiquity will be dated much 
 further back. In this Period, from its normal home at the 
 North Pole, a great sheet of ice spread southward — hundreds, 
 and in places thousands, of feet in thickness — advancing from 
 the highlands of Scandinavia, covering Central Europe, the 
 entii'e basin of the present German Ocean, the larger portion 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, and shooting its ice-masses into 
 the ocean; for once the edge of the ice-sheet, which fronted the 
 sea, became water-borne, fragments of greater or less dimensions 
 would break away, just as they do from the ice-cliffs of the 
 Arctic and Antarctic regions at the present day, and float olf in 
 the form of bergs, drifting with the currents of the ocean into 
 warmer spheres, where they gradually return to their original 
 condition. A thousand feet is a moderate estimate for the 
 tliicknoss of this ice-cap. Greenland is covered to a far greater 
 depth, and the Antarctic sheet exceeds even that of Greenland. 
 Standing on the summit of Knocknarea, near the town of Sligo, 
 one can observe on it boulders carried from the metamorphic 
 ridge some miles inland ; this ridge again is covered with 
 limestone blocks from the interior of the country, so that the 
 ice which once desolated Ireland must have had a thickness 
 much in excess of a thousand feet. "Even with this moderate 
 tliickness," remarks Sir Eobert Ball, " an ice-sheet would form a 
 terrible engine. Every square inch of the floor over which this 
 frozen ocean ploughed its way, would have to sustain a pressure 
 of 400 lbs. ; every S(|uare foot of the country Avould, on an average, 
 sustain a load of about thirty tons." This period of intense cold
 
 THE FIRST ICE A GE. 7 
 
 was partly or wholly brouo-lit about by regularly recurring 
 cosraical phenomena, which it would be out of place here to 
 attempt to describe : let it suffice that the alternation of 
 climate at periods of almost incalculable length is a theory 
 held by many distinguished geologists, and which has, it is 
 alleged, been strengthened by recent astronomical discoveries. 
 
 A slight lowering of the temperature of the northern hemi- 
 sphere would cause a sufficient accumulation of snow to create 
 an Arctic condition, as this does not reqiiire intense cold to accom- 
 plish. In the central parts of Siberia there are frequently regis- 
 tered 100 degrees of frost, yet it possesses but few glaciers ; and 
 although the Earth is permanently frozen at a short distance below 
 the surface, the Avinter snow vanishes quickly every spring. A 
 dry atmosphere will not allow the accumulation of snow or of 
 glaciers, whilst a moderate fall of temperature below freezing- 
 point, joined with a precipitation of moisture, will occasion an 
 enormous accumulation of snow. It will help us to understand 
 this if we remember how uncomfortable a boat is on a rainy day; 
 every drop of water that falls over the area of the skiff is retained, 
 the occupant is surrounded with moisture that possesses no means 
 of escape. Matters are even worse if it snows when the tempera- 
 ture is below freezing-point ; for whilst heat dissipates water by 
 carrying it away in vapour, with frost nothing escapes — the 
 greater the cold, the greater the precipitation. Thus with a 
 lower temperature, with mountains to cause precipitation, and 
 with moisture-laden oceanic winds, immense fields of snow and 
 of ice would certainly accumulate in the British Isles. 
 
 The slowly forward-creeping northern ice-cap created in 
 its passage a vast amount of stiff, stony mud or clay, called 
 " boulder clay," owing to its characteristic feature being the 
 prevalence of large stones or boulders ; but these do not, as a rule, 
 appear to have been transported from any great distance. The 
 question may thus be raised, was there a universal glaciation or 
 merely local glaciers? Can the Ice Age be regarded as but a period 
 wlien the Euro])ean area was greatly elevated and greatly extended, 
 when the higlier valleys and plateaux bore immense local, as 
 well as some more or less coalesccnt glaciers : a period when 
 there existed, side by side, a dual ilora and a dual fauna; that 
 of the snowticlds and glaciers, and that of the warm valleys and 
 plains beneath. 
 
 The work accomplished in past ages by ice, or by glaciers, 
 has been of the greatest importance to the present day farmer ; 
 but for their action many districts now covered with rich soil, 
 derived from pulverised rock-surfaces, would otherwise bo repi-e- 
 sented by a barren, stony desert. There is scarcely a valley 
 throughout Ireland whoso rounded, undulating, encircling liilla
 
 8 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCITJEOLOGY. 
 
 do not tell of the plough-like work of the glacier. Our rivers 
 iiow through broad valleys, smoothed by ice, and by atmospheric 
 wear and tear. The low lands have been covered with sedi- 
 ment, the transported grindings of the rocks, Avhilst lakes 
 formed during the Ice Age, are again slowly silting up, and 
 instead of unstable, watery expanses, often present firm and 
 broad meadow-lands. Eound the coast line the older geological 
 formations rise in a broken ring of high ground, attaining, in 
 places, the altitude of mountains, as if to protect the great 
 central plain from any further encroachment of llie Ocean. 
 This central area consists of a gently undulating sheet of 
 Carboniferous limestone, dotted here and there witli isolated 
 hills or hill-groups. 
 
 In the inter-(7lacial ]"'poch the greater portion of the present 
 area of Oreat r>ritain and Ireland was submerged : the highlands 
 and the sunnnits of the mountains formed an archipelago of islets 
 (see fig. 2). In this time of deep submergence the climate became 
 more temperate, like that of the present day; the middle sands and 
 gravels then deposited contain many shells identical with existing 
 species. Sometimes these deposits rest directly on the Lower. 
 Boulder Clay, as at Howth and Killiney, whilst in other places 
 they rest directly on the older rocks, and cover also large tracts 
 in the central plain of Ireland, and are present on the Dublin 
 and Ulster mountains at an elevation of about 1200 feet. 
 
 After a prolonged interval the land began again gradually 
 to rise and the climate became severe ; this stage is marked 
 by layers of what are termed "Upper Boulder Clay." In the 
 movement of elevation there appear to have been occasion- 
 ally pauses of very lengthened duration. These pauses can be 
 recognised by lines of old ocean- side caverns, whilst the best 
 known and last line of elevation can be traced around the sea 
 shores at a height of about twenty-five feet above the present 
 sea-level. 
 
 The cold was not, however, so intense as during the first Arctic 
 Period, and the snow-fields and glaciers were on a very much 
 smaller scale ; the distinguishing mark of this period — the Upper 
 Boulder Clay resting on the marine gravels — has been noticed in 
 many places throughout Ireland. The idea commonly prevalent 
 that land within Arctic influence is always dreary and devoid of 
 life is erroneous ; for, in the polar circle, life in the present day 
 is, in the summer season, almost exuberant ; birds appear every- 
 where ; flowers, identical with our own in genera, and often in 
 species, flourish as in an Irish meadow in summer time. Even in 
 the period of greatest glaciation oases may have remained in 
 some of the highlands of Ireland, above, and therefore uncovered 
 by, the polar ice-stream. In these oases were probably to be
 
 THE INTER-GLACTAL PERIOD. 
 
 9 
 
 found an Arctic ve,2:etation supporting the Arctic hare and the 
 reindeer, together with other hardy animals. 
 
 Chmatic conditions gradually ameliorated ; the land slowly rose ; 
 the snow dwindled on the mountain tops ; the glaciers vanished ; 
 Continental plants and animals invaded Great Britain ; but 
 Ireland appears to have remained semi-isolated. Standing on 
 the cliffs of Antrim, the probability of the former continuity of 
 
 Fio. 2. 
 
 Sketch Map showing l.iiul about 400 feet abovo the st-a, in black, present 
 area shaded, the 50 and 100 fathom lines by dotted lines. 
 
 Ireland with North Britain is very apparent. On a clear day 
 the Paps of Jura float like distant clouds on the horizon ; 
 Cantyre stands out clear and prominent ; the Isle of Arran, with 
 Goat Fell, appears as lofty, but less distinct, and the outline of 
 Ailsa leads tlie eye onward along the sweep of the Hcottish 
 coast Avhich shows distinct or faint as the sun lights it up or 
 the cloud-shadows rest upon it. If one might speculate on the
 
 10 SrECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCIL.EOLOGY. 
 
 past liistory of this scene, one could iniaj:>inc these eminences far 
 more lofty than at present, each cro^Yne(l with its ice-cap and its 
 glaciers lording it over the plains, on which roamed strange 
 animals (see fig. 3), the prey of very primitive men, until the 
 level country was again invaded by the resistless ocean surge. 
 Egypt has been styled " The gift of the Nile" ; Ireland may be 
 described as the residuum which the joint effort of water and ice 
 was unable to remove. This was a time when men eked out their 
 scant vocabulary with gestures, and talked together as animals 
 now do, when an estuary, or a broad and sluggish river, expand- 
 ing at intervals into large marsh-surrounded lakes, flowed through 
 a wide and gently undulating country now covered by the waters 
 of the Irish Channel, when, in southern Britain, cave-bears, lions, 
 sabre-toothed tigers, and Avolves lurked in dens in the rocks, when 
 grizzly bears, hyenas and apes frequented the forest, when the 
 mammoth and wild-horse scoured the plain, when beavers erected 
 dams on the lakes and rivers, and shiny black hippopotami 
 sported in their waters. It was probably this land-connexion 
 between Scotland and Ireland which permitted Quaternary 
 mammals, such as the mammoth, Irish big horn, reindeer, and 
 wolf, to migrate into the country, as all living and extinct 
 mammals of Ireland, with the exception of the grizzly bear, have 
 been found also in Scotland, but a considerable number of 
 I^juglish extinct animals are absent from Ireland as well as from 
 Scotland. In this theory — that of the late Professor Leitli Adams 
 — Professor 11. F. Scharff appears to agree, for he says that the 
 results obtained from inquiries instituted into a portion of the 
 Irish fauna are as follows : — " Ireland was in later Tertiary times 
 connected with Wales in the south, and Scotland in the north, 
 whilst a freshwater lake occupied the present central area of the 
 Irish Sea. The southern connexion broke down at the beginning 
 of the Pleistocene Period, the northern connexion following soon 
 after. There is no evidence of any subsequent land-connexion 
 between Great Britain and Ireland." The Irish Sea and St. 
 (ieorge's Channel Avere represented by a series of lagoons and 
 a large broad cormecting channel which joined the ocean some 
 hundreds of miles from Land's End. The eastern streams of 
 England formed tributaries of a gigantic river Avhich, joining 
 others from the Continent, discharged its waters into the North 
 Sea. Tins was the time of the great fauna of England. The 
 greater number of the largest mammals are now either extinct, 
 or no longer found on English soil, but their osseous remains have 
 occurred in association with objects of human manufacture. The 
 principal mammalia are as follows — (animals whose remains are 
 most commonly found are denoted by an asterisk): — The brown-, 
 cave-,''"' and grizzly bear''' ; cave hytena,''' cave lion,''' sabre-toothed
 
 12 SPECULATJVJ-: (JEOLOGICAL ARCIT^l^OLOGY. 
 
 tiger; the Great Irish Deer, or Megaceros, reindeer, uriis, bison, 
 woolly-haired rhinoceros," nnunnioth, wild-horse, wolf, glutton, 
 large fox, and beaver. Comparatively few of the foregoing have 
 been identified as present in Ireland; yet even with a restricted 
 number the nocturnal sounds would, in comparison with those now 
 heard, be strange and startling. Wo should have the bellowing 
 of the bulls and of the stags, the growling of bears, the neighing 
 of wild horses, and the howling of wolves. 
 
 There is a vast difiei-oncc between the Mammalian fauna 
 of the Pala'olithic or Older Htone Age and that of the Neo- 
 lithic or Polished-stone Period ; the gap between the two eras 
 represents an immense period of time during which the fauna 
 of the country were undergoing transformation by the migration 
 of some forms and the extinction of others, for the continued 
 existence of all animal and vegetable life is an individual 
 struggle. All are exposed to the attacks of enemies, and, except 
 under special conditions none but the strong and healthy arrive 
 at maturity and continue to propagate their species. 
 
 Examination of deposits filling deep basins of ancient lakes 
 aflbrds a most reliable record of climatic changes from the close 
 of the first great Ice Age to the comparatively modern period 
 when these silted-up hollows were clothed with dense forests, 
 buried in their turn under a vast accumulation of peat. The 
 Bog of Ballybetagh, Co. Dublin, which covers the site of two 
 ancient lake-beds, may be taken as a typical example. Its 
 historian, Mr. W. Williams, is a good authority on the subject, 
 as he spent ten weeks in nuiking scientific excavations in the 
 locality. Ballybetagh Bog, nine miles from Dublin, lies in a 
 small valley 800 feet above sea level. Its elevation precluded the 
 basin from receiving the drainage of any extensive sweep of 
 country ; hence the clays with which this hollow is filled could 
 not have been transported from a distance, but were swept into 
 it from the surrounding hills. 
 
 The underlying stratum of Boulder Clay, of unknown thick- 
 ness, deposited in the great Ice Age, rests on the granite. Next 
 to it is a line reconstructed Boulder Clay without stones. The 
 next deposit, yellowish-grey in colour, almost entirely composed 
 of vegetable matter, has been subjected to great pressure. The 
 succeeding layer has all the appearance of lake sediment, and 
 bears witness to a time during which the gigantic deer, the Irish 
 Big-horn or Megaceros, appeared, leaving its skeletons in this 
 de[)osit. These animals may have been drowned after having 
 mired and stuck fast in the thick tenacious re-arranged 
 Boulder Clay. The next deposit consists of dehrh from the hills 
 brought down by frost and rain, filling the lake beds, and prepar- 
 ing the surface for the growth of peat of no great thickness, its
 
 THE LA ST ICE A GE. 13 
 
 accumulation retarded by the elevation of the district. It contains 
 trunks of oak and alder, but the Fir-forest Age is not represented. 
 According- to the evidence afforded by these successive deposits, 
 the Gigantic Deer lived in Ireland during the period of the great 
 English fauna, wandering over immense grass-covered prairies, 
 through which it was free to roam safely, as the largest 
 predatory animal was the wolf. It might be thought that such 
 a huge animal would require a greater expanse of pasturage than 
 would be afforded by the present land area, but Ireland was then 
 of far greater extent, protruding northward, westward, and south- 
 ward into the present ocean. 
 
 Observe the circling ripples made by a stone thrown into 
 tranquil Avater; close at hand they seem to crowd and jostle each 
 other, but as they expand, and spread further and further from 
 their origin, they become less defined and more feeble until 
 they finally die away. Osseous remains of animals are, in the 
 same way, always discovered in greatest abundance in the 
 innnediate vicinity of their former habitat, and, as the distance 
 from it increases, signs of their former presence constantly 
 diminish until all traces disappear. Thus, the great number of 
 the skeletons and immense horns of this gigantic deer that are 
 found, points to Ireland having formed at one period its chosen 
 home. 
 
 In the rock-shelters and caves of the Continent, especially 
 in France, the deposits encrusted in stalagmite, covered to 
 a greater or less depth with accumulated debris, are almost 
 exclusively refuse heaps, containing fractured and unfractured 
 bones of animals which served for the food of their former 
 inhabitants, mixed with human osseous remains, lost or injured 
 tools, utensils, and weapons, generally lying near or around the 
 cooking-hearth. The object in resorting to rock-shelters and caves 
 was doubtless to gain protection from the weather. Who these 
 people were, at what date they existed, or whether they have any 
 descendants now on Earth, is at present impossible to decide. If 
 the objects shown as specimens of their skill be really the 
 product of their hands, with them indeed the artistic faculty 
 was abnormally developed. Artistic taste appears to be entirely 
 wanting among men of the succeeding Polished 8tone Period. 
 There was, as far as archaeological research at present extends, 
 no earlier race from Avhich these cave-dwellers were derived, 
 and they left no successors. When the glaciers retreated, 
 this picture-making race disappeared, probably following north- 
 ward the reindeer and other animals on which it subsisted. 
 Centuries upon centuries glided by; upon the same soil, tribe 
 succeeded tribe, but there was no re-appearance or even approxi- 
 mation to the skill and artistic feeling displayed by these
 
 14 SPECULA Tl VE GEOL OGICA L A RCH^OL Od ) '. 
 
 luystorious cave-dwellers, who, iji;noriint of the use of hron/.e, of 
 pottery, of agriculture, and having domesticated neither the rein- 
 deer nor the dog, Avere yet endowed with a faculty of depicting 
 auinuil life, with a few skilful strokes, that would do credit to a 
 nineteenth-century artist in a Parisian atelier. 
 
 The question may naturally he asked, at what period a\ ere the 
 rude flint implements, found in Ireland, deposited in the gravels 
 in which they are discovered emhedded, often in great quantities ? 
 Accustomed to reckon terrestrial affairs hy hrief historical periods, 
 we nuiy well hesitate in fixing a very definite date ; suffice it 
 that the era of deposit goes back to a time Avhen Great Britain, 
 and probably also Ireland, formed part of the European continent. 
 The Glacial Period had been succeeded by one comparatively 
 genial ; the face of the continent was at a great altitude ; the beds 
 of rivers were at a higher level than formerly, and the extended land- 
 surface made them subject to floods Avhich gradually excavated 
 the wide hollows of the valleys. Take one example : a salient 
 feature in the geology of Sligo is the enormous denudation of 
 the Carboniferous beds in the north-east of the county. It may 
 assist in conveying an idea of this general denudation if we try 
 to estimate the quantity of material that would be requisite to 
 fill up even one of the excavated valleys — say Glencar. A mass 
 adequate for that purpose would need to be nine miles long, a 
 breadth of two miles at each end, and one in the centre, with a 
 vertical thickness ranging from 400 to 1100 feet; yet the gap, 
 large as it is, forms but a small part of the total excavation that 
 has left the adjacent mountains standing out in conspicuous 
 relief. What a lengthened period this, and other similar exca- 
 vations have been estimated to occupy, has been calculated from 
 observations made in the valleys of well-known rivers. The 
 weak part of the argument is, that it is taken for granted that 
 the rate of erosion was always the same, and no account 
 appears to be taken of a probably much accelerated denuding 
 action, aided by ice or other powerful agents. It may therefore 
 be suggested that the transformation in the Irish, as well as in 
 the European landscape, might have taken place in a much 
 shorter, or in a much greater space of time than has been calcu- 
 lated by eminent geologists. G. II. Kinahan, in his (jeohiifi/ <>l' 
 Irchoid, draws attention to the fact that " when ice first invadey 
 a country it effects great denudation, rapidly Avearing aAvay and 
 removing, except in protected places, all loose and soft portions 
 of the surface ; but when the solid rocks are reached the work 
 goes on more slowly, till eventually the surface becomes so 
 rearranged, even, and polished, that the ice has very little power 
 of denudatidti." With regard also to the slowness of erosion, 
 it has been estimated that the Thames lowers its basin at the
 
 THE LA ST ICE A GE. 15 
 
 rate of about one foot in 12,000 years ! Another calculation 
 estimates the average ero.sion of English valleys at about one 
 foot in 1200 years. 
 
 Sir John Lubbock has accepted 200,000 years as an approxi- 
 mation in regard to the time when the European rivers, fed by a 
 much greater expanse of land, and a heavier rainfall than at 
 present, first began to holloAv out the valleys of our existing 
 streams, now but tiny rills when compared to their splendid prede- 
 cessors. Again, it is often asserted that palaeolithic implements 
 were in use as far back as the Tertiary Period, which it is calcu- 
 lated extended to some 300,000 years. Between this age — which 
 was thousands of years before the great Ice Age ^ and that of 
 neolithic man, there was a gap of some quarter of a million years. 
 Then we have the age during which man was contemporary, in 
 Ireland, with the gigantic big-horn and with the reindeer, only some 
 50,000 odd years ago. It requires an effort to grasp calculations 
 so stupendous. The subject should be treated broadly, by means 
 of comparison and analogy, without reference to dates. Let it 
 be modestly suggested that modern geologists are, in these 
 matters, making sweeping assertions upon little certain foun- 
 dation, and are, probably quite unintentionally, copying tlie 
 example of those ecclesiastics who placed a chronology of the Old 
 Testament, drawn up by themselves, in the margin, and expected 
 every one to interpret the text by their calculations. In the same 
 way geologists are placing their chronology on the book of nature, 
 and attempting to mark out the period of time in which the all- 
 ruling power accomplished the work. Let us be content, Avhile 
 we have only the information at present at our disposal, to 
 believe that the periods under review took an immeasurable 
 time, and that geologists have in this matter probably made 
 a mistake in proportion even greater than the discrepancy 
 between Archbishop Ussher's chronology and known geological 
 data. It must, however, be acknowledged that, as a rule, 
 geologists are very reticent with regard to dates ; but in the 
 matter of the glacial epoch, geologically a comparatively late, 
 and indeed almost historical event, they have broken through 
 their reserve and have given an almost stereotyped numerical 
 determination : accordingly, when even distinguished geologists 
 give dates for things geological, it behoves the uninitiated to 
 receive (with caution) whatever these specialists decree. Some 
 Avriters state that it is not fifteen thousand years since the last 
 ice melted oft" the Highlands of Ireland, and one of the numy 
 objections marshalled against the ingenious theory of the Ice 
 Age is that the lingering effects of tlie last great eccentricity 
 of the Earth's orbit continued down to forty thcfusand years 
 ago, whicli period is insufficient to account for the recentness
 
 u; sri'icuLATWh: geological archaeology. 
 
 of the close of the Glacial Poriod. In fact "the unknown 
 elLiiients of the problem are so numerous," remarks Professor 
 Ci. F. Wright, " and so far-reaching is their possible scope, that a 
 cautious attitude of agnosticism, with respect to the cause of the 
 Glacial Period, is most scientific and becoming." 
 
 Archbishop Ussher was diffident when compared with the 
 early prelates of the Church who posed as philosophers as well 
 as bishops. " The lirst congress of ecclesiastical savants that 
 ever dealt with and fixed the beginning of all things to their 
 own entire satisfaction, met at Jerusalem in the beginning of the 
 Ihiid century." Their avowed object was to settle the exact day 
 on wliicli the Earth sprang from Chaos, in order that sonu-thing 
 salutary might be ordained respecting the observation of Easter. 
 The process by which they arrived at the desired conclusion is 
 told at considerable length by Bede, which Dr. Dorau thus 
 amusingly summarizes: — "The world was made on Sunday, in 
 the spring time, at the equinox, on the eighth of the Kalends 
 of April, when the moon was at the full ! The course of the 
 argument which sustained this very definite conclusion was 
 this : — God rested on the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, or 
 Saturday, after making the world in six days. He nuist, there- 
 fore, have begun on the first, which was Sunday; then, as the Earth 
 brought forth grass arul herb-yielding seed, and trees yielding 
 fruit, the not very logical conclusion was, that the world started 
 on its career in fair spring time. As God divided the light and 
 the darkness, the day and night which He had created, into 
 e(]ual parts, there scarcely required further proof to show that 
 this must have been the equinox — in other words and for greater 
 accuracy, the eighth of the Kalends of April ; and finally, the 
 moon must have been full at the time, seeing that God made 
 the two great luminaries, that ' they might give light upon the 
 earth, the greater luminary in the beginning of the day, the 
 lesser one in the beginning of the night. It could not have been 
 tluis,' said the bishops, ' unless the moon were at full.' ]5y this 
 sort of reasoning the prelates established an error that was long 
 accepted for truth ; and ]irobably no vulgar fallacy was ever con- 
 ceived, fashioned, forged, and beat into shape with such circum- 
 stance and ceremony as this which dated the Creation on a spring 
 Sunday in j\Iarch when the moon was at the full ! " Does it not 
 afford food for profound reflection that, a few hundred years ago, 
 if anyone had been so independent as to doubt this absurd teach- 
 ing, and had openly expressed dissent, he would have run a good 
 chance of being burnt, as an example to others, to believe, with- 
 out demur, what was ecclesiastically decreed. No wonder that 
 science is continually engaged in a grim warfare of aggression 
 against the forces of obscurantism.
 
 CLERICAL SCIENCE. 17 
 
 To the credit of theologians, it must be admitted that they 
 have now generally recognised that the Scriptures were not 
 intended to serve the purpose of a scientific hand-book ; though, 
 while religious writers generally have given up the attempt to fix 
 the date of the beginning of the world, some lew, with more zeal 
 than discretion, and in spite of a warning they at any rate might 
 be expected to respect, still busy themselves in fixing an exact 
 date for the end of the world. A late writer gives the very day 
 and hour for the end. One might imagine that the innumerable 
 recorded failures of such predictions ought to have suggested 
 caution. But it is not after all upon any supposed system of 
 natural science that such persons found their calculations, but 
 un the method of giving mystical value to numbers. The 
 "seventy weeks" and the "little horn," which occupy so im- 
 portant a place in their works, can, by a little scientific manipu- 
 lation, be made suit almost any date and any name that may be 
 desired. 
 
 As a rule, however, theologians rush in Avhere laymen fear to 
 tread ; it has been the same from the early centuries of Christianity 
 to the present day ; from the first Council of the Church to the 
 nineteenth-century curate, who (from the pulpit) lays down the 
 law to his own satisfaction on subjects that his master, the 
 parson, would probably decline to discuss. 
 
 Clerical attempts to explain away traces of the former presence 
 of the mammoth and other great beasts, its contemporaries, in 
 the British Isles, do not call for refutation, but may be mentioned 
 on account of their unintentionally amusing character. According 
 to one of these theories, the mammoth and its congeners were 
 brought over to the British Isles by the Phcenicians, who sailed 
 the seas with a kind of travelling circus in order to amuse and 
 astonish the natives with whom they traded. In an address to 
 the British Association in 1888, a speaker quoted from a re- 
 ligious journal an amusing instance of the promulgation of this 
 theory. Writing on the subject of British bone caves and the 
 discoveries made in them, the author of the article in question 
 states, that he desires to present to the public his own views with 
 regard to these caves and the phenomena connected with them. 
 According to this authority, " a great many of the old mines in 
 Europe were opened by Phoenician colonists and metal workers a 
 thousand years before the Komans had set foot in ] Britain, which 
 accounts for the various floors of stalagmite found in most caves, 
 and also for the variety of groups of bones embedded in tliem. 
 The animals represented by them when living were not running 
 wild about the hills devouring each other, as science men suppose, 
 but were the useful auxiliaries and trained drudges of the miners 
 in their work. Some of them, as the bear, had simply been 
 

 
 18 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. 
 
 hunted and used for food, and others of a fierce character, as the 
 h}'ena, to frighten and keep in awe the native l^ritons. The 
 hirger species of Mammalia, as the elephant, the rhinoceros, and 
 hippopotamus, and beasts foreign to tlie country, the liomans, no 
 less than the Phoenicians, had every facility in bringing with tluan 
 in their ships of commerce from Carthage or other of the African 
 ports. These, with the native horse, ox, and stag, which are 
 always found in larger numbers in the caves than the remains of 
 foreign animals, all worked peacefully together in the various 
 occupations of the mines. . . . The hippopotamus, although 
 amphibious, is a grand beast for heavy work, such as mining, 
 quarrying, and road-making, and his keeper would take care 
 that he was comfortably lodged in a tank of water during the 
 night." 
 
 The discoveries of geology, arclueology, and of folk-lore have 
 60 completely swept away the old dogmatic chronology, and so 
 extended the known period of man's presence on the Earth, that 
 it becomes necessary to construct, at any rate provisionally, some 
 scheme to account for his origin and history more in accordance 
 with the facts of science, than the present existing and deeply 
 engrained quasi-historical and religious traditions and beliefs on 
 the subject. This is what is here attempted — as regards Ireland 
 — as a small contribution to the literature on the origin of civili- 
 zation throughout the world. The endeavour to find a theory, 
 and to keep on the right track, is beset with difficulties ; the path 
 is not only intricate and ill-defined, but is crowned with obstacles, 
 and beset, on either side, with gins and pitfalls. It is hard to 
 decide whether the exploration of an unknown region, or a proper 
 description of the discoveries so made, is the more difficult task 
 to accomplish in a satisfactory manner. 
 
 We see that there were great changes, but they were very 
 gradual, both in their incomings and their outgoings : — 
 
 " Though tho mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small ; 
 Thdiigh M'itli patience He stands waiting, Mitli exartness grinds He all." 
 
 Nowhere in the history of the Earth's crust, not even in Ireland 
 —whose historians appear to inuigine that the Green Isle was 
 created an exception to the general laws as well of luiture as of 
 history — do we find evidence of an abrupt termination of one 
 order of things, and an e(ptally abrupt introduction of another. 
 Few, scanty, and disconnected as are the records of the Ice Age, 
 they all appear to point to the continuous action and reaction of 
 natural forces, not to capricious changes, or to widely ranged 
 catastrophes. 
 
 After all the apparently inmiense geological periods are in 
 reality but a mere fraction of the time required to account for the
 
 A (QUATERNARY CONTINENT. 19 
 
 beginning of life and the development of vegetables and animals 
 from a common ancestor. The geological estimate rests mainly 
 on the gross deposit in the stratified rocks, and, allowing for the 
 possible action of more rapid causes of change in former times, 
 it suggests a period of approximately one hundred million years 
 since the cooling of the Earth's surface permitted the earliest 
 "life form" or " organised life " to appear. Physicists basing 
 their calculations on the origin and age of the bun's heat, the 
 rate of the Earth's cooling, and other data, arrive at about the 
 same conclusion. 
 
 " The seasons run their round — the Sun fulfils 
 His annual course — anil heaven and Earth remain 
 Still changing, yet unchanged — still doomed to feel 
 Endless mutation in perpetual rest. 
 
 Oh ! who can strive 
 To comprehend the vast, the awful truth 
 Of tlie eternity that hath gone hy, 
 And not recoil from the dismaying sense 
 Of human impotence? " 
 
 As the British Islands stand nearly upon the edge of the 
 great European plateau, which a little over 200 miles to the 
 west plunges down into the abysses of the Atlantic, it is certain 
 that although the continental area was prolonged westward 
 beyond its present limits, it yet could never have exceeded the 
 100 fathom line, but on the other extremity of the British area, 
 even at the present day, an elevation of 600 feet would convert 
 the entire of the North Sea into dry land, and bones of the extinct 
 fauna of other days have been dredged up by fishermen from the 
 surface of the Dogger bank ; ott" Dunkirk the sea-bottom is so 
 covered with Mammalian remains, that the sailors call it "the 
 Burying-ground." It therefore seems probable that these animals 
 must have roved in herds across the plains over which the waters 
 of the North Sea now roll. 
 
 The outline of the old Quaternary Continental coast-line (fig. 4) 
 can still, it is thottght, be roughly traced from Scandinavia, the 
 Shetland and Hebrides, to Eockall and the vanished isle of Hy 
 Brasil, and from that on southward of Ireland and Land's End. 
 In strange corroboration of the former existence of Hy Brasil, it 
 is laid down on a chart by the Erench Geographer Ptoyal, in the 
 year 1034, very much in the position of the Porcupine P>ank, 
 situated near the edge of the great plateau, which stretches 
 into the Atlantic, and of greater Avidth off Galway Bay than 
 anywhere else on the Irish coast. The bank is only sixty 
 fathoms below sea-level ; from this landward the water gradually
 
 20 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHJEOLOGY. 
 
 deepens ; then again t^radually beoonu's shallower as the Bay of 
 Gahvay is approached. It is alloi!;i'(l that discovery has also been 
 made, by dredging on this bank, of the common periwinkle, a 
 shell that is inhabited by a niolhisk requiring exposure, at re- 
 gular intervals, to air as well as to watc r ; in fact only living 
 Avherc the sea rises and falls on rocks. 
 
 The wear of the Atlantic billows dui-ing late centuries can be 
 vaguely traced. On the map of KJiM before mentioned, Kockall 
 is shown as consisting of two adiacent islands, one considerablv 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 Ideal Sketch Map, showinj^ approximate old Quaternary Continent at its 
 
 maximum extent. Present land area represented black. 
 
 larger than the other ; at the present day these are represented 
 by two banks or shoals, one of considerable extent, the other a 
 small rock, still above the waters, and surrounded by an extensive 
 bank, as forty miles from this last pinnacle of a sunken land 
 there are but 150 fathoms over it. This extremely dangerous 
 speck in mid-ocean is probably the remains of the " lost " or 
 " sunken land" passed by one of Frobisher's ships, and described 
 as a long, low-lying, wooded island.
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 21 
 
 In numevous localities, especially around the western and 
 southern coasts, there are often to be seen, at unusually low 
 tides, extensive tracts of submerged bogs, full of stumps and 
 roots of former forest timber, which point to the time when the 
 now sunken forests must have been considerably above the ocean 
 level. In no other way save in the assumed existence of a vastly 
 increased continental area can the presence of submerged forests 
 and immense tracts of peat with the roots of trees be accounted 
 for, more especially " in such isolated islands as those of Orkney 
 and Shetland, now swept by ocean blasts, and where no vestige 
 of a tree has grown for at least 2000 years, when a Koman 
 author described them as ' Carentes Sylva.' " This last sub- 
 sidence is most likely synchronous with the final separation of 
 Great Britain from the European continent, for, after attaining 
 a considerable elevation, the land of the European area appears 
 to have slightly subsided, and from this period we enter into 
 times comparatively modern. The isolation of Ireland took place 
 long before Britain had been separated from the European area. 
 This may be inferred from a comparison of the distribution of 
 present-day plants and animals. The interval which has elapsed 
 since the submergences and the ice-caps of the Glacial Period 
 must, if measured by ordinary human standards, have been of 
 enormous duration ; yet even this prodigious period was too 
 short to enable the plants and animals of Central Europe com- 
 pletely to possess themselves of the British area. Professor A. 
 Geikie, F.R.H.I., remarks that — "Generation after generation they 
 were moving westward ; but long before they could all reach the 
 north-western seaboard, Ireland had become an island, so that 
 their further march in that direction was arrested ; and before 
 the subsequent advancing bands had come as far as Britain, it 
 too hafl been separated by a sea channel which finally barred 
 their progress. Comparing the total land Mammals of the west 
 of Europe, we find that, while Germany has ninety species, 
 Britain has forty, and Ireland only twenty-two. The Reptiles 
 and Amphibia of Germany number twenty-two, those of Britain 
 thirteen, and those of Ireland four. Again, even among the 
 winged tribes, where the capacity for dispersal is so much greater, 
 Britain possesses twelve species of bats, while Ireland has no 
 more than seven, and 130 landbirds to 110 in Ireland. The 
 same discrepancy is traceable in the flora, for while the total 
 number of species of flowering plants and ferns found in Britain 
 amounts to 1425, those of Ireland number 970 — about two-thirds 
 of the British flora. Such facts as these are not explicable by 
 any difference of climate rendering Ireland less fit for the recep- 
 tion of more varied vegetation and animal life ; for the climate 
 of Ireland is really more equable and genial than that of the
 
 22 SPECC Y A 77 r/-: GEOl. 0(17CA L A RCTT^TLOr.OG Y. 
 
 regions lying to the east of it. They receive a natural and 
 consistent interpretation on the assumption of the gradual sepa- 
 ration of the British Islands during a contimious north-western 
 migration of the present flora aiul fauna from Central Europe." 
 
 ilegarded merely as a physical event, apart from other con- 
 siderations, the first appearance and development of man must 
 have, slowly but surely, effected a change in the fauna. It is an 
 advent the date of which we may ultimately become cognizant 
 of, and marks the boundary or dividing line between two great 
 periods, the present and the Tertiary. A primeval race appeared 
 in l*jurope at a remote period, Interglacial at latest, and filled 
 with a scanty population a vast extent of territory. As regards 
 the British Isles and Ireland, it may be safely stated that, though 
 Pala'olithic or rude-flint-using man arrived on foot. Neolithic or 
 polished-Hint-using man prol)ably arrived by water ; only in the 
 Later Htone Age do tlie sheep, goat, long-faced ox, and dog 
 make their appearance on the scene as domesticated animals. 
 
 As on the ocean of time successive waves of types and species 
 have risen and fallen, have come and gone, so primitive man has 
 here appeared, lived, and disappeared. Even without being able 
 to describe him from his osseous frame-work, a good idea of 
 what he was like can be formed. He was short in stature, with 
 large belly and small calves to the legs, the females considerably 
 shorter than the males. Both sexes went almost naked, or only 
 partially protected from the inclemency of the weather by the 
 skins of animals killed in the chase. They were covered with 
 hair like wild animals ; their heads were long and flat with 
 receding foreheads ; the features animal-like and repulsive, for 
 the lower jaws with projecting teeth were massive. Not a 
 pleasing description, but primitive man Avas not handsome. 
 Even then, however, he was not degraded, for he had never risen 
 higher ; and although we may now-a-days regard him as bestial, 
 he nevertheless represented in his day the highest stage of 
 development in the animal kingdom ; yet, in this age, which is 
 perpetually occupied in proclaiming itself the age of eidighten- 
 ment and of progress, the majority of people still prefer to look 
 upon themselves as inferior to their original ancestors. The idea 
 that man has risen is considered not only to be degrading, but 
 positively irreligious ; whilst the idea that he has fall(>n from a 
 higher estate is regarded as ennobling, as strictly religious, and 
 therefore orthodox. 
 
 The idea of the gradual advance of man from a state but little 
 removed from the nuu-e animal was, like the vast aH)ns of geology, 
 dimly perceived by the ancients ; for both Greek and Roman 
 philosophers and poets depict, in vague but nevertheless striking 
 periods, the lowly origin of the liunian race. Thus Horace states
 
 A PRIMEVAL RACE. 23 
 
 that "when animals first crept forth from tliis new-formed. Eai'th, 
 a duml) and filthy herd, they fought for acorns and lurking- 
 places Avith their nails and fists, then with clubs, and at last 
 with arms, which, taught by experience, they had forged. 
 They then invented names for things, and words to express their 
 thoughts." 
 
 Races in a state of barbarism either die out at once in pre- 
 sence of a stronger and more civilized people, or their lower 
 characteristics are effaced by assimilating intermixture with the 
 intruding community. Man cannot be considered as an iso- 
 lated being, he is but one link in the great chain of animal 
 creation. It has been remarked that the brains of most savages, 
 and the skulls of most primitive races are larger than — in 
 theory — they ought to be ; often rather larger than the brains 
 and skulls of the average of the masses inhabiting the great 
 cities of the present day. "But this need not cause surprise if 
 the life of intelligent interest passed by the savage child be taken 
 into consideration. From the tenderest age he was observant 
 of all the devices practised by his parents for procuring clothing, 
 food, means of defence, in short, all the essentials of existence ; 
 the natural result of his wild life was health and strength " ; 
 indeed on the principle of the survival of the fittest, it could 
 only be the robust who lived through the hardships and climatic 
 exposure incidental to a savage life."* The greatest incentives 
 to exertion, on the part of primitive man, are hunger and 
 thirst, heat and cold ; without such spurs to original sloth we 
 should still probably be eating acorns, chipping Hints, and. 
 " making ourselves as comfortable as might be in the company 
 of other species." 
 
 Climate undoubtedly stamps well-marked characteristics on 
 the human frame in regard to both physical and mental develop- 
 ment. Extremes of cold or of heat deteriorate body and mind 
 alike, whilst a temperate climate stimulates both. The theory has 
 arisen that man came into existence in a warm climate, whilst 
 
 * On tliis subject S. Baring Gould, m.a., leinurks that "intellectual de- 
 velopment necessarily leads to a deterioration of tlio jjlii/sique of the species ; 
 high civili/atior. introduces a multitude of disorders unknown to savage life ; 
 and such deterioration must end in the extinction of the race. In a simple and 
 barbarous state of society, the weak and deformed die as children. Civilization 
 tends to accumulate aiul i)ropagalo disease aiul malformation; for science and 
 the attention which in a cultivated race can be bestowed on its intirni, keep the 
 diseased and deformed alive, and suffer them to breed and spread their disorder 
 and malformation through generations of children. In savage life the process 
 of natural selection tends to laise the type of man, the inferior types dying out : 
 but civilized life prevents the operation of the natural law, and therefore tends 
 to the deterioration of the race."
 
 24 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCITJEOLOGY. 
 
 civilization commenced in a temperate climate. The (liscovery of 
 a semi-tropical fauna and llora havini,' formerly liourished within 
 the Arctic C-ircle has <^ivenl)irth to the idea that man's origin was 
 at the North Pole. But unless distinct traces of primitive man's 
 presence in these latitudes are hroupjht to light of more ancient 
 date than those which have been discovered in other and more 
 likely parts of the globe, the theory can only be regarded as a 
 fantastic speculation. 
 
 Almost everywhere, throughout iMu-ope, there are traces of a 
 later and numerous people, also iniknown to history, who have left 
 very material traces of their occupancy of the land, and tradition 
 points to an early race of diminutive folk who inhabited Ire- 
 land. No recognizable crania have been found, and but scanty 
 osseous remains. They probably hunted the I'eindeer and the 
 Gigantic ])eer, and were exterminated — driven out of the country, 
 or perhaps partly absorbed by succeeding ti'ibes of immigrants. 
 The engineer and the agriculturist are, from time to time, bring- 
 ing to light unlooked for ancient interments, and though some 
 have been carefully noted by competent observers, yet, in 
 several instances, through ignorance of their value, many crania 
 — which of course are to be met with whole only in carnal 
 interments — have either been destroyed or lost. 
 
 Sir John Browne, when discoursing on urn-burial some two 
 centuries ago, quaintly observes that "the dimensions of the head 
 measure the whole body, and the figure thereof gives conjecture of 
 the principal faculties; physiognomy outlives ourselves, and ends 
 not in the grave." That the cranium constitutes an element of 
 paramount importance in stiidying the natural history of man, is 
 now universally admitted, but it is a science in itself, and one who 
 has not been trained as a surgeon ought to make confession in 
 the words of Cicero: "Nor am I ashamed, like those men, to 
 acknowledge that I do not know the things which I do not 
 know." 
 
 Anthropologists assure us that at least two distinct races of 
 immigrants — each of very marked characteristic type — landed 
 on our shores. These can now (it is alleged) be classed and 
 identified by the configuration of their crania ; for as the brain is 
 the seat of the intellectual capacities, the structure of the skull is 
 of primordial importance. The relation of the length of the 
 cranium to its breadth is regarded as one of the most charac- 
 teristic marks of distinction between different races. If the 
 extreme breadth of the skull, when compared with its extreme 
 length from front to back, does not exceed 75 per cent, of the 
 length, the skull is said to be dolichocephalic or long-headed ; 
 if it equals or exceeds 83 per cent, it is called brachycephalic, 
 i.e. short or broad-headed. Intermediate indices are called sub-
 
 TWO RACES OF IMMIGRANTS. 2S 
 
 dolichocephalic or sub-brachycephalic, according as they approach 
 one or the other of these extremes, but are of less importance, 
 as they probably are the result of inter-crossing. 
 
 There is a charming simplicity in the study of ethnology as 
 taught by some Anglican divines. One learned canon gravely 
 alleges that all the European dolichocephalic, or long-headed 
 races, are, nowaday, Protestant ; all the brachycephalic, or round- 
 headed races. Catholic, or Greek Church, with, however, certain 
 exceptions which but prove the rule. Unless a learned divine 
 had led the way, an ignorant layman would not have ventured 
 to follow on this curious recently discovered bypath of ethnology ; 
 but, in future, when one inquires of oneself why one is a Catholic 
 or a Protestant, the reason will obviously be afforded by referring 
 to a careful measurement of the cephalic index. 
 
 The form of skull attributed to the first known inhabitants 
 of Ireland is distinguished by great length from the front to the 
 back of the head, and comparative narrowness of the skull ; 
 it is alleged that the specimens presented are too numerous and 
 have been found over too wide an area to permit of their being 
 considered mere varieties, especially as a similar form of skull 
 is to be met with amongst the aboriginal remains found in 
 England, and over a large proportion of the continent of Europe. 
 Explorers who have not made the physical conformation of 
 the human frame their study possess, however, no standpoint 
 from which to test their own ideas. Often, when opening a 
 " Giant's Grave," workmen have drawn attention to the great size 
 of the human bones which they disinterred, when in reality the 
 bones had formed the framework of a man of but medium stature. 
 The minds of the searchers were imbued with the idea that the 
 bones must of necessity be of sujoerhuman size, for were they not 
 found in a " Giant's Grave " ? In the same way the judgment 
 of an antiquary may, insensibly to himself, be biassed by his 
 own imagination regarding some preconceived theory. A 
 distinguished writer on arclupology has observed: "There is 
 no failing to which antiquarian observers seem more liable 
 than seeing too much." 
 
 1'here are also slight varieties in the foim of the crania of the 
 long-headed or primitive race, for the progenitors of the early 
 inhabitants of Ireland probably arrived in detached groups and at 
 considerable intervals of time, doubtless representing successive 
 immigrations. 
 
 The second type of Irish crania is, by some, also divided into 
 two classes — both, however, belonging to what scientists have 
 named a brachycephalic or round-headed race. The skull is of 
 medium size, well-shaped, but with projecting upper jaw ; the 
 chin not massive ; the nose short and wide.
 
 20 SPF.CrJ.ATlVK (iEOLOGlCAL ARCH^l^:OLOGY. 
 
 Tlie second subdivision of the crania of the round-headed race 
 is regular, the nose long and aquiline, the face narrow, the fore- 
 head straight and of medium height ; a long oval outline in the 
 vertical aspect of the skull, whilst the lower jaw is distinguished 
 by its square outline and massive structure — giving a distinctive 
 character to the face. 
 
 Variety of shape in crania, within certain limits, appears to 
 be the law of nature — not the exception — and each race exhibits 
 countless variations of mental combinations. This is suggestive 
 and calculated to impress the necessity of great caution and 
 extensive observation of facts, before venturing to draw general 
 conclusions. Classification of crania into distinct types, and then 
 making that type the badge of a race, is a system of doubtful 
 value. At any public meeting how many varying types of crania 
 may be observed. Open an old pagan " Caltragh," and the same 
 result becomes apparent ; skulls of every size and form may be 
 unearthed, though all the remains are referable to about the 
 same period of time, and pi-obably all may have belonged to one 
 sept ; yet had these skulls been found disassociated, they might 
 have been viewed as representatives of totally different races. 
 Professor T. H. Huxley is of opinion that the greatest and most 
 strongly-marked differences in skulls is not a proof that they 
 are of different races. In his examination of the two celebrated 
 crania found in the caves of Engis and Neanderthal, pre- 
 sumed to be amongst the oldest remains of man, he says : — 
 " It would be difficult to find any two which differ from each 
 other more strongly, but I am not willing to draw any definite 
 conclusion as to their specific variety from that fact. . . . Are 
 not the variations amongst the skulls of a pure race to the full 
 as extensive ? '" 
 
 The Neanderthal skull was found, in the year 1857, in the 
 Valley of Diissel, near Diisseldorf, in a cave about sixty feet 
 above the stream, in the face of the precipitous winding ravine 
 through which the river runs. The thickness of the bones of the 
 skull is extraordinary, and the ridges and depressions, correspond- 
 ing to the attachment of the muscles, are very strongly marked. 
 The forehead is very low, very ape-like, indicating small cerebral 
 development, and great strength of corporeal frame. Professor 
 Huxley further remarks : — 
 
 "Let it be supposed that the human remains from the caves 
 of the Neanderthal and of Spy, represent the race, or one of the 
 races, of men who inhabited Europe in the Quaternary Epoch, 
 can any connexion be traced between it and existing races ? That 
 is to say, do any of them exhibit characters approximating those 
 of the Spy men, or other examples of the Neanderthaloid race ? 
 Put in the latter form, I think that the question may be safely
 
 EXTREME TYPES OF CRANIA. 27 
 
 answered in the affirmative. Skulls do occasionally approach 
 the Neanderthaloid type, among both the brunette and the 
 blonde long-headed races. For the former I pointed out the 
 resemblance long ago in some of the Irish river-bed skulls. For 
 the latter evidence of various kinds may be adduced." 
 
 Professor T. H. Huxley formulated certain propositions, 
 which appeared to him to rest on a secure foundation, relative 
 to the physical characters of the inhabitants of Britain and their 
 neighbours, together with other propositions concerning the 
 languages spoken by them. 
 
 Physical Characters of the People. 
 
 I. " Eighteen huntlred years ago the population of Britain fomprisecl people 
 of two types of fomplexion — the one fair, the other dark. The dark people 
 resembled the Aqiiitain and the Iberians ; the fair people were like the Belgic 
 Gauls." 
 
 II. " The people termed Gauls, and those called Germans, by the Romans, 
 did not differ in any important physical character." 
 
 in. " In none of the invasions of Britain which have taken place since the 
 Roman dominion, has any other type of man been introduced than one or other 
 of the two M'hich existed during that dominion." 
 
 IV. " The Xanthochroi {fn'ir xchiten) and the Melanochroi {dark whites) 
 of Britain are, speaking broadly, distributed, at present, as they were in the 
 time of Tacitus ; and their representatives on the Continent of Eui'ope have 
 the same general distribution as at the earliest period of which we have any 
 record." 
 
 Languages Spoken. 
 
 I. " At the time of the Roman Conquest one language, the Celtic, under 
 two principal dialectical divisions, the Cymric and the Gaelic, was spoken 
 tliroughout the British Islands. Cymric was spoken in Britain, Gaelic in 
 Ireland." [Professor Huxley suhsequently considered the terms Cymric and Gaelic 
 as antiquated and improper, and substituted for them *' Celtic dialect a" and 
 " Celtic dialect u.") 
 
 II. " The Belg«; and the Celtaj, with the offshoots of the latter in Asia 
 Minor, spoke dialects of the Cymric division of Celtic." 
 
 III. " There is no record of Gaelic being spoken anywhere save in Ireland, 
 Scotland, and the Isle of Man." 
 
 IV. " When tbe Teutonic languages first be(;ame known, they were spoken 
 only {since modified to somdliiny like ^'' pjrincipally'''') by Xanthochroi {fair 
 ivhites), that is to say, by the Germans, and Scandinavians, and Goths ; ;ind 
 they were imported by Xanthochroi {fair ivhites) into Gaul and Britain." 
 
 V. " The Celtic and the Teutonic dialects are members of the same grent 
 Aryan family of languages ; but there is evidence to show that a non-Aryan 
 language was at one time spoken over a large extent of the area occupied by 
 Melanochroi [dark whites) in Europe."
 
 28 SPECULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCTJ^EOLOG V. 
 
 Thus Ireland was inhabited, at tlie earhest period of whicli 
 we have any knowledge, by "fair-white" and "dark-white" 
 races, which there is every reason to believe were identical Avith 
 the white and dark people of Britain. 
 
 It is worthy of observation that extreme types of crania are 
 represented in two specimens discovered in the well-known "find," 
 within the tumulus in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, demonstrating 
 that the commonly received theory of cranial forms being more 
 and more stereotyped the further back we penetrate into the 
 obscurity of the past, is not always corroborated by accurate ob- 
 servation. The occupancy of a common tomb would imply that 
 they were contemporaneously interred, and that they belonged to 
 members of the same family or tribe, and as only bone and flint 
 implements— together with a shell necklace — were found, it 
 may be considered that the period of interment was that of a 
 barbarous state of society. 
 
 The contuiuous damp of thousands of years reduces even the 
 densest crania to fragile ruins, unless its effects be counteracted 
 by other influences, among which a more than ordinary density 
 of bone is a phenomenon usually observable in prehistoric skulls, 
 certainly in such as were disinterred, in mere fragments, by the 
 writer, from the Carrowmore series of Rude Stone ]\Ionuments, 
 near Hligo. In old persons increased density of bone appears to 
 occur ; the more perfectly it becomes consolidated, the less per- 
 meable does it become to moisture, and the more tenaciously does 
 it retain animal matter essential to its integrity. For example, in 
 the sepulchral mound at Mount Wilson, Avliich contained about 
 fifty skeletons, the greatest diversity of appearance was exhibited 
 among the crania, some being scarcely touched by decay, whilst 
 others were reduced to pulp, which rendered it impossible to 
 remove them, even in moderate-sized fragments, yet none of them 
 had apparently ever had any other covering, or protection, than 
 the soil in which they were embedded. The chances are therefore 
 that any really ancient crania which may be found, will be 
 referable — except under special circumstances— to individuals 
 who had passed their fortieth year. 
 
 A large brain generally indicates intellectual power ; this is 
 borne out by many facts, but there does not appear to be any 
 absolute law yet defined connecting great brain with great in- 
 tellect. A madman, for example, may have a great brain, but 
 has not great intellect. All that can at present be advanced is 
 that a man with a weighty brain is likely to be more intelligent 
 than a man with a small one. There is also another point beyond 
 w'hich wo cannot at present penetrate. The late Professor Huxley 
 was of opinion that, as the evidoice stands, it would appear that 
 "the sort of brain which cliaracterises the highest Mammals,
 
 THE ENIGMA OF THE PA ST UNSOL VED. 29 
 
 and Avhich, so far as we know, is the indispensable condition of 
 the highest sensibihty did not come into existence before the Ter- 
 tiary Period" ; and further, that it is a conchision " fully justified 
 by analogy, that, sooner or later, we shall discover the remains 
 of our less specialised primitive ancestors in the strata which 
 have yielded the less specialised equine and canine quadrupeds. 
 At present fossil remains of men do not take us back further than 
 the later part of the Quaternary Epoch ; and, as was to be ex- 
 pected, they do not differ more from existing men than Quaternary 
 horses differ from existing horses." 
 
 In most instances of the discovery of perfect crania — even 
 those of children — the teeth appear to be much worn, as if by 
 attrition of some very hard kind of food, the process of degra- 
 dation keeping pace with the age of the individual ; the teeth, 
 nevertheless, although they may be much worn, are, with few 
 exceptions, found to be in a sound and healthy condition. 
 The gradual abrasion of the teeth is materially influenced by the 
 nature of the food used. This is proved by the fact that the 
 teeth of sailors, who, during the greater part of their lives, live 
 upon hard biscuits, are often found to be much worn down by 
 the constant friction produced by this diet. Among the wild 
 tribes of Patagonia, it is by no means rare to see the upper teeth 
 worn to the gums, though they are almost never decayed. This 
 characteristic is common to nearly all races of indigenous 
 Americans, and the like trait has been observed in collections 
 of prehistoric crania from the same continent. All that can 
 with any certainty be said about primitive man in Ireland is 
 that he was present in the country in times very remote, and 
 that he hunted the big horn and reindeer, as well as other animals 
 still present with us. It has been suggested that the gigantic 
 Irish deer, or big horn, and reindeer migrated, at stated seasons, 
 from Britain to Ireland, across the frozen sea, during the 
 Glacial Period, and the primitive tiint-using folk advanced and 
 retired with the icy mantle, either following the animals on which 
 they subsisted, or driven backward by a superior race or races. 
 Enough has been said to show that man's existence on Earth 
 is to be reckoned by a lapse of time marked by geological epochs 
 instead of by years or even by centuries. How long these various 
 stages lasted, or by what steps man passed from the infancy of 
 intelligence through the various gradations of culture of which 
 we find traces, to his present condition, which may, in comparison 
 with the preceding, be described as a condition of uniform pro- 
 gress — these are questions which, as yet, we possess no means of 
 determining. 
 
 This brief review of long past ages hovers on the border-line 
 of many sciences ; and if it belongs to any one in particular,
 
 30 SPKCULATIVE GEOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 
 
 it pertuins rather to the donuiin of the geologist than to that of 
 the archieologist. Good results, however, often follow from what 
 appear to he small heginnings, and science may receive a fresh im- 
 petus from workers whose first efibrts are looked upon hy scientists 
 as useless. It is difHcult to confine research on any great suhject 
 to very strict lines : the picture requires a hackground ; the large- 
 ness and complexity of the prohlem, its manifold ramifications, are 
 very apparent, and insensibly lift the inquirer out of a narrow 
 groove. Out of the alphahet of stone that lies around, one may form 
 words, arrange them into sentences, and make them yield up the 
 secrets of countless centuries ; confusion may he changed into 
 order, and a new page of primitive history deciphered. The 
 succession of races in Ireland and their kinship with the tribes 
 that traversed the shores of the Mediterranean, tlie great Conti- 
 nental waterways, and the l^altic littoral, are subjects that should 
 excite interest, whilst the most interesting possibility is the 
 insight which attentive research may give as to the real nature 
 of things in the past. The basis of all science is the gathering 
 of facts, and in this inquiry they have accumulated at a rate, in 
 numbers, and in an importance quite unprecedented, so that we 
 may soon see some far-reaching generalization appearing, which 
 will extend our knowledge in a way we now hardly dare hope 
 for. From modern exhaustive research we have learned much, 
 yet problems arise on every side which give constant exercise 
 to the speculative faculties, for np to the present a haze has 
 shrouded the past history of the world, which, though now 
 griidually but surely dispersing, still permits us to see but very 
 indistinctly.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 AXCIENT FAUNA AXD THEIR EXTEllMIXATOR. 
 
 Desciiplion of remains of ancient times sliould be written in a simple manner — 
 The first discovery of the art of proJiieiug fire — Climate of Ireland formerly 
 more severe than at present — Wooded nature of the country — Great pro- 
 gress of ArchiL'ological Research — Early Settlers — Their Primitive Weapons 
 — The Cave-Dwellers — The Caves of Ireland, not explored — Extinct Mam- 
 malia : The Mammoth, the Gigantic Irish Deer, the Reindeer, the Grizzly 
 Bear, the Common Bear, the Wild Horse, the Wild Boar, the Wolf, the 
 Wolf- Dog— Extinct Birds. 
 
 It is a rule of all writing that the author should express himself 
 to the understanding of his readers, presupposing, however, in 
 them a certain degree of familiarity with the subject under con- 
 sideration, but not the possession of encyclopedic knowledge. 
 " Forgotten generations live again, assume the bodily shapes 
 they wore of old " — so sings the poet, but neither with this senti- 
 ment, nor with the foregoing rule, does the Irish archaeologist 
 agree; on the contrary, descriptions of ancient remains, whether 
 those of weapons and implements, of stone or earthen forts, of 
 graves and cemeteries, are clothed in a dialect of arclueological 
 jargon, only to be comprehended by the initiated, and certainly not 
 to be understood by the average class of readers. An axe of stone, 
 or of bronze, is styled a celt or a palstave ; brooches are de- 
 signated fibulffi or mammillary fibuhe ; rings, armilla^ ; bells, 
 crotals ; gold ornaments are called lunulfe, minds, and bullte ; 
 a rude stone monument is known as a megalith ; a earn is a 
 microlith, and an alignment of stones is a parallelitha ; dwellers 
 in caves are called troglodytes — in fact, a spade is never called a 
 spade, its being even styled an agricultural implement would be 
 simplicity itself, in comparison with the existing use. 
 
 The Irish aborigines lived a simple life, to use the mildest 
 expression ; and to describe this, little, if any, technical 
 phraseology is needed. Their requirements were few ; in fact, 
 food may be said to have been their only necessity, with, per- 
 liaps, something in the way of skins for clothing, in addition lo 
 the hematite (an ore of iron of a red colour) or other pigment,
 
 32 A XC/JiNT FA UXA—THKIR KXTERMIXA TOR. 
 
 with which they daubed themselves ; for man, for his more 
 existence, needs no more, civilization being a superfluity of un- 
 necessary surroundings. It re(|uires no very exalted or learned 
 language to attempt a description of the countless generations 
 which have lived, and passed away, without having had 
 awakened in llieui any practical aspirations toward bettering 
 their condition ; they must, however, have possessed, to a great 
 degree, two important characteristics, the cunning necessary 
 to ac(|uire, and the courage necessary to hold w^hat had been 
 acquired, for in those days it was neither the reign of the 
 classes, nor of the masses, but that of the individual, the days 
 of the initiation of 
 
 *• . . . . tlio good old plan, 
 That lie should take who has the power, 
 And ho should keep who can." 
 
 In a, rude state of society in Ireland every nmn thought for 
 himself and acted on his own judgment, but modern society de- 
 stroys individuality. It is a common dognui of the age that all 
 men are equal : we are taught it six days in the press, the 
 seventh day from the pulpit ; but it is an inaccurate statement, 
 for men are intellectually unequal, and will remain so until time 
 shall be no more. These times in which liberty of thought is 
 most loudly proclaimed, are precisely the times when least origi- 
 luxlity is manifested. The thoughts of the majority become the 
 law for all, and an infringement of the customary ideal is resented 
 by the majority who consider themselves insulted by anyone 
 differing from them. The great difference between the English- 
 man and the native Irishman is that the former is an individua- 
 list, the latter a socialist. The Englishman mamxges his own 
 business in his own way — and there is no better training than a 
 state of society which obliges every unit to rely on himself alone 
 -the Englishman woi'ks : the Irishman trusts to chance and 
 eventualities. 
 
 Life, even in the earliest days, was lived much as it is now ; 
 there were its cares, its pleasures, its solemn and its ludicrous 
 aspects, its rivalries and its friendships, and it is apparent that 
 the aborigines, with no requirements beyond mere food and 
 shelter, passed, to their ideas, quite as enjoyable an existence 
 as we do. However, to appreciate antiquity is one thing, to 
 wish to have lived in those days is quite another, for no one 
 who has led a luxurious life desires to descend to what, for 
 him, would be severe hardship, squalor, and appalling wretched- 
 ness. 
 
 It is thought l)y many arclueologists that the use of skins, as 
 clothing, preceded the knowledge of fire, either as a means of
 
 THE FIRST DISCO VER Y OF FIRE. 33 
 
 comfort, or for the cooking of food. Burke defined man as " an 
 animal that cooks his victuals," but in the first ages of the 
 world's history tliis definition would have been inaccurate. The 
 mystery of fire seems to have held a firm hold on the wonder 
 of the infant-like mind of early man, and no matter how far 
 we go back we generally find him in possession of fire, for very 
 early in human life man, by means of a drill or of a flint, 
 became the Prometheus to his own small heap of collected dried 
 leaves and twigs. 
 
 The fable of Prometheus is, it is alleged, but an adaptation 
 of the Vedic myth, which depicts the god as a celestial fiame, 
 hid in a casket, from which he is compelled, by a superior power, 
 to come forth. Even the name, Prometheus, is stated to be of 
 Vedic origin, and recalls the process employed by early man to 
 obtain fire. The kindling stick or intramanthd — hence, it is 
 alleged, Prometheus — supplied with a twisted cord rolled round 
 the superior portion, imparts a rotary motion to the stick alter- 
 natively from left to right, and contrariwise. The stick revolves 
 in a little hollow, formed at the point of intersection of two 
 pieces of wood placed one above th^ other so as to form a cross, 
 of which the extremities, bent at right angles, are firmly fixed. 
 The entire apparatus was styled Swastica. The Egyptians wor- 
 shipped Ptah, a fire-god who twisted the polar axes', as the savage 
 twists his fire-stick (fig. 5). 
 
 Captain Cook thus describes the Australian way of producing 
 fire : — 
 
 " Their method of producing fire is curious ; they work 
 one end of a stick into an obtuse point, and placing this upon 
 a piece of dry wood, they turn the upright stick backwards 
 and forwards very rapidly between their hands, till the fire is 
 produced." 
 
 The Irish peasantry even still regard fire as the great pre- 
 servative against Avitchcraft, for evil spirits have no power except 
 in the dark, so the careful housewife places a live coal under the 
 churn if the butter does not rise: she waves fire over an animal's 
 head if the beast seems sickly: when she lights a candle after 
 dark, she crosses herself to ward ofl" the evil spirits who are jost- 
 ling against each other, and struggling to get out of the house in 
 dread of the fire. The land steward of a country gentleman would 
 not return home on a dark night without having a lighted sod 
 of turf stuck on the end of his walking-stick for the purpose 
 of warding oft' the "good people." In similar manner, Keppel 
 states that a native of North Australia will not Avillingly go 
 near the graves of the dead at night by himself ; when obliged 
 to pass them, he carries a "fire stick" to keep otf the spirits of 
 darkness.
 
 V cd 
 
 S P^ <J
 
 36 ANCIENl^ FA UNA— THEIR EXTERMINA TOR. 
 
 The practice of producing kindling by friction was in exis- 
 tence quite recently amongst the peasantry in the form of a 
 charm or preventive against disease in cattle. 'When a swelling 
 of the head or disease amongst cattle, called " hig-head," ap- 
 peared, every lire was extinguished in the townland on which it 
 had broken out. The inhabitants then assembled at the affected 
 farm to kindle what was called a " need-fire," which was done 
 as follows : — Two men commenced to rub two sticks together 
 till the friction produced a flame. It was hard work, each man 
 rubbing in turn (fig. 0). "When the sticks had ignited, they 
 collected dry " scraws " (sods) covered with soot from the roofs 
 of the dwelling-houses, to produce a great smoke. The affected 
 cattle then had pieces of wood inserted in their mouths to keep 
 them open, and the head was held over the smoke till water ran 
 plentifully from mouth and nostrils, when the cure was com- 
 pleted. Every fire that had been extinguished was then re- 
 kindled from the "need-fire." This plan of producing fire was 
 more effective than the hand-twisting process. The entire pro- 
 ceedings were described by Mr. Bernard Bannon, of Cavan- 
 carragh, near Enniskillen. When he died, about the year 1892, 
 he was, it is stated, 100 years old. 
 
 A piece of iron pyrites, in form a perfect cube, about the size 
 of the ordinary die used in games of chance, was found, amongst 
 calcined bones, and other remains, in a sepulchral cist, at 
 ]^)roughderg, county Tyrone, and proved, on trial, to be well 
 adapted for the production of sparks from a flint. Objects of 
 pyrites have sometimes been discovered in prehistoric sepulchres 
 in Great Britain, in juxtaposition to pieces of flint, and are 
 supposed, by some antiquarians, to have been employed by their 
 former owners, as fire-producers. 
 
 Primitive culinary utensils, in the form of rude stone griddles 
 for baking purposes, were used, lately, in some mountainous parts 
 of Kerry. They were flat, circular-shaped stones, about one foot 
 in diameter and an inch in thickness, with a projection to serve 
 as a handle; the shape seems to have been dependent on the 
 natural form of the stone selected, which was then moulded by a 
 little dressing. This is one small link in the existing evidence of 
 how long many of the most interesting usages of antiquity lingered 
 on unnoticed amongst us. 
 
 If reliance can be placed on the accounts of some ancient 
 writers, it would appear that, so late as about 2000 years ago, 
 an excessive degree of cold prevailed in the climate of Europe. 
 The great number and extent of forests, lakes, and morasses, 
 which, according to these authors, existed in those times, must 
 have rendered the climate cold and moist. The forests have 
 nearlv all been felled and the stagnant water drained, thus
 
 WOODED NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. 37 
 
 producing a very considerable difference between tbe tempera- 
 ture described as existing in tbese latitudes 2000 years ago, 
 and that of the present day. What occurred on the Continent 
 occurred also in Ireland, which, shaded with forests and 
 abounding in marshes, must have had an atmosphere more 
 frigid than if its soil were then, as now, freely exposed to solar 
 influence. Owing to the disappearance of Erin's former leafy 
 mantle, and the absence of pestilential exhalations from stagnant 
 fens, its summers have become colder and its winters warmer 
 than in those remote times. 
 
 Although Ireland, in the Polished Stone Age, and in much 
 later and even in Elizabethan times, was well wooded, there 
 must have ahvays been districts naturally bleak and bare, such 
 as the barony of Burren, described by Ludlow, in 1G52, as a 
 country "where there is not water enough to drown a man, 
 wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him ; 
 which last is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one 
 another." 
 
 What a world of change we live in. Is it not an astonishing 
 transformation to find that a tree is a strange and rare object 
 in the landscape where formerly impenetrable brakes and woods 
 existed ? So rare, in fact, in some localities, that an anecdote, 
 told in 177(J, by Young, in his travels through Ireland, of parts 
 of the county Mayo, is still applicable to many districts, and to 
 many islands off the western coast. A countryman living in 
 Erris, in which district not a single tree grew, left the place with 
 his young son to go to Killala. On approaching the village, the 
 youth saw a tree for the first time, and exclaiined : — " Oh, Lord! 
 Father, what is that ! " 
 
 At the commencement of the century the inhabitants of Tory 
 Island had a superstitious objection to visit Ireland. Even when 
 they approached its coasts while fishing, or when returning from 
 piloting vessels, which, before the erection of the lighthouse, was 
 a frequent occurrence, they never landed if it were possible to 
 avoid doing so. The Eev. Caesar Otway gives some interesting 
 particulars of the behaviour of a boat's crew which were driven 
 ashore near Ards, where "they were seen putting some leaves 
 and small branches of trees in their pockets to show on their 
 return." 
 
 If the population and cattle were withdrawn from the country, 
 and only sufficient numbers left to represent those of early days, 
 the land would be, in a generation, covered with a sylvan mantle. 
 No one whose opportunities have allowed him to make the neces- 
 sary observations can doubt that this would be the case : given 
 the above conditions and the entire kingdom would be again 
 covered with woods down to the water edge. There miuht be
 
 38 ANCIEN2 FAUNA— TH KIR EXTKRMIXATOR. 
 
 exceptions, with respect to particular or unfavourable localities, 
 for it is a curious fact, that in the American forests vacant spaces 
 are occasionally found, upon which, to all appearance, no trees 
 have ever grown. Ireland remained well wooded until Elizabethan 
 times, when large qiiantities of timber were felled for military 
 exigencies, and the remainder was consumed in iron works, 
 erected by enterprising English settlers. On the subject of this 
 denudation of timber there is an ancient Irish saw : — 
 
 " Irclaiiil was tlirioe beneath the ploughshare, 
 Thrice it was wood, and thrice it was bare." 
 
 It would be of little utility to give even a synopsis of the 
 various legends related of the peopling of Ireland before the flood. 
 In later and more authentic authorities the boundaries of the 
 territories occupied by the elder arrivals in the country are, as a 
 rule, apparently undefined in the inland regions; from this it may 
 be inferred that, for a lengthened period, the central portion of 
 Ireland was but sparsely inhal)ited owing to its dense forests. 
 
 The Irish Annals being the favourite authority with Irish 
 anticjuavians, readers ought to have the benefit of the startling 
 information that C;esar — not Julius Caesar, but an alleged grand- 
 daughter of Noah — landed in Ireland forty days before the Deluge 
 with a colony of antediluvian Mormons, namely fifty girls and 
 three men, who appear to have escaped the fate which overtook 
 the rest of mankind; thus was Erin peopled. An old Bishop of 
 Ferns is reputed to have shut up "Gulliver's Travels " with the 
 sage remark, " Amusing, but I can't believe half the fellow 
 says." A puzzled antiquarian might fairly arrive at a similar 
 conclusion after perusing the narrative of the Irish chroniclers. 
 
 The early depredators on the Irish coasts are, in Bardic tales, 
 described as swarming throughout the German (3cean, their head- 
 quarters being the Shetland Isles and the Hebrides. This extern 
 force represented many tribes of Northern Europe, and appears 
 to have made itself felt from a very remote period. To these 
 rovers Erin presented many of the advantages that America, on 
 its first discovery, displayed to European eyes — a sparse popula- 
 tion, a good climate, a fertile soil, a seemingly boundless range of 
 pasture lands, separated from each other, and sheltered by dense 
 forests. There is an ancient genealogical table, or tree, preserved 
 in an old Irish MS. in the Bodleian Library, in which the descent 
 of some of the leaders of these early invaders is most minutely 
 traced back to Noah. O'Curry gravely designates this MS. a 
 unique genealogical table. Most people will doubtless concur 
 with his opinion. 
 
 The remains of man, of his arts and industries, enable us to 
 trace out, to some degree, the general nature of his everyday
 
 £:a rl y settlers. 39 
 
 life by showing, not in a theoretical, but in a practical manner, 
 the state of the people who occupied Erin before the beginning 
 of authentic history ; they enable us to lift the veil that hitherto 
 has concealed the Eld, and to realize, to a great extent, 
 the physical past of the inhabitants. By a comparison of 
 waifs of antiquity with kindred objects from other countries 
 throughout the globe, conjectures can be formed as to the social 
 state of Ireland during the pre-Christian period. Thus it be- 
 comes possible to realize to ourselves the conditions of society 
 through which the previous inhabitants of the land passed in 
 long gone by ages, a condition of society more primitive than 
 any of Avhich we have at present an actual example in any 
 portion of the globe ; in fact, in these relics and in archaic folk- 
 lore we possess, to a great extent, a reliable record of the infancy 
 of mankind. 
 
 In the earliest ages of man's existence on the earth, weapons 
 and implements were formed of the rudest materials, for only 
 such were accessible ; wood, bone, horn, stone, and flint were 
 employed before man was able to use metal for these purposes. 
 The discovery of the principle of projecting a missile by the bow 
 was one of the greatest advances made by primitive man, for 
 cunning then supplied a weapon by which he made himself the 
 undisputed master of animal life. We cannot even guess at the 
 period of time during which the successive steps of this inven- 
 tion were accomplished, yet the art of shooting with the bow 
 became at length almost universal ; tliough the use of the bow 
 is unknown to some present-day savage tribes ; for instance, to 
 the aborigines of Australia (who, however, possess the boome- 
 rang), and to the Maories of New Zealand. Although the use of 
 the l)ow throughout Europe seems to date back to a very remote 
 period, yet nothing that can be identified positively as an arrow- 
 head has, it is believed, been found in the gravels. As a 
 rule, the older a flint implement, the larger it is, i.e., rude stone 
 weapons of the Drift are of greater size than those of the Polished 
 Stone Age. Reasoning on these lines we conclude that some 
 Irish arrow-heads are probably older than those of Great Britain, 
 for the former are, as a general rule, of larger size than the latter ; 
 they are also found in greater abundance, particularly in the 
 northern province ; yet how far this is owing to the use of the 
 older and larger heads having come down to later times, and how 
 far to the character of the flints produced in the country, it is 
 ditticult to decide. There is also greater relative abundance of 
 some particular forms in Ireland, more especially of the barbed 
 triangular arrow-heads without central stem ; of the elongated 
 form with stem and barbs, as well as of the lozenge-shaped arrow- 
 heads which present rare varieties. Owing to the fragility of
 
 40 ANCIENT FA UNA —THEIR EXTEJUIINA TOR. 
 
 the matcriiil, barbed arrow-lieads of bone are rare. Figs. 7, H, 9 
 were found by the writer. Such articles ought to be common 
 enough, as, in ohlen days, there were probably quite as many 
 arrow-tips made of bone as of tiint. Fig. 7, formed of the split 
 bone of a large mammal, was discovered in a rude stone monu- 
 ment, near Sligo ; the convex and concave sides of its medullary 
 canal were very observable, and it is evident that the head was 
 fastened to the shaft by a rivet, as the rivet-hole remains. Fig. 8 
 was found on the site of one of the crannogs or lake-dwellings in 
 Lough Talt, and fig. 9 on the site of a lake-dwelling in Lough 
 Gill in the same county ; all three were originally barbed. A 
 considerable number of objects of the class designated " bur- 
 nishers " by Sir William Wilde, "wrist-guards" by Canon 
 Greenwell, and " bracers " by Sir John Evans, have been found 
 in Ireland. One example, five inches long, has a hole in each 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 'H / 1 
 
 l''lo. S. l*'i(i. 'J. 
 
 Jjono Arro\v-lie;i(ls. (Real size.) 
 
 end, and a raised edge round the ends on the upper surface ; 
 others have two holes at each extremity. Though these articles 
 belong to the later period of the Stone Age, or even to a time 
 late in the Bronze Age, and are often found in prehistoric 
 interments in England, their use is by no means certain. The 
 most likely theory, that which at present holds the field, is, that 
 they were used as " bracers," or " guards," to protect the left 
 arm of the archer from the blow of the string, and they cer- 
 tainly bear a strong family resemblance to those Avorn by archers 
 of the present day for a similar purpose. 
 
 The art of projecting stones from a sling appears to be of 
 early origin, and continued in Ireland to a very late period ; for 
 instance, in tlie year 1818, the Claddagh fishermen of Cialway 
 routed a considerable force of dragoons with showers of stones
 
 B ONE A RR O U ^-HEA DS. 41 
 
 from slings. Casting pebbles from the sling was an amusement, 
 and a mode of mob warfare almost peculiar at that time to the 
 Claddagh men ; but since the famine the use of the sling has 
 with them fallen into desuetude. They had long been celebrated 
 for their skill in this ancient exercise, and were accustomed to 
 hold regular competitions or slinging matches, and when a slinger 
 was certain of hitting a shilling as far as it could be distinguished, 
 he was held to be a " marksman." 
 
 The missile, which, when launched by the hand, is not of 
 necessity expected to be recovered by its owner, is made of less 
 valuable material than that which the owner looks upon as con- 
 nected with his person ; thus the arrow-head of flint is often 
 contemporaneous with the period of iron ; the slight value of 
 the material made it especially applicable for the numufacture 
 of articles, Avhich, when used, were not likely to be recovered. 
 
 In collecting implements of flint an unlooked-for difficulty 
 often occurs, owing to a superstition prevalent amongst the 
 peasantry. Many of them believe that, when the flints have been 
 boiled in water, the liquid is a certain cure of, and is a preservative 
 against, sickness in human beings as well as in cattle, and that 
 it restores to health those that are ailing, or, as they term it, 
 "elf-shot." 
 
 Mr. W. J. Knowles, m.r.i.a., secretary for county Antrim to 
 the Council of the present Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, states 
 that he knew instances Avhere the possessor of a few tlint imple- 
 ments refused to part with them, as he found it more profitable 
 to hire them out to neighbours, for the purpose of curing cattle, 
 than it would be to sell them. This writer also remarks that, in 
 reference to the employment of flint arrow-heads and spear-heads 
 in curing cattle, he received recently an account from an aged 
 man, who lives not far from Ballymena, of how the ceremony of 
 cattle-curing was carried on in his young days : — 
 
 " He had a neighbour, a very respectable farmer, Avho was a 
 cow-doctor, and who had a considerable number of beautiful 
 flint arrow-heads, by means of which he effected cures in the 
 case of cattle which were ill. This cow-doctor invariably found 
 that tlie animal was either ' elf-shot ' or ' dinted,' or it might be 
 suffering from both troubles. When ' elf-shot,' I suspect the 
 arrow had pierced the hide ; and when ' dinted,' I imagine there 
 was only an indentation, which the doctor could feel as easily as 
 the holes. When he was called in to see a cow which was ill, 
 he would feel the hide all over, and find, or pretend to fiiul, holes 
 or indentations, and would call on anyone present to feel them. 
 He would then assure the owner that he would very soon cure 
 the cow. My informant told me that the man's usual expression 
 when he found the holes was, in his own local language, ' Begor,
 
 ^'^ . I .V( '//iXT FA UXA — 'J'HKIR A'X TERM IX. I TOR. 
 
 •SVC luio fbuiid the boy noo,' meaning that lie had found the cause 
 of the beast's aihnent. Some gruel would now have to be pre- 
 pared, into which he would put a few of his arrow-heads, a piece 
 of silver, usu.illy a sixpence, and he would also add some sooty 
 matter which he liad previously scraped from the l)()ttom of the pot. 
 When all had been boiled well together, and was ready for use, he 
 would take a mouthful and blow it into the animal's ears, 
 another mouthful and blow it over her back, and then he would 
 give the renuxinder to the cow to drink, and would go away, 
 assuring the owner that she would soon be better. I understand 
 he was generally successful in effecting cures, and was held in 
 high estimation as a cow-doctor. My informant said he was 
 often sent for by Lord Mountcashel's agent, when he lived in 
 Galgorm Castle, to prescribe for cattle which were ill. There 
 must, however, have been sceptics in those days, as I am told 
 that the poor cow-doctor was often jocularly asked to examine a 
 cow that was in perfectly good health, and that there was con- 
 siderable merriment when he pronounced her to be l)oth ' elf-shot' 
 and ' dinted.' "' 
 
 The number and wealth of English collectors have caused 
 the trade of forging antiquities to flourish. It is a time-worn 
 adage, very applicable to the case of collectors of anticpiities and 
 objects of virtu, that " demand creates supply." As soon as any 
 class of objects is inquired for, in a short time they are forth- 
 coming in almost any quantity. It is even said, by some ill- 
 natured antiquarians, that when excavations are going on in 
 London, and collectors are standing by on the watch for dis- 
 coveries, that coins, encanstic tiles, and bronzes are exhumed 
 under their very eyes, which, purchased from a neighbouring 
 old-curiosity shop, had actually been so placed for the purpose 
 of being thus found. 
 
 Counterfeit flint "antiques" are by no means imcommon; it 
 is stated that the Ijenn collection in Belfast is full of them. The 
 most celebrated forgerwas, undoubtedly, the well-known character, 
 " Flint-Jack." Born in the year 1816, of humble parentage, he, 
 in after-life, went by a hundred (iHhscs. The skill he displayed 
 was such that, it is said, he included on his list of dnpes the 
 then curator of the British Museum. Jack, however, never 
 succeeded in discovering the art of surface-chipping, which he 
 declared was a " barbarous art" that had died with the flint- 
 using folk. This well-known worked-flint forger conceived the 
 idea of visiting Ireland, thinking that his English beats required 
 a rest. He, accordingly, started heavily laden with antiquities 
 for " the sons of Erin." He says he did well, but the sons of 
 Erin were not his only victims, for on being asked if he had sold 
 flints and other anti(piities to the ot'ticials of museums, Jack
 
 FOR GED A XTIQ UITIES. 43 
 
 indignantly replied, " ^Yhy, of course I did; they have lots of my 
 things, and good things they are, too." 
 
 in the year 188G Mr. Knowles reported that a large number of 
 counterfeit flint arrow-heads and other similar antiquities were for 
 sale. Within three months several small collections were offered 
 to him. In order to extract information from the person who 
 exhibited them, Mr. Knowles looked over his wares, and, after 
 a careful examination, pronounced them to be forgeries. This 
 the dealer admitted, but excused himself by saying that he was 
 not asking for them the market price of genuine arrow-heads, 
 and spoke hopefully of being able to dispose of all he had. He 
 stated that a dealer in Ballymena had sent to England within 
 twelve months upwards of twenty pounds worth, and that another 
 had been able to purchase a set of harness for his horse with the 
 money received for forged flint implements. A dealer being 
 remonstrated with for buying forged objects, replied that they 
 "passed" — that is, they were purchased without question when 
 they went to England, and as long as they sold, that was all he 
 cared for. At that time almost every guide to the Giant's Cause- 
 way had for sale a small quantity of these forged objects, some- 
 times cleverly executed. Other forgeries consist of spurious oval 
 tool-stones. Boiled boulders from the sea-shore, about three or 
 four pounds in weight, are abraded at the ends, iu imitation of 
 genuine hammer stones, and are then pierced with a carpenter's 
 " boring bit," so as to make them figure as hammers. A few 
 small flint chisel-like objects, ground at the edge only, are also 
 on the market, as well as a few very handsome and beautifully 
 polished flint spear-heads, so cleverly worked that it is to be 
 feared that, if the forger continues to receive support from 
 England, he will make startling progress in his deceitful art. In 
 fact, not long ago there occurred a keen debate over a forged 
 spear- head, purchased by the secretary of an antiquarian society, 
 as to whether the object was genuine or spurious. On many 
 occasions of late years the attention of the public has been 
 drawn to forgeries offered for sale, but till recently purchasers 
 have not had much reason to complain, for though the cases 
 in which spurious articles were exposed for sale were quite as 
 plentiful as at present, everything was so unskilfully executed 
 that the forgery was easily detected, even by the uninitiated, but 
 now greater skill is being gradually brought to the work, though 
 even now a forged object is rarely met with that would escape 
 detection from a skilled observer. 
 
 Fig. 10 is from a photograph of a modern maker of flint 
 arrow-heads in the very act of fabricating his goods. " ^'('ry 
 much depends upon the character of the flint selected for man- 
 ipulation. As the finished article must have an aged look, a
 
 44 ANCIENT FA UNA— THEIR EXTERMINA TOR. 
 
 fresh unaltered flint would not answer the maker's purpose ; 
 therefore he carefully selects some of the mdurated flints that 
 occur where the chalk is in contact with the trap ; sucli flints 
 are discoloured, and may he found of every shade from white to 
 red, and ohjects made from them have the looked-for ' patina ' 
 of age. If an ancient flint implement is hroken, the 'patina' 
 will he found to coat the implement in lines parallel with the 
 surface, hut if a reproduction is hroken, the colour of the niaterial 
 
 l''li>. 10. 
 
 A modern maker of Flint Arrow-heads, in the act of fabricating his goods. 
 
 From a photograph by William Gray, m.u.i.a. 
 
 is the same all through. The modern maker of arrow-heads 
 selects a suitahle flake of indurated flint, and holds it in a fold of 
 cloth, his coat-collar or any other cloth, and with a sharp rough 
 splinter of hard trap he presses against the edge of the flint and 
 skilfully removes the material chip hy chip, flrst from one side, 
 then the other, until he forms his outline, and thus with 
 marvellous rapidity he can turn out a scraper or arrow-liead of 
 any form or size." 
 
 Fig. 11 is a collection of recent reproductions of the ancient
 
 GEXUINE AXTIQUITIES. 45 
 
 forms of arrow-beads and flint axes made to meet the demand for 
 Irish Anticjuities. " This trade may be justified so long as the 
 manufactured article is sold as a reproduction, and not as a 
 genuine ancient Irish weapon ; but, unfortunately, the ignorance 
 of collectors is such that they are left too often under the 
 impression that the reproduction they have secured by purchase 
 is really a genuine ancient weapon." 
 
 Our public and private collections represent numerous and 
 well-authenticated exhibits of antiquities ; here we have the rude 
 flint implements used by the earliest arrivals on our shores ; next 
 evidence of the metallurgic skill developed at a later period in 
 the fabrication of copper or bronze axes, swords, and various 
 weapons ; finally, personal ornaments formed of precious or other 
 
 Recent reproductions of ancient forms of Flint Arrow-heads and 
 Axes. About one-quarter real size. From a photograph by 
 William Gray, M.R.t.A. 
 
 metal, which attest the increased skill of the inhabitants. All 
 these represent an unerring exposition of the manners and arts 
 of an early race. 
 
 The interest manifested during recent years in the prosecu- 
 tion of antiquarian research is very remarkable. Towards the 
 close of tlie last and the commencement of the present century, 
 studies of this nature were confined to a very limited circle. The 
 records, however, which have been handed down to us are in- 
 creasing in scientific estimation, and we begin to value the 
 importance of these labours. Every attempt to depict the social 
 and mental condition of early man must necessarily be largely
 
 4G ANClEN'r FA UNA— THEIR KXTERMINA TOR. 
 
 conjectural, but great benefits liave been conferred by the investi- 
 gations of the old school of anti(|uarians ; for altliougli their 
 deductions may have been in many instances fallacious, yet the 
 facts ■svhich they have recorded are of the greatest inipoi'tance. 
 The traces left by the former inhabitants of the country resemble 
 the pages of an old manuscript : some are easily decipherable, 
 whilst others are very indistinct ; however, when read as a 
 whole, enough remains to enable us to form an outline of ancient 
 manners, customs, and superstitions. Archaeological Avriters 
 have left behind them ineffaceable monuments in their works, 
 in which they will always, izi one sense, survive; it is good, there- 
 fore, to follow their example, and carry on their labours, gather- 
 ing in, no matter in what diminutive quantities, stores of fresh 
 knowledge ; for, if truth be eternal, we shall, so long as arclueo- 
 logical truth is recorded, have the very remote chance of being 
 reckoned amongst these immortals also ! 
 
 Many readers may have read w^orks treating of some one or 
 more epochs included in the past, of which Ireland has been the 
 scene, but up to the present this lengthened period has not been 
 treated of as a whole. During a portion of the earl}- periods 
 passed by man on Earth, caves or rock-shelters formed his dwell- 
 ing-places, and from excavations in them we can draw some 
 inferences as to his condition. In Ireland, as elsewhere, there 
 is, it is thought by some, a link missing in the gradual develop- 
 ment of man. The gap is between the Old and the New Stone Age, 
 between the rough coarse implements from the gravel-drift, and 
 those of the smaller, finer chipped, and subsequently polished 
 newer Stone Age. This missing link may, in Ireland, be revealed 
 by a systenuitic exploration of caves and of the traces left in 
 them by their former inhabitants. Many Continental archao- 
 logists, however, deny that there is, in a general Avay, any great 
 gap l)etween the Eude Stone Age and the Polished Stone Age 
 period. 
 
 At the commencement of a new science, eager votaries build 
 \\\) work which has to be undone as soon as systematic effort is 
 commenced ; not only has the student to undo the futile work 
 that obstructs scientific inquiry, but, after pulling down the 
 edifice, he has to attempt its rebuilding. Within the last few 
 years local antiquarian societies, placed upon a practical Avorking 
 basis, have arisen, it may almost be said, all over the kingdom, 
 their members embracing men of all classes, professions, and 
 creeds. In Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, Kildare, Dublin, and 
 Belfast, as Avell as other places of less importance, wherever, in 
 fact, the thoughtful reading public are in numbers, explorations, 
 the outconu' of individual and collective efforts, have been insti- 
 tuted, and archa'ological literature has been enriched by many
 
 PR O GRESS OF AR CHJE OL O GICA L RE SEA R CH. 47 
 
 interesting and instructive papers. The trend of all modern 
 scientific eftbrt is to discover from the drift, from caves, and 
 middens, and other sites frequented by primitive man, more precise 
 acquaintance with the manners and customs of long past ages, 
 and on every side investigation has proved fruitful. There are 
 many secrets of the past belonging to our land, which are yet 
 unravelled, because traces of them are so faint as to be scarcely 
 perceptible ; it is to the examination of these we should direct 
 our attention. Day by day our feet unconsciously tread the 
 silent relics of time, and from the very dust we ought to be able 
 to conjure up visions of the past, and so commune with the in- 
 habitants of bygone ages. Careful study begets knowledge, and 
 knowledge increases knowledge. Much, which to the uninitiated 
 appears unaccountable, gradually assumes its right place in 
 archffiological sequence, new trains of reasoning are created, 
 connecting links are discovered where all before was in apparent 
 disorder, and a sound basis of facts is obtained upon which a 
 new and exact science can be built. 
 
 It has been established, on incontrovertible evidence, that 
 worked flints have been discovered under a considerable depth 
 of undisturbed alluvial gravel in France, Britain, and the north 
 of Ireland ; also that implements of flint and stone have been 
 found in the earthen or stalagmitic floors of caverns, in conjunc- 
 tion with the bones of animals long extinct in those latitudes — 
 such as the lion, tiger, bear, hyena, rhinoceros, elephant, hippo- 
 potamus, mammoth, reindeer, and the megaceros, which may be 
 better described as the big-horn, or gigantic Irish deer. Now, 
 if the handiwork of man is found associated with the remains of 
 these extinct Mammalia, it follows, as a simple inference, that 
 he existed contemporaneously with them, and most probably mi- 
 grated, as they did, over land which then formed a portion of the 
 European continent, but which has since been eroded by the sea. 
 This tends to suggest the theory that a very primitive race had 
 overspread the continent of Europe long before the advent of the 
 tribes and mixed peoples that now inhabit it, a race which 
 must have at last reached Ireland, where they may have carved 
 those rude devices on the face of natural rocks, that still form an 
 enigma to the antiquary, who may also have reared, at a later 
 date, the earliest of our rude stone monuments, and the most 
 primitive of our lake-dwellings. While admitting that imple- 
 ments found in the drift are the rude hatchets and knives of men 
 who inhabited Europe towards the end of the Glacial Period, 
 many writers of the old school argue that it would be as unsafe 
 to draw from these weapons inferences as to the condition of 
 man in the different countries of the Continent, at the time of 
 their deposition, as it would be nowadays to draw conclusions
 
 48 A lYCI-EXT FA UNA— THEIR EXTERMINA TOR. 
 
 from the habits and arts of savage tribes, as to the present 
 civihzation of the United Kingdom. But at the time mider 
 review there existed a dead level of savagery ; for it may be said, 
 that there is not a district of the Earth that can be pointed to, 
 which does not show, by rude Hint implements buried in its soil, 
 the savage status of its first inhabitants. If, as is asserted by 
 some, these savages were the degenerated descendants of civilized 
 tribes or luitions, the burden of proof lies on those making the 
 assertion. Almost all the countries famed in ancient history as 
 seats of civilization, show, like other and less celebrated regions, 
 traces of an archaic Stone Age ; even ]\gypt has, at last, been 
 brought into line with the rest, and furnishes evidences demon- 
 strating the former prevalence of a condition of primitive society 
 analogous to the state of modern savage tribes. 
 
 Some races have indeed retrograded, and have returned to a 
 comparatively degraded and degenerate state, but scarcely to a 
 state of savagery. It has been alleged by many writers that, on 
 attaining the culminating point of culture, the destiny of all 
 races is to decline and decay ; that, like individuals, races in their 
 old age return to the early condition of childliood. But the simile 
 is not apposite. The catastrophe which alters or terminates the 
 upward career of nations, generally comes from without, not from 
 within, from a stronger race, or from contact with a superior 
 civilization, as, for example, was the case with the Greeks, the 
 Bonians, the Fellaheen of Egypt in the Old World, the Mexicans 
 and Peruvians in the New World, and, the latest example, the 
 Chinese in the East. In all these nations, although their 
 culture, at the time of their overthrow, is alleged by modern 
 writers to have been corrupt, the shock under which they sank 
 came not from within, but from without. 
 
 The absence of very primitive human remains in Ireland 
 furnishes a problem capable of an easy solution. In early times 
 savage man had probably no more idea of the sanctity whicli 
 nowadays surrounds the dead, than had the wild beasts by which 
 he was environed. We can oidy expect to meet with his osseous 
 remains under exceptional circumstances at least, until the period 
 is reached when his body was placed in a sepulchre protected 
 overhead (as in the dolmen or cromleac, i.e., a rude stone monu- 
 ment) from the effects of weather, and by the side stones from 
 the ravages of beasts of prey. No discoveries of osseous human 
 remains have as yet been recorded as made in the gravel-drift in 
 Ireland ; and it is extremely unlikely that, if found, they will be 
 met with except in some very exceptional case, for relic-bearing 
 gravel beds do not contain traces of any animal so diminutive as 
 man, since the smaller the animal is the more likely it is that the 
 skeleton will be oblitenitod. With the exception of rude Jlint drift
 
 CA VES AXD CA VE DWELLERS. 49 
 
 implements, it may be said that pre-liistoric remains in Ireland, 
 as at present known, commence with the later Stone Period, when 
 man hmited the great Irish big-horn and the reindeer. 
 
 Although many people, from actual observation or reading, 
 are well acquainted with the caves of America, the Continent, 
 and England, few are well informed as to the existence of large 
 and picturesque caves in Ireland. In the southern and central 
 counties, there are the extensive caverns of Mitchelstown, county 
 Cork; those in the county Waterford, remarkable for the dis- 
 coveries of bones of extinct Irish animals, and of stone imple- 
 ments, and the cave of Dunmore, in Kilkenny, which demands 
 attention, both from its size and from its mention in Irish history. 
 In the North of Ireland, there are caverns which have yielded 
 traces of pre-historic man, as have also the limestone caves of 
 Fermanagh ; these latter, however, contain implements showing 
 a merging of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. All these caves 
 occur in limestone rock — either in the newer, or in the older Car- 
 boniferous limestone, usually known as mountain limestone — more 
 especially in the uppermost beds. It might therefore be con- 
 fidently expected that we should meet with many caves in the 
 West of Ireland, where the Upper limestone is a considerable and 
 important geological formation. 
 
 In the Sligo district, the majestic Benbulbin, the rugged 
 valley of Glenili', and the beautiful vales of Glencar and Glcnade 
 are carved out of this material, while stretching southward, on both 
 sides of the northern continuation of the Ox Mountains, is a low 
 undulating plain of the lower beds of limestone, rarely rising to 
 any considerable elevation except at Kesh and Knocknashee, 
 where the uppermost beds again are found. Limestone, being 
 easily dissolved by rain water, contains numerous cavities and 
 fissures, which, enlarging in the course of time, develop into 
 caves ; and the explorer often meets with a nature-carving of rare 
 beauty, a shelter-cave, or a gigantic cleft, once roofed in, but now 
 broken doAvn, and hollowed out by the constant dropping that 
 will wear away even stone. Hardly a valley can be explored, 
 hardly a clitf can be climbed, where such cavities are not met; 
 along the coasts they frequently occur, but are there generally 
 devoid of antiquarian interest. Many of the inland caves have 
 been explored by archaBologists, but the greater number still invite 
 inspection. 
 
 The most important caves of this limestone district are 
 those of Kesh ; Killasnet, at the head of the valley of Glencar ; 
 and Glenitt", on the north side of Benbulbin, near Ballin- 
 trellick. 
 
 The caves of Kesli, half way up the mountain of that nanie, 
 lie to tlio south-east of Ballymote. A steep ascent of about 500 
 
 E
 
 50 A lYCIEXT FA UXA —THEIR KXTKRMIXA TOR. 
 
 feet leads to a porpendiculiU' face of rock wliicli presents no bad 
 resemblance to the side of some ancient fortification, time-worn 
 and encrusted Avitli ivy. This precipice rises some sixty feet, and 
 in it, a little above the junction of the Middle and the Upper lime- 
 stone, are numerous openings. Explorations, up to the present, 
 have been devoid of archaeological interest; still some of the 
 cavities may, on closer examination, yield important results. 
 None of them are particularly large; the most important cave, at 
 least twenty feet high, has a small cluuuber to the left ; and to the 
 right one can penetrate for a considerable distance along a low 
 corridor; there are also many small low lateral passages very 
 difficult to explore to their termination. These caves will well 
 repay a visit, but fine dry weather should be chosen, as the clayey 
 deposit forming the floor, when saturated by the dripping from 
 the roof, is not a pleasant substance to crawl over. 
 
 A cavern, be it ever so small, is, in Ireland, fabled to extend 
 an immense distance into the bowels of the Earth, and the caves 
 of Kesh are no exception to the rule. A guide recently recounted 
 the legend attached to the locality, in almost the identical words 
 of Beranger, written more than a century ago, namely, that the 
 cavern communicated with another, some twenty-live miles 
 distant, called "the Hell-Mouth Door of Ireland." The wife of 
 a fanner, near this entrance to the nether regions, possessed an 
 unruly calf, which she could never drive home unless by holding 
 it by the tail. One day it tried to escape, and dragged the woman 
 into " the Hell-Mouth Door." Unable to hold back the calf, she 
 ran after it without relaxing her grasp, until she emerged again, 
 in the light of day, at the entrance of the caves of Kesh. 
 
 The caves of Glenifi", the finest in the Sligo district, occur 
 near the summit of the northern edge of the Benbulbin range, 
 overshadowing the deep valley of Gleniff, and are only reached 
 after a toilsome climb of some 1200 feet, up a steep grassy slope, 
 followed by a talus of loose stones ; then comes a precipitous face 
 of rock, some forty feet high; overcoming this, and a highly 
 inclined steep above the entrance, an immense natural arch, 
 about forty feet high and sixty wide, is reached. On the 
 Ordnance Map the cavity is marked as " Dermod and Grania's 
 Bed," and it is one of the few examples in which the legend of 
 the runaway couple is connected witli ;iny object save a rude 
 stone monument. 
 
 The guide recounted the story, which differs from that usually 
 current amongst the peasantry in representing the cavern as the 
 permanent residence of Finn MacCool and his faithless wife, and 
 not the mere shelter for the night utilised by Dermod and Grania 
 wliilst the fugitive couple were flying from the pursuit of the 
 justly enraged Finn. Grania, according to this legend, possessed
 
 CA VES AXD CA VE DWELLERS. 51 
 
 not only the Avitchery of beauty, but the practical gift of witch- 
 craft, and at such times as she desired to enjoy the society of 
 Dermod, she could lay a spell upon her husband, compelling him, 
 at one time, to gather seaweed, and burn kelp on the seashore, at 
 another to cut rushes in the valley to make mats; and again often 
 sending him to distant pasturages after supposititious strayed 
 cattle. The guide expressed himself uncertain as to the final 
 result of this intrigue; he only knew that it ended in there 
 being "a terrible row entirely" in the mountain cavern. 
 
 The candles and lamps, of which a good supply should be 
 taken, being lighted, the exploration may be commenced. An 
 opening to the left leads from the outer cavern, which is large, 
 but of no great beauty, into a chamber of immense proportions; 
 sometimes a light flashed through the gloom on a piece of 
 jutting rock fully fifty feet above, and still higher were patches 
 of blacker darkness indicating further heights; whilst underfoot, 
 as the lights flitted round, great depths and abysses were re- 
 vealed, demonstrating the need of a good supply of ropes for their 
 exploration. Stalactites hung like huge petrifled bunches of 
 grapes from the roof, and the walls and overhanging ledges ex- 
 hibited stone icicles and massive coatings of stalagmite in every 
 fantastic form that nature can devise. The accumulation of 
 immense blocks of rock fallen from the roof renders a thorough 
 arcliJBological exploration out of the question. 
 
 To the right is a narrow but lofty chamber. Entering this 
 presently the walls contract and lower, and a gallery is formed ; 
 close to the entrance is a curious mass of stalagmite, some- 
 what resembling a colossal-shaped female figure, from this point 
 the gallery contracts still more, becoming in places very pre- 
 cipitous and difficult of passage, and leadinq; again into the 
 entrance-cave. 
 
 To the left of the entrance arch, a gallery, some eight feet wide 
 and 100 feet long, with a winding and well-gravelled pathway of 
 natural formation, opens out on the face of the clifl", and affords 
 a magnificent panorama of the country. Far away on the 
 horizon, the amphitheatre of the great cliffs of the Donegal coast 
 is, on a clear day, distinctly visible. Close to the opening a 
 steeple-shaped pinnacle rears itself in solitary grandeur over a 
 precipice oi about 200 feet. 
 
 These caves of Gleniff were certainly inhabited in former 
 times. Some rude flint flakes and a bronze axe, now in the 
 Science and Art ]\Iuseum, Dublin, were found here under a mass 
 of stalagmite, and, under the present floor of the cavern, bones of 
 recent animals were dug up. It may, however, be said that in 
 Ireland no staitling discovery of cave-remains has as yet been 
 made; l)uttlu' most ini[)())'t;int inferences drawn byUsslier, Adams, 
 
 E 2
 
 52 A XClIiXT I'\ 1 UX. [ — Til KIR KXTKRMLW I TOR. 
 
 ami Kinahaii, from the facts discovered l)y them in the explora- 
 tions of the cavern of Ballynamintra (figs. 12 and 18), near 
 Dungarvan, are as follows:— 
 
 The history of the cave is divided into five distinct periods. 
 During the first, the cavern was excavated by aqueous agency. In 
 the second, the How of water ceased, the cave became com- 
 paratively dry, was inhabited by bears, and a stalagmite floor was 
 deposited — by infiltration from aboAC — over the gravel which had 
 been washed in by the stream. During the third period, the 
 stalagmite floor w^is, from some cause, partially broken up, and 
 in places a pale sandy cartli was intruded, enveloping the broken 
 stalagmite, and the animal remains. In the fourth period there 
 was an accumulation of earth, and other deposits, and the cave 
 was inhabited by men Avho were contemporaneous with the Great 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 General View of the Entrance to the Cave of Ballynamiiitra. from lu-ar tlic Cappaijli 
 Railway Station. After a sketch by G. H. Kinahan, m.k.i.a., in the I'rans 
 actions, Royal Dublin Society. 
 
 Irish Deer. In the fifth period of the history of the cave, its in- 
 habitants used carvtd bone implements and polished stone hatchets, 
 traces of the Great Deer and Dear disappear, giving place to those 
 of domesticated animals. 
 
 That the deposition of the two upper earthen strata was 
 gradual and successive is clearly shown by the layers, formed 
 one above the other. Tliis is corroborated by the sequence of 
 the animal remains, as well as by the dissimilar colouring of the 
 bones — the great Irish deer being the characteristic animal of 
 the former stratum, whilst domesticated animals were most 
 plentiful in the latter. These facts show that tlie Imman 
 remains, implements, and charcoal-bed, found with the remains 
 of the extinct deer, were deposited there contemporaneously 
 witli tlieiii. The charcoal and calcareous seams mark successive
 
 CAVES A XD CAVE DWELLERS. 53 
 
 floors during the slow accumulation of a refuse-heap, when man 
 was the chief occupant of the cave. The condition of the larger 
 bones, especially those of the great deer, is an additional proof 
 of the human occupation of the cave at the time when those 
 animals lived ; and the chipped hammer-stones found in the 
 same stratum were, in all probability, the very implements with 
 which the bones were broken and split along their length. How 
 the fragments of human bones were mixed with the stone imple- 
 ments and animal remains, the explorers did not venture to 
 explain. 
 
 The caves of Knockmore, county Fermanagh (fig 14j, were 
 explored by Mr. T. Plunkett, who has given a long enumeration of 
 the Mammalia and other relics found in them; some authorities, 
 however, believe that the remains are quite recent. With regard 
 
 J>'lG. 13. 
 
 General View of the Country around the Ballj-namintra Cave, showing llat ground 
 margined with scarps, representing an ancient river bed or estuary. Houses, 
 fences, and plantings omitted. 
 
 to these deposits, Mr. Plunkett is, however, of opinion that there 
 is strong geological and other evidence, bearing witness to the 
 presence and operation of ice in the surrounding district since 
 the cave-remains were deposited. If this opinion be correct, it 
 would appear that the ancient cave-dwellers of Fermanagh were 
 a race passing an every-day existence somewhat similar to that 
 of the inhabitants of the Arctic regions of the present day, and 
 that they lived in the summer season in places which, in the 
 winter months, were enveloped in a thick mantle of ice. 
 
 I)r. Joyce states that all our recent native animals have 
 been commemorated in names of places, and that by a study of 
 these; local names we can tell what animals formerly abounded, 
 and that we are able thus to identify the very spots resorted to 
 by each particular kind. We now, however, live in a zoologically
 
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 THE POOKA, OR MAMMOTH. 55 
 
 impoverished age, from which many of the largest and finest 
 animals, such as the mammoth and gigantic deer, have hut 
 recently disappeared. In a much smaller sphere of animal life 
 a slight difference in size has had an effect quite beyond any- 
 thing that might have been anticipated in the disparity in 
 physical powers. The extinction of the indigenous black rat 
 in Ireland has usually been ascribed to the superior strength 
 and aggressive character of the invading and foreign rat, but 
 it can with more probability be accounted for by the inferior 
 intelligence possessed by the extirpated animal. 
 
 The dominance of man over the Animal Kingdom may mark the 
 beginning of a new geological period, but there is no gap in time, 
 only a slight change in life to announce the mastery of man, and 
 to earmark his reign from earlier epochs in the world's life-history. 
 
 The present era is also characterised by the disappearance or 
 removal of those animals least ministering to the necessities and 
 uses of man, as well as by the progressive melioration and 
 sporadic increase of animals specially adapted to his service and 
 support. The law of nature extends even to the occasional 
 displacement of indigenous flora by introduced plants. Im- 
 provement and exaltation of type seem essential conditions of 
 continuity, for wherever improvement is arrested or undeveloped 
 then extinction looms in the distance. 
 
 A huge, formless, and chameleon-like monster is believed by 
 the peasantry of Ireland, and of the Highlands of Scotland, to 
 frequent the lonely glens and morasses of wild and mountainous 
 districts. May not this strange superstition be a lingering remi- 
 niscence of the former presence of the mammoth in these lati- 
 tudes ? This indistinctness of form is very well exemplified in 
 the legend recounted of the Pooka that dwells in a natural cave 
 at the base of a hill on which stands the Dun of Clochanpooka. 
 This eccentric Kilkenny spirit frequently assumes the strange 
 shape of an enormous fleece of wool, and issuing from the cavern 
 rolls over the ground with astonishing speed, uttering a mysteri- 
 ous buzzing sound which inspires terror in all w'ho hear it. A 
 venerable peasant of the district declared that he had witnessed 
 this apparition, and noticed the terror, in both man and beast, 
 which its approach excited. Indistinctness, like that of an 
 imperfectly remembered dream, seems to constitute the chief 
 characteristic of the Pooka, it being variously described as a 
 gigantic bull with very long horns, a horse, a goat, a bird, and 
 it is sometimes styled the GrxuKjach, or hairy spirit. Spenser 
 cautions his readers not to allow 
 
 "... tlio Pouke, noi- other cvill spriglils 
 
 Fiiiy us with things that be not."
 
 5G AKCTENT FA UNA— THEIR EXTERjMlXA TOR. 
 
 The Pooka is also described as a i'risky iiaschievous being, a 
 sturdy pony, and in places he even passes as a donkey having a 
 great turn for humour and pi'actical joking. He lies in wait for 
 the belated traveller, returning home, by wild unfrequented 
 mountain paths, or across bogs, for the Tooka is especially 
 connected with bogs, marshes, and water, and is in general 
 represented as shaking the dripping ooze from his hairy hide. 'J'he 
 Pooka crouches in the path of his victim, and rising suddenly 
 between his legs he hoists the unlucky pedestrian on his back, 
 and carries him away at railway speed (fiig 15). The first crow- 
 ing of the cock frees the involuntary rider who is flung from 
 
 the Pooka's 
 back into some 
 deep muddy 
 pond. The 
 Pooka is often 
 considered as 
 identical with 
 the modern 
 devil, and the 
 expression 
 " playing old 
 Puck," is equivalent to " playing 
 the Devil," or doing something very 
 wdld. On the other hand, the Pooka 
 exhibits occasionally an amiable 
 side of his character. He is re- 
 ported to sometimes commiserate 
 the lot of a benighted wayfarer, to 
 hoist him on his back, and safely 
 convey him many a mile to his 
 cabin. An odd notion amongst the 
 peasantry, connected with the Pooka, causes them to tell their 
 children, after Michaelmas Day, not to eat blackberries, as they 
 attribute the decay in them, which commences about that time, 
 to the spleen of the Pooka. 
 
 The disappearance of all recollections of a Stone Age is 
 paralleled by the oblivion of the origin of the remains of the 
 great extinct animals which were contemporary with man. 
 Everywhere fossil bones of elephants and rhinoceros are both in 
 the ancient and modern worlds attributed to monsters and giants. 
 The fossil bones strewn over some of the lower ranges of 
 the Himalayas are believed by the natives to have belonged 
 to the gigantic Rakshasas of Indian mythology killed by Indra. 
 Just in the same Avay, North American Indians regard the 
 great bones of Tertiary mammals, occasionally disclosed to view 
 
 i'lG. 15. 
 
 The Pooka and its involuntary rider. 
 From Mr. and JMrs. Hall's "Ireland.'
 
 FOSSILIZED BONES. 57 
 
 on the precipitous sides of gullies, as those of their ancestors. 
 Augustine, in his chapter on " The Lives and Sizes of the 
 Antediluvians" (De Civitate Dei, xv. 9), says: — 
 
 " Concerning the magnitude of their hodies, the graves laid 
 bare by age or the force of rivers and various accidents, especially 
 convict the incredulous where they have come to light, or where 
 the bones of the dead of incredible magnitude have fallen. I 
 have seen, and not I alone, on the shore of Utica, so huge a 
 molar tooth of a man, that were it cut up into small models of 
 teeth like ours, it would seem enough to make a hundred of them. 
 But this I should think had belonged to some giant, for beside 
 that the bodies of all men were then much larger than ours, the 
 giants again far exceeding the rest." 
 
 Kirby, in his Wonderfid and Eccentric Museum, published in 
 1820, devotes a chapter to a description of " Gigantic Eemains," 
 and states that " all the public prints make mention of an extra- 
 ordinary monument of gigantic human stature, found by two 
 labourers in Leixlip Churchyard, on the 10th July, 1812. It 
 appeared to have belonged to a man of not less than ten feet in 
 height, and is believed to be the same mentioned by Keating — 
 Plielim 0"J'ool, buried in Leixlip Churchyard, near the Salmon 
 Leap, one thousand two hundred and fifty years ago. Li the 
 place was found a large finger-ring of pure gold. There was no 
 inscriptions or characters of any kind upon it. One of the teeth 
 is said to have been as large as an ordinary forefinger." This 
 was probably another discovery of mammoth bones. 
 
 The following is an extract from the Strand Magazine for 
 December, 1895 : let the reader judge as to the genuineness 
 of the fossilized Irish giant, which is thus described : — 
 
 " Pre-eminent among the most extraordinary articles ever 
 held by a railway company is the fossilized Irish giant, which is 
 at this moment lying at the London and North-Western Railway 
 Company's Broad-street goods depot, and a photograph of which 
 is reproduced here (fig. 10). This monstrous figure is reputed to 
 have been dug i;p by a Mr. Dyer whilst prospecting for iron ore in 
 Co. Antrim, The principal measurements are : — Entire length, 
 12ft. 2in. ; girth of chest, Gft. Oiin. ; and length of arms, 4ft. 
 Gin. There are six toes on the right foot. The gross weight is 
 2 tons 15 cwt. ; so that it took half a dozen men and a powerful 
 crane to place this article of lost property in position for the 
 Strand M(((/a::ine artist. Dyer, after showing the giant in 
 Dublin, came to England with his queer find and exhibited it in 
 Liverpool and Manchester at sixpence a head, attracting scientific 
 men as well as gaping sightseers. Business increased and the 
 showman induced a num named Kershaw to purcliase a share in 
 the concern. In 1870, Dyer sent this giant from Manchester to
 
 58 A XCIEA-'T FA U:<'A — THETR EXTERMIXA TOR. 
 
 London by rail ; the sum of £4 2.s-. (JJ. boino; chav2[e(l for carriage 
 by the company, but never paid. Evidently Kershaw knew 
 nothing of the removal of the ' show,' for when he discovered it 
 he followed in hot haste, and, through a firm of London solicitors, 
 moved the Court of Cliancerv to issue an order restraining tlie 
 
 "Fossilizid Irisli Gi.uit." Pliotofrrnph honi Stiaiui .\/cii;,i':.iiie. 
 
 company from parting with tlie giant, until the action between 
 Dyer and himself to determine the ownership was disposed of. 
 The action was never brought to an issue." 
 
 Proofs of the existence of the mannnotli in Ireland, possibly in 
 both Pre- and Post-Glacial times, while most complete, point, as 
 far as they go, to tlie presumption that it did not occur in great
 
 THE MAMMOTH. 59 
 
 numbers, not for instance in such quantities as in a clay deposit 
 near the sea of Azof, 50 feet in thickness, which is full of mam- 
 moth hones, nor in the alluvial deposits of clay and mud, spread 
 largely over the northern portions of Siberia. Mammoth remains 
 occur in greatest quantity along the banks of the great rivers 
 which drain this area, and the bones become more numerous the 
 farther the rivers are followed towards their mouth, until com- 
 pletely frozen carcases are found. The well-known preservative 
 properties of ice were strikingly illustrated by the discovery, on 
 the shores of Lake Oncoul, in Siberia, of a carcase of the mam- 
 moth in a perfect state, and so well refrigerated that, when 
 thawed, the dogs of the neighbourhood devoured its flesh. 
 Again, in 1840, the summer in Siberia had been unusually hot, 
 the frozen marshes which extend along each side of the river 
 Indigirka were thawed, and a perfectly preserved carcase of a 
 mammoth floated down the stream. This monster had most 
 probably met his death during a blizzard some thousands of years 
 ago, by sinking into the deep snow and mud of the morasses ; 
 the body was then frozen over, and thus remained until the 
 exceptional summer's heat melted its icy prison (fig. 17). This 
 discovery solved the question as to how this huge creature existed 
 in such an inhospitable country, for the presence in its stomach 
 of young shoots of fir and pine and fir cones, all in a chewed 
 state, proved that it fed on vegetation such as is yet found in 
 the woods of northern Siberia. From the effects of the climate, 
 the mammoth was protected by his thick woolly coat. The 
 structure of its teeth resembles those of the reindeer and musk ox. 
 
 The specimen, represented by fig. 18, from an old engraving, 
 is stated to be an animal that probably attained an immense age, 
 as its tusks are so curved as to be of little use. " The hair that 
 still remains on the skin of the St. Petersburg specimen is of the 
 colour of the camel, very thick set, and curled in locks. Bristles 
 of a dark colour are interspersed, some reddish and some nearly 
 black. The colour of the skin is a dull black, as in living ele- 
 phants." With regard to this interesting and important discovery, 
 the Rev. H. N. Hutchinson remarks that " truly there is nothing 
 new under the sun, and the present highly useful method of 
 freezing meat, and bringing it over from America or New Zea- 
 land, to add to our insufficient home supplies, is but a resort to 
 a process employed by nature long before the age of steamships, 
 and perhaps even before the appearance of man on Earth." 
 
 To students of folklore, legends regarding the mammoth are 
 of great interest, and to some extent this interest must extend to 
 men of science, for, as pointed out by the writer already quoted, 
 one of the many points of intei'ost in the study of this animal is 
 that palaeontology may be said to have been founded on the
 
 * f
 
 THE MAMMOTH. 
 
 61 
 
 mammoth. " Cuvier, the ilhistrious founder of the science of 
 organic remains, was enabled by his accurate and minute know- 
 ledge of the structure of living animals, to prove to his astonished 
 contemporaries that the mammoth bones and teeth, so plentifully 
 discovered in Europe, were not such as could have belonged to 
 any living elephant, and consequently that there must have 
 existed, at some previous period of the world's history, an 
 elephant of a different kind and quite \inknown to naturalists." 
 The most important discovery of mammoth remains in Ireland 
 was made in a limestone breccia, in the Shandon Cave, near 
 Dungarvan, county Waterford, associated with bones of the 
 grizzly bear, wolf, reindeer, wild horse, and other animals ; from 
 
 Vu,. IS. 
 Mammoth with cuixl'J tusks. I'roin an old engraving'. 
 
 the completeness of one of the mammoth skeletons, the animal 
 must have made its way into the cave to die. Besides these 
 remains, others have been found in the counties of Cavan, Gal- 
 way, and Antrim. The discovery in Cavan is recorded in the 
 PJiiloHopldcal TransKctions for the year 1715, and is one of the 
 first Avell-authenticated discoveries of mammoth remains in the 
 British Isles; the teeth were figured and described by Dr. Thomas 
 IMolyncux. Tlie Galway specimen consists of a nearly perfect 
 humerus dredged up in Gahvay Bay. The Antrim specimens 
 consist of teeth obtained at r»allyrud(ler, and also at Corncastle, 
 in a stratum of gravel, containing marine shells of Post-Tertiary 
 species.
 
 C2 ANCn':XT /'A UXA—TJIKIR KXTKRMIXA TOR. 
 
 The greal Irish deer (li^^ 1!)) is, after the iiKumiiotli, one of the 
 noblest representatives of the extinct MannnaUa of Ireland. The 
 largest stags were about seven feet in height, whilst the expanse 
 of their antlers, in some cases, attained to upwards of twelve 
 feet; The lie v. H. N. Hutchinson is of opinion that, " like all 
 existing deer, the animal shed its antlers periodically, and such 
 shed antlers have been found. When it is recollected that all 
 the osseous matter of which they are composed must have been 
 drawn from the blood carried along certain arteries to the head 
 in the course of a few months, our wonder may well be excited 
 at the vigorous circulation that took place in these parts. In 
 the red deer, the antlers, weighing about ^l\ lbs., are developed in 
 the course of about ten weeks ; but what is that compared to the 
 growth of over 80 lbs. Aveight in some three or four months "? " 
 
 Although the bones of this gigantic deer are found in recent 
 deposits, both in England and on the Continent ; yet, judging 
 by the number of specimens discovered, Ireland would appear to 
 have been its favourite habitat. Their plentifulness in Ireland 
 may, perhaps, be attributable to the comparative scarcity of its 
 natural enemies, the larger carnivora. 
 
 Its remains are also found in the Isle of Man. The fact 
 that the huge creature was formerly a member of tlie faun;i of 
 this small island, and the most patriotic Manxuuin will liardly 
 deny that it is small, is very interesting, for large animals need 
 a wide expanse of country to roam over. We can only conclude 
 that, at the period the deer existed, the Isle of Man formed part of 
 the continent of Europe, Avas connected with both Great Britain 
 and Ireland, and that the Channel and the Irish Hea were either 
 partly or wholly dry land ; but on the other hand, if this be so, 
 how are we to account for the absence in Ireland of the larger 
 carnivora ? 
 
 One of the evidences that this animal was contemporary with 
 man rests on the discovery of its bones in a very broken state, 
 in the cave of Ballynamintra, ijnd in company with stone 
 implements and human remains. The bones of this deer and 
 other nuxmmals, when recovered from subturbary deposits and 
 exposed to the air, are apt to crack in the direction of the long 
 axis, but the " sun cracks " as they are termed, rarely penetrate 
 the entire thickness, nor is there a splintering into fragments 
 which cave-bones generally exhibit, li. J. Ussher, the explorer 
 of the Ballynamintra cavern, states that the most remarkable 
 feature was the number of long bones, " split longitudinally, 
 with evidence of violent blows of percussion, as evidenced by 
 longitudinal fractures, such as the femur, tibia, and humerus, 
 for there is not a long bone of the Irish elk which has not been 
 split lengthways, or reduced to angular splinters. To have
 
 
 •te >>
 
 64 A XC//':XT J' A UXA — THEIR EXTERMIXA TOR. 
 
 accomplislictl this, great force Avas required, and that force must 
 liavo been exerted along the long axis of the shaft. The absence 
 of the lion and hyena, leaving the bear and wolf as the only 
 large members of the order hitherto identified from Irish 
 deposits, renders it nnlilcely that they could have split the long 
 bones so regularly. '^^I'he few small cuspidated premolars of the 
 bear, coupled with the succeeding broad crowns of the molars, 
 are not suited for that continuous penetration and pressure along 
 a surface for whicli tlu; narrow crowns of the teeth of the felidfB 
 and hyena are so eminently adapted. As regards the wolf, it 
 may be fairly doubted if that animal possessed the requisite 
 strength of jaw for the accomplishment of such a feat, at all 
 events as regards the femur, humerus, and tibia. Taking, 
 therefoiv, into consideration the oblong and rounded stones, 
 battered and c-hipped at their ends by blows, also other stone 
 tools bearing traces of man's handiwork, and strewn about 
 among the Irish elk's remains, one can scarcely doubt but that 
 the regularity in the mode of fracture was the result of his 
 ingenuity for the extraction of the marrow, and possibly also 
 for other objects." In the lake-dwelling of Cloonfinlough, the 
 bones of the gigantic Irish deer Avere also discovered in a 
 fractured condition. Among the abundant Mammalian dclnis, 
 raised from the kitchen-midden or refuse-heap of one of the lake- 
 dwellings in Lough Eea, was the head of a gigantic Irish deer, 
 measuring about thirteen feet from tip to tip of the antlers ; and 
 a writer states that stone hatchets and fragments of pottery have 
 been found with the bones of this creature under circumstances 
 that leave no doubt of a contemporaneous deposition. 
 
 In the refuse-heap of the lake-dwelling of Breagho, portion 
 of an antler was discovered, sawn and perforated Avith holes. It 
 does not, however, necessarily follow that this relic had belonged 
 to an animal killed and utilized by the lake-dwellers ; the horn 
 may have been found by them on some spot where it had rested 
 for ages. The same explanation may be applied to the discovery 
 of portion of the gigantic Irish deer (one of its teeth) in a 
 prehistoric cist. 
 
 We need not feel surprised at the disappearance of the 
 gigantic deer, when Ave see that the American buffalo has, 
 within about tA\-o hundred years, been almost exterminated 
 through the greed of hunters ; and Avere it not that a feAV herds 
 are kept in " reservations," under conditions Avhich it is hoped 
 Avill lead to their increase, it Avould, in a short time, be as extinct 
 as the Irish big-horn. Both the Irish deer and the mammoth 
 AA'^ere probably extermhiated by man, for Ave know that primitive 
 man Avas a mighty hunter, and as the human race increased, its 
 Avants developed proportionally, and more animals Avere of
 
 THE G/GAXTIC IRISH DEER. 65 
 
 necessity destroyed. If this be the truth, it is an easy sohition 
 of the problem of the extinction of the mammoth and great deer, 
 and does not necessitate an Ice Age, or any great change in 
 climatic conditions. 
 
 Of the fact that the reindeer (fig. 20) was contemporary with 
 man in Ireland, the evidence is more meagre than is the case Avith 
 the great deer, although both roamed together amidst the plains of 
 ancient Erin. Of the several existing varieties of reindeer, the 
 one to which the Irish examples may be referred is the Arctic 
 cariboo, in which the antlers are slender and rounded, as 
 contrasted Avith the more massive and flattened beam of the 
 horns of the woodland cariboo found in Eastern Canada and the 
 Rocky Mountains. Bones of the reindeer were found in the cave 
 of Ballynamintra in conjunction with traces of its occupation by 
 man. 
 
 That the bear existed contemporaneously with man in 
 Ireland rests — strange to relate — upon more deficient evidence 
 than that with regard to the reindeer, although in Scotland the 
 bear survived until the middle of the eleventh century. The 
 Celtic name for bear frequently occurs in old Irish MSS., and 
 legends amongst the peasantry still recount its pursuit and 
 capture by the heroes of antiquity. The skulls of this bear that 
 have been discovered demonstrate that the animal was of rather 
 small size, but, in the cave of Ballynamintra, remains of the 
 ursus ferox, which some writers have identified with the grizzly 
 bear of the Rocky Mountains (fig. 21), have been found in the 
 same strata as the remains of man, together with other of the 
 huge Mammalia which existed in this epoch. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the wild horse lived in Ireland 
 as a contemporary of several animals which are now extinct. In 
 the Shandon cave at Dungarvan, the remains of several horses 
 occurred with those of reindeer, red-deer, bear, and wolf. In the 
 Ballynamintra cave, horses' teeth were found with the bones of 
 great deer, bear, and wolf. It is possible that these horses had 
 been used as food by the men of the period, but the character 
 of the associated remains, and the circumstances of their 
 position, afford the principal evidence as to whether the bonea 
 should be referred to wild or domesticated varieties of the horse. 
 
 There are several well-authenticated instances of horses' 
 skulls having been found in caves at Ballintoy, county Antrim, 
 and near the shores of Lough Erne. It is not improbable that 
 the wild horse may have survived up to a time considerably later 
 than the disappearance of the animals mentioned above. 
 
 The eating of horseflesh is characteristic of many prehistoric 
 and of many savage races. Numerous traces of the bones of 
 horses, the largest having been fractured, evidently for extraction 
 
 F
 
 7 HE BEAR. 
 
 67 
 
 of the marrow, occur among the remains of funeral feasts which 
 appear to have taken phice during the erection of certain earns. 
 On the introduction of Christianity into Northern Europe, the 
 earliest ordinances of the Church were directed against the use 
 of horseflesh, as the horse was, hy the heathen, considered 
 emblematic of their gods, particularly of the god Odin. 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 The Death of tlie Grizzly Bear. A scene in the Stone Age. 
 
 The " historian" Keating waxes very wrathful on the subject 
 of Giraldus Cambrensis having stated that one of the ceremonies 
 at the inauguration of the chief of the O'Donnells consisted in 
 the tribe assembling on a high hill where thoy killed a white 
 mare, whose; flesh was then boiled in a large caldron from which 
 the chief had to drink some of the broth, and eat some of the 
 meat, animal-like, without the assistance of any implement, 
 
 F 2
 
 68 A iXCIJtNT FA UNA—TIIKIR KXTERMIXA TOR. 
 
 after ■which he hathcd himsell" in the liquid. This ceremony, 
 according to Keating, " was inconsistent with the religion they 
 professed, and savoured strongly of Pagan superstition." 
 
 The red-deer (fig. 22), although now restricted to a small area 
 in Kerry, appears, judging from the widespread ahundance of 
 its remains, to have been formerly plentifully distri])uted all over 
 the kingdom. Discoveries in the cave of Hhandon prove that it 
 co-existed with the mammoth, and its bones abound in the marl 
 underlying the peat formation, wliere those of the great deer 
 have been found. ^\"lu'n O'Flaherty wrote, they were very 
 
 ^2^"^i^ r. ,-> f ^^'^-'^■^^'^"'^^ 
 
 Fig. 22.— iled Dcur. 
 
 numerous. Dr. Thomas Molyneux, his friend and contemporary, 
 states that in his day the red-deer were much more rare in 
 Ireland than formerly. So late as 1752, they abounded in the 
 barony of Erris, county Mayo ; and the celebrated Irish scholar, 
 O'Donovan, about the year 1848, heard from an old native that 
 in his youth red deer were common, and that he had frequently 
 seen them grazing among the black cattle on the mountains. 
 
 Rudely-formed enclosures, surrounded by staked fences, have 
 often been found under a considerable depth of bog. They are, 
 by some, considered to be traps into which the deer were driven. 
 This class of structure consists of a long lane, formed of staked 
 lines of pallisading, gradually narrowmg, but at the end 
 expanding into a circle, where the deer could be killed at leisure. 
 This cul-de-sac is supposed sometimes to have terminated in a
 
 THE RED DEER. 
 
 69 
 
 quagmire, for many of the skulls of the deer appear to have been 
 broken in the forehead, which could be easily effected when the 
 animal was embedded in mud or in a pitfall. Among circum- 
 stances corroborative of the large numbers of red deer that 
 existed in former times may be mentioned the discovery of 
 quantities of tips of stags' horns in the refuse-heaps of lake- 
 dwellings, and in many other localities. These pieces of bone, 
 from three to five inches in length, were apparently cut off from 
 the remainder of the horn, which was probably manufactured 
 into various implements ; whilst pins, brooches, weapons, tools, 
 and ornaments formed of those tips of horn abound in collections 
 of antiquities. 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 
 Supposed Pitfall for catching Deer or other wild animals. 
 
 A. Present surface. H, F. Former surface and forest. C. Rock. 
 
 D. Heap of clay. E. Pitfall. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Blessington lies a turf bog some 
 twelve feet deep, in which, about the middle of the century, a 
 circular wooden structure was discovered, some six feet deep, five 
 feet in diameter, and lined with upright posts of birch (fig. 23). 
 At the time of its construction, the then surface of the bog was 
 only slightly above the tops of the birch posts. The interior was 
 empty, though the entrance was covered with branches, heath, 
 and sods ; since its abandonment the bog had grown over it to 
 the height of upwards of six feet. 
 
 Even the rudest tribes visited by modern travellers have been 
 found acquainted with the art of digging pitftills on the customary 
 tracks of wild beasts, for the capture of animals which they are 
 iinable othci'wise to kill, or which they do not care to openly 
 face. A pitfall, or deep excavation lightly covered with branches, 
 and then made to simulate, in outward appearance, the surround- 
 ing solid ground, gives way beneath the animal, which is thus 
 rendered powerless to escape, and is at the mercy of its captors.
 
 70 ANCIKXT FA UNA— THEIR EXTEJUnXA TOR. 
 
 Despite niimerous le,a;en(ls, and folklore, relative to the hunts 
 of giants of ancient days after magical boars, prosaic investigation 
 suggests that the herds of wild pigs, which infested the forests, 
 were all derived from an introduced breed. Skulls of the pig are 
 very commonly foimd in the refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings. 
 The discovery of remains of the pig in Ballynamintra cave, 
 however, renders it, at least, not improbable that there may 
 have been a wild pig, despite the fact that all recorded skulls 
 belong to the long- faced Irish pig, which, even as a domesti- 
 cated breed, is now nearly, if not altogether, extinct, its place 
 having been taken by others more suitable for fattening purposes, 
 for, except in a very few remote and isolated districts in Con- 
 naught, the old Irish pig is now extinct (figs. 24, 2i"3). It is 
 described by ^Ir. and Mrs. Hall, in their Tour thrmiiili frclawl, 
 as a long, tall, and unusually lean 
 animal, with singularly sharp physiog- 
 nomy, and remarkably keen eyes. The 
 breed was formerly much preferred by 
 the peasantry to introduced kinds, as it 
 would " feed upon anything." The 
 writers continue thus : — " Ugly and un- 
 serviceable as are the Connaught pigs, 
 ~^^-^- ■ they are the most intelligent of their 
 
 Fio. 24. species. An acquaintance of ours 
 
 He.ad of long-faced Irish Pier, tauglit oue to ' poiut,' and the animal 
 "Treiand?"''"'^ '^^"" "^"'' fouud game as correctly as a pointer. 
 He 'gave tongue,' too, after his own 
 fashion, by grunting in a sonorous tone ; and understood when 
 he was to take the field as Avell as any dog. The Connaught pigs 
 used to prefer their food (potatoes) raw to boiled, and would live 
 well and comfortably where other pigs would starve. They per- 
 forate hedges, scramble over walls, and run up mountains like 
 goats, performing these feats with a flourish of their tails, and a 
 grunt of exultation that are highly anmsing to those whose obser- 
 vations have been previously confined to the 'swinish multitude' 
 of clean, white, deliberate, unwieldy hogs that are to be seen in 
 I'higlisli farmyards." 
 
 The refuse heaps of lake-dwellings afford evidence of the pre- 
 sence of sheep and goats; but though the latter appear to have 
 been first introduced, there is evidence that sheep were in Ireland 
 before the Christian era. Some of the best authorities are of 
 opinion that both races were brought into the country, and 
 domesticated by man. Several crania of sheep, found on the site 
 of the lake-dwelling at Dunshaughlin, indicate the existence of 
 four-horned varieties, and one of them has five distinct horn 
 cores.
 
 LONG-FACED PIG— WILD CATTLE— WOLF. 
 
 71 
 
 The mention of wild cattle by early Irish writers, though not 
 infrequent, does not tend to materially modify the conclusion 
 arrived at from a full consideration of the evidence, which is, that 
 the original stock from whence they were derived was first intro- 
 duced from the continent of Europe to the British Isles by pre- 
 historic man. The skulls obtained in ancient Irish lake-dwellings, 
 as well as in caves, bogs, and river deposits, indicate the existence 
 of well-marked races — the broad-faced ox, the shorthorn, with 
 small, drooping horns, and its ally, the crumpled horn, and 
 another altogether unprovided with horns, like modern " polled 
 breeds." 
 
 Fig. 25. 
 Ancient breed of long-faced Irish Pig. 
 
 The wolf existed in Ireland up to the commencement of the 
 eighteenth century, when the last of these animals is recorded to 
 have been killed in county Kerry. \)x. Dive Downes, Bishop of 
 C'ork and Ross, when visiting his united diocese in the year 1G09, 
 kept a journal of his tour (preserved in the library of Trinity 
 College, Dublin), and the Bishop, a keen observer and chronicler 
 of everything of interest, states that wolves were at the time very 
 numerous in the vicinity of Bantry. 
 
 An order made by James I. for the destruction of wolves is 
 curious, as showing the probable cause of the end of wolf-life 
 in Ireland. It recites that the king being informed of tlie great 
 loss and hindrance to agriculture occasioned by the ravages of
 
 72 ANCIENT FA UNA— THEIR EX TERMINA TOR. 
 
 wolves, directed a grant to be made in 1G14, to Henry Tuttesbam, 
 wbo bad ofiered to exterminate tbe wolves, providing traps, 
 engines, and four men and twelve couple of bounds in every 
 county in Ireland, and requiring only four nobles sterling for tbe 
 bead of every wolf or wolf cub. 
 
 Tbe bones of tbe wolf are not easily distinguisbuble from tbose 
 of tbe dog. ]iones believed to belong to tbe wolf bave been found 
 in association witb tbose of tbe fox, borse, reindeer, red-deer, 
 bear, bare, and mammotb in Sbandon cave, county Waterford, 
 and togetber witb tbe remains of tbe great deer, in tbe cave of 
 Ballynamintra, but, after all, traces of wolf bones are very rare, 
 and tbis is most singular wben bistorical references to tbe animal 
 are considered. 
 
 Otbcr wild animals wbicb tben existed, and are yet present, 
 ai'e tbe Alpine bare, otter, marten, badger, and fox; wbilst tbe 
 following, known to have existed in Britain, appear not to bave 
 been present in Ireland in pre-bistoric times, namely, tbe beaver, 
 roebuck, moose, and tbe i;rus or wild ox. 
 
 Tbe Irish hare is considered to diller from that of Great 
 Britain, and exhibits, in several respects, characteristics inter- 
 mediate between the two descriptions of British hare. Tbe 
 difference in the fur of tbe British and Irish species is very 
 observable, the colour of the latter being much lighter ; the most 
 obvious divergence is in the tail, the upper surface of which is 
 black in the English, and white tinged with grey towards tbe 
 base in tbe Irish hare. Professor E. F. Scharfi", when treating 
 of the origin of the European fauna, points out that : — " Sportsmen 
 bave for many years tried to permanently establish the English 
 hare, L<7>!f.s euro2Mriis, in Ireland. Lord Powerscourt tells me 
 that be imported a luimber of them thirty years ago, and that 
 they at first increased, but that latterly they have decreased 
 considerably. They bave never spread during all tbis time, but 
 remained in close proximity to the bouse, where they were ori- 
 ginally turned out. From Southern Sweden we bear of similar 
 experiences. Now it cannot be said that a species which thrives 
 so well in England from north to south could not stand the Irish 
 climate, or that of Southern Sweden wbicb is not unlike that of 
 Northern Germany, where this hare is common. It is therefore 
 manifest that tbe difficulty of establishing the English bare 
 permanently in these countries is altogether uiieoniiL-cted with 
 climate or food." 
 
 The Lcjnis V(/ruiJiilis, or Arctic bare, is the only one inhabiting 
 Ireland. In Great Ik'itain it is confined to tbe mountains of 
 Scotland, whilst the plain is inhabited by the European hare. 
 ])uring tbe Cilacial Period, the Arctic hare is supposed to have 
 been driven south ; "and its occui-rence," again remarks Professor
 
 THE A R CTIC HA RE—STOA T— GREA T A UK. 73 
 
 Scliarfi', "in the Caucasus, the Alps, and the Pyrenees is looked 
 upon as a standing testimony to the extreme refrigeration of the 
 climate, for, when the cold passed away, the plain is helieved not 
 to have suited the hare any more, and it returned to the more 
 congenial atmosphere of the mountain tops. This view, first 
 promulgated, I think, hy Edward Forhes, has been almost 
 universally adopted. Certainly, as Darwin has remarked, it 
 explains the presence of Arctic forms on the Alps and other 
 mountains in a most satisfactory manner. 8till, I venture to 
 think the Glacial Period did not play so important a role in the 
 present distribution of the Arctic hare." The smaller or Arctic 
 hare is undoubtedly the more ancient species and must have 
 arrived in Europe before the larger animal, for, had they arrived 
 sinmltaneously from the East, there is no reason Avhy both should 
 not now be present in Ireland. The curious fact that in Ireland 
 the Arctic hare and stoat generally change their fur to white in 
 winter, although there may be no snow on the ground, is very 
 suggestive of a Northern origin, for instance, in the winter of 
 1896-7, when the fields were almost as green as in summer time, 
 some of these animals v.ere observed with almost snow-white 
 coats. 
 
 The Irish stoat differs essentially from the ordinary English 
 and Continental form, so much so that some writers have raised 
 it to the rank of a distinct species. The stoat is certainly of 
 Noi'thern origin, and it is one of the few mammals which still 
 inhabit the Arctic regions, so that, provided a land passage 
 existed, it could easily have entered Europe direct from the 
 North. 
 
 The fauna and flora of Ireland both include an Arctic element, 
 generally confined, however, to the northern and western parts of 
 Ireland, "as if some barrier had prevented their migration along 
 the east coast, or to the central plain, or as if they had been exter- 
 minated there in more recent times," 
 
 Mr. Ussher has been so fortunate, in his researches among 
 the kitchen -middens of the Waterford sand-hills, as to have 
 collected, on that part of the coast, no fewer than seventeen 
 bones of the celebrated extinct Auk; while in Antrim, around 
 the shores of Whitepark Bay, Mr. Knowles has found as many 
 as twenty-four, associated with flint implements, and with re- 
 mains of sundry aninuils characteristic of an early period in the 
 story of human civilization. " That more than forty great Auks' 
 bones should, within a short period, thus have fallen into the 
 hands of two explorers in the north and south of Ireland, 
 respectively, is a fact of considerable scientific value, as cannot 
 but be recognised. .. . It is at least highly curious that two Irish 
 counties should have contributed so large a proportion of the
 
 74 ANCIENT FA UNA - - TlfKIR EXTKRMLW I '/XJA'. 
 
 known relics of a bird which, plentiful as it was a century ago on 
 other north Atlantic isles, has been practically unrecognised as 
 Irish during historic times. All that had, until recently, been 
 ascertained of the great Auk, as a member of our fauna, was 
 the fact of a solitary specimen having been captured alive near 
 Waterford Tlarbonr in LS84 — a casual straggler, as was then 
 supposed, although in the light of recent discovery it is now 
 naturally suggested by Professor Newton that the lonely bird 
 was impelled by some spark of a long latent instinct to revisit the 
 home of its forefathers. . . . That its Irish remains have hitherto 
 been detected only in the kitchen-middens of our Neolithic ances- 
 tors is a circumstance but too well in keeping with the tragical 
 tenour of the bird's story in all parts of its ascertained range. 
 In fact, the great Auk's remarkable helplessness on land, combined 
 with its edible qualities, unfitted it to coexist with man for more 
 than a brief period, and perhaps the real wonder is that it 
 survived so late. On the Icelandic coast, where it last lingered, 
 its extermination was not complete until nearly the middle of the 
 present century. Less sensational than the tale of the Garefowl, 
 yet full of interest both by reason of the facts which it reveals 
 and of tlie problems which they suggest, is the account given by 
 Mr. G. E. H. Ilarrett-Hamilton of the ']>ird-bones from Irisli 
 caves ' which he has lately examined. These prove, beyond doubt, 
 that both black grouse and Ptarmigan formerly inhabited county 
 Waterford, although, with the exception of a generally discredited 
 statement as to the Black Grouse in Smith's ' Antient and Pre- 
 sent state of Cork,' no historical evidence exists of either bird 
 having ever been found in our island." We have thus three 
 instances of birds of northerly range in Europe, all unexpectedly 
 shown to have inhabited the south of Ireland in olden times; a 
 fact of high importance for the light it throws on former clinuitic 
 conditions. 
 
 The pre-historic mammals domesticated by man were, if 
 judged by the traces they have left, not numerous. Foremost 
 stands the Irish wolf-dog, generally considered to have resembled, 
 but to have been considerably larger than, the present rough- 
 haired deer-hound of Scotland ; the formidable character of this 
 dog is the subject both of history aiul tradition ; and these 
 accounts, it is now fairly ascertained, do not much exaggerate 
 the power and strength of the faithful companion, not only of 
 the Inuitei', l)ut also of the warrior, in far remote pre-historic, 
 as well as in recent times. There is also very positive evidence 
 that there were in Ireland, formerly, two races of wolf-dogs, one 
 approaching the greyhound, the other the mastiff type. The 
 discovery of several specimens of the crania of this kind of dog 
 in the refuse-heaps of lake-dwellings has afforded a good oppor-
 
 BLA CK GR O USE—PTA RMIGA N— WOLF DOG. 75 
 
 tunity of maldng comparative examinations. The measurement 
 of one of tliese crania, found on the site of a Lake-dwelling, was 
 compared with that of an average modern German boar-hound, 
 and the Irish skull was in every way the more capacious. In 
 the Ballynamintra cave, besides the bones belonging to the 
 wolf, other specimens belong to a dog even taller than the wolf. 
 This animal may have been domesticated by the hunters, who 
 are believed to have split the bones of the gigantic Irish deer for 
 extraction of the marrow, and who manufactured the stone imple- 
 ments found in the cave. 
 
 The dog is the greatest conqiiest ever made by man, for the 
 taming of the dog is the first element in human progress. 
 " Without the dog, man would have been condemned to vegetate 
 eternally in the swaddling clothes of savagery. It was the dog 
 which effected the passage of human society from the savage to 
 the patriarchal state, in making possible the guardianship of the 
 flock. Without the dog, there could be no flock and herds ; 
 without the flock there is no assured livelihood, no leg of mutton, 
 no roast beef, no wool, no blanket, no time to spare ; and, conse- 
 quently, no astronomical observations, no science, no industry." 
 It is to the dog man owes his hours of leisure. 
 
 " Tlie poor dog is in life the firmest friend. 
 The first to welcome, foremost to defend. 
 Whose honest heart is still his master's own, 
 "Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for liim alone," 
 
 and as a French writer sarcastically observes, " Plus je vois lea 
 hontmes, plus j 'admire les chiens." However, as far as archaeo- 
 logical research at present extends, it appears that the dog was 
 not domesticated by man in Ireland until well on in the Bronze 
 Age. Apart from the cotiiparatively few supposed canine remains 
 found in company with traces of man, prior to that epoch, the 
 canine-like bones do not appear to be those of the domesticated 
 dog, in our acceptance of the term, for they have been found 
 split, evidently for extraction of the marrow, in the same way as 
 are those of other animals, showing that, to whatever animal 
 they belonged, whether to the wolf or to the dog, they had been 
 eaten by the hunters, which would scarcely have been the case 
 were they those of their own domesticated dogs. 
 
 The earliest mention of the Irish wolf-dog appears to be that 
 quoted by the Rev. Edmund Hogan, S. J., and occurs in a letter 
 from Quintus Aurelius Hymmaclius, Roman consul in the year 
 391, to his brother Flavius to the following effect : — "In order 
 to win the favour of the Roman people for our qutestor, you have 
 been a generous and diligent provider of novel contributions to 
 our solemn shows and games, as is proved by your gift of seven
 
 7G ANCIENT FA UNA— THEIR EXTERMINA TOR. 
 
 Irish clogs. All Eome viewed them with Avonder, and fancied 
 they nuist have been hrouyht hither in iron cages. For such a 
 gift I tender you the greatest possible tlianks." 
 
 In the Saga of lUirni Xjul, Olaf , a Norwegian, son of an Irish 
 princess, says to his friend Gunnar : — " I will give thee a hound 
 that was given me in Ireland ; he is big, and no worse than a 
 stout man. Besides, it is part of his nature that he has man's 
 wit, and that he will bay at every man whom he knows to be 
 thy foe, but never at thy friends. He can see, too, in any man's 
 face whether he means thee well or ill ; and he will lay down his 
 life to be true to thee. This hound's name is Sam." He 
 ordered the hound to "follow Gunnar, and do him all the 
 service thou canst." The dog then walked up to Gunnar, and lay 
 down at his feet ; subsequently his enemies, when plotting against 
 his life, were obliged to first kill his Irish canine protector. 
 
 At the comparatively late period of the Scandinavian inroads, 
 many of the Irish possessed a well-known breed of shepherd and 
 watch dog. In Olaf Tri/i/i/r((s<))i\s Sa(/a, it is related that when 
 Olaf was in Ireland he ran short of provisions, went ashore on .i 
 " coast raid," and collected a large number of cattle, which he 
 drove towards his ships. A poor peasant came up to Olaf, and 
 implored him to give him back his cows. Olaf replied that he 
 might have them if he could recognise them, and not delay him. 
 The peasant had a large sheep dog with him, to whom he pointed 
 out the herd of cattle, which numbered many hundreds. " The 
 dog ran through all the herds, and took away as many cows as 
 the Bondi (peasant) said belonged to him ; and they were all 
 nuirked with the same mark. Then they acknowledged that the 
 dog had found out the right cattle." The Norsemen thought it 
 *' a wonderfully wise dog," arul have even recorded its name, 
 which was Vigi. 
 
 In the year 10.52, a proclamation was issued against th(> 
 exportation of wolf-dogs. At the conclusion of the war, many of 
 the Irish who "had liberty to go beyond sea," attempted "to 
 carry away several great dogs as are commonly called wolf-dogs, 
 whereby the breed of them, which is useful for destroying wolves, 
 would, if not prevented, speedily decay. These are, therefore, 
 to prohibit all persons from ex])orting any of the said dogs out of 
 the kingdom." 
 
 In a letter preserved in the Evidence Chamber, Kilkenny 
 Castle, the secretary of the Earl of Ossory reminds the secivtary 
 of the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, of the 
 promise made by the Duke of " two wolf-dogs, and a bitch Avhich 
 his Lordship wrote to you about the King of Spain, . . . and 
 that two dogs and a bitch be also gotten for the King of 
 Sweden." It is thus seen to what a recent period these wolf-
 
 THE WOLF DOG. ' 77 
 
 hounds were in requisition, and that they can only have hecome 
 extinct in the latter part of the eighteenth century, at earliest, 
 for it is extremely doubtful whether the present race of so-called 
 Irish wolf-hounds, bred of late years, principally for purposes of 
 exhibition, are true representatives of this ancient stock. 
 
 It must be sorrowfully admitted that, as remarked Ijy the 
 Kev. Edmund Hogan, S. J., the subject seems to have a greater 
 attraction for Englishmen than for Irishmen, " as is evidenced 
 by the establishment in Britain of the Irish Wolfhound Club, 
 and by the space devoted to Irish wolfhounds in the works on 
 dogs which are continually issuing from the press." 
 
 In maintaining her vital balance, it oftens happens that 
 nature appears to allow animals that have ceased to be obviously 
 useful in taking part in the general economy to die out ; thus, 
 "whilst wolves and elks roamed over Ireland, the magnificent 
 Irish wolf-dog was connnon. With the disappearance of wolves, 
 this breed of wolf-dogs languished, and has ultimately become 
 extinct. As a matter of zoological curiosity, many an Irish 
 gentleman w^ould have desired to perpetuate this gigantic and 
 interesting race of dogs ; but the operation — the tendency to 
 vital equilibrium — has been over-strong to be contravened ; this 
 race of Irish wolf-dogs has fleeted away."
 
 CHAPTEK HI. 
 
 EAKLY MAN. 
 
 Superstitions regarding Flint Implements — These superstitions sometimes trans- 
 ferred to those of Bionze and of Iron — Tr.-ifhe in Flint the most ancient trade 
 in the world^Gravels and liaised Beaches full of artificially-formed Flint 
 Ini])lements — Their manufacture carried on all along the littoral — Weapons 
 of the Old and New Stone Age — Introduction of'the use of Copper — Ancient 
 Settlements on the sea-shore — Their first occupiers prohablj' cannibals — 
 Their habit of roving from place to place — Their food — Their manner of 
 life — Their clothing — Their existence compared with that of present-day 
 tribes of savages living on tiic littoral — Refuse-heaps and Kitclien-middens 
 — Cooking- places — Bones used as fuel for roasting meat. 
 
 It lias been already stated, in the previoits Cliapter, that in 
 collecting implements of flint, the antiquary often meets with 
 great difficulty, owing to a superstition prevalent, not only in 
 Ireland, but throughout Great Britain and the European Con- 
 tinent. It may be observed parenthetically that the people who 
 thus buy for a hobby are the forger's best customers. A sound 
 archii'ologist is a scant source of profit, for, in the first place, he 
 can generally detect the real from the false article ; and, in the 
 second place, he will not pay exorbitant prices. Cattle that 
 commence to fail are looked upon by the country people as 
 '•olf-shot" or "fairy-struck," i.e. have been subjected to the 
 projectiles of the "good people." Collins, in his ode on the 
 superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, tints describes this 
 fanciful idea : — • 
 
 " There every herd by sad experience knows 
 
 llow Ming(;d with fate their elf-shot arrows fly ; 
 Where the sick ewe her summer food fm-egoes. 
 
 Or, stretched on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie." 
 
 Bulls and bullocks, however, possess innnunity from fairy assaults. 
 If a beast is " elf -shot," the first proceeding of a fairy doctor, 
 if called in, is to measure the animal, when if one leg, or 
 one side of the body, or one side of the head is shorter than the 
 other — or rather if the " fairy doctor " states this to be the case —
 
 FLINT IMPLEMENTS—SUPERSTITIONS. 79 
 
 the beast is pronounced to have been ovei'looked by the ''good 
 people," or wounded by an elf-dart. For a headache in human 
 beings, the first act of "the doctor" is also to measure the 
 patient's skull, as the origin of the pain is believed to be the 
 opening of the head of the suft'erer, by the fairies, by separating 
 the bones. The cure is simplicity itself. The doctor passes a 
 cord round the patient's head, and marks the length ; then 
 several charms are used ; the head is re-measured ; the circum- 
 ference of the skull is now demonstrated to have returned to its 
 normal condition. A bandage is kept tightly around the brows, 
 for some time, to prevent a re-occurrence of the pain through 
 the re-opening of the cranium. On this subject attention may 
 be drawn to the fact that a tight bandage round the head is often 
 used at the present day for the relief of headache ; either it may 
 be connected with the old superstition, or both the ancient and 
 the modern customs may be accounted for by natural causes. 
 Persons suffering from severe headache often obtain temporary 
 relief by pressing the head tightly with the hands. What 
 medical science may have to say about this, the writer does not 
 know, but that there is some benefit seems undeniable. This 
 would naturally be observed, and then the fairy theory adopted 
 to account for it. 
 
 Another curious instance of the superstition regarding " elf- 
 shot " cattle may be also noticed. A gentleman, some short 
 time aAvay from home, had, on his return, inquired after his 
 cattle, and was informed by his steward that they were then all 
 well, but that during his absence one had been " elf -shot," and 
 would have died had he not called in a " doctor," who prescribed 
 remedies of the usual kind, and also gave a drink to the sick 
 beast from a bucket in which lay a stone axe. 
 
 W. H. Maxwell, in his "Wild Sports of the West of Ireland," 
 thus described a "cow charmer" whom he met at the commence- 
 ment of the century while staying at a gentleman's house : — 
 
 "I heard, when passing the porter's lodge, that the gate-keeper's 
 cow was ill. As she was a fine animal, the loss would have been 
 a serious one to the family, and hence I became interested in her 
 recovery. For several days, however, the report to my inquiry 
 was more unfavourable, and at last the case was considered 
 hopeless. 
 
 " The following morning as I rode past, I found the family in 
 deep distress ; and the gate-keeper had gone off to fetch ' the 
 charmer,' who lived some ten miles distant. 1 really sympa- 
 tliised with the good woman. The loss of eight or nine guineas 
 to one in humble life is a serious calamity ; and from the 
 appearance of the cow I concluded, though not particularly 
 skilful, that the animal would not survive. That evening I
 
 80 EARLY MAN. 
 
 strolled out after dinner. It was sweet moonlight, and I bent 
 my steps to the gate-house to inquire if the cow still lived. 
 
 " The family were in great tribulation. The charmer had 
 arrived — had seen the cow — had prepared herbs and nostrums, 
 and was performing some solitary ceremony at an adjacent 
 spring- well from which he had excluded every member of the 
 family in assisting. I was most curious to observe the incan- 
 tation, but was dissuaded by the gate-keeper, who implored me 
 ' to give the conjurer fair play.' 
 
 "In five minutes the charmer joined us — he said the case was 
 a bad one, but that he thouglit he could l)i'iiig I'ound tlic cow. 
 He then administered the 'unhallowed puliun,' and I k'i't the 
 lodge, expecting to hear next morning that the animal was 
 defunct. iNext day the bulletin was favourable ; and the charmer 
 was in the act of receiving his reward. I looked at him : he was 
 as squalid and heart-broken a wretch in appearance as ever trod 
 the Earth. Tlie cow still seemed weak, but the charmer spoke 
 confidently of her recovery. "When he left the lodge, and turned 
 his steps homewards, I pulled up my horse and waited for him. 
 He would rather have avoided an interview, but could not. 
 ' Well, fellow, you have humbugged that poor family, and 
 persuaded them that the cow will recover ? ' 'I have told the 
 truth,' said the charmer, coldly. ' And will your prophecy prove 
 true '? ' I asked, in a tone of scornful incredulity. ' It will,' said 
 he ; ' but, God help me ! this night I '11 pay dearly for it ! ' I 
 looked at him — his face was agonised, and, terror-stricken, he 
 crossed the fence and disappeared. 
 
 " When I passed the gate-house on my return, the cow was 
 evidently convalescent, and in a lew days she was perfectly well. 
 
 " I leave the solution of the mystery to the learned ; for in such 
 matters, as they say in Connaught — A'e// an shell a (jan maun.'' 
 
 The Eev. P. Moore, when presenting a stone amulet to the 
 Kilkenny ]\Iuseum, in the year 1H51, stated the curious fact that 
 tlie peasantry, when obliged to sleep in the open air, believe that 
 they are safe from fairy influence if they carry a small fiint 
 arroAV-head about them, for mortals are very liable to invisible 
 fairy assaults. 0' Donovan relates how, in company with a 
 namesake, he examined the impressions made by St. Patrick's 
 knees in the solid rock. They were always filled with water, 
 and considered to possess remarkable curative properties. His 
 companion was afflicted with a sore knee, the supposed result of 
 " a shot " received from the fairies, whose road, or pass, was 
 believed to extend across his father's farm-yard. The boy 
 washed his knee in the water of (ilun Padraig, and though it 
 did him no good, he firmly believed that it was entirely owing to 
 his own unworthiness, and not to any want of et'ticacy in the
 
 FLINT IMP I . F.M KXTSS UPERSTiri ONS . 81 
 
 lioly water. He had recourse afterwards to many sacred fountains, 
 but the effects produced by the elfin bolt remained. 
 
 In an Irish i\IS. St. Patrick is represented as inquiring the 
 history of the burying-niound upon which he was standing at 
 the time. His companion replied that a son of a king of 
 Munster was interred within it, that he had been slain •' by elfin 
 shots or arrows, and his thirty hounds and thirty followers, who 
 attended him, were also killed there by the fairies," and that the 
 green mound on which they then stood was raised over them. 
 
 Sir John Evans, in his Ancient Stone hnpleinents of Great 
 Britain, states that the superstitious beliefs held with regard to 
 stone implements are much the same amongst the Germans as 
 amongst the Irish. They " are held to preserve from lightning 
 the houses in which they are kept ; they perspire when a storm 
 is approaching ; they are good for diseases of man and beast ; 
 they increase the milk of cows ; they assist the birth of children ; 
 and powder scraped from them may be taken, with advantage, 
 for various childish diseases." 
 
 Worked flints, when used as amulets, are further accredited 
 with the power of preserving the wearers from danger, and from 
 the influence of malign spirits. In Italy they are still in 
 common use as preservatives against evil ; and even within our 
 own land, it is only within the present century that they have 
 ceased to be commonly carried as charms. A flint arrow-head 
 mounted in silver is engraved by Douglas. He states that the 
 frisJi peasantry wore them on their necks as amulets against the 
 Aitlutdh, or attacks of the fairies. There is a strange story of an 
 Irish bishop who was wounded with an "elf-shot" by an evil 
 spirit. Several " elf-darts " are engraved in Philosophical Trans- 
 actions and in Gough's Camden's liritan)iia. 
 
 It is strange that, as soon as bronze and iron had superseded 
 Hint, implements formed of the latter substance came to be 
 regarded as sacred and supernatural objects, and that such com- 
 mon and utilitarian implements of savage life should be looked 
 on as preserving virtues " as wonderful as they are incredible." 
 
 Even the Jews are embued with this superstition, and still 
 perform the rite of circumcision with flint knives. In Joshua 
 xxiv. 30 (LXX) we read that, when Joshua was buried, "They put 
 with him into the tomb in which they buried him, the knives of 
 stone with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Galgala." 
 Flint knives were employed by the Egyptians in embalming their 
 dead ; flint knives were also used by the Romans, in the early 
 period of their history, for sacrificial purposes, especially in 
 religious ceremonies attending the ratification of a solemn 
 covenant with a neighbouring people. The use of the stone 
 knife gave a title to Jupiter, who, in this relation, was appealed 
 
 G
 
 82 KARL y MAX. 
 
 to by the name of Jupiter Lapis, as the guardian of treaties and 
 avenger of their infraction ; and to the close of the second Punic 
 Avar, the use of the stone knife was considered so essential to the 
 ceremony, that " the Fetiales, who went to Carthage to conclude 
 the peace, each took with him, from the temple, a sacred flint, 
 in order that the religious rites might he duly performed. 
 Sacred flints appear to have been known also to the Greeks, and 
 though no longer employed for directly religious purposes, to 
 hax-B retained something of their original character, in being 
 used as charms, amuh'Ls and talismans." 
 
 In some countries the sacred character of stone implements 
 continues on, and is finally transferred to those formed of 
 bronze. In Japan and other parts of the East, a wide-spread 
 belief exists that antique bronze objects are of celestial origin, 
 and like the flint elfin bolts of l^^uropean superstition, fell from 
 heaven. The natural inference to be drawn from this weird 
 notion is, that the use of bronze in Japan, and other parts of the 
 East, dates back to remote times, and to a past so dim as to be 
 totally unknown to the present population, even in vaguest legend. 
 
 Again, iron is considered to act as a charm against malign 
 influence. Can it be that the conquered race held in awe the 
 metal by means of which they were overcome ? The Irish 
 peasantry generally considered iron as a sacred metal, but could 
 not assign any reason for so doing ; thieves were even averse to 
 steal it ; on the other hand, Arthur Young, in his Tour in Ireland, 
 in 1776, states that the larceny of iron shoes from off the hoofs 
 of horses, turned out to graze, was of common occurrence. Of all 
 the metals, the Irish name for iron most closely resembles that 
 of their own country, Erin ; the similarity probably gave origin 
 to a story which recounts that long ago the Emerald Isle was 
 covered by the ocean, except Avhen it emerged for a brief period 
 once in every seven years. ]\Iany had attempted to land on it, 
 but fiuled ; at last one adventurer, seeing the shore recede as he 
 I'owed towards it, Avas so cniraged that he hurled his iron sword 
 toAvards the land, on Avhich it alighted. This broke the spell, 
 and the island has since remained above Avater ; for iron or 
 fire appears to be able to make phantom lands assume solid 
 proportions. 
 
 Even noAV-a-days, to make a present of an iron knife, a pair of 
 scissors, or any such-like cutting implenu'nt is ominous of ill to 
 the recipient. To counteract the malign effects, the person 
 receiving the gift should tender the donor a penny, or in fact any 
 piece of money. Belief in the ill-luck attendant on the present 
 <)f a knife is thus alluded to by Gay: — 
 
 " But woe is me ! siioli presents lucldess ])r()vp. 
 For knives, they tell me, .'ilwitys sever love."
 
 TRAFFIC IN FLINT. 
 
 83 
 
 In Ireland, flint is found in great quantity in the northern 
 parts, more especially in the counties of Antrim, Down, and 
 Derry, and from this quarter the vast majority of the specimens 
 exhibited in our museums have been procured. The geological 
 features of the district in which worked flints are found in greatest 
 abundance are very remarkable. The white cliffs of Antrim 
 (fig. 26), like the white cliffs of Albion, were doubtless objects of 
 great interest to the early colonists, who, after establishing 
 themselves on the littoral, discovered the abundance of its flints, 
 and guided by local advantages, selected the sites of those flint- 
 factories lately discovered by Irish archiEologists, and thence 
 carried on a trade in worked flints with other parts of the island ; 
 indeed it has been surmised that the raw material itself was 
 carried long distances by the "commercial travellers" of the 
 day, for the purpose of manufacture, hoards of flint objects being 
 occasionally found in districts to which natural flint is foreign. 
 
 Fk;. 20. 
 
 Chalk Cliffs, Antrim Coast Road, near Glenarm, showing basalt covering the 
 flint-bearing chalk. From a drawing by Willim Gray, im.r.i.a. From thii 
 journal ot the present .Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 It is startling, but yet true, that a large trade in flint im- 
 plements is carried on, even in the present day, so that this 
 branch of commerce may be safely designated the oldest exist- 
 ing trade in the world. The flint beds, a short distance from 
 the village of Brandon, about ninety miles north of London, 
 have been worked from the very earliest times, and are still the 
 <;hief seat of flint-knapping in England. It is almost certain 
 that, both in tlie Old and New Htone Ages, they supplied material 
 for the chief implements then in use, and were, therefore, worked 
 
 G 2
 
 84 RART.y MAX. 
 
 befort' the Ibnuutioii of the (ienimn Ocean, and when, as yet. 
 Great Britain was a portion of the J'juropean continent. 
 
 Appearances have, in many phices, been observed suggestive 
 of ditt'erent ages being represented by the pi'iniitive folk who 
 worked Hint on the Irisli coasts. The llint-tlakes are in general 
 small, and it is evident that larger and older tiakes or cores had 
 been, at a later dale, utilized by workmen, and their Ibrmer 
 surface considerably changed. The interval, between the original 
 and the newer manufacture, must have lasted for a period 
 sufficient to allow a weathered crust to coat over the markings of 
 the early work, of which traces were perceptible where the old 
 surface had not been removed. These flints, it is alleged, belong 
 oi'iginally to the raheolithic, or Ancient Stone Period ; and the 
 men who hunted the maunnoth and the gigantic Irish deer 
 may have used similar implements as spear-heads, when, with 
 knives of Hint, they skinned and cut up their quarry, converted 
 its sinews into thread, its skin into coverings for the body, and 
 its bones into tools, weapons, and ornaments. 
 
 A thorough and exhaustive examination of tlie gravels or 
 raised beach at Larne was made by a Connnittee of the Belfast 
 Naturalists Field Club in the year 188G. This careful investi- 
 gation demonstrated the fact that the gravels are of marine 
 origin, and contain numerous shells which, by their character, 
 indicate that the temperature of the sea during the deposition of 
 the material in Avhich they were embedded, was much as it is 
 now\ The gravels ^^ere found to contain w'orked flints all 
 through their depth ; the Hints are not numerous in the lower 
 beds, yet they are in sufticient numbers to demo]istrate that num 
 lived in the locality during the period when the gravels were in 
 process of being deposited. Examples of river-gravel Pahco- 
 lithic implements from England closely resemble those from 
 the Larne gravels ; and the Irish Palaeolithic flints, like the 
 English, are very rough. They present probably the oldest 
 traces of rudely worked flints which primitive man has left in 
 Ireland. Many cores are so weathered and rounded that only 
 an expert can detect them, yet the greater number are so well 
 and clearly marked as to satisfy an ordinary observer. They are 
 of all sizes, some veiy large, some very small. The original core 
 usiuilly shows the rough outside crust of the Hint nodule on one 
 side, but many specimens witness to the manipulator having 
 struck off Hakes from every side. These rude, imperfectly worked 
 Hints prove the existence of irian in Ireland in times so remf)te 
 as, at first glance, to appear incredible, as assuredly as would 
 the rnins of ("hrist Church or St. Patrick's Cathedral prove, to 
 some future antiqiuuy, that, before his day, generations upon 
 generations trod tlie land ; foi' as yet, so far as relic-bearing
 
 FLINT W^EAJ'OXS. 85 
 
 strata have been archoeologically examined, ti-aces of man's 
 presence in the far-oflf past are to be seen in his handiwork, not 
 in traces of his skeleton. It is impossible for any person, with 
 the most rudimentary knowledge of archaeology, to deny that, 
 since his first appearance, man has steadily progressed, for 
 <leposits of the Old Stone Age show everywhere an improvement, 
 which, although extremely slow, is uniformly upward. In the 
 rountless instances in which Old Stone Age implements have been 
 found, the rudest implements are ever in the under-deposits, and 
 the improvements in their manufacture, slight indeed, but still 
 improvements, can be followed, in an ascending scale, with the 
 ascending strata. 
 
 Weapons of flint must have been amongst the daily necessities 
 of ancient savage life. Their abundance in the gravels is by 
 no means surprising, especially as the material of which they 
 are formed is practically indestructible ; and rough and rude as 
 appear to be some of them, they constituted the germs of more 
 finished forms. Some were cast aside as failures ; others were 
 mere waste flakes and splinters. It is therefore not to be 
 wondered at that these relics of ancient times are met with in 
 astonishing quantities. They are the earliest relics at present 
 known to us of prehistoric times. Possibly we may yet recog- 
 nise relics of still greater antiquity, for, as in star-land, the 
 astronomer is ever piercing further and further forward into the 
 realms of space, so in terrestrial matters the archaeologist in 
 burrowing downward, is ever luiearthing traces of earlier races. 
 
 Every new discovery, throwing further backward the proved 
 antiquity of man in Ireland, is at first combated by a host of 
 writers, anxious to uphold the old school of archaeology and of 
 orthodoxy — and of Archbishop Ussher's chronology. The dis- 
 cussion is carried on with great earnestness, but, on the whole, 
 it must be admitted that the disputants are actuated by the same 
 spirit as that expressed by " truthful James": — 
 
 " Now I liold it is not decent for a scientific gent 
 'J'o say another is an ass — at least to all intent : 
 Xor should tlie individual, who liappeiis to he meant, 
 Reply hy heaving rocks at him — to any great extent."' 
 
 An important discovery is generally preceded by partial 
 discoveries which foreshadow its approach. As the poet says, 
 " Coming events cast tlieir shadows bafore," as heralds and har- 
 bingers of truths. " Some fact attracts the attention of an 
 observant mind," observes M. -Toly; "another similar fact appears, 
 perhaps simultaneously, perhaps after an interval of greater or 
 less duration ; other phenomena, of like nature, group them- 
 selves around the first ; and this assemblage of scattered gleams
 
 8G /-.'.t/^/.}' A/.l.y. 
 
 proiluce a ray of light which at length strikes the eyes of all 
 heholders. But the new idea whicli shines out brilliantly from 
 the surrounding obscurity is nearly always opposed to the 
 reigning opinion which has become, so to speak, an article of 
 scientitic, often even of religious f:iith. Hence arises a strenuous 
 opposition, a more or less passionate strife, until at last the 
 human mind can enjoy its new conquest in peace." 
 
 Over and over again the presence of worked flints had been 
 recorded by numeroiis explorers. G. V. Du Noyer stated that 
 worked flints were found in the raised beach at Ballyholme, six 
 to eight feet from the surface; G. H. Kinahan, m.r.i.a., stated 
 that he found a Hake at a depth of over twelve feet at Larne ; 
 •1. H. Staples, in 18()9, said tliat worked Hints were found in the 
 gravels of the raised beach at Hollywood ; whilst Mr. F. Archer and 
 other writers could be quoted. Yet, against this mass of positive 
 evidence, mere assertion and contradiction were advanced, until 
 the subject was finally put to rest by an impartial and searching 
 inquiry. Not only are flakes and cores, or the remains of the 
 original body from which they have been struck, found embedded 
 at all depths in the gravel, but there are good grounds for sup- 
 posing them to be foreign to the gravels, for there is evidence 
 that the flakes had become weathered and covered with a thick, 
 whitish, porcellancoiTS, glazed crust, before being entombed in 
 the. gravels. Specimens found at various depths showed that, 
 before being so embedded, the exposed edges of the glaze liad 
 been worn off, just as, at the present day, glaze is worn 
 ofi' pieces of crockery rolled nbont by the waves on the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 All along the coast from the north as far as Dublin, Neolitliic 
 or Late Stone Age flint-workers, manufacturers of scrapers a)id 
 arrow-heads, had little other nuiterial than these old, thickly- 
 crusted cores to utilize (fig. 27), and many specimens, so rewrought, 
 have been found along the littoral. It appears probable that the 
 older flakes and cores from the direction of Larne and Belfast were 
 drifted by currents along the coast, and that the flint-workers of 
 a later date rewrought the old material. The flakes and cores of 
 the older series, as they were rolled along, appear to have become 
 reduced in bulk the farther they travelled away from their source: 
 consequently the implements made from them become smaller 
 than tliose of the same class in the north in proportion as the 
 locality of their discovery is distant from the north. Thougli, at 
 fii-st sight, some of these chips might be taken for fragments 
 detached by natural causes, yet, if closely examined, it will be 
 p(!rceived that the fractui-es have been eftected by hunuin agency. 
 I'hey possess distinct characteristics ; one side displays a smooth 
 surface, on which, however, there is ;i protuberance, or "l)ulb"
 
 FLINJ niPLEMENlS. 
 
 87 
 
 (styled by archaeologists the h\t]h af percussiuit), while the reverse 
 surface exhibits corresponding depression. 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 Hammer Stones and Rude Flint Implements of the Pala;olithic type. One-third 
 full size. By William Gray, m.r.i.a. From the Journal of the present 
 Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 As the bulb of percussion (see fig. 28) is a principal test for 
 determining the artificial workmanship of flint flakes, it may be 
 well to state that experiments in fracturing flint demonstrate 
 that the bulb can only be produced by a blow ; for when a blow- 
 is struck on the surface of an homogenous substance, such as flint,
 
 HH 
 
 EARLY MA.\ 
 
 a series of waves, all radiating from the point of impact, are pro- 
 duced through the hody of the ohject struck, the fracture being 
 determined by the course of tliese waves, and an imparted down- 
 ward force. The cone, or bulb, which is sometimes steplike in 
 character, is caused by these waves proceeding in concentric 
 circles and the downward force. The bulb of percussion is not 
 an accompaniment of natural fracture, for if flint splits through 
 atmospheric influences, it breaks, like any other stone, into bulb- 
 less pieces of irregular form, whilst any smooth-grained stone, as 
 well as Hint, will, if fractured by a blow, show a huUi. 
 
 Typical Flint Flake. Half real sizo. 
 
 A. Flat end. li. Hull) of percussion, i.e. the pi>iiit cm whii h the blow is delivered. 
 
 C. Concluiidal face, tlie result of the blow. 1). Ri(l;;es. IC. The surfaces or facets. 
 
 J}y William Gray, M.R.I. A. From the yoro/ia/ o{ the present 
 
 Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 To overturn this theory it has been argued that man — leaving 
 anthropoid apes out of the question — is not the only agent which 
 can produce a blow. For instance, a stone dropping from a pre- 
 cipice might fall upon another stone and fracture it, thus pro- 
 ducing a bulb ; or the ocean billows might hurl one stone against 
 iinother and create a flake with a bulb. The theory of stones 
 falling from a height would not, under the most favourable 
 circumstances, produce a supply suHicient to permeate the entire; 
 of the gravels, and if the littoral, where flint is most abundsmt, 
 were carefully examined, very few fresh flakes, knocked oil' by 
 the agency of the waves, would be discovered. Even after a 
 storm it is extremely improbabl(> that a single newly-formed flake 
 would be observed, though undoubtedly some, generally of very
 
 J- I.I X J- /MJ'LKMENTS. 89 
 
 diminutive size, are occasionally knocked off, for tlie tendency of 
 the action of the waves is not to scale off large but minute flakes, 
 and by rolling the stones one against the other, to round them 
 into the form of ordinary seaside shingle. 
 
 It has been urged that the rudeness of flints from the gravels 
 militates against their artificial character ; but it must be remem- 
 bered that a true Kude Stone or Palaeolithic implement is really, 
 of its kind, an object of very perfect workmanship. It is also 
 self-evidently not the most primitive implement produced by 
 man, for, if we are ever able to identify the embryos of which 
 rude flint weapons are the developed products, we shall have 
 penetrated very far back into the records of the dim past. 
 
 The difference between the implements of the older and 
 newer Stone Periods is very marked, for the weapons of attack 
 used by the earliest race of men at present known to us were 
 necessarily heavier and more formidable when they had to over- 
 come the mammoth and other like animals, than when the 
 hunters had to strike down the deer and wild ox. The general 
 use of light spear-heads and arrow-heads indicates conclusively 
 change in the mode of attack, and also a difference in the knid of 
 quarry to be attacked ; it proclaims unmistakably that the old 
 food supply was extinct, and that the new food supply was of 
 lesser size than when ponderous spear-heads were an absolute 
 necessity. 
 
 Even in the apparently simple subdivision of flint imple- 
 ments, archaeologists are likely to be deceived, for ung3-ound 
 implements with sharp points and thick, truncated butt have 
 been found, together with polished implements, on the shores of 
 Lough Neagh. Although analogous in form they differ in the 
 character of workmanship and also in their proportions from 
 flints found in the gravel. The difference, though slight, is 
 such that whilst a solitary specimen might be taken as belonging 
 to the Old Stone Age, yet if several were placed together they 
 would at once impress an experienced observer as presenting 
 later characteristics. 
 
 The uses to which some of these rude implements were put is 
 almost self-apparent (fig. 2!)), but as regards the majority it is at 
 present almost useless to speculate on the purpose to which they 
 were applied. "Almost as well might we ask to what they would 
 not be applied," remarks Sir John Lubbock. " Infinite as are our 
 instruments, who would attempt, even at present, to say what 
 was the use of a knife ? ]'>ut the primitive savage had no such 
 choice of tools ; we see before us, perhaps, the whole contents of 
 his workshop, and with these weapons, rude as they seem to 
 us, he may have cut down trees, scooped them out into canoes, 
 grubbed up roots, killed animals and enemies, cut up his food.
 
 90 
 
 EAR I. y MAN 
 
 inatle holes in winlcr through the ice, prepared firewood, built 
 huts, and in some cases, at least, they may have served as sling- 
 
 Vn.. ■!.). 
 
 ilamiiicr Stono, found with its surface battered all 
 as a pounder. Half-size. From Sir John Kvans 
 
 ivor, evidently by constant us 
 ■• Rude .Stone Impleuunts." 
 
 stones. In fact they served all the uses whicli it nowadays tal<es 
 n carpenter's kit to aecomplisli."''' (Fig. HO.) 
 
 Stone Axe, retaining its wooden handle, found in pe.it, which had formed the bed 
 of a small lake in Cumberland. Quarter real size. From Sir John Evans' 
 " Rude Stone Tmplonients." 
 
 * A curious discovery was made in tlie year 1880, of a small whinstono 
 hatchet emhcdded in itie hcai-t of a trunk of ash. The girth of the tree at the 
 place where the axe was cut out was ten feet ; and its age, as calculated hy the 
 concentric rings, upwards of one hundred and twenty years: thus, though the 
 discovery is cmious, the deposition of tlic iiuijlcinent was far too recent to he of 
 any praclic.il archaeological value. In cii-c oi' llic future discovery of a stone
 
 WKAPOXS OF THE STONK AGE. 9Ji 
 
 The arcbffiologist is asked to fix a date to this period, which 
 modern discovery has unrolled before our eyes ; all he can say 
 is that it is impossible not to sympathise with the yearning after 
 knowledge, but so far as present data go it is impossible to frame 
 a satisfactory answer ; we are unable to see clearly so far back 
 into the dim past, or to, as yet, describe the genesis of the human 
 race. 
 
 In the Eude Stone Age, agriculture must have been almost 
 unknown, the forest remained un felled, hunting and fishing were 
 the sole, or at any rate the principal, means of human livelihood ; 
 it was the discovery of copper that first enabled man to make 
 clearings in the woods on any large scale, and to sow the land 
 thus prepared with grain. If copper ore occurred anywhere in 
 great abundance, it could not well have escaped attracting the 
 attention of the early inhabitants of the country ; they might, 
 at first, have regarded it merely as a stone of peculiarly heavy 
 material, and on commencing to chip and work it into shape 
 would immediately notice that it yielded to the blow instead of 
 splitting. It would not take a lengthened period before the 
 savage would avail himself of the malleable nature of the stone, 
 and would soon hammer out implements from the ore. A piece 
 of copper falling into the fire would at once indicate its fusible 
 characteristics, so that from hammering to casting implements 
 there is not such a hiatus as a mere casual observer might 
 imagine, for the Avhole history of human civilization has been 
 one of slow but constantly accelerated progress. 
 
 The Older Stone Age, when men knew only how to rudely 
 chip flint implements, was, as we have seen, one of immense and 
 incalculable duration, to be reckoned, bold chronologists aver, 
 by hundreds of thousands of years. There was improvement 
 during all this long ejDOch, but the improvement was almost im- 
 perceptible ; the rude chipped weapons of the drift gave way, at 
 last, to the more shapely lance and arrow-heads of skin-clad cave 
 men ; even then vast epochs elapsed before the discovery of some 
 prehistoric inventor of the art of grinding his weapons to an edge, 
 instead of chipping them, and so the Neolithic or Polished Sto]ie 
 Period was entered on. .Tade has been described as " an old 
 world mineral," and objects found in Europe formed of this 
 material are ascribed to an oriental source. The presence, in 
 
 hatcliet vc'tainiiig its original handle it nuiy l)o well to point out that the process of 
 prcserviiif;' wood, when in the sodden and hriltle eoiulition in which it is found 
 after long huriiil in hogyv matter is extrenudy sini|de. The danger to ho 
 guarded against, is that the ohjects hecotning dry « ill split and contiact, and so 
 lose their original form. 1'hey must therel'ore he kept moist until they have 
 been steeped, or hoiled, in a strong solutioTi of alum, after which process, if 
 allowed to dry gradually, fhey retain their origiiuil shape.
 
 92 /■:,\R/.y MAX. 
 
 small numbers, in Treland, of axes formed of jade is nnqueslion- 
 able, but tbe manner and period of tlieir transport thitiiei', and 
 tbeir connexion \vith the place of their discovery, are questions 
 yet to be determined. If the Continental, British, and Irish 
 jadite axes be of Eastern ori,L,'in, it undubitably points to a well- 
 defined prehistoric trade existing between Asia and Europe. If 
 commercial intercourse gives the true explanation of the presence 
 of jade in Western Europe, how nre we to account for the fact 
 that bronze was not introduced to tlic West at the same time 
 and by the same means '? 
 
 At first a great many liard, tenaceous, and dense rocks, whose 
 niineralogical natures were not well established, were classed 
 together under the name of nephrite, and it is quite possible that 
 some of the supposed oriental jade or nephrite axes nuxy fall 
 under the above catagory. Amongst so many conflicting and 
 completely contradictory opinions it is impossible, with the 
 knowledge at present at our disposal, to arrive at any final 
 decision. It is alleged by some, denied by others, that veins of 
 jade, which nn'ght have served to make these axes, have been 
 found in certain localities, but satisfactory proofs of the identity 
 of oriental jade, with that of the axes found in the European area, 
 and of the absence of this stone therein, can alone definitely 
 settle the question. 
 
 The Neolithic or Late Stone Age, althougli innneasnrably long, 
 as compared with the Bronze Age which follows, was very short 
 when compared with the Older Htone Period that preceded it. 
 
 With the entry of copper on the scene, came enormous 
 changes faster and faster, until the use of iron still further 
 accelerated the rate of progress, yet the discovery of copper and 
 the invention of bronze formed, in reality, the greatest epoch in 
 civilization, the distinct turning point in the history of the 
 Inunan race. Of a pure Copper Age, in Ireland, or indeed in 
 bairope in general, there are little certain traces, and many 
 arclucologists hold theories involving the Asiatic origin of bronze, 
 and aver that when the use of copper was introduced into 
 bjurope it was also known that it was rendered harder and 
 more serviceable when alloyed with tin. 
 
 The revolution efteeted by the introduction of metal in the 
 early world has been compared with the revolution efteeted by 
 railways and electricity in our own tinu>s, only the world of the 
 Stone Age was so simply constructed that the change in it was, 
 though nuich less sudden, probably even more marvellous in its 
 comprehensiveness. The term " Stone Age," with its sub-titles, 
 are correct descriptions, for during the entire period comprised 
 in the Age of Stone, primitive man possessed no knowledge of 
 metals ; l)ut tlie term "Bronze Age" is a misnomer, for it did not
 
 A NCI E NT SEA - SHORE SETTL EME.N'IS. 98 
 
 succeed the Stone Ay;e, it ran concomitantly, and even stru,i,'<,ded 
 on until finally extinguished by the introduction of iron. 
 
 Although the Bronze Age covered the shortest period of time, 
 when compared either to that of stone or even to that of iron, it 
 was, nevertheless, far the most important period, as it embraced 
 the transition epoch, formed the connecting link, and furnished 
 the transformation scene between savagery and civilization. It 
 was the period when "The old order changes, giving place to new." 
 
 The North of Ireland has, for many years past, yielded a rich 
 archceological harvest in the exploration of the sites of primitive 
 villages, huts, and refuse-heaps in their vicinity. The question 
 has been discussed at some length as to whether the people who 
 lived in these huts and raised these shell mounds along the 
 beaches, lived permanently on the sea-shore, or only visited it at 
 certain seasons of the year. - 
 
 In primitive times families were purely nomadic, and, though 
 in the Late Neolithic Period each tribe probably claimed and 
 held a certain extent of territory, they were nomadic within its 
 limit. Their chief means of livelihood must have been hunting, 
 but at certain seasons of the year they gravitated towards the 
 sea-shore for change to a fish diet, and as long as the fishing 
 localities remained productive they would return, year after year, 
 to the same place, leaving traces of their sojourn in the shell 
 mounds, which in time will yet yield to us the complete story of 
 this period of the past. The Irish peasant of the present day 
 still delights in spending a few weeks of the summer at the sea- 
 side, and his prehistoric ancestors were evidently inspired by the 
 same feeling. Of this, undoubted evidence has been left in the 
 artificial hillocks which dot the littoral. Many of those that 
 have been inspected lie only just above high- water mark, and are 
 composed principally of the shells of Crustacea and fractured 
 bones, both of animals and fish ; they may, in fact, be described 
 as the remains of primitive man's summer picnic at the seaside. 
 Scattered amongst them are hammer-stones abraided at the 
 extremities, evidently used for breaking bones and shells ; frag- 
 ments of coarse earthenware and masses of charcoal are inter- 
 mingled in the dehrh of past festivities. In the townland of 
 Keele West, in the island of Acliill, were three ancient shell- 
 mounds, just above high- water mark, and in close proximity to 
 each other (fig. 81). When examined it was found that the remains 
 left by these primitive toilers of the sea had been almost entirely 
 removed by the peasantry, who burned the shells for the purpose 
 of reducing them to lime for whitening their homesteads ; this 
 process has been going on for years, so that the original size of 
 the refuse-heaps must have been very great. Two of them,
 
 94 
 
 /:'./ AV. )■ .U.I .V 
 
 however, Inul not ln^cii i|uil(' so much cxijloited as the first one 
 noticed. Wwv wrw fouiid liainiufr-stones and hones of wild 
 pi.H', traces of cdiart-oal. and slicils of \arious marine ciaistaeca'. 
 
 Fig. ;]1. 
 
 Shrll-M.ilind, Isl.ilul nt Arlnll. 
 
 There are a ninubtT of Idtclien-niidch'ns on some small 
 islands in the estuary forming Cork harhoiu'. Two of tlie 
 largest heaps, ahout 300 feet long, and from three to five feet 
 in thickness, consisted principally of oyster-shells, with thin 
 
 ^^^^'>-^i'ir- 
 
 •J^ 
 
 Fig. 32. 
 
 Ancient Shell-Mound, Brown Island, Cork Harbour. From a drawing by G. M. 
 Atkinson, reproduced from the Journal of the present Society of Antiquaries 
 of Ireland. 
 
 layers of charcoal ; sections, exposed through denudation hy the 
 sea, or hy farmers carting away the deposit for agricultural pm-- 
 poses, afforded evidence of different periods of occupation of these 
 sites (fig«. 32, 33). With the exception of charcoal and some 
 hammer-stones, no other evidence of artificial formation was 
 noticed. Thus we see that primitive man, livijig on the littoral
 
 ANCIENT SEA-SHORE SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 05 
 
 had, at any rate, one very marked advantage over his nineteenth- 
 century descendant, in that he had ahundance of oysters and 
 swiillowed them freely without the qualifying dread that he was 
 likewise SAvallowing the germs of typhoid fever. 
 
 Fiu. 33. 
 
 Ancient Shell-jMound, Brick Island, Cork Harbour. From a drawing by G. M. 
 Atkinson, reproduced from the Journal of the present Society of Antiquaries 
 of Ireland. 
 
 As the season changed so did the home of these seaside folk. 
 In summer they aired themselves in tents and wattled huts, in 
 winter they returned inland and burrowed like the rabbits. 
 These winter dens were entered by a hole in the roof, whilst to 
 many of the larger retreats there was a subterranean passage, 
 along which they crawled on hands and knees. Several families 
 must have inhabited the larger class of dwellings, where fumes 
 of oil lamps, stores of raw meat, and naked bodies smeared with 
 grease and unguents combined to make an atmosphere which to 
 our modern ideas would have been difficult to tolerate (fig. 34). 
 
 From the following passage in an Icelandic legend in the 
 \ .anilnnma it appears that these underground retreats were used 
 in Ireland in the ninth century : — " Leif went on warfare in the 
 West. He made war in Ireland, and there found a large under- 
 ground house ; he went down into it, and it was dark until light 
 shone from a sword in the hands of a man. Leif killed the man, 
 and took the sword and nmch property. Therefore he was called 
 Hjorleif (Sword-Leif). He made war widely in Ireland, and got 
 much property." 
 
 The following tenth-century story, a Saga of Thorgils', 
 quoted by Macliitchie in Unden/nuotil lAfe, describes another 
 raid on one of these souterrains. Thorgils and Gyrd, joint 
 leaders of a band of Northern freebooters, " harried during 
 summer with much gain, and exterminated many robbers and
 
 96 
 
 KARLY MAX. 
 
 evil-doers, but leaving genuine fanners and traders in peace. 
 Towards summer they came to Ireland (to a place) where in 
 front of them they discovered a forest. Just after entering the 
 forest they came to a spot where they saw a tree whose leaves 
 luul fallen oft'. They pulled up the tree (evidently a sapling) and 
 beneath it they found an miderground chambei", wherein they 
 saw men with weapons. Thorgils proposed to his people that 
 whoever should be the first to go into the earth-house should 
 become entitled to the three objects of booty which he desired, 
 to which all agreed, except Gyrd. Then Thorgils sprang down 
 
 
 Pig. 34. 
 
 IdcTi srrnc in .-in undiTfjround (UvclIin<J. From a sketch I)\- \\' . F. W;ikcnian. 
 
 into the chamber, and encountered no opposition ; and there 
 were two women there, one of whom was young and beautiful, 
 and the other old, yet not without good looks. Thorgils went 
 about the chamber, whose roof rested upon upward-bent beams ; 
 he had a mace in his hand, wherewith he smote about him on 
 either side, so that all fled before him. lMu)rstein went with 
 him, and then they came out of the earth-house, and took the 
 women, the young one as well as the elder, with them to the
 
 ANCIKXT SEA-SHORF. SETTLKMEXTS. 1)7 
 
 ships. The people of the phxce now set out in pursuit of them, 
 and Thorgils ^^etting on board, they steered out from the shore. 
 Now a man of the host which was pursuing them, stepped 
 forward and harangued them, but they understood not his speech. 
 Then tlie captured woman interpreted his story to them in Norse, 
 and said : ' He will resign his claim to the goods you have 
 taken, if only you will let us go. This man is an earl, and my 
 son ; but my mother's kindred are from Vik, in Norway. Follow 
 my counsel, then will you best derive beneiit from this rich 
 booty, for trouble comes with the sword. My son is named 
 Hugh, and he has proferred to thee, Thorgils, other goods, 
 rather than that you should carry me away, which could not be 
 of any profit to you. ' Thorgils agrees to their request, and 
 brings them to land. The earl went joyfully towards Thorgils, 
 and presented him with a gold ring ; his mother gave him 
 another, and the maiden gave him a third. Thereafter they 
 bade each other a friendly farewell." 
 
 The habit of roving from place to place for the purpose of 
 hunting, or for fresh pastures for cattle, continued in Ireland so 
 late as the time of Queen Elizabeth, Spenser relates that the 
 Irish in his time "kept their cattle and lived themselves, the 
 most part of the year, in boolies (cow-houses), pasturing upon 
 the mountain and waste wild plains, removing still to fresh land 
 as they have depastured the former." Many laws were passed 
 to prevent indiscriminate grazings but without avail. The late 
 Sir William Wilde, in the year 1H35, described this custom as in 
 full force on the island of Achill, that during the spring the 
 entire population of several of the villages on the island "close 
 their winter dwellings, tie their infant-children on their backs, 
 carry them with their loys (spades) and some corn and potatoes, 
 with a few pots and cooking utensils, drive their cattle before 
 them, and migrate into the hills, where they find fresh pasture 
 for the flocks ; and where they could build rude huts, or summer- 
 houses of rods and wattles, called boolies, and then cultivate and 
 sow with corn a few fertile spots in the neighbouring valleys. 
 They thus remain for about two months of the spring and early 
 summer, till the corn is sown. Their stock of provisions being 
 exhausted, and the pasture consumed by the cattle, tliey return to 
 the shore, and eke out a miserable and precarious existcnc(! by 
 fishing. In the autumn they again return to the mountains, 
 wliere they remain while the corn is being reaped." 
 
 Probably the most primitive dwellings in Ireland are the huts 
 or boolies on the Island of Inisbgloria. Iludely built, Avitbout 
 mortar, roofed with sods, they are still inhabited, for about tbrcc 
 montbs during the lol)ster fishing season. '^Fbe height inside, 
 from ground to rafters, does not pci-niit of \\w. occupants 
 
 II
 
 98 JCARl. V MAX. 
 
 assuming an upright position. Tlie furniture consists of a rude 
 bunk filled with straw, for sleeping in ; large stones do duty for 
 chairs : the cooking is done out of doors. 
 
 Fynes Moryson and Spenser describe the Irish of their day as 
 sleeping in rude wattled shelters roofed with sods of turf or 
 under the canopy of heaven, men and women together, in a circle 
 round the camp fire, their feet towards it, their heads and th(! 
 upward parts of their bodies wrapped in woollen mantles steeped 
 in water, as experience had shown them that wetted woollen cloth 
 retained heat, when tin' temperature of the bodies had warmed 
 the cloth. The herds of cattle which these wanderers possessed 
 were described as "multitudinous"; the aggregate of families 
 that, in one body followed a herd, was called a " creagiit,"and so 
 late as Elizabethan times almost the entire population of Ulster 
 lived this wild and nomadic life. The cattle are described as 
 very diminutive ; even when almost starving the men would not 
 kill a cow, they would open a vein and drink the blood. 
 
 A Fellow of Cambridge, who travelled in Ireland in 1(570, 
 notes the extremely meagre diet of the Irish of his time ; he 
 says: — "The Irish feed much upon herbs, watercresses, sham- 
 rocks, mushrooms, and roots. They also take beef broth, and 
 flesh, sometimes raw, from which they have pressed out the blood. 
 They do not care much for bread ; but they give the corn to their 
 horses, of whom they are very careful. They also bleed their 
 kine, and as the blood stiffens to a jelly, they stew it with butter 
 and eat it with great relish, washing it down with huge draughts 
 of usquebaugh." 
 
 Unwholesome diet fosters disease. Dr. Boat in his Natural 
 Hifitonj of Ireland attributes the miserable state of leprosy, that 
 in his day prevailed throughout Ireland to " the foul gluttony of 
 the inhabitants in the devouring of unwholesome salmon." Other 
 writers ascribed this affection to the raw state in which the 
 natives were accustomed to devour animal food — 
 
 '''Twas blooJ-raw moat 
 Wliicli tLey I'or constant food did eat, 
 Aflinning tliat all meal was spoil'd, 
 That eitlier roasted M'as, or lioilM." 
 
 W. J. Knowles seems to have been one of the most active and 
 painstaking investigators of the sites of the more ancient settle- 
 ments along the littoral. From the remains found, it is probable 
 that their first occupiers were cannibals, for human and animal 
 bones are strangely commingled. Tliey appear to have been in 
 an extremely rude state ; no metal of any land was found ; there 
 is scarcely a trace of polishing on their flint implements ; and the 
 pottery was coarse and sun dried. Tbe i)i'int of Ids naked foot,
 
 FOOD OF AXC/EXT SETTLP:RS. 
 
 99 
 
 or those of Avild animals in the soft earth, a clod hardened in the 
 sunshine, or haked clay occurring in the ashes on the hearth, may 
 liave first suggested to primitive man the idea of forming vessels 
 to hold liquids, "wild seeds, fruits, or roots. Fragments of 
 pottery have been rightly styled the cornucopia of archa?ological 
 science, for generally abundant, pottery possesses two excellent 
 
 Fia. 3.j. 
 
 Grain-rubber. From Sir John Evans' "' Rude Stone Implements." 
 
 qualities, being easy to break and yet difticult to destroy, rendering 
 it very valuable in an archaeological point of view, and investi- 
 gation has shown that in some early settlements these primitive 
 inhabitants of Erin had in use a distinctly characteristic style of 
 rude pottery. 
 
 Grain rubbers, or mealing stones, found on sea-side sites do not 
 
 by any means presuppose an even 
 rudimentary process of agriculture 
 (fig. 35). Grain is but one of the 
 many products which may be 
 ground into a kind of flour ; for 
 most grasses produce very small 
 edible kernels, as do also many 
 trees and bushes, whilst nuts, 
 a.corns, dried roots of plants, and 
 iruit, can all be i-educed to a rough 
 species of flour. Amongst some 
 of the tribes of North America 
 Ihe roots of the common fern, or 
 bracken, are, in everyday use, 
 ed witli a stone nmller, and then 
 
 Grain- Grinder still used ii 
 Islands. From a sketcl 
 Wakcman. 
 
 either simply boiled 
 roasted (fig. ;}()). 
 
 H 7
 
 fMVj'iWi ,\\\%^\iv
 
 102 EAR/.)- MAN. 
 
 The oldest Irish sea-side population at present known to us 
 do not seem to have possessed domesticated animals ; they, in 
 fact, belonged to the Neolithic or Late Stone Age in Ireland, and 
 to its earliest period. There was, however, in one locality evi- 
 dence of a still older Stone Age. Along the shore, a short 
 distance from some hut-sites, heavy and massive fiint-ilakes, 
 covered with a thick crust, and glazed on the outside, were 
 noticed. This crust is observable only on flints exposed to 
 atmospheric influences ; for flints buried in the ground, protected 
 i'rom air and moisture, do not weather. Several blocks of 
 llint wliicli had been used by the hut-building folk, thus 
 crusted, when carefully examined, aftbrded evidence that they 
 had been previously wrought in long distant times. This is a 
 good example of an older and a newer Stone Age : a people 
 dwelling in huts along the northern littoral, found rude and 
 large cores, flakes and implements, Avhich would appear to have 
 been of a more archaic type than those they were in the habit 
 of manufacturing, weathered, and deeply-crusted, when tliey 
 picked them up. These they brought to their dwellings, and 
 rewrought and finished them after their numner. A similar 
 instance was noticed by the writer in some flint implements dis- 
 covered in sepulchral cists of apparently the Late Neolithic Age 
 at Carrowmore, near Sligo. 
 
 On the sites of prehistoric settlements, at Portnafeadog on the 
 Connemara littoral, F. J. Bigger, m.r.i.a., the energetic editor of 
 Thi' lister Joioiial of ArcJu/uhx/i/, found a large heap of methodi- 
 cally fractured shells of the dog-whelk {pnriiuni (apillits). Any- 
 one who broke a sutticient number of these shells, merely to 
 satisfy his hunger, would have an arduous task, and the dis- 
 coverer suggests that they were crushed to obtain the rich purple 
 dye they afford. The colouring matter is of easy extraction if 
 the shell be broken in a similar manner to the specimens found 
 in the shell-mound of Portnafeadog. The settlement was of the 
 Neolithic Age, at earliest, as broken bones of the horse, cow, 
 sheep, pig and dog or wolf were found ; no flint, metallic imple- 
 ment, or fragment of pottery was observed, but it is quite possible 
 an Atlantic storm may, some day, by sweeping away the over- 
 lying sand, do good archaeological service. 
 
 In some sepulchral cists on the littoral the llat scales or 
 plates of the sturgeon occur ; weapons made of cetaceous bone 
 are also not infrequent, and the sea-side population may have 
 often received the gift from the ocean of a dead whale, a dead 
 ])asking shark, or other great marine monster, on which they 
 could gorge, and could afterwards utilize its skeleton in the forma- 
 tion of weapons (fig. 87). On the western coast the whale and the 
 basking shark, or sunfish, are even yet a not uncommon capture, 
 particularly ott" the island of Achill (fig. 88).
 
 PREHISTORIC OJ^JKCTS— WHITER A RK BA Y. 103 
 
 Wliitepark Bay (fig. 31)), on tlie north coast of Antrim, bor- 
 dered by a broad sweep of white sand, backed by low chalk cliffs, 
 shut in on one side by Bengore Head and on the other by the 
 rocks which fringe the shore near Ballintoy, is w-ell known for 
 the abundant prehistoric objects which it yields, and which show 
 that it was an important settlement of earlier races. Eude Hint 
 implements, bones, fragments of pottery and charcoal, occur in 
 certain definite layers, wdiich represent the ancient land surface. 
 This is now buried below many feet of blown-sand ; yet the sand 
 constantly shifts, under the influence of the wind, exposing the 
 old surface, and thus traces of the former inhabitants are again 
 exposed to the light of day. 
 
 332=r=v5SSi 
 
 -'^(h /><^-— 
 
 ^^^iHi''^^'^; V-^-'-'"^ '--'^^S*% '■^ vfe^l» 
 
 Whitepark Baj', looking West. A t3'pical site of an Ancient Sea-side Settlement. 
 From a sketch by William Gra)-, m.r.i.a., reproduced from the Journal of 
 the present Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 A site examined and described by W. J. Knowles, at Bally- 
 lu'd, county Donegal, may l)e taken as a good illustration of these 
 seaside remains. The beach, Avhere the various objects used by 
 these iirimitive folk had been found, was, not many years ago, 
 covered with sand hills, thirty feet in height. It has now^ been 
 swept l)are through the action of the wind, and is in places 
 studded with old liut-sites, and tlieir hearths with black matter 
 underneath, full of shells; a few hammered stones and rounded 
 and broken quartzite pebbles, some cracked from heat, others 
 evidently split into sharp-edged pieces by hammering. Those 
 quartzite flakes and spalls must have been intentionally made, 
 though there was no evidence of dressing, such as is found on 
 flint implements.
 
 101 JiAR/.V MAX. 
 
 Articles of bronze and iron, ylass and porcelain beads, and 
 even coins have been found in several of these sandhills ; for 
 instance, a coin of Queen i^Hzabeth at Dundruni, and a halfpenny 
 of (^uecn V^ictoria at Portstewart. " Such finds," writes W. G. 
 Knowles, " have caused some of my arclueological friends to look 
 on Hint implements as belonging to a comparatively late period, 
 so late as to be at least contemporary with iron objects. But 
 as yet there is no evidence that metal of any kind was used 
 conjointly with the flint tools [i.e. in the ancient seaside settle- 
 ments). The old surface is tbe test for contemporaneousness. 
 \\'liat('\ci' is (lug out ol' it must h;i\(' Ix't'ii in use at the same 
 time, and any implements lying loose on the surface, similar to 
 those contained in tbe old surface, must be classed with tliem. 
 ]>ut there have also been found, lying on the present surface 
 among the worked flints, grains of shot, cartridge cases, scraps of 
 iron, such as nails, broken bottles, portions of old shoes, and 
 stray coins of late date." It is not surprising that modern 
 articles have been trampled into the old surface where it is 
 exposed, and tints become stttmbling blocks to arclueologists. 
 Although some of these sea-side settlements belong exclusively to 
 a flint-tising folk, many apparently lingered on to the time when 
 bronze was in use, and possibly to the period of the introdttctioii 
 of iron, and even to compiirntivc^ly recent times. The Neolithic 
 Age in Ireland may, in sonu- ])laces, reach back to the same 
 period as in England; but, on tlu^ other hand, it may in other 
 places be advanced to times conipniatively modern. 
 
 Blown sand is an excellent preserver of prehistoric remains. 
 This is best exemplified in places where the sand is not over dee[) 
 or too much exposed to strong winds, for in exposed places the 
 old sttrface has been broken up and obliterated, and in sttch cases 
 it is only in parts some distance inland that undistnrl)ed remains 
 are found. Some portion of the old surfaces after liaving been 
 denuded ol" tlu'ir sandy covering, beeonie covered Avilli a grassy 
 sward, ami actj^uire another sandy covering, which leads to the 
 belief that these may be cases of an old surface having had its 
 covering blown aAvay, and another iormed repeatedly since the 
 sandliills were occupied l)y a preliisloiic folic. If the Neolithic 
 inhabitants came here on foot with the other recent fauna of the 
 country, many of the earliest remains near the coast have probably 
 been destroyed by denttdations, but those now remaining show the 
 old culture of some of our earliest settlers. Ap])arently they first 
 occupied the littoral, and spread iidand along the various water 
 ways (flg. 40). On the sliores of the J>ann, implements are found 
 similar to those from tlie sandhills, which favours the opinion 
 that these people knew littles if anything, of agi'icultui-e. They 
 appear to have been hunters, living on the great Irish deer (one
 
 INLAND SETTLEMKNl' OF THE STONE AGE. 105 
 
 bone only has been found), ox, pig, sheep or goat, and red deer ; 
 there are also remains of horse, and dog or wolf, but whether 
 these three latter were domesticated or were hunted and used for 
 food, like the other animals, remains to be proved. Among the 
 birds are traces of goose, gull, duci\, and great auk ; from the 
 number of bones of the latter bird, it must have been very 
 abundant in the North of Ireland at the time the people of the 
 Stone Age necnpi(Hl the cnast lino. 
 
 -'^_,' j»-^ 
 /"^j 
 
 
 Ideal scene. Inlaiul .settlement of tlic Stone Atre. 
 
 Among present-day savages the men undertake no physicitl 
 exertion, save such as is incurred in the chase, in the supply of 
 meat or fish for the family ; beyond this, the males decline all 
 manual labour, and relegate it to the women folk, who gather 
 wood, light and keep up the fires, cook, fabricate culinary utensils 
 and pottery, scrape, fashion and sew skins for clothing, and like 
 beasts of burden carry about the household goods, from camp 
 to camp, as the locality is changed, for the purpose of seeking 
 a better area for food-supply. This must also have been the 
 manner of life of a family in Ireland in the olden times. 
 
 The accompanying illustration (fig. 41) represents an imagi- 
 nary scene of old sea-side life. To the left are a couple of 
 natives engaged in the erection of a hut ; traces of such frail 
 " boolies" are still observable on many points on the coast. In 
 plan they were usually circular, or more or less oval. There can 
 be little or no doubt that the roof was composed of bent boughs
 
 A KAFFIR HUT. 
 
 107 
 
 or saplings, forming a kind of basket-work (fig. 42), covered Avitli 
 acrairs, or thin strips of the surface of grassy land. The ends of the 
 saplings would ;i]ipear to have been inserted in the sand or soil of 
 
 Fk;. 4_'. 
 
 Skeleton framework of Kaffir Hut, Soutli Africa, showing roof and side-walls 
 composed oi^bciit bough. Photo, M'orld Ma,t;a^ti;e. 
 
 the sea-shore, at a little distance above high-water mark, and to 
 have been seciired in their position by an uncemented stone wall 
 of slight elevation (fig. 43). In the foreground is present a party 
 of the natives seated round a cooking- place. Quantities of 
 broken pottery, of rude description, are found round many of 
 these hearths. Judging by the remains, some of the larger 
 cooking pots were furnished with ears by which they might be 
 suspended over a fire. In the middle distance is a group of the 
 small aboriginal cattle which formed the herds of Ireland in 
 remote ages. On the mai'gin of the sea are shown boats, 
 formed out of a single piece of timber, such as were used 
 by these people, and, probably, for centuries later, by their 
 descendants.
 
 low 
 
 EARLY 2r AN, 
 
 Skotch-plan of uiicementcd Stone Wall in an Irish pieliistoric sea-side settlement : 
 the sapliiis^ thus secured in position, forming the framework of side-walls and 
 roof. From a sketch by AV. J. Knowles, in the Ji>unial of the present Society 
 of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 Altliougli probably very diminutive folk, popular tradition 
 depicts some of these primitive fishermen as beings of gigantic 
 stature. Great Man's Bay, in lar Connaught, tooic its name 
 from one of these supposed giants, and the country people show 
 a large hollow rock, which tliey call his churn, and three other 
 rocks, which supported the caldron wherein he boiled the whales 
 wliich lie caught witii : 
 
 ■' \\i< angle-rod, iiiado of a sttiidy oik : 
 '- His line a cable, wliirji in .-tonus nc'i r hrokc." 
 
 The inhabitants of these sea-side settlements probably daubed 
 themselves with pigments, but in this fashion they were not a 
 whit more barbarous than the primitive inhabitants of Great 
 Britain ; for there can be littl(> doubt that the Paheolithic and 
 Neolithic inhabitants of liritain usid a it'd pigment as a substi- 
 tute for clothing, and its use was coutinu'-d for personal d(!CO- 
 ration to a comparatively late period, 'i'lu' use of pigments of 
 various descriptions dates back to a very early period ; pieces of 
 hematite, with the surfaces scraped, apparently b}- means of 
 flint-flakes, have been found in the Continental caves of the 
 Beindecr Period, so that this red pigment appears to have been 
 in curly favour with savage man. 
 
 Irisli cave-dwellers have also h'I'l Ix'hind them iHnts. 
 l)C'aring unmistakable marks of attrition ; from remains found
 
 THE i'SE OF riGMEXJS. 10!> 
 
 near them, one of tlie uses to whicb they were put is beheved to 
 have been the production of a red pigment by scraping pieces of 
 liard hematite iron ore. In cold countries the use of pigments 
 may have arisen as a protection against the inclemency of the 
 weather ; in warm countries as a protection against heat and 
 stinging insects. From these beginnings the custom might 
 easily become crystallized into habit. In many localities, in the 
 present day, fishermen and sportsmen frequenting marshy places, 
 smear their faces and hands with certam kinds of thick ohitment, 
 to make themselves proof against the stings of insects Avith which 
 the air is filled. Among many wild tribes of Patagonia both 
 men and Avomen paint their faces and their arms with ochre, 
 and other coloured daub ; this process is said to protect the skin 
 from the solar rays and from the dryness of the atmosphere. 
 
 Lumps of colouring matter, of various hues, but principally 
 red, have been found on the sites of Irish lake dwellings. The 
 red pigment may, however, have been employed for the purpose 
 of coating the exterior of earthenware crocks. The practice of 
 placing paint beside the dead is yet observed among the North- 
 American Indians : — 
 
 " The paints that warriors love to use 
 Place here within bis liaiid. 
 That lie may shine with ruddy hues 
 Amidst the Spirit Band." 
 
 ^\'(• are not left to conjecture, or forced to draw analogies 
 from the habits of present day savages as to the manner in 
 which late flint or bronze-using man, in Ireland, clothed 
 himself. 
 
 The uniform pressure, together with the soft and yielding- 
 nature of peat, as a general rule, preserves fragile objects embedded 
 in it from injury, whilst the peculiar antiseptic property of bog 
 Avater — impregnated Avith the tannin of the innumerable roots 
 and fibres Avhicli constitute peaty matter — preserves objects 
 formed of animal material, of Avood, iron, and other destructible 
 substances deposited in it. 
 
 ])uring the last century several liunian bodies, still letaining 
 their clothing, are recorded ms having been discovered in bogs, but 
 tliey Avere so arclneologically neglected as to afford little infor- 
 mation on the subject of ancient costumes. 
 
 V\\ a bog, in the parish of Derryreighan, county Antrim, a skin 
 cape Avas found in the year IHOl at a considerable depth beloAv 
 the surface. It measures 24 inches in length ; its Avidth at one 
 edge is 8G, and at the other 50 inches. The material used in 
 the scAving consists of tAVO strands tAvisted together to form one 
 thread, and judging by their length, they are probably the sinews
 
 110 
 
 EARJ.y MAX 
 
 of some large animal. The holes made by the needle are small, 
 the se^ving regular, the top and bottom of the cloak bordered by 
 a double thong stitched in a most elaborate manner. From the 
 small size of all the pieces of skin employed in the formation 
 of the cape, it is highly probable that the animals which 
 furnished the fur were diminutive ; the joining is executed so 
 skilfully as to present, externally, a uniform appearance. The 
 skins have been completely tanned, either intentionally, or by the 
 long coiiliimed action of Ijog water (fig. 44). 
 
 Fio. 44. 
 
 Sketch sliinving luaiinei' in which the cape was probably wi 
 the Ulster Journal of Arch;eolo)j;y. 
 
 Reprodiieed from 
 
 So late as ijuasi-historical times, the charioteer of the hero 
 Cuchullin is described as clothed in a mantle of deer-skin ; 
 leather cloaks are mentioned as avoi-ii l)y tlio followers of the 
 Ulster Chief,. Murtoch MacNeill, wluii, in the year 942, he 
 marched aroiuid Ireland (figs. 45, 4G). 
 
 In the year 1821 a human body completely clad in a deer- 
 skin garment was found, ten feet below the then surface of a bog, 
 at Gallagh, near Castle Blakeney, county Galway. The head, 
 legs, and feet were bare ; the body was clad in a tunic of deer- 
 skin which reached to the knees and elbows, and was laced in 
 front with leather thongs. The seams present good specimens of 
 early needlework, each stitch of fine gut, knotted, so that it was 
 almost impossible for it to rip. When first dug up, dress and
 
 CLOAKS AND CAPES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 body were quite perfect ; the corpse was tliat of a man, at least 
 six feet in height, of middle age, with long dark hair and partially 
 grown beard. The body was at once re-interred, but it was dug 
 
 Fig. 45. 
 
 Seven figures on the Cross of Kilklispeen, showing hoods to cloaks. 
 From a drawing by O'Ncil. 
 
 up, on various occasions, for inspection by the curious ; conse- 
 (juently, body and clothing were much injured; had they been 
 preserved in their state as first discovered, no museum could have 
 boasted of a more valuable example of early man and of his 
 
 ,>.\di 
 
 ki \.j; 
 
 c . vIjjII!-'^'^ 
 
 
 Fig. 46. 
 
 Three figures on the Cross at Tuam, showing hoods to cloaks. 
 l'"rora a drawing by O'Neil. 
 
 clothing. This "li'ish crummy," though covered witli a glass 
 case, has, since its I'emoval from the damp crypt of the Jxoyal 
 Irish Academy to the dry, but etjually dark and gloomy room in the
 
 112 
 
 F.ARJ. Y MAX 
 
 Science and Art Museum, boeu rapidly dryiny and shrivelling, and 
 is now little more than tattered ligaments and bones. The gloom 
 surrounding it renders a sketch most difficult, in fact, the want 
 of light and want of methodical arrangement in the National 
 Collection of Antiquities would disgrace a mere pi'ovincijil 
 ]\Iuseum. (Fig. 47.) 
 
 Vn:. 47. 
 
 " I'lu- Irish Mummy.'' In the Colli-ction of Antiiiuitics of tin- K.I..-\. 
 
 Captain Cuellar's gni[)hic di'scriplion of the Irislj, witli wliom 
 he spent seven mouths after his escape from the wreck of one of 
 the vessels of the Spanish Armada, cast aAvay on the Irish coast, 
 is as follows: — " They live in huts made of straw. The men 
 have big bodies, their features andJimbs are well made, and they 
 are as agile as deer. They eat but one meal a day, and their 
 ordinary food is oaten bread and butter. They drink sour milk, 
 as they have no other beverage, but no water, although it is the 
 best in the world. They dress in tight breeches and goatskin 
 jackets, cut short, but very big, and wear their hair down to their 
 eyes." 
 
 In a sessions of Parliament, held in Dublin ni the year 12!)r), 
 an Act was passed minutely describing this " Coulin " or 
 " (llibbe " for its more effectual prohibition. A few of the Irish 
 chieftains, who lived near the Pale, cut oft" their 
 " Glibbes " — a memorial of the event was made 
 in writing, but it may be observed that, until 
 the commencement of the present century, 
 these glibbes, or long locks of hair, and the old 
 Irish mantle were to be seen in some of the 
 most western parts of Ireland. This mode of 
 wearing the hair may be studied by reference 
 to fig. 48, drawn by a mitive artist about the 
 year 1400. It represents the uncovered head 
 and flowing locks of an archer of the period, 
 in the Knockmoy fresco, and accords with the 
 description of O'Neill's Cuillowglasses, who accompanied their 
 chief to the Coin't of I'Mizabctb. 
 
 i'"iu. 48. 
 
 Glibb fasl'.ion of weal- 
 ing the hair. Rr 
 produced from tli' 
 CataUigue K.T.A.
 
 A NCfKXT COSTl WfES. 
 
 113 
 
 A curious entry in a MS. Survey of the County Sligo, 
 (Stratford's Inquisition) of 1683-G, calls for notice. When 
 making mention of the townland of " Carowtampull," in the 
 Parish of Emlaghfad, Barony of Corran, that denomination of 
 land is described as having " a great scope of bogge and drown- 
 ing places," which latter term is supposed to designate the holes 
 and quagmires left when cutting away the peat for fuel. Several 
 bodies have, from time to time, been dug up from considerably 
 below the surface, the persons having evidently met their death 
 through inability to extricate themselves from the treacherous 
 depths. The corpse of " a lady," clad in antique costume, is 
 stated to have been discovered, many years ago, on the summit of 
 Benbulbin ; and so late as the year 1824, the body of a man, 
 completely clad in woollen garments of antique fashion, was 
 found, six feet beneath the surface of a bog, in the parish of 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 Two hunters on the North Cross of Clonmacnoise, with conical caps. 
 From a drawing by O'Neil. 
 
 Killery. No weapon was discovered near the corpse, but a long- 
 staff lay mider it. The head dress, which soon fell into pieces, 
 is said to have l)een a conical cap of sheepskin (fig. 4!)). So perfect 
 was the body, when first discovered, that a magistrate was called to 
 hold an inquiry about it. Fig. 50, drawn from a person clad in 
 this antique suit (except the shoes, which are very small), found on 
 the body of a man discovered in a bog in Killery, Co. Sligo, furnishes 
 a representation of the costume of the native Irish about the 
 fifteenth or sixteenth century. The cloak or mantle was of soft 
 (dosely- woven brown cloth, the coat was also of a coarse brown 
 woollen cloth. The trousers, or trews, of coarser material than 
 the coat, consisted of two distinct parts differing both in colour
 
 11-1 
 
 KARJA' MAN. 
 
 Jmc. oil. 
 Ancient costume. Repro- 
 duced from tlie Catalogue 
 R.I. A. 
 
 i'lu. .')!. 
 Wild Irishman.'' From 
 Speed's Map f)f tlu' 
 Year, loio. 
 
 and texture. The legs must Lave fitted the limbs tightly, 
 and these close fitting trousers are evidently the ancient 
 
 Irish chequered or 
 many coloured 
 lower garments, 
 explaining, by the 
 way they were 
 attached to the 
 sacculated portion 
 above, and the 
 shoes below, an 
 obscure expres- 
 sion in (liraldus 
 Cambrensis, when 
 he says "The Irish 
 wear breeches 
 ending in shoes, 
 or shoes ending in 
 breeches." This 
 suit, one of the 
 most ancient spe- 
 cimens of native 
 
 manufacture which has come down to mo lorn times, is woven 
 
 with a twill, and, when carefully examined the warp is found 
 
 to be composed of three plies, twisted 
 
 together, while the weft consists of the 
 
 untwisted woollen staple. This pecu- 
 liarity of the twill resembles that figured 
 
 in the cloak of the " Wild Irishman," 
 
 engraved in Speed's map of 1610 
 
 (figure 51 and figure o'i that of a " Wild 
 
 Irishwoman"). The nuile figure also 
 
 shows the "glibbe" fashion of wear- 
 ing the hair, as well as the kind of 
 
 leggings, or long l)Oots, used l)y the 
 
 peasantry at that time. 
 
 In fig. 53, No. 1, taken from a rare 
 
 engraving, purporting to be '• ilrair}! 
 
 after the Quiche," preserved in the 
 
 Bodleian library, although of a com- 
 paratively modern date, exhibits jin Irish 
 
 warrior grasping an iron sword of the 
 
 peculiar form of the ancient leaf-shaped 
 
 blade of bronze, and clad in garments 
 
 of probably a pattern qtiite as antique. 
 
 Irish " skene " ; No. 
 
 -=.JVi 
 
 W^ild hislui 
 Speed's .M 
 i6io. 
 
 oman." From 
 ip of the Year, 
 
 In No. '1 we see the 
 ;■} represents tlie Irish Cliief, O'More, in
 
 AXCl/i.yr COSTUMES. 
 
 115 
 
 the year 1000 ; No. 4 is an Irish agent employed by the 
 Government to treat with the insurgent chiefs ; No. 5 is a 
 "kern" of the period, with mantle, and armed with an Irish 
 axe ; No. 6 is a Scottish Iliglilander wearing the plaid. 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 Irish .ind Hif;lil;iiul (■(istuines, from j\I.SS. and early prinlrd honks 
 Rt-prodiiced from tlie Ulster Journal of Arcli,uoloj4y. 
 
 Spenser's description of the Irish cloak has been often quoted 
 " a fit house for an outlaw, a meet bed for a rebel, and an apt 
 cloak for a thief." He further observed that the cloak, being the 
 simplest costume, constitutes the early dress of most uncivilized 
 nations. 
 
 Le Gouz, a Fj-cnchman — and therefore considered to b(> an 
 iiiipariial witness — who traversed a great portion oi licland in
 
 IIG AAA'/.)- J /A A'. 
 
 the year IQii, gives a luimite description of the costume of the 
 Irish, not omitting the mantle, so clianicteristic of the national 
 costume : " The Irish, whom the English call ' wild,' have for 
 their head-dress a little hlue cap, raised two fingers hreadth in 
 front and heliind, covering their head and ears. Their doublet 
 has a long body and four skirts, and their breeclies are a panta- 
 loon of white frize, which they call trowsers. Their shoes, which 
 are pointed, Avith a single sole, they call l)rogues. For cloaks 
 they have five or six yards of frize, dijiwii round the neck, the 
 body, and over the head, and they never quit this mantle, either 
 sleeping, working, or eating, . . . The girls of Ireland, even 
 those living in towns, have for their head-dress only a ribbon, 
 and if married they have a napkin on the head, in the manner of 
 the Egyptians. The body of their gowns comes only to their 
 breasts, and when they are engaged in work they gird their petti- 
 coat, with their sash above the abdomen. They wear a hat and 
 mantle, very large, of brown colour, of which the cape is of 
 coarse woollen frize, in the fashion of the women of liOwer 
 Nornumdy." 
 
 Octavian de Palatio, a Florentine, Primate of Ireland in 14H0, 
 is reputed to be the author of this curious Latin satire on the 
 inhabitants of Armagh: — 
 
 " Civitas Aimacbana 
 
 Civitas Yana, 
 Absque bonis moribus : 
 
 Muliercs luulae 
 
 Games cnule 
 Paupertas, in Acdebus." 
 
 AVlncli Harris thus translates : — 
 
 " Armagh is notoiions, 
 
 For being vain-glorious, 
 The men void fit' manners ; their spouses 
 
 Go naked ; they eat 
 
 Raw tlesli for their meat, 
 And poverty dwells in their liouscs." 
 
 An even more startling picture is draAvn by a Bohemian 
 nobleman of the nakedness of the Ulster population. He was 
 met at the door of the residence of the Irish Chief, O'Kane, by 
 sixteen women, all naked, except their loose mantles. Even the 
 chief had nothing on except the same kind of cloak and shoes ; 
 these he took off as soon as he entered the house, turned to his 
 guest, and "desired him to put off his apparel, which he thought 
 to be a burden to him." 
 
 Maories wear blankets, Esquimaux skin dresses ; but directly 
 they enter tbeii- liuts every article of clothing is cast aside. 'I'liis
 
 ANCIENT COSTUMES. 117 
 
 is essential to health, for the skin does not perspire freely in a 
 confined space, especially when garments of hide are Avorn, and 
 the human system imperatively demands periods of whole or 
 partial nudity. As is usual with purblind enthusiasts. Christian 
 missionaries, not content with essaying to change an old religion 
 for a new one, have laboured to induce the natives to abandon 
 their ancient and wholesome custom, the outcome of long cen- 
 turies of experience, and in the ratio in which missionaries suc- 
 ceed they kill off their converts by pulmonary consumption. It 
 is the same all the world over, Avliere civilization and the mis- 
 sionaries come in contact Avith savage races. A writer describing- 
 South Africa says, that "On this subject the bulk of authority is 
 to the effect that civilization at present harms the negro by 
 exposing him to diseases he never knew before. In his savage 
 state the black man goes naked, and becomes strong by a constant 
 contact with the fresh air. The first thing done for the happy 
 black heathen is to make him wear uncomfortable clothing, in 
 Avhich he sweats and breeds poisonous microbes with horrible 
 fluency. He never changes his clothing, and when he gets wet 
 he knows no better than to dry them by sitting close to the fire. 
 In this way he contracts fever, and midermines an otherwise 
 robust constitution." 
 
 One can thus readily understand how travellers in the Middle 
 Ages, and even in Elizabethan times, were startled by the apparent 
 nakedness of the Irish, who, on entering their low, heated and 
 stifling habitations conformed to ancient custom and threw oft" 
 their clothing. At the same time, it must be admitted that habit 
 is everything, for Pillontier describes how little some savages 
 regard exposure to cold. A savage lying down naked was asked 
 if he was not cold. " Is your face cold ? " answered the man. 
 The inquirer, of course, replied in the negative. " Neither do I 
 feel cold," retorted the savage, " for I am all face." 
 
 In a recent work on ancient Egypt, there is a representation 
 of a statuette from Gizah, of a woman crushing corn on a saddle- 
 quern, and in the same state of nature in which Fynes ]\Ioryson 
 descril)es Irish " young maidens stark naked, grinding corn with 
 certain stones, to make cakes thereof." Captain Cuellar, before 
 quoted, an officer belonging to tlie Spanish Armada, states that 
 women, when at work indoors, were in a state of nature. On an 
 island off the coast of Ireland a monastery was founded by 
 St. Fechin in the seventh century, for the conversion of the 
 inbabitants, who were then pagan. Cambrensis afterwards 
 describes them as "homines nudi, qui non sciverunt nisi carnes 
 ctpisces; qui non fuerant Christiani, nee audiverunt nunquam 
 <le Christo." Two "wild" Irish, picked up at sea in their cur- 
 rach, are thus described by the same writer : " Habebant etiam,
 
 118 EAR/.Y MAN. 
 
 Ilibeniico more, comas perlongas et tin vas trans liiiiiiricis (icoisimi 
 corpus ex magna parte tegentes." 
 
 In trying to picture to ourselves llic life ltd l)y ancient Irisli 
 dwellers on the littoral, we are helped by accounts descripti\c of 
 savages placed under similar circumstances in the present day. 
 
 Tribes of Chukshes dwell in tents formed of skins on sand- 
 dunes near the coast. These dunes are bestrewn with their 
 broken implements and refuse of the chase. Although froiii 
 ti'adingwith civili/.ed nations t]i(> more important weapons of llic 
 natives are now made of metal, yet they still om[)loy stone and 
 bone implements. 
 
 A shipwrecked sailor, who lived some time amongst the 
 Fuegians, describes the men as expert at making flint arrow- and 
 spear-heads. The women really do all the work, as the men, 
 except when hunting, lie about the huts. If a dead seal were 
 cast ashore, they gorged themselves on the raw, and sometimes 
 putrid flesh and blubber. When they killed an animal in hunting, 
 they fell upon it, cut it in pieces, and ate it raw. Sometimes the 
 tribe, with which the sailor was for a time domesticated, would be 
 on the move for days ; then perhaps Avould settle down for weeks. 
 Occasionally they lived on the sea-shore, subsisting chieily on 
 raw shell -fish. 
 
 Darwin gives a graphic account of some wretched tribes, 
 eking out a miserable existence on the sea-shore of Tierra del 
 Fuego, Avho supported themselves principally on shellhsh, and 
 who were totally ignorant of agriculture. His word-painling will 
 enable us more faithfully to picture to ourselves the state of the 
 population wliicli once lived in a very similar manner on the 
 Irish littoral : " The inhabitants, living chiefly upon sliell-tish, 
 are obliged constantly to change their place of residence ; l)ut 
 they return, at intervals, to the same spots, as is evident from 
 the piles of old shells. . . . The Fuegian Avigwam resembles in 
 size and dimensions a haycock. It merely consists of a few 
 broken branches stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly 
 thatched on one side with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The 
 whole cannot be so nuich as the work of an hour, and it is only 
 used for a few days. . . Whenevei' it is low water, they must 
 ris(! to pick sliell-lish from llie I'ocks ; and the women, sunnner 
 and winter ... sit patiently in their canoes, and, with a baited 
 hairline, jerk out small fish. If a, seal is killed, or the floating- 
 carcass of a putrid whale discovered, it is a feast ; such miserable 
 food is assisted by a few tasteless berries and fungi. Nor are they 
 exempt from famine ; and, as a consequence, cnnnil)a]ism is 
 accompanied by parricide." 
 
 If it be thought that this picture is overdrawn, it may be well 
 to quote another description, by Darwin, of such of the inhabi-
 
 J? EF[ ^SE-HEA PS A .YD KITCHEK-MIDDENS. 1 1 '•> 
 
 tants of Wollaston Island as came under his notice. The climate 
 of the coast of Tierra del Fuego is certainly not milder than that 
 of the western littoral of Ireland. While rowing- to shore the 
 party pulled alongside a canoe in which were six Fuegians, the 
 most abject and miserable creatures Darwin ever beheld. "On the 
 east coast the natives have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they 
 possess sealskins. Amongst the central tribes the men generally 
 possess an otter skin, or some small scrap about as large as a 
 pocket handkerchief, Avhich is l)arely sufficient to cover their 
 backs as low down as their loins. It is laced across the breast 
 by strings, and, according as the wind bloAvs, it is shifted from 
 side to side. Bat these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, 
 and even one full-grown woman was absolutely so. These poor 
 wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces 
 bedaubed with white paint, their skin filthy and greasy, their 
 hair entangled, their voices discordant, their gestures violent and 
 without dignity. Viewing such men, one can hardly make one- 
 self believe they are fellow-creatures and inhabitants of the same 
 world. ... At night, five or six human beings, naked, and 
 scarcely protected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous 
 climate, sleep on the wet ground coiled up like animals." 
 
 Accounts like these may perhaps help us to form an idea of 
 the life led by the sea-shore dwellers of ancient Erin. 
 
 With regard to these degraded savages, Darwin, at the time, 
 expressed the opinion that he considered them utterly incapable 
 of being either civilized or Christianized ; but many years afterwards 
 he was so struck with the success of the missionaries in that part 
 of the world, that he thereupon contribixted annually to the mission 
 funds. The failure of Christian missionaries in some tropical 
 regions has been before alluded to ; so that this striking success 
 in an almost antarctic region deserves the same prominent 
 notice. 
 
 We have seen that a wide scope for investigation is opened up 
 by examination of the refuse-heaps of the primitive inhabitants, 
 whether occurring near the sites of settlements along the sea- 
 shore, in caves, near earthen or stone forts, or lake-dwellings. Up 
 to the present these latter have afforded most information, and 
 proved most prolific in ti-aces of the past life of their inhabitants. 
 If careful examination be made of a kitchen-midden exposed to 
 view by the simple drainage of water from the site of a lake- 
 dwelling, the antiquities discovered aftbrd tolerably correct and 
 safe data from which to calcuhite the age of the structure. The 
 most usual site of the refuse thrown out of tlic lake-dwelling is 
 at the entrance to the stockade of the lake dwelling, where was 
 formerly the landing stage or gangway leading to the shore. 
 These refuse-heaps form a perfect mine of antiquities, for every
 
 120 EARLY MAX. 
 
 fractured or useless article of liousehold fjear was thrown into 
 them. Hence, the objects, though munorous, are generally in an 
 imperfect condition. The accunudated mass of bones — invariably 
 found in a brolven state for extraction of the marrow — is, in some 
 instances innnense. It is estimated that at Lagore, in Meath, 
 about two lunidred tons were sold for manure ; three hundred 
 tons were exhumed from the kitchen-midden of one of the lake- 
 dwellings in Loughrea, county Galway ; and fifty tons from that 
 of Ardakillen, county Roscommon. 
 
 In the course of demolishing Dumbell Rath, County Kilkenny, 
 many objects of antiquarian interest were turned up together 
 with an enormous quantity of animal bones, consisting chiefly of 
 the remains of oxen, horses, deer, and swine ; in fact, such a 
 mine of osseous remains was opened, that two labourers con- 
 tracted with the tenant to perform the work of trenching the 
 rath, receiving for remuneration only the bones they met with, 
 and they earned, for a considerable period, from two to three 
 shillings a-day, by the sale of bones at the rate of eightpence per 
 stone. The majority of the bones were those of cattle, evidently 
 slaughtered by the rath-dwellers for food ; the greatest quantity 
 occurred at the bottom of the inner fosse, having been thrown in 
 there apparently in order the more readily to dispose of them. 
 The cooking-places, in which the flesh of these animals was 
 dressed, consisted of ten small circular-shaped pits, not exceeding- 
 one foot and ;i-half in diameter, by two feet in depth ; they were 
 not faced with stones, but had been simply dug out in the floor 
 of the rath, and were full of charcoal, burned or calcined stones, 
 and charred bones ; some of the deposits of ashes were almost 
 white, wliilst in otlicrs the wood-remains were not entirely 
 consumed. 
 
 It was evident, however, that the ancient occupants of Dum- 
 bell Rath did not subsist entirely on animal food, for their 
 granivorous propensities were sufficiently testified by the discovery 
 of a number of querns or handmills of various sizes, for grind- 
 ing corn. A considerable (pumtity of other rude domestic 
 utensils were also brought to liglit. 
 
 The result of the investigation of tl)is rath-site furnished a 
 not uninteresting glimpse of the past domestic economy of the 
 iidiabitants. We should now-a-days esteem their condition as 
 very barbarous, notwithstanding that the ornamental work of 
 their combs, brooches, and otlier articles of personal adornment 
 proves them to have been acqitainted with ideas of art, yet, their 
 notions of comfort or of sanitary arrangements were limited in 
 the extreme. It Avas evidently their habit to squat upon the 
 ground around their rude hearths, and the area within the rath 
 must have been in an indescribable, soaked, muddy, and trampled
 
 CnOKTXG PJ.ACES. 121 
 
 condition. Their meals concluded, they flung away the bones 
 they had been gnawing, which Avere afterwards trampled into the 
 muddy ground, or accumulated in immense heaps in the bottom 
 of the ditch surrounding the dwelling, decomposing and emitting 
 noxious effluvia. 
 
 The discovery of articles of flint, stone, bone, bronze, and 
 iron shows that the rath was used as a place of habitation not 
 only in primitive, but also in medieval and even modern, times. 
 
 Localities that had been at one time devoted to culinary pur- 
 poses are occasionally discovered, sometimes in arable land, but 
 more frequently covered by a considerable depth of bog. They 
 are designated Falavhihi na Fcine, i.e. the cooking places of the 
 Fians or warriors. The country people relate that these places 
 were, in ancient days, frequented by the Feni or military forces 
 of Erin, who spent part of every year in the pursuit of wild 
 animals, forming camps in favourable positions. 
 
 Edward Fitzgerald, in IV.s^/^/r.s- aufl Hclirs aftlie I'riincral I'criod, 
 gives a description of ancient cooking-places observed by him in 
 the vicinity of Youghal : — 
 
 " Identifled with Fioini and the Fenians — relics of our 
 pi'imeval hunters, to be met with in numbers throughout the 
 country, on uncultivated moors and mountain-lands — are the 
 Fenian hearths or cooking-places known to our peasantry as 
 ' FuUocht Fionns.' These are mounds of broken stones, usually 
 covered with the old Irish furze or heath ; and are always found 
 near rivulets or springs, and in the neighbourhood of raths. 
 The fullochts usually present the appearance of a horse-shoe in 
 plan ; heaped all round an irregular circle, hollowed in the 
 centre, and open at one side. Several of them have been exca- 
 vated, and in them an oaken cistern or vat has invariably been 
 discovered. About two years and a-half ago, in company with 
 Mr. William Hackett, of Midleton, we opened a fuUocht, back of 
 Bilberry Hill, on 'the lands of Ballysimon, near Midleton; and 
 after clearing to about three feet under the surface, we discovered 
 an oaken cistern seven feet six inches long, four feet wide, and 
 twelve inches in depth. The timbers were about three inches in 
 thickness, but instead of being composed of sawn planks, as 
 usual, had all the a,))pearance of being cleft ; the sides were 
 grooved and the ends slipped down ; the bottom boards projected 
 beyond the ends, and were also grooved to receive them ; all 
 were fastened together with wooden brunnels. The cistern lay 
 on a compact bed of nuirl, and its sides were surrounded with the 
 same material. Home have given it as their opinion, that these 
 cisterns were used by the Fenians for boiling or cooking, and 
 that the stones were heated red hot, and thrown into them for 
 that purpose ; but it seems to me far more j^robable that those
 
 122 EAR/. )■ MAX. 
 
 heaps of burnt stones — Fulloclit Fioiins or Fenian Hearths, as 
 the peasantry name them — were used in the same manner as in 
 what are called ' Griosachs,' in which, when properly heated, 
 they covered up and roasted their roots and spoils of the chase." 
 
 In Watorford these cooking-places are called Vnlhuih Fen^ 
 which, it is stated, means the " boiling-place or fireplace of the 
 deer." When describing these cooking-places in the county Water- 
 ford, Mr. John Quinlan remarks that, wherever a well or spring 
 develops into a good sized rivulet, you will not walk far before 
 coming on an hemispherical mound having an opening towards the 
 stream. In their perfectstate these cooking-places present, in shape, 
 the appearance of the sole of a horse's foot with the shoe on; the 
 shoe represented by the protecting wall ; the sole by the flagged 
 floor of the hearth, formed of heavy sandstone blocks where the 
 small stones were heated ; the heel by the opening in the protecting 
 wall, with the descending step overlapping the trough, composed 
 of an oak tree hollowed out, into which the meat was thrown. 
 l>oth steps and trougli have a decline towards the water. The 
 theory which suggests itself is, that a great fire having been 
 lighted, the round stones thus heated were easily rolled down the 
 incline into the trough holding water from the stream ; that the 
 stones, when cooled, were taken out, and replaced around the 
 fireplace, to be again heated and returned to the trough until the 
 water boiled, when the meat was put in and kept at boiling point 
 by a continuance of the process. 
 
 At the present time many tribes of savages cook their food in 
 a very similar manner. In New Zealand the Maories, when pro- 
 ceeding to cook, heat in the fire the hardest stones they can find. 
 On these the food is laid, covered with leaves and earth, an 
 opening being left through which water is poured. This, on 
 coming in contact with the heated stones, causes the formation 
 of steam, by which means the food is coolced. 
 
 On the land of Mr. James Kyan, of l'^)ulksratli Castle, 
 county Kilkenny, a primitive cooking place was discovered, in 
 which the early inliabitants of the country baked or roasted 
 their food, in a pit lined and covered with small heated stones, 
 over which, during the cooking, clay was heaped. In England, 
 also, in some of the swamps in Essex and elsewhere, heaps of 
 burnt clay arc of frequent occurrence. In several places in 
 Ireland, near the edge of bogs, piles of burnt stones are observ- 
 able, more especially near the lake dwelling in Moynagh Lake, 
 county ]\Ieath, a peculiarity noticed also near the sites of lake 
 dwellings at Drumkeery and other localities. Similar discoveriefi 
 have been made in connexion with some lacvistrine settlements 
 in the Swiss lakes. There are, or were, eight such sites near 
 Moynagh Lake. Remains of this class are common enough, as.
 
 COOKING PLACES. 123 
 
 there is hardly an extensive moor in Ireland on wliich may not 
 be seen, at least, one heap. 
 
 The name of the ancient Irish war-goddess, Morrigan, is 
 found connected with many of these fire-places, particularly 
 those of great size. One historical site was situated at Tara ; 
 another, near a fairy mound in Tipperary, is mentioned in an 
 Irish tract, styled the " Little Dialogue," contained in the 
 " Book of Lismore," and is of interest, as it demonstrates the 
 fact that these cooking-places were always made within easy 
 distance of a good supply of water. Two heroes, having erected 
 a hut and made a cooking-place, went to a neighbouring stream 
 to wash their hands. " Here is the site of a fulacht," said one. 
 "True," replied the other, "and this is a fnJacht-na-Morri(ina 
 (i.e. Morrigan's Hearth), which is not to be made Avithout water," 
 i.e. there should be a supply of water near at hand. 
 
 In the summer of 1887, when a road was being formed 
 through a bog in the townland of Knockaunbaun, in the county 
 Sligo, traces of numerous fire-places were discovered at from five 
 to seven feet beneath the present surface. There was a pave- 
 ment of small stones for the purpose of forming the hearth ; six 
 inches of black mould lay between the paving and red clay. The 
 labourers cut across the track of a group of small fires, and also 
 disclosed a large one, the hearth in the latter being semicircular 
 in shape, and thirty feet in diameter. Under the latter lay three 
 cartloads of paving stones, but from the combined action of fire 
 and water they all crumbled in pieces when shovelled up to the 
 surface. In sinking a drain the site of another large fireplace, 
 forty feet in length, became exposed. It was paved with stones 
 of the same kind, covered Avith a quantity of charcooi and ashes. 
 
 Keating, in his fabulous History, thus describes the ancient 
 custom of the Irish : — " The method of dressing their meat was 
 very particular, for when they had success in hunting it was 
 their custom in the forenoon to send their huntsman, with what 
 they had killed, to a proper place where there was plenty of 
 wood and water ; there they kindled great fires, into which their 
 way was to throw a number of large stones, where they were to 
 continue till they were red hot ; then they applied themselves to 
 dig great pits in the earth, into one of which, upon the bottom, 
 they used to lay some of these liot stones as a pavement, upon 
 them they would place the raw fiesb, bound up hard in green 
 sedge and buUrushcs. Over these bundles were fixed another 
 layer of hot stones, then a quantity of llcsb, and this method 
 was observed until the pit was full. h\ this manner their flesh 
 was sodden or stewed till it was fit to eat, then they uncovered it, 
 and when the liole was emptied they began their meal." 
 
 In the year 1864, when a farmer at Ardnahue, county Carlow,
 
 121 /CARLY MAX. 
 
 was sinking a pit for gravel, he observed that in one place the 
 subsoil was mixed with bones in a fragmentary condition, and 
 was also of a darker, richer, and softer description than the sur- 
 rounding earth. So struck was he with its apparent richness 
 that he utilized the earth as manure to the extent of some seven 
 liuiuU'ed cart-loads. A sample was sent to a chemist, Avho gave 
 it as liis opinion that it was woi'lli nine shillings a ton. This 
 stratum of rich earth tilled what had evidently been a trench of 
 irregular curved shape, with occasional offshoots of minor extent, 
 the wliole being interspersed with animal bones consisting of the 
 remains of oxen, horses, dogs, sheep, pigs, goats and fowl, together 
 with portions of several crania; in many instances a fractured 
 depression in the centre of the forehead indicating that death had 
 been caused by a blow from some heavy blunt instrument. 
 There was nothing on the surface, or in the appearance of the 
 held, to indicate the existence of this " midden." The trench, 
 made in following the layer of rich earth, was, in some places, at 
 least ten feet deep, and measured from two to six feet in breadth. 
 At the bottom of the trench, in several spots, stones disposed in 
 a circulai' form were found, evidently constituting hcitrths ; the 
 ■centre was tilled with charcoal, in which were " clinkers." 
 Several stone-hatchets, portions of a quern, bone-pins, fragments 
 of combs, of rude pottery, and pieces of iron, together with the 
 prevalence of the before -mentioned clinkers, showed that the 
 deposit belonged to a comparatively recent period. 
 
 Ordinary bones of animals burn freely ; one-third of their con- 
 stituents is combustible ; and there is oil and marrow in the 
 interior of the larger bones. Bones long buried may, as has been 
 nlready shown, still retain a large proportion of animal matter. 
 In an article published in 1'6'li'), Dr. Hart describes a bonfire of a 
 heap of bones of the extinct Irish deer, lighted in celebration of 
 the battle of Waterloo. The remains of the long extinct gigantic 
 deer gave out as good a blaze as the bones of horses, then usually 
 employed on such occasions. The remarks of the French traveller, 
 Latocnaye, in his "Promenade en Irelande," published in 1797, 
 regarding fires of bones made by children on certain holidays, is 
 corroborated by a passage in a Latin MS. in the Ilarleian Collec- 
 tion, of which the following is the purport : — " On St. John's Eve 
 the l)oys in some districts collect bones and other refuse, which 
 they burn together, and thence great smoke is produced in the 
 air." This refers to the custom as then prevailing in parts of 
 I'jngland ; it is stated that similar fires are still made on St. John's 
 Day in some of the most remote districts in France. 
 
 It is (|uite possible that the masses of half calcined bones 
 found in the sites of ancient funeral pyres, in the kitchen-middens 
 of ratlis, cashels, lake dwellings, and seaside settlenu'iits, are the
 
 COOKJXG PLACES. 12;> 
 
 remains of fuel so employed in the cooking of primitive times. 
 Fires made of bones are still used by savage tribes. Even 
 Darwin expresses surprise at the skill with which his guide in the 
 Falkland Islands substituted the skeleton of a bullock recently 
 killed, for ordinary brushwood, of which there was a scarcity, and 
 mentions the hot fire made by the bones. He was also informed 
 tliat, in winter, beasts killed by the natives were often roasted by 
 means of burning the bones belonging to them. 
 
 The following passage from Herodotus describes this custom 
 as being practised in most remote times: — "As Scythia is very 
 barren of wood, they [i.e. the Scythians) have the following con- 
 trivance to dress the flesh of the victim. Having flayed the 
 animal, they strip the flesh from the bones, and, if they have 
 them at hand, they throw it into certain pots made in Scythia, 
 and resembling the Lesbian caldrons, though somewhat larger ; 
 under these a fire.is made with the bones. If these pots cannot 
 be procured, they enclose the flesh with a certain quantity of 
 \\-ater in the paunch of the victim, and make fire with the bones 
 as before. The bones being very inflammable, and the paunch 
 without difficulty being made to contain the flesh separated from 
 the bone, the ox is thus made to dress itself, which is also the 
 case with other victims. When the whole is ready, he Avho sacri- 
 fices, throws before him with some solemnity the entrails, and the 
 more choice pieces. They sacrifice difterent animals, but horses 
 in particular." 
 
 Eesources equally extraordinary are employed in eastern and 
 other countries where there is great scarcity of fuel. In Arabia, 
 in parts of Persia, India, and the west of Ireland, dried cowdung 
 is iitilized. The prophet Ezekiel was, according to his own 
 account, ordered to cook his food in a most extraordinary 
 manner (chap, iv., /•. 12 and 15) ; and from chap, xxiv., ;•. 5, the 
 inference may be fairly drawn that the burning of bones, in lieu 
 of better fuel, was not a very unusual circumstance in Judaea, as 
 the prophet is directed to take the choice of the flock, and burn 
 the bones under it, and to boil it well. Of a truth " that which 
 hath been is that which shall be ; and that which hath been done 
 is tliat which shall be done : and there is no new thini-' under the
 
 ('iiAi''i'i':i; [V 
 
 MAN AS AUTIlOi;, AKTIST, SCULrTOl!. 
 
 I'.'iiod (luiiiij; wliii-li Cliiistianily lias reigned — iiisigiiificaut wlicii compaii'd 
 with lliut occupied by i>n'-('liristiaii religion — Invention uf wiiting. Is 
 the Irish Ogham alphahei anciciil (ir modern ?• — Irish lileraturi^ a mere 
 literary protoplasm — Bears uudouLted marks of Christian Adaptors, 
 lledactorsand Taniperers — Legend of Lough Neagh — St. Fahan — the Tain 
 lio Ciialnge — Ossian and St. Patrick — Value of stories best judged by the 
 Archaeologist— ^[yths and Tales invented to point a moral — The Baker and 
 artificial rain — The Children of Lir— Borrowed Tales — The Hare and the 
 Oyster — The Irish Chief and King i\Iidas — Thersites and Conan — Balor and 
 Perseus — Hercules and Coolin — Enumeration of Wild Legends — All divide 
 into two periods, one early, one late, and were clerically pruned — Art of 
 Early Man confined to linear decorative patterns — Exception, the extra- 
 ordinary life-like jjictures of the Cavemen of Gaul — Otherwise Irish and 
 Continental Ornamentation the same — Mistakes and Forgeries — Descrip- 
 tion of various Ilock-Scribings — The most curious being Cup-and-lling 
 Markings — Their pruliable significance. 
 
 TiiK Irish feading, as well as the non-reading, public are moved 
 In impulse I'atliei' than by reason, and in nothing is this more 
 strikingly exemplified than Avlien the genuineness of so-called 
 ancient Irish history is, for a moment, called in question. In 
 this trait they do not stand alone, for have we not the episode of 
 the hot-headed Welshman, who nearly killed a well-known 
 arclueologist because he had the temerity to doitbt, and even to 
 dispute, the allegation, that Adam and Eve spoke Welsh in the 
 Clarden of Eden. Every savage race (and, as a matter of fact, 
 every civilized race) considers itself the highest and the best, 
 just as, in religion, each sect regards itself as the elect of man- 
 kind and of Heaven ; even the most amiably disposed individuals 
 are not above this weakness. Some few might even feel iucliiKMl 
 to sing, with approval, the following verse, which has, liowever, 
 not yet found its way into a Christian hymnal : — 
 
 " AVe are the Sweet Elected few, 
 May all the rest be damned, 
 'J'luu'e 's room enough in Hell for von ; 
 \^^■ won't have Heaven crammeil."
 
 L I/R IS J J A X PER ion. 127 
 
 From this it is cei-taiii that — 
 
 " Ilell weie too ^inall if man were judged bj- man." 
 
 Thus, to attempt to stem the strong cm-rent of Irish popular 
 opinion, even in matters so academical as archaeological theories, 
 is by no means a pleasant task, for although, in general, every- 
 one is most anxious to assert, and often succeeds in convincing 
 himself, that he is only anxious to learn the trutli ; yet, when 
 the truth is disclosed, if it be contrary to his preconceived 
 impressions, a spirit, not of receptivity, but of impatience and 
 intolerance is displayed. Although the object may be simply to 
 put forward the correct aspect of the matter, the views of other 
 writers are thereby necessarily controverted ; for it is impossible 
 to demonstrate the fallacy of certain popular ideas without, at 
 the same time, demonstrating that their professors were deluded, 
 and no one, thus situated, likes to be told, much less to be 
 convinced, that he is in error. 
 
 We have been given very sound advice as to the kind of 
 foundation we ought to select, when we desire to erect a building- 
 able to resist both the ravages of time, and the violent assaults of 
 floods and of storms. In a material building we seek to lay the 
 foundations upon a rock, so in constructing a theory we ought to 
 seek a hrm foundation of ascertained fact. Further, the best 
 evidence that our theory is true is, that new facts, as they arise, 
 easily find their place in it, and are at home in it. If the theory 
 is false, new facts are with difficulty forced into relation with it, 
 and in time, as they become more numerous, they disintegrate, 
 and finally completely overthrow the theory. If, on the other 
 hand, the original theory is true, it expands and grows naturally 
 and easily by the assimilation of new facts. For instance, 
 Petrie's theory of the origin of the Bound Towers still flourishes, 
 but it has adapted itself, in several minor particulars, to more 
 recent observations. Since the publication of Petrie's Essay, 
 the progress of archieological investigation has been almost at 
 a standstill ; and until the huge mass of undigested matter, 
 now accumulated in the pages of the Proceedings of learned 
 societies, has been assimilated, the mere recording of discoveries 
 has perhaps, for the time, gone far enough. Arclueology is 
 suffering from a plethora of "finds," the relative importance 
 and age of which, with regard to the date of the earliest of 
 the round towers, have not yet been determined. The proper 
 standpoint and method of investigation have been lost sight 
 of; one part of the puzzle should first be arranged in proper 
 order, and tlie remainder must in due time drop into the 
 right position. Practical experience in actual exploration is 
 necessary to form a good archioologist ; no amount of head
 
 128 J/.LV AS .1 r/V/OA'. .lA'/VS/: SCrLPl'OR. 
 
 knowledge can make up for (Iclicit'iicy of spade knowlcd^t', foi' as 
 ill the quarry the pick of the workman brings to light rcauaiiis 
 of animals and plants long since passed away, so on prehistoric 
 sites the spade of the arclueologist turns up traces of the works of 
 early man and of his primitive surroundings. Examination of 
 articles is preferable to mere book knowledge, and careful study 
 of any large collection of antiquities will impart more insight 
 into the manufacturing skill of the ancient inhabitants of the 
 land than can be otherwise obtained. 
 
 As the writer has elsewhere observed, the period (hiring which 
 Christianity has reigned in Ii'eland is comparatively insigiiilicant 
 when compared Avitli that occupied by pre-Christian religion or 
 religions. It is strange that of this aspect of the prehistoric 
 past we know so little. Our knowledge of it may be compared 
 to a rivulet, our ignorance to the ocean. How long the pre- 
 historic period may have lasted, or how long it may have 
 taken to develop the state of things apparent when Erin first 
 comes under authentic historical notice is matter for conjec- 
 ture ; all that can be inferred is that it must have covered 
 a long period of time, immeasurably longer than from the 
 introduction of Christianity to the present day. Arclueologists 
 may wrangle as to whether iron was introduced before or after the 
 commencement of the Christian era ; the exact century of its 
 introduction is, for practical purposes, unimportant ; let it suffice 
 that its appearance belongs to historic times as regards the 
 British Isles. There can be no more conclusive test of the exact 
 state of prehistoric civilization than that which is afforded by the 
 general knowledge and use of metals. 
 
 Pride in ourselves and pride in our ancestors are common 
 foibles of human nature ; occurrences which redound to the 
 glory either of the individual or of the community are am- 
 plified and dwelt upon, whilst incidents derogatory to oiu- 
 prestige are glossed over or ignored. O'Donovan relates how- 
 some of his former most intimate friends became his most bitter 
 enemies on his expressing grave doubts regarding the authen- 
 ticity of ancient Irish history. 
 
 Many ideas, of which we can just trace the existence iiow- 
 a-days, were prevalent in times more ancient, and especially on 
 that l)order-line where the old creeds of Paganism had not ceased 
 to be the superstitions of the newer Christianity. The bards and 
 chroniclers of Erin doubtless possessed accounts of some of tl'.e 
 compjiratively later settlements, probably more or less founded 
 on tradition, and having more or less a substratum of truth ; 
 but on the arrival of the Christian missionaries, and their 
 aciiuisition of the literary (if any) and traditional sources of 
 information, the ancient heathen vernacular histories, tales, and
 
 THE INVENTIUX UF iriilTING. 121> 
 
 poems became embedded in a mosaic of miracle-stories and 
 classic legends, so that it is now extremely difficult to separate 
 the chaff from the gram. This amalgam of Pagan and Christian 
 thought, amongst other absurdities, traces the pedigree of the 
 first settlers in Ireland up to Adam. The assertion that Adam 
 was the first man is open to question ; there must also, to put it 
 in the mildest form, be grave doubts regarding the authenticity 
 of the numerous connecting-links ni the alleged chain of un- 
 broken descent from our putative parent ; besides the question 
 as to whether the whole race is to be traced to a single pair, or 
 whether several examples appeared contemporaneously, remains 
 still open to scientific investigation. At present the weight of 
 opinion undoubtedly favours a monogenetic theory, and many of 
 the best scientists are as strongly monogenists, as are the most 
 ardent upholders of a literal interpretation of Biblical phrase- 
 ology. 
 
 There is no credible tradition, no authentic history, to tell 
 when man first inhabited the land. Like the mature man, who 
 retains no recollection of his earliest infantine days, so the 
 aggregate of men, which now constitutes the nation, has retained 
 no remembrances of its earliest years, and but little of the 
 successive stages through which it has passed before "casting off 
 the swaddling clothes of ignorance and barbarism," if it has 
 even yet done so. How could it be otherwise, when late dis- 
 coveries have proved that man inhabited Europe before the 
 occurrence of many of those great physical changes which have 
 given the Continent its present aspect? And as the same evidence 
 demonstrates that man was the contemporary of animals which 
 are now extinct, it is not too much to assume that his existence 
 dates back at least as far as, or even before, the epoch of the 
 Drift. 
 
 The invention of writing gave durability to the record of 
 impressions ; that which was hitherto the sole possession of the 
 brain of a single individual, could not only be imparted to the 
 whole human race, but could be stereotyped for ever ; or, as 
 Carlyle tersely puts it, " in books lies the soul of the whole past 
 time : the articulate audible voice of the past, when the body 
 and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a 
 dream. . . . All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been, 
 is lying, as in magic preservation, in the pages of books." 
 
 The first attempts at writing, amongst all nations, and in all 
 ages, are of the ideographic or pictorial type ; this primitive system 
 became phonetic, then syllal)ic, and finally alphabetical. Even 
 the characters which we use; now-a-days when writing are c>asily 
 discerned to be of pictorial origin ; and the designation by wliich 
 we describe the complete collection of characters is composed by 
 
 K
 
 l:-50 J/.l.V .IS .U I //ON, A/k'//S/\ S('/'/J'/'()/x\ 
 
 tlu' words Alcpli and In-lli, llic I'oiinci' liad oi-ii^iiially tlic form of 
 an ox's liead, the latter that oi' a tent. 
 
 In early days, all arts, and in latci' linu'S! that of writiiiL;-, 
 were surrounded with mystery by their professors, were pro- 
 secuted amid conjurations and supposed magic, and looked on 
 with awe by the superstitious mass of the people, even as, in the 
 present day, information reduced to writing is regarded by 
 micultured savages, who cannot comprehend that what has been 
 spoken may be transmitted, retained, and repeated, again and 
 again, for an indefinite period. 
 
 Ogham, the earliest written character known to have been 
 used in Ireland, is certaiily not pictorial. It must candidly be 
 admitted that the Ogham alphabet strikes the unbiassed observer 
 as a rearrangement and adaption of an older type of alphabet 
 divided into groups of vowels and consonants, each letter consist- 
 ing of a line, or lines, variously placed, with regard to a single 
 stem line, or the edge of the substance on which it is cut. 
 
 Ogham inscriptions generally begin at the bottom of tlie stone 
 on which they are incised, and read from left to right. Looking 
 at an upright Ogham inscribed monument, one will, in general, 
 observe gro;ips of incised strokes, which natui-ally divide them- 
 selves into four different gi'oups : — 
 
 1. (iroups of lines to tlic loft of tlie edge or stem line. 
 
 2. (jrioiips of lines to the right of the e(lp;e or stem line. 
 
 3. Groups of lines of longer strokes than in groups (i) iinil (ii) erossing 
 
 the edge or stem line oLliciueh-. 
 
 4. Groups of sliort strokes or notches iqjon the edge or stem line. 
 
 The characters comprised in — 
 
 1. Stand for the letters B, L, /•', .V, X, according as they inunher 1, '2, 
 
 3, 4 or 6 strokes. 
 
 2. Stand for H, J), T, C, (i or CU, according as they nuniher l, •_', :{, ! 
 
 or ') strokes. 
 :5. Stand for J/, (r, KG, ST, 7.11, according as tlicy nuiuher 1, 2, 3, 4 
 
 or strokes. 
 4. Stand for the vowels ./. O, /', /,', /, accoiding as they nuinher 1, 2, 
 
 3, 4 or 5 notches. 
 
 r.esides these twenty characters, there are a few used to denote 
 (liplitliongs, and rarely emploved, as also signs for the letters 
 /', .V, and y. 
 
 Whetlier before the introduction of Clu'istianily the Irish 
 possessed an alphabet, differing thus from that in use in Europe, 
 is a question which has been debated with acrimony by students 
 of Irish Archteology, for with this early knowledge, or want of 
 knowledge, of letters, is involved, to a great degree, the genuine-
 
 OCUAM WRITING. 1^51 
 
 ness or untrustwoithiues.s ot ancient Irish history. Those who 
 maintain that the Irish were in ante-Christian times reahy in 
 possession of such a unique alphabet appeal to the authority of 
 Irish M8S. which state that this alphabet w^as introduced into 
 the kingdom some thirteen centuries before the birth of Christ, 
 They also refer to the MS. Irish Eomances, which contain 
 allusions to Ogham, described in them as employed either for the 
 purpose of conveying intelligence, or for sepulchral inscriptions f- 
 they point to existing monuments presenting Ogham characters, 
 ;ui(l assert that they belong to a very remote and Pagan period. 
 On the other hand those Irish arclueologists who dissent from all 
 tliis, allege that the accounts of the invention and introduction 
 i;f Ogham into Ireland bear the most transparent marks of 
 badly invented fiction, and contend that its- very systematic 
 arrangement demonstrates that its inventors possessed advanced 
 grammatical knowledge, and were evidently acquainted with 
 alphabets of the ordinary kind from which they drew the idea of 
 the Ogham alphabet. With regard to the testimony of the Irish 
 romances, they deny their antiquity, and assert that a very 
 considerable number of still existing Ogham monuments indubi- 
 tably belong — judging by internal evidences and the emblems 
 and inscriptions which they bear — -to Christian times. 
 
 In late Irish MSS., accounts of the erection of Ogham- 
 inscribed stones over the bodies of the dead are by no means 
 uncommon. In one of the MSS. it is recounted that on the 
 arrival of St. Mochaomhog in Ireland, the children of Lir, who, 
 <-enturies before, had been metamorphosed into swans, were 
 <lisenchanted, and when dying, were baptised by the Saint. 
 '•T'heir tombstone was raised over their tomb, and their Ogham 
 names were written, their lamentation rites were performed, and 
 Heaven was obtained for their souls through the prayers of 
 St. Mochaomhog." The Saint was, however, not always so 
 prayerfully inclined. He " cursed fervently " the King, who had 
 tried to take possession of " The Sons of Lir," and " he bestowed 
 
 * For instance, ou one occasion, the mytliical hero CuehuUin (Coolin), when 
 Iraversing a forest, saw an inscribed pilhir-stone, and hniig round it a verse in 
 ■Ogharn character carved by bim upon a M'itbc 'I'be s.une hero is (dsewliere 
 represented as sendini;- information to Maeve, tiueen of Connaught, by means 
 of cutting or scribing on wands. 
 
 The son of a Scottisli cliief is descril)ed as cuttin^^ Ogliam cliaractors on tlie 
 handle of a spear. In a.d. 408, Core, son of tlie King of Muuster, was driven 
 by liis father into exile, lie fled to the court of a Scottish cliitsf, bul. before 
 appearing in the king's i)resence, an Ogliam inscription ou liis shield was 
 discovered, and deciphered bj' a friend, wiio thus saved the ])rince's life ; Ibe 
 inscription being to the effect thai, should ho arrive at the Scoltisb court by 
 (lay. his head was to be cut off before evening ; and if by night, it was to be 
 cut off belbre mornintr.
 
 132 MAX AS Ai'JJIOR. . / A'7'AVy, SCCLPTOk. 
 
 reproaches aiul malediclioiis " on liiiii, whilst •' sliortiiess of lite 
 tiiid Hell " were the portion he allotted to the lunik's wife. 
 Needless to say hoth the exconinninicated died shortly after. 
 
 Ogham-writing has heeii found principally in the form of 
 tonih-inscriptions, and does not seem capable of being adapted to 
 chronicle elaborate and detailed histories, or long flowing poetic 
 compositions. Despite the tract in the /Joo/.- of Jlnlh/niotf, well- 
 known to antiquaries, elucidatory of the Ogham alphabet, early 
 essayists, in attempting to read these inscriptions coidd make no 
 progress. The ordinary modern method of dcciphei'ing, which 
 assumes that the letters to be unravelled, are divided into words, 
 is inapplicable to the Ogham character, Avhich is written continu- 
 ously, like uncial characters, beginning, as already stated, in 
 general from the bottom, and is read upwards from left to right. 
 Yet a key was discovered, for, in course of investigation, the strokes 
 of a group which occurred in almost every inscription were identi- 
 fied as reading Maql, the ancient genitive form of Mac, a son. 
 This conclusion was afterwards corroborated from a source not 
 then known to be in existence, the monumental stones of Wales, 
 inscribed in Roman characters, with corresponding Oghams. 
 
 In Irish Ogham inscriptions there is, in general, oidy the 
 
 dry formula, " the son of " ; the first 
 
 name being usually in the genitive, the word "stone" understood. 
 The brevity of these mortuary notices is well illustrated by the 
 account of the death and burial of a celebrated warrior alleged to 
 have been slain about a. d. 800, which concludes thus : — "There is 
 a pillar-stone on the earn and an Ogham is inscribed on the end 
 of the pillar-stone which is in the earth, and what is on it is, 
 Kucha'ul Air(ftlifcli Jwfc.^' 
 
 Though more or less distributed over the kingdom, the greater 
 number of inscriptions, as yet discovered, have been found in the 
 south, principally in the counties of Kerry and Cork ; the stones 
 appear to be, for the most part, sepulchral, or commemorative ; 
 yet, though several proper luimes occurring on Ogham numunu^nts 
 are to be met in the Irish Annals, it is doubtful whether numy 
 have been so identified as to give the exact date of the period in 
 which the individual lived whose memory it was intendt'd thus to 
 perpetuate. 
 
 The absorbing interest which Ogham inscriptions at one time 
 excited is now on the decline. At first it was thought that the 
 method of writing wliicli they displayed was of great antiquity. 
 Indeed some believed there were present in these inscriptions 
 traces of a very primitive form of Celtic, biit the tendency of recent 
 research has been to bring their date doAvn to more recent years, 
 whilst the growing belief that they aic often designedly obscure, 
 or cryptic, has lattei'ly discoui-agcd in<|uiry. It is ol)vi()us that
 
 if purposes of secrecy were desired, tliis cipher might he made more 
 ahstruse by varying the immher of strokes, as by commencing with 
 two or more at the commencement of each series or groups (see 
 p. 130). A great number of cryptic specimens of this chxss are 
 given in the tract on Ogham, in the Book <if Balhjmote, but they 
 are all resolvable into the original key cipher, in which each set 
 of five commences with a single stroke. 
 
 At the end of the tract on Ogham before mentioned, there 
 are about eighty different forms of the alphabet, exhibiting 
 thus the various modifications to which it had been subjected. 
 It is useless to assert that Irish grammarians, who used and 
 wrote about Ogham, Avere unacquainted with Scandinavian or 
 Anglo-Saxon runes; for amongst these Ogam alphabets are two 
 Ennic alphabets, one styled " The Ogham of the men of Loclian," 
 the other " The Ogham of the foreigners.'' Thus Ogham was 
 framed by persons acquainted with the later and developed 
 Eunic alphabet. A few antiquaries were embued with a violent 
 prejudice against the genuineness of Ogham texts, engendered by 
 the fanciful and absurd speculations which passed muster as 
 antiquarian learning. Petrie would probably have been glad to 
 have recalled his challenge to the ]\Iunster archa?ologists to prove 
 that the Ardmore inscription was alphabetic writing of any kind, 
 whilst O'Donovau bore candid testimony to the authenticity of 
 some inscriptions which he had previously impugned. 
 
 Many Ogham-inscribed monumental stones are, in general, 
 of a material foreign to the district in which they have been 
 discovered, and are usually formed of sandstone ; this occurring 
 so frequently would tend to show that a block of sandstone Avas 
 sought elsewhere and brought to the required place, as being 
 deemed more convenient for working upon. The old sculptors 
 and architects appear to haA'e possessed some knowledge of the 
 chemical constituents of the materials with Avhich they worked, 
 for cashels and the sustaining walls of passages and chambers — 
 whether in tumuli, earns, or souterrains — uiay be formed of 
 limestone, or of the nearest description of stone available, but 
 Avhen the wish was to decorate a flagstone, careful selection was 
 made not only of a durable, but also of an easily-worked material. 
 
 The stones upon which Ogham inscriptions have been found 
 embedded in the walls of churches demonstrate that they were 
 merely iitilisedas building material, for some of them were placed 
 in positions which prevented their inscriptions being read, and 
 other stones were hammer-dressed on the angles, portions of the 
 inscriptions having been knocked oft' in order to produce an angle 
 suitable for the new purpose to which it was devoted. 
 
 "^rhus it is alleged that at a period wlu-n knowledge of Ogham 
 bad l)i'en lost, or wlicu tlic mcnu)i'ia.ls had ceased to command
 
 i;-{| .]/.! .V .IS .1 r/v/oA'. .iav/.v/: scr/./'yoA'. 
 
 the veiiei'iitiou of succ-ct'diiiL;' nciu'ralions, these nioiiiuueiits wei'e 
 sometimes appropriated by Christians. A cross is repiited to have 
 been carved on the uninscribed end of one stone, which had been 
 originally fastened in the earth, and the stone was then turned 
 upside down, the orit^niiiil to]i Avitli its Ogham inscription being 
 buried in the ground. A wi'itc r liolding other views, alleges that 
 he found a cross-inscribed monument, and into the sacred symbol 
 some of the Ogliam scores had been sunk, thus demonstrating 
 that the latter liad been cut subsequent to the sculpturing of the 
 cross. ]f the question be asked why these monuments do not all 
 bear the sign of the cross, supposing that they all belong to 
 Christian times, the suggestion may be hazarded that, in early 
 times, such may not have been the custom, wliilst it is quite 
 possible, even very probable, that some of them may be the monu- 
 ments of Pagans, as Paganism survived in Ireland for centuries 
 after the advent of St. Patrick. 
 
 Of the many Ogham-inscribed stones wbicli have been dis- 
 covered in the souterrains of raths, few bear the sacred symbol of 
 the Christian faith. These stones were merely used as materials 
 by the lath-builders, as were their companions by church-builders, 
 jjerhaps so late as the tenth or eleventh century — and were drawn 
 from more ancient monuments, probably from old disused graves 
 or graveyards, and utilised by architects who felt no reverence 
 for such memorials. 
 
 There is also a class of irregular rock-scorings, some of which, 
 as at Loughcrew, Dowth, Carrowmore, and New Grange, may 
 be genuine Ogham, although roughly and irregularly executed, 
 whilst others are of a character which })recludes their classification 
 under this heading. 
 
 Oghamic scribings have been found on bone-pins and otlier 
 ornaments from the lake-dwellings of fiallinderry and Strokes- 
 town ; the scorings seem to resemble runic characters, but it could 
 lujt be authoritatively decided that they were actually runes ; and 
 no archipologist lias been able, as yet, to interpret the seemingly 
 well-marked scorings. A stone axe, on which is incised an ( )gham 
 inscription, was also discovered in another locality. 
 
 ^'allancey makes mention of a. silver brooch, bearing on it an 
 inscription in Ogham character, discovered in the year 180(5, by 
 a peasant turning up the gi'ouud on ilie liiU of P)allyspellan, in 
 the barony of Galmoy, county Jviikenny. The front of the 
 brooch is ornamented by a device of entwined serpents; the back 
 presents four lines in Ogham character ; all the words, with onc^ 
 exception, are proper names ; the brooch is identified as belonging 
 to the latter part of the eleventh oi'connueiicement of the twelfth 
 century. 
 
 In the present state of knowledge on the sidiject, it is rash to
 
 WRITJXG OX I r ()()/>. 135 
 
 hazard an opinion as to the ago in wiiich Ii'ish (Jghani mortuary 
 inscriptions were incised ; it may, however, be suggested that the 
 period of their employment extends from probably the fifth 
 century a.d., to the eighth century, and likely much later; for 
 Romano-British (3gham bilingual inscriptions appear, judging by 
 the Latin lettering, to date certainly not earlier than from 
 A.D. 400 to 500. 
 
 Even in modern days, we find that savage peoples use a 
 character which conveys the meaning intended, although it can- 
 not be called writing. A friend of the writer's, when on the 
 Geological Survey of Western Australia, about the year 18HG, 
 had a message conveyed several hundred miles, from the interior 
 to the coast, by means of various shaped notches and other 
 devices cut on a stick by a native. These Australian message or 
 "talking sticks" are very curious, for they belong to a people 
 devoid of what we look upon as alphabetical knowledge, and yet 
 the notches, lines, and devices are interpreted by the recipient in 
 the sense intended by the sender. In any case, even to the initi- 
 ated, it must have been a task of no small difficulty to read them ; 
 to commence with, the deciphering was probably accompanied 
 Avith an oral explanation as to what special fact or record was 
 referred to, and Avhat the different symbols represented, and, unless 
 thus explained, could not be read by the uninitiated. This given, 
 the rest must have been comparatively easy. One rudimentary 
 Australian letter, described in the Stifiinldi/ Berieir, consisted of a 
 piece of wood, five mches long by one broad, painted red with blood 
 and ochre, with a neck round which a string was fastened. At the 
 very head is incised what resembles a capital T ; beneath this 
 is a symbol like a large figure seven, with a crescent moon on 
 each side, and below there is a broad arrow. On the left-hand 
 side beneath is a row of figures of seven. On the back are many 
 slanting notches, two straight lines, and the field below is filled 
 with a herring-bone pattern. 
 
 This piece of wood is a message-stick of the Wootka tribe, 
 who live in the northern territory of South Australia, and was 
 carried by one of the tribe on a commercial mission to a distant 
 tribe called Nootkas. The meaning of the hieroglyphics is as 
 follows : — The markings on the b;ick are the messenger's cre- 
 dentials, /.('. the tribal totems ; for it he bore a stick whose 
 meaning he could not interpret, he would be speared by the 
 tribe to whom he went. Beside the heraldic marks on the 
 back are two straight lines which denote that the messenger is 
 carrying two long and heavy spears as objects of barter. The 
 figure seven stands for a fighting weapon, a kind of wooden axe. 
 The crescents denote war boomerangs ; the '1^ and the broad
 
 1 H(i J/A .y .1 S A I 'TIIOR. A R JJSr, SCULPTOR. 
 
 arrow mean that the messenger is to stop at the station of a 
 squatter who uses this niavk as a hrand for his stock, where he 
 is to leave the heavy hoomerangs autl spears. Tlie crowd of 
 sevens means that he is to get as many wooden axes from tlie 
 other tribe as he can. Trianguhir marks represent the number 
 of days during which he may be absent. Thus, the whole 
 message on the stick reads :— " The Wootka tribe to the Nootka 
 tribe. The bearer carries boomerangs and spears. These he is 
 to barter witli the Nootkas for wnndon axes. His leave of 
 absence is for a week. lie is to I'mil tlic Nootkas near Thomp- 
 son's station."' 
 
 The following elucidatory anecdote was forwarded l)y a cor- 
 respondent interested in the subject. He states that, so late as 
 the year 1800, a gentleman living near Canterbury had an 
 illiterate bailiff, who kept the general as well as the harvest 
 accounts of a farm, consisting of about 250 acres, by means of 
 squared hazel wands, about four feet in length, on which he cut 
 notches and other devices. At the end of harvest he gave an 
 account to his master of the number and size of the loads on 
 carts which left the fields, the money which was drawn and 
 paid from time to time, together with the balance remaining due. 
 An incident during the hop-picking season in the south of 
 England, in the middle of the century, shows to what a late date 
 tallies were employed. A farmer is described as " girdled witli 
 long bits of narrow wood, like so many skewers : he was stop- 
 ping before one group after another, and cutting notches on 
 these tallies, and corresponding ones (m that each hop-picker 
 presented to him." The notches on the tallies were by way of a 
 memorandum of the number of baskets filled by each individual. 
 
 Among the Fijians, men sent with messages used certain 
 mnemonic aids ; and the New Zealanders conveyed information to 
 distant tribes, during times of war, by marks on gourds. Amongst 
 savages, twigs bent or broken on trees, or bushes beside the path, 
 or broken olt" and left in certain conventional positions on or 
 beside the track, convey messages and warnings easily interpreted 
 by others following those who left these symbols, placed so as to 
 impart information, as to the direction to be followed, contin- 
 gencies to be expected, dangers to be guarded against, the 
 munbers of friends or of enemies, or other incidents and intelli- 
 gence. Is not this the genesis of writing ? 
 
 In the present day we can hardly realize the condition of the 
 iiiatiy past generations who obtained any information or educa- 
 tion they possessed without the aid of books, by mere oral 
 instruction and traditional stories, through the medium of a 
 tongue, if not now extinct, yet in a moribund condition, and
 
 THE (;A KL IC la NG UA GE. 1 B7 
 
 which possesses very hltle, either ancient or modern, puhhshed 
 literature in the ordinary acceptance of the term — 
 
 " "fis fading, oil, 'tis fading, like tlie leaves upon the trees, 
 In nmrniuiing tone 'tis dying, like the wail upon the bree^.o, 
 "I'is swiftly disappearing, as footprints on tlie sliore, 
 Wiiere the Barrow, and the Erne, and Loth Swilly's waters roar, 
 Where the parting sunbeam kisses Loch Corrib in the West, 
 And Ocean, like a mother, clasps the Shannon to her breast." 
 
 Spasmodic efforts have been made to arrest its decKne, and 
 its study has been introduced by the Intermediate Education 
 Commissioners into their examinations, a mere waste of time for 
 ordinary schoolboys, for it may be asked whether Irish is exten- 
 sively used, or whether its literature has any real value in the 
 current of every-day life. The most ardent enthusiast for the 
 study of the Irish language can hardly maintain that it is spoken 
 by a large or important section of the population, but the question 
 of its literature stands on a different footing. The language of 
 Athens or of Kome may be well worth attention long after it 
 has ceased to be spoken ; bnt in the case of Irish literature a 
 distinction must be drawn between the Latin MSS. produced 
 in the Irish monasteries which spread the fame of their scribes 
 over Europe, and Gaelic MSS. of a later date. There are, no 
 doubt, old writings, i.e. occasional meagre insertions of the Gaelic 
 language, short treatises introduced into Latin MSS., as well as 
 inscriptions in Ogham character. These however, cannot be 
 classed itnder the head of literature. Putting on one side early 
 Latin MSS., religious treatises and Ogham inscriptions, it is 
 difficult to discover an Irish MS. (those at present translated 
 are, it is to be presumed, done into English as being samples) 
 that, to the ordinary nineteenth-century reader, does not appear 
 extremely childish. Irisli literature is mere protoplasm. If it 
 had a history, its record would show an arrested development. 
 Under favourable circumstances it might have become vertebrate, 
 or at any rate more life-like, but various causes appear to have 
 worked in unison in opposition to its growth ; and in regard to 
 Irisli poetry, it is related to literature, properly so called, as a 
 nebula is to a star. The nu)st tluit can be said in its praise is 
 that it is a rudimentary effort towards a maturity never attained. 
 Far the most valuable part of li-ish literature is that portion tliat 
 throws light upon the earlier history of the country, and to 
 extract the true from the false is a complicated and difilicult 
 task ; but the race of Irish scholars, who alone can deal with 
 these questions, is not likely to l)0('omo (>xtinct, even should the 
 language cease to be spoken. 
 
 With respect to this study of cmly irisli iiistory, as extracted
 
 i;w j/.i.v .IS .1 r'/v/()A\ ./A'//.v/', Si'r/.rroR. 
 
 ffom the aniijilists and l)i()L;i-;i))lici's, wlmt is most r<'(^iiii-('il is, n,!i 
 increased application ofilic ci-il icil spirit. l)i-. J. iv. In.s^-rani 
 remarks that : — " \\\' \\\\\v ot'tcn in the past too re:uhly nssumed 
 the truth of any statement found (as the phrase is) in one of our 
 old hooks without examining the trustworthiness and the source.; 
 of knowledge of each authority. To take an example, in O'Curry's 
 l^lanncrs <ini\ Ciistoiis of the Aiicimt In's/i, thei'e is ;ihundant learn- 
 ing, a wealtii of quotation fi-oni llic ( 'lnoniclcs, Imt in criticism 
 it falls, 1 ihiidc. fiir shoi'f of I lie woi'lcs of the recent Scottish 
 historians. Criticisni, I iim nw.iic. is not popular."" "^'et old 
 books, sacred i)ooks, even the HiMc itself, Iimnc Imd to submit to 
 the searching analysis of niodcrn criticisni, with the result tluit, 
 with regard to the latlcr. advanced and liberal-minded (lerma.n 
 theologians have, in the New Testament, resigned belief in 
 miracles ; whilst in the Old Testament, they have given up tlie 
 autlu'nticity and authority of most of the Pentateuch. With 
 tlic yielding of all this, there is little for modern criticisni to 
 attack. Even the more " orthodox" English school do not hold 
 that the destruction of the swine was "a miracle," look on 
 Genesis as a composite work, and do not treat the earlier part 
 as strict history. 
 
 When their characters are subjected to analysis, the heroes 
 and beioines of the earliest Irish traditions are certainly not 
 Clu'islian, whilst in the prevalent narratives, the varnish of 
 Christianity is biit thinly applied. iNlost of the tales, at least 
 those that have been at present translated, are but clumsily 
 l)a,tched together, so that the junction of the Pagan and Christian 
 portions is quite apparent. Take, for example, the legend of the 
 formation of the present Lough Neagh. The scene is laid in the 
 first century of the Christian era : conse([uently before the intro- 
 duction of Christianity into Ireland. In the King's palace, which 
 stood in the centre of the plain now occupied by the lake, was an 
 enchanted well (its origin was, to say the least, very peculiar) ; 
 when not in use it was kept covered, as, owing to its magical 
 propei'ties, it would otherwise burst forth in a raging flood. 
 TTirougli neglect of the " person in charge," it was left one 
 morning uncovered ; it overflowed, and all the members of the 
 Iving's household, with the exception of tliree, were drowned, 
 and the present sheet of water was formed. One of the 
 persons thus preserved was a woman styled I^iban, who, together 
 with her lap-dog, was, hy magic, [lerniitted to live iji safety 
 beneatli the waters. Liban soon became tired of her inactive 
 life, and heholding with envy the lively tenants of the lake dart- 
 ing about and around her, expressed the wish of being changed 
 into a salmon. Instantly, with the exception of her head, she 
 was thus ti'ansformed, wln'lst lier lap-dog became an otter, and
 
 IRJSJ/ MYIJ/S. 13!> 
 
 in this inaniier she continued to roam for the space of three 
 hundred years, until — and here the Christianising of the old 
 story visibly appears — she is caught in the net of an Irish saint, is 
 brought ashore, resumes her human form, sings her story in 
 melancholy verse, receives the rites of the Church, dies immedi- 
 ately, and is buried in all the odour of sanctity. 
 
 A result similar to the overflowing of Lough Neagh, from 
 neglecting or disobeying the forms prescribed when procuring 
 a supernatural supply of water, occurs when what may be termed 
 the "rush enchantment" is practised. It is as follows: — In 
 certain localities (needless to say, on low-lying ground) there 
 grow magical tufts of rushes. If the postulant finds one of 
 these tufts, and pulls up a rush, a most refreshing supply of 
 water will exude from the cavity thus occasioned in the soil. 
 He may now allay his thirst, but the rush must be replanted 
 Avhen he has finished, or otherwise subterranean waters will pour 
 with ungovernable fury from the orifice whence tlie water has 
 been drawn, and overwhelm, not only the delinquent, but also the 
 entire neigbourhood. This incident occurs in numerous Irish 
 tales, the scenes of which are laid in various parts of the king- 
 dom. 
 
 There appears to be very little originality in Irish myths. 
 Some legends of the saints were moulded on the Old Testament 
 model. For instance, St. Fahen, pursued by Pagan enemies, 
 arrived at the edge of a lake which barred his further progress. 
 He struck the water with his crozier, when it divided, ottering 
 him a means of escape. On arriving at the further side of the 
 lake, he turned and struck the dried ground, Avhen it instantly 
 became covered with water as before, drowning his pursuers who 
 were half way across. 
 
 Robert Atkinson, LL.D., remarks tliat there are not wanting 
 hints that the early clerics pruned, with no sparing hand, the 
 tales that formed the amusement of the people, and which nuist 
 have been handed down from ancient times. Nothing can be 
 more significant than the circumstances of the early history of 
 the once famous tale of the Tain Bo Cualnge. " About the 
 year 600, the poet Senchan assembled the poets of Ireland to 
 ascertain if any of these remembered the whole of the story, but 
 received as answer that they only knew fragments of it. He 
 then asked his pupils which of them Avould take his blessing and 
 go into the country of Letha, to learn the Tain, which a certain 
 Saoi had taken to the east after the (book called) (u'dmcnn ]iad 
 been carried away. Now Letha was the ancient name for tliat 
 part of Italy in which Home is situated ; so that there can be 
 little doubt what had become of the tale, l^ut a yet more 
 significant element is introchutcd ; for accoi'ding to one account.
 
 1 1(1 J/A A' .IS A ( -TIIOR, A R 77S7\ SCULP JO R. 
 
 tlio stovy was recovered hy the iiilerveiitioii of St. Ciarau and the 
 Saints of Ireland, who fasted and prayed at the grave of the 
 famous legendary chief Fergus mac lioig, in order that God 
 might send them that chieftain to relate to them the history 
 of the Tain. The relation of the poets to the clergy is here 
 set forth in hardly mistakable terms ; the latter were willing that 
 the poets should again resume their functions as narrators of the 
 old stories, after these had been sufiticiently purged of offence by 
 their journey to rioini'. mid the long forgctfulness th;it had so 
 overtaken them." 
 
 The Christianising of Pagan legend is almost everywhere 
 a))parent. .lM)r instance, on the alleged landing of the ]\Iilesians 
 only some 1800 years k.c, they w'ere met by Bamba, one of the 
 numerous queens of Ireland, accompanied l)y her fenuile attend- 
 ants and by Druids. She appears to have been "interviewed" 
 by an invader, who questioned her regarding her family and 
 relations, somewhat in the style of a modern new'spaper reporter 
 seeking for " copy." " I am come," said she, in reply to his 
 inquiry, " of the sons of Adam." " Which of the sons of Noah 
 are you descended from?" inquired the invader, who althougli 
 a Gentile, must have been well acquainted with Jewish genea- 
 logies. " I am older than Noah," replied Bamba, " and I have 
 resided on this mountain since the Deluge." The idea of 
 Rider Haggard's Queen She was thus forestalled by the monastic 
 historian. 
 
 St. Patrick is dragged into the legend of Cuchullin (Coolin), 
 Ossian into that of St. Patrick. The latter tale is a good 
 specimen of a connecting link between Pagan and Christian 
 thought. It is recounted that Ossian survived the famous 
 battle of Gabhra,''' in which all his comrades perished, and was 
 conveyed to the Elysium of the Pagan Irish, whence, after a long 
 lapse of years, and many urgent entreaties to the then ruling 
 ])owers, he was permitted to visit once again the scenes of his 
 youth and manhood. He was given a magnificent white steed 
 on which to return, but was Avarned that if he allowed his 
 own feet to touch the earth, he would never re-enter Tirnanoge. 
 Gn arriviil in l^rin, Ossian found that Finn MacCool and his 
 warriors were but dimly remembered ; his fortress was a mere 
 mound overgrown with weeds and bushwood ; moss and lichens 
 
 •'•' Moore, in liis Wixtory of Ireland, remarks with great caiidoui- tlial — "The 
 fume of this fatal battle of Gahhra, and the hravc warriors wlio lull in it. 
 continued long to he a favourite theme of the Irish hards and romancers, and 
 upon no other foundation than the old songs resjjecting the heroes of this 
 coni])at, mixed up with otliers relating to chieftains of a still more ancient date, 
 lias been raised that splendid Cabric of imposture, which under the assumed 
 name of Ossian, lias, for so long a period, dazzled and deceived tlic world."
 
 'j-/{i-: ciiRisriAAJsixG of pagax jj-:gj-:xd. \\\ 
 
 covered the huge casting stones of the Feni ; prayers and liynms 
 were sung where, in his days, bards recited the prowess of 
 warriors, and the sickle was in men's hands instead of spear and 
 buckler. 
 
 As with sorrowful heart he rode up his native valley, a 
 crowd of men striving to raise a huge stone, asked his assistance. 
 Stooping from the horse he, unaided, heaved the mass into 
 position, but the exertion caused him to overbalance himself, tlie 
 magic steed flew neighing away, and the last of the race of 
 heroes lay on the hillside, a white-haired blind old man, weighed 
 down by the infirmities of upwards of two centuries. 
 
 Shortly after this as he was reciting a poem, in which he 
 extolled the greatness and strength of his contemporaries and 
 forefathers, the profuse feasts of their hunting days, when they 
 cut up their quarry and baked it with heated stones in the 
 huge cooking places on the wild moors or mountain sides, and 
 described the tall gigantic deer hunted by them, his listeners 
 laughed incredulously. The old man rose in anger, and going 
 to a neighbouring heap, where were piled the relics of bygone 
 hunts, he selected therefrom a shank-bone, and returning to the 
 ban(|uet took from the table one of the shank-bones of the deer 
 on which the guests were then feasting and dropped it througli 
 the hollow of the deer bone he had brought in. This happened 
 at the period of St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, and meeting 
 Ossian in his missionary tour, the saint, actuated by feelings of 
 compassion, took him under his protection. St. Patrick made 
 many attempts to convert him to Christianity, the co]iferences 
 generally ending with Ossian's lament for his lost comrades. 
 The saint, pitying the misery of the brave old man, would 
 introduce some remark on past events which drew from the 
 bard a narrative of a battle, a hunt, or some enchantment 
 worked on the Feni by magicians, which as usual terminated in 
 a fresh lament over his desolate state and the half forgotten 
 deeds of his companions. 
 
 The old warrior did not also relish the fasting fare, the 
 rigorous austerity of the saint and of his household ; he was 
 angry at being aroused at night by the clanging of the bells and 
 at daylight by the chanting of matins, preferring the melody of 
 the birds and the music of the hounds to these innovations. 
 
 Men, animals, plants and fruit wei'e of larger proportions in 
 the days when Ossian was in his prime, than were the 
 degenerated specimens Avhich existed on his return to Erin. A 
 free translation of the Irish proverbial saying on this subject, 
 fonuerly often (pioted by the country people, is as follows : — 
 
 •• Siualli T each succeciliiig race and more to falseliood prone. 
 And wetter eacli sca.soii, while latfi- its fruits aie i^'iow ii."
 
 112 j/.i.v .IS Arn/oR, ARi'isr, st'fj.r /or. 
 
 It is there lore not surpL'isiuLj that tlie meal of an t)rdiiuuy 
 man should appear a mere trifle to the old warrior-bard, and 
 St. Patrick's kitchen resounded daily with the angry quarrels 
 of Ossian and the saint's housekeeper, who being of a niggardly 
 disposition, doled out for each meal no more than whetted the 
 appetite of the blind iiiiiii. One day the fight terminated by the 
 scolding housekeeper declaring that what she had given ought 
 to be more than enough even for Ossian's enormous appetite. 
 Her Noice was drowned in the wrathful roar of the enraged 
 old warrior, as he vociferated : " I often saw a berry of the 
 mountain ash as large as your miserable pat {jn'mjann) of butter ; 
 an ivy leaf as large as your barley cake : and a quarter of a 
 l)l;ick-liii'd as large as your quarter of luiitton." 
 
 'I'lie retort of the virulently tongued housekeeper " you lie," 
 sank deeply into Ossian's proud heart, but though he bore her 
 affront in recollection, and had planned the vindication of his 
 veracity, he henceforth, to the astonishment of the shrew, 
 received his meals withoiit a murmur, for adherence to truth 
 was one of the most pleasing characteristics of the Feni. In 
 another part of the legend, Ossian is represented as again very 
 indignant Avith 8t. Patrick, for implying that he had coloured his 
 narratives of other days with fiction. 'I'he old wai'rior-bard 
 exclaims : — 
 
 '' A\'c, the Fiun^, would tell no lie, 
 I'lil.seliood's (nip is sour ; 
 Truth and stren<;th e'er hrouulit us safe, 
 In peril's darkest liour.'" 
 
 The i'eni are in Ireland " what the race who fought at Thebes 
 and Troy were in Greece ; Sigurd and his companions in 
 Scandinavia ; Dietrich and his warriors in Germany ; Arthur 
 and his Knights in Britain ; and Charlemagne and the Paladins 
 in Franco ; that is, mythic heroes, conceived to liave far 
 exceeded in strength and prowess the puny beings wlio now 
 occupy their place." 
 
 Ossian possessed a favoiuite bitch with young at the time, 
 and the blind bard instructed the intelligent boy selected by 
 St. Patrick to be his guide and attendant — who was devotedly 
 attached to his charge, and always listened with ecstasy to the 
 tales of the prowess of the warriors of other days — to acquaint 
 him as soon as the puppies were born. When informed, that 
 there were ten, he told the boy to procure a freshly-skinned 
 horse hide, nail it with the fleshy side out to a board on the side 
 of the house, and then, facing the pupjiies towards it, throw 
 them against the hide, one by one, and inform him of the result. 
 A laugli fi'oni tlu' lad attracted Ossian's attention, who iiKiuired
 
 ////:' CHR/S'/ /AX/S/.y(r < )/-' /'A (r.\ \ /. /A i hXJ). 148 
 
 the cause. The hoy exphiiued tliat the puppies luul all i'tilleii tu 
 the ground, except one, who clung tenaciously to the hide. 
 Ossian told him to rear that one, and drown the other nine. 
 One summer morning Ossian announced to tJie boy his inten- 
 tion of going a journey, bringing with him the dog, which he 
 had in the meantime carefully reared and trained. Arriving at 
 the foot of Slievenamon, they turned eastward i)ito the long 
 winding valley of Glanasmole, and Ossian asked the lad whether 
 he observed anything remarkal)le. The boy replied that he only 
 saw a large tree bearing fruit, which, but for its enormous size, 
 he thought might be berries of the quiekbeam or mountain ash ; 
 Ossian told him to pluck one of the berries. Turning towards 
 the rocky side of the glen, the boy's attention was attracted by 
 ivy growing on the cliff, the leaves of which w'ere so large that 
 their shadow overspread and darkened the glen ; one of these 
 immense leaves was also gathered. They retraced their steps 
 towards the mountain w'hicli they ascended, and proceeding to the 
 rude stone monument Avhich crowais its summit, Ossian told his 
 young guide to lift the covering slab of the tomb. The boy 
 essayed the task, but soon convinced of its impracticability 
 declared that nothing less than the strength of a giant could 
 raise so ponderous a stone. The old blind warrior lifting it with 
 ease, exposed to view in the cavity beneath three instruments of 
 war and of the chase, which had been in use in the days of his 
 youth ; a great trumpet, a bronze ball employed as a missile, 
 and a keen edged sword. These, by his direction, his guide took 
 out and proceeded to clean. Ossian then told the lad to blow the 
 trumpet, and asked whether anything strange was to be seen. 
 The boy answered in the negative. Ossian ordered him to blow 
 again and again, as loud as he could, but nothing was observed. 
 Ossian then seized the trumpet, and placing it to bis lips blew a 
 blast, the reverberations of which were heard far and wide ; he 
 blew a blast still louder, and again a third even more loud and 
 far-echoing. Soon a dense cloud overspread the horizon, and 
 the sky was darkened by flights of birds which alighted in the 
 valley. They came in three distinct flocks, the size of the birds 
 increasing in each succeeding flight, the last consisting of 
 enormous birds of the blackest plumage. Ossian then ordered 
 the lad to unslip the dog, and send him down into the valley 
 amongst the birds, where he was soon fiercely engaged in 
 slaughtering them. At length, they were all killed except one 
 jet black bird, larger than all the rest, which sat perched on a 
 rock overhanging the valley. Ossian informed the youth that 
 this bird was the object of their search, and the hound was soon 
 engaged in a furious contest w'itli it ; after a long and fearful 
 struggle, the; dog killed it and di'ank' its Ijlood. iJiit tlic l)ii'd
 
 144 J/AA' AS J r/V/(>A\ AR'/'IST. S( r/./'7( )A\ 
 
 bet'oro it died had inl'iiscd a <|iiaiility of virus into the dog which 
 rendered liiiu suddenly mad, and lie rushed back towards his 
 master, -svitli wide-opened mouth, exposing its bloody fangs, as if 
 he would devour him. The boy in hurried accents described the 
 situation. "Courage," exclaimed Ossian, "the dog has tasted 
 blood for the first time, cast the bronze ball into his gaping 
 month ; be lirm, for if you miss, he will destroy us." Tlu" 
 youth lost coui-age and trembled, hut Ossian snatched the imple- 
 nu-nt fiom his shaking hand and said, " direct my hand.'' 
 Ossian, under this supervision, hurled the ball into the hound's 
 gaping jaws, so that he was at once choked. 
 
 After surveying with wonder the vale filled with the slaughtered 
 birds, the lad was directed by Ossian to cut off' one of the (quarters 
 of the enormous black bird with the sword, and they returned, in 
 trium})h, carrying with them also the mountain-ash berry and 
 the ivy-leaf. Laying the three trophies on the kitchen table, 
 Ossian called for St. Patrick and his housekeeper, narrated the 
 whole affair, concluding with emphasis, " noAV do I lie?" and 
 forthwith proceeded to cuff" the woman. The national saint 
 interposed, soothed the acerbity of the old warrior's temper, 
 expressed astonislnuent at his adventures, wliich afforded such 
 une(]uivocal evidence of the strictness of his veracity, and gave 
 orders that he was never, on any pretence, to be stinted in his 
 meals. 
 
 Ill their more ancient IMS. form these old tales and poems, 
 so called, are so bald and disjointed, that tlu; style, parodied in 
 the inimitable scene between the irate Highlander, Hector 
 M'Intire, and Oldbuck, the Antiquary, is not in the least over- 
 drawn. A ver}- much toned down and very free translation of 
 the commencement of the poem, which opens with a dialogue 
 between Ossian and St. Patrick, ridiculed by Sir Walter Scott 
 in his novel of 77/c Aiitiijiuiiij, is as follows : — 
 
 Ossian. 
 
 •• 1 care iiol for llicc, seiit-clcss clerk, 
 Nor all tliy psaliiiing throiii; ; 
 Whose stupid souls, uiiwiaely dark, 
 Keject the light ef song. 
 
 " Unheeding while it poms the strain 
 Witli Fenian gloiy swell'd ; 
 Sucli as thy tlionght can scarce contain, 
 T.'iine eye has ne'er lieheld." 
 
 P.-VTIUCK. 
 
 " Son of Finn, the Feuii's lame, 
 Tliou gloriest to prolong ; 
 While 1 my heav'nly King proclaim 
 In psalm's diviner song."
 
 THE CIlRIS'lIANISIXlr OF PAGAN LEGEND. 145 
 
 Os.SIAN. 
 
 " Dost thou insult me to my face? 
 Does thy presumption dare 
 With the bright glories of my race, 
 Thy wretched psalms compare?" 
 
 In another of these unedifying discussions between the 
 Holy man and the Poet, St. Patrick, to try and demonstrate 
 the all-prevailing power of the Almighty, declared that a fly 
 could not buzz in Heaven without God's knowledge. The old 
 heathen, whom he was trying to convert, made a good point, 
 when he retorted that at Finn's Camp, a thousand men might 
 enter, eat, drink, and depart, without the Chief's knowledge. 
 
 In popular, as well as in written tales, St. Patrick is also 
 dragged into the legend of Cuchullin [Coolin] . Sometimes, 
 though in rare instances, Druids appear on the scene, but 
 how are they depicted ? Not as dignified priests, the guardians 
 of then existing religion and science, but such as they are 
 afterwards described by their opponents, the Christian mission- 
 aries, as mere jugglers. It seems to be now admitted that the 
 Iron Age did not really commence in Ireland much before the 
 introduction of Christianity, and yet these heroes of romance are 
 represented as hewing at each other with swords of iron like the 
 Vikings of later date. 
 
 Another way, in which the more ancient texts have been 
 tampered with, has been pointed out by the late J. O'Beirne 
 Crow : — " There is nothing more painful to the Irish student, 
 than to see the way in which our transcribers of the fifteenth, 
 sixteenth, and seventeenth century have corrupted our ancient 
 tracts. When they met a difiicult form or phrase their invari- 
 able habit was to put it into another form somewhat resembling 
 the original in sound, or to substitute what they thought a 
 synonym, or to omit it altogether." The same Irish scholar 
 was even of opinion that the idea of a military force, or Militia, 
 having existed in ancient Erin, arose from a verbal change in 
 the text, simply because the title, " Royal Champion of Erin," 
 like " Royal poet of Erin," was, in later transcriptions of the 
 older text, turned into " King of the Feni of Erin," and he adds, 
 "that such a body, however, has never had a being in l^'rin, I 
 hope to be able to show." 
 
 The original and tei-.-je expressions of early Irish prose 
 were no longer appreciated b}' the more modern school of writers. 
 An elaborate description of the most trifling incidents, a piling 
 together of superfluous adjectives, a constant repetition of stand- 
 ing phrases became the fashion, in addition to which the 
 copyist was often tempted by liis own ideas as to the correctness
 
 1 1(3 JA i A' A S A L'THOR, A R 77 ST, SCUJ. /'/( >A'. 
 
 of style, to venture on an cvoii furtlicr expansion of the already 
 unnecessarily loaded text. 
 
 The real value of the tales and romances is Ih'sI jud<,'ed by the 
 archffiologist, for the writers usually depicted the state of 
 things as they existed in their own time, and not in the 
 )-emoter period which they are supposed to describe. Such 
 compositions shed tolerably true side-lights on ancient manners 
 and customs, but to do this, tlie date of their last redaction must 
 be approximately settled. AYhen this has been done, it will bi' 
 found that, although ancient, they are, for the true elucidation of 
 pre-Christian times, of comparatively little importance. 
 
 However poor the survivals as a whole, may appear to us, 
 we must nevertheless assume that what has been preserved 
 belongs to the best productions of these early ages, that they 
 were works on which the literary critics of the period, as well as 
 subsequent generations, placed a high value. Taken as a whole, 
 this class of literature may be compared to a stream, the character 
 of which varies in all the different stages of its progress, clear 
 at the source, foul at the mouth ; to ascertain its real value, we 
 must trace it back, through all its chainiels and feeders, to its 
 birth. 
 
 That a great number of Irish MSS. must have perished at 
 an early period is evident from the frequent destruction by 
 fire of the most celebrated monasteries. The very titles of the 
 books so lost are often enumerated. In latei- times, in the 
 dedication of his translation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, 
 C(mnell Mageoghegan describes the destruction of MSS. as then 
 going on, and states that tailors were in the habit of cutting up, 
 with their scissors, the leaves of books once held in great repute, 
 and that they sliced them into long strips for measures. 
 
 !Myths, and tales invented to teach a moral, remain at the 
 base of all thought and of all creeds, for legends endowed 
 with apparent ever-enduring vitality, shadowy traditions of old- 
 world life, echoes which vibrate in the folk-lore of every people, 
 ai'e embedded in scattered fragments in present-day faiths. 
 
 In former times the peasantry, imbued with many apparently 
 Eastern ideas, were confirmed fatalists ; what the gods or saints 
 decreed could not, or should not, be altered. It was, to use an 
 Eastern expression, " kismat," and ought not to be averted. 
 Thus rain is sent down by permission of God, or of the 
 saints, in proportion to the deserts of men ; therefore, it is 
 sinful in the extreme to irrigate fields or water gardens, for 
 if the powers above \vislied them to flourish they would send 
 rain to moisten them. In illustration of this, a traditional story, 
 which passed as gospel among the sages of national lore, is found 
 with slight variations, in many districts of Ireland.
 
 M ) T/IS . I XD fA LJCS. 147 
 
 A rich master baker, possessed of new-f.mgled ideas altout 
 insuring the growth of vegetables, contrary to the will of heaven, 
 was engaged, on a hot summer's day, in watering them, when 
 he was accosted by a stranger, who in([uired what he was 
 doing. The baker answered that he was watering plants 
 sul'feriiig from long drought. The stranger replied that he 
 should iiave left that work to God, who knew the time for water- 
 ing better than num, and that if God had wnslied them to flourish 
 He would have poured down rain upon them. The stranger then 
 suddenly vanished. The baker, who noticed something super- 
 human in his visitor, felt the force of his observations, abandoned 
 the watering, and, full of anxiety, returned to where he had left 
 a batch of bread baking under the charge of his men whom he 
 found fast asleep. Opening the strongly-heated oven, he saw all 
 the loaves shot out into luxuriant ears of green wheat. From 
 this the baker inferred that the stranger was a heavenly messenger 
 sent to reprove him for his impious act in producing artificial 
 rain. This story was quoted by the peasantry as proof that 
 man has no right to attempt to supply, by labour or any artificial 
 means, what God, in His bounty, is Avont to send in His good 
 time. O'Donovan was of opinion that the story was not invented 
 by any knave for the purpose of encouraging idleness, but that it 
 originated in the idiosyncrasy of the people. 
 
 There is considerable similarity between folk-lore current in 
 the East and that still existing amongst a large portion of the 
 population of Ireland, more especially in remote localities. The 
 Celtic mind is essentially Eastern in character, and legends still 
 current illustrate this. A few present a beautiful fancy ; for 
 instance, w^e have tlie ancient Irish romance of " the Children of 
 Lir " metamorphosed into swans ; and anyone acquainted with 
 many of the large lakes of Ireland, more especially Lough Erne, 
 cannot have failed to note the swans which at almost every 
 season of the year are seen upon the bays and inlets. They 
 come and go scathless, for, in the minds of the Celtic peasantry, 
 they represent the souls of holy women, victims of the fire and 
 sw^ord of the Northmen who swept over Lough Erne again and 
 again. This is a good example of a pagan legend being Christian- 
 ised, not in oral tradition alone, but also in manuscript form, 
 for the Ii'ish delight to give a local colour and habitation to 
 mythic and traditional characters as well as to incidents that 
 take hold of the fancy, whether with regard to the exploits of 
 the comparatively modern but ubiquitous Northmen, or to the 
 actions of the far older mythological Druid-gods of the Dedanann. 
 "The Children of Lir " are, as a matter of course, freed from 
 their enchantment by the intervention of a Christian bisliop, are 
 converted from paganism to Christianity, and, on thoii' de]iarture 
 
 1,2
 
 US MAA' AS AC'y//()R, AA'77S7', SCl'LI'TOR. 
 
 to realms above, siiii;- their death-.soii,i>\ thus paraphrased l)y 
 P. W. Joyce in ' 'rltU- Hiuinnict'.s : — 
 
 •' Coiiu', lioly i)iit'st, witli book ami j)iayt r : 
 Baptist' ami shrive us lieri' : 
 Haste, cU'ric, haste, for the hour has come. 
 And death at last is near. 
 
 " Dig our grave — a deep deep grave, 
 Near the eliureh we loved so well ; 
 The little church where first wo heard 
 'I'he voice of the Cliiistiun bell." 
 
 Ill the armorial hearings of the Borough of Hligo, a hare is 
 depicted as being held fast by an oyster. According to local 
 tradition the hare trod accidentally on an open oyster, and the 
 bivalve resenting this intrusion at once closed on the foot of poor 
 puss. A Cork boatman recounted a similar anecdote of a rat 
 going to feed on an oyster, whose shell lay invitingly open, at 
 low water ; but the oyster, closing its shell, held him fast until 
 he was drowned by the returning tide ; this tale agrees with one 
 of La Fontaine's fables. The same incident, but in connexion 
 with a fox, was narrated, some centuries ago, to one of the 
 earliest western travellers, as being then current in India, Thus, 
 a story may be traced from land to land, and from age to age ; 
 and this agreement is very interesting, as tending to point out 
 the common sources from Avhich our traditions were derived. 
 
 There is great similarity l)etween the Persian story of Rustam 
 and the IJardic tale of Coiiloch. An Irish chief with an un- 
 pronounceable name, 
 
 •' A tenilile man, with a terrible name, 
 
 A name which you all know by sight very well. 
 But whicli 110 one can speak and no one can spell," 
 
 and King Midas were both aliiicled witii annuals' ears. The 
 resemblance of the Irish lo the classic story is too close to admit 
 of being accidental. The Irish chief, desirous of concealing his 
 deformity, caused every barlier Avho dressed his hair to be put to 
 death. It happened that once the lot fell on a young man, the 
 only son of a poor widow, and the importunities of the mother 
 prevailed on the king to spare his life, on condition that he kept 
 the Pioyal secret. The necessity of secrecy so preyed upon the 
 youth's mind that he sickened, and an eminent Druid told him 
 that if he did not divulge the secret, he would never recover his 
 health. The youth, thinking he could eflect this without anyone 
 being the wiser, dug a hole into the ground, into wliich he 
 whispered the awful secret. The King's harper having broken
 
 AfYTHS AXn TALES. 14!Jt 
 
 his instruiuent, went in search of wood to mend it, and selected 
 a willow which grew close to where the hairdresser had imparted 
 his secret to mother earth. The harp was repaired, hut when 
 strung could sound but one refrain, " The King has two horse's 
 ears." 
 
 A King of Macedon and a King of Erin effected the destruc- 
 tion of their enemies by apparelling a number of young men to 
 represent women. 
 
 According to the Bardic tale, Turgesius, the great Norwegian 
 conqueror of Ireland, had established himself on Lough Eee 
 whore he commanded the water-ways of Ireland. Here he fell 
 in love Avitli the beautiful daughter of Melaghlin, King of 
 Westmeath, and demanded her from her father. Fearing to re- 
 fuse, Melaghlin pretended to consent, but sent in his daughter's 
 stead twelve beardless youths, dressed up as maidens, to personate 
 his daughter and her attendants. After Tergesius and his 
 boon companions had laid aside their arms and armour and 
 had drank to excess, they were assassinated by the disguised 
 young warriors. 
 
 The Greek Thersites and Conan the Irish warrior were both 
 bald, were great boasters, and great cowards. The following is 
 the Homeric description of the scene between Ulysses and 
 Thersites : — 
 
 " Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state, 
 With wrangling talents forin'il for foul debate ; 
 Curb that inipetucnis tongue, nor rashly vain. 
 And singlj' mad, asperse the sovereign reign. 
 Have we not known thee, slave of all our host. 
 The man that acts the least, upbraids the most." 
 
 Compare the above with the poem of " The Chase," where 
 Oscar thus addresses Conan : — 
 
 " Cease thy vain babbling, senseless fool, 
 Bald boaster, stain to arms, 
 Still forwaril to promote misrule, 
 But shrinks at war's alarms. 
 
 "My son high raised liis threatening blade, 
 To give his fury sway, 
 But the pale Coiuni shiutik dismayed. 
 And sprang witli fear away." 
 
 According to P. W. Joyce, Conan is " the best-marked and 
 best-sustained character of the Ossianic romances ; large-bodiod. 
 ji great boaster, a great coward and a great glutton. lie had a 
 venomous tongue, and hardly ever spoke a good word of anyone. 
 He was the butt for the gibes and mockery of the Feni, but
 
 150 MAX AS AUTHOR, ARTIST, SCULPTOR, 
 
 they die.iclocl his foul tongue. The story-tellers never lose an 
 opportunity of having a fling at Conan, and of turning him into 
 ridicule, for his cowardice, his hig talk, and his gluttony." 
 
 The Forniorian giant Balor and Perseus, in some respects, 
 resemble each other ; in both stories the precautions taken are 
 almost identical, precautions that were defeated by supernatural 
 means, and in both instances the decree of destiny is fulfilled by 
 the murder of the grandfather, whilst the peculiar property of 
 Ijalor's eye, has its parallel in classic myth. Probably the 
 oldest written account of the superstition regarding the Evil Eye 
 in Ireland, is that related of Balor. He became possessed of the 
 power as a child, when one day, he happened to pass a sacred 
 building in which Druids were busy brewing a magic decoction. 
 Overcome with curiosity, he peeped in through a crevice to 
 observe what was going on. At that moment the "medicine 
 men " lifted the lid of the caldron, and the vapour, which 
 escaped, passed into one of Balor's eyes, carrying with it all the 
 deadly venom of the breAV. Balor thus could strike whole armies 
 dead with the terrible power of his gaze. 
 
 After the Pagan giant Balor, one of the few ancient instances 
 of the fatal effects of the malific eye is narrated of a St. Silan, 
 probably a " 'verted " Pagan who possessed the unenviable 
 property of a poisonous hair in his eyebrow that killed whoever 
 in the morning first looked on him. The sequel is thus told by 
 Lady Wilde. " All persons, therefore, who, from long sickness, 
 or sorrow, or the weariness that comes with years, were tired 
 of life, used to try and come in the saint's way, that so their 
 suft'erings might be ended by a quick and easy death. But 
 another saint, the holy Molaise, hearing that St. Silan was 
 coming to visit his church, resolved that no more deatlis shoiild 
 happen by means of the poisoned hair. So he arose early in the 
 morning, before anyone was up, and went forth alone to meet 
 St. Silan, and when he saw him coming along the path, he 
 went boldly up, and plucked out the fatal hair from his eyebrow, 
 but in doing so, he himself was struck by the venom, and 
 innnediately fell down dead." 
 
 The infant Hercules when yet in his cradle str;ingles a 
 serpent ; the great Irish hero Cuchullin (Coolin) when a child 
 strangles a huge watch-dog, the terror of the country side. The 
 Greek Adonis and the brave and gay Dermod, are each killed by 
 a boar. This last-mentioned legend was certainly the most 
 popular and wide-spread tale current amongst the Irish-speaking 
 population, and it is, of all the legends which have descended to 
 our days, the one which has been least Christianised. The 
 tale as recounted in the county Sligo, is given in chapter 
 xiii.
 
 ■ ENUiVIERATlOX OF WILD LEGENDS. 151 
 
 In the oldest bardic legends which have descended to ouv 
 time, there are, here and there, glimpses of past phases of 
 tliought and character calculated to arrest attention. This 
 literature comprises a number of prose tales of warlike adventures. 
 Amongst them there is a class known by the designation of 
 " Caves " ; these are stories respecting various occurrences in 
 souterrains or underground dwellings, such as the capture of a 
 " cave " used as a place of refuge or habitation, or the narrative 
 of some adventure in, or plunder of one of these artificial 
 underground dwellings. There is the tale of the hiding of 
 Dermod and (jrania in a cave on the Hill of Howth ; the tale of 
 the Cave of Croghan ; and the adventure of a chief named 
 Cuglass who disappeared in the cave at Baltinglass since called 
 after him. A list of these wild legends is given by O'Curry in 
 his Jl/.S'. Materials of Ancient Irish History. There are also 
 accounts of maritime voyages and adventures, tragic occurrences, 
 visions and dreams ; of these some have been translated in a 
 most literal manner, whilst others have been paraphrased, so 
 that an English reader can form an approximate idea of their 
 merit. But, as a rule, the translations we at present possess are 
 about the dreariest reading that can well be chosen ; as one 
 turns page after page of slavishly literal rendering, absurdities 
 and inanities jostle one another, so that we ought to feel a deep 
 debt of gratitude to the few translators who have attempted the 
 task of producing some kind of more polished version. The best 
 essay, as yet, is probably Dr. Joyce's Celtic Eomances in which 
 the original expressions are paraphrased, and no strictly literal 
 rendering is placed before the reader. The paraphrase enables 
 the modern reader to trace the ancient ideas and train of thought, 
 better than he could with a more literal translation before him. 
 " Even seven hundred and fifty years ago," writes the Rev. 
 E. Hogan, s.j., in his translation of Cath Iluis na liiij for I'xrinn, 
 " such things were looked on as ' I'histoire veritable des temps 
 fabuleux,' as the scribe of the Tain Bo Cuailnge in the Book of 
 [jcinster writes at fol. 104 b : 'A l:)lessing on everyone who shall 
 faithfully memorize the Tain in this form and shall not put it 
 into any other form. But I, who have transcribed this history, 
 or rather fable, do not believe some things in this history or 
 fable. For some things in it are delusions of demons, some are 
 poetic figments, some seem true (similia), and some not; sonu' 
 arc written to amuse fools.' " 
 
 As to the merit of these stories, the most opposite opinions 
 have been expressed. " Home have represented them as devoid 
 of all value or interest," remarks Dr. J. K. Ingram," others have 
 spoken of them as a literature of the fii'st order, ami have iilnu)st 
 implied that the Irisli intellect of tlic [)i-('sent day would liiid its
 
 1 52 J/ A .Y A S A urn OR, . I R 77S7\ SCTL PTOR. 
 
 best possible culture in their study. The truth, as usual, lies 
 between these extreme views. We possess, in Irish, no work of 
 genius comparable to the Nil^elungen Lied, or the Hong of Eoland. 
 To speak of the Tain-rxj-Cuailnge as a Gaelic Iliad seems, to say 
 tlie least, an imprudent comparison. But without any great 
 continuous composition there are in the remains which have 
 come down to us, passages of much beauty and tenderness ; 
 some of the tales are impressively and touchingly told, and there 
 is one singular relic ' the Vision of MacConglinne ' which is 
 instinct with genuine humour of the Eabelaisian type," but this 
 tract is apparently of comparatively late date. 
 
 There is also the humorous story of "The pursuit of tlie 
 Gilla Dacker and his Horse," a narration of a practical joke 
 played by an enchanter on sixteen of the most renowned of 
 the Feni, whom he carried ott" on the back of an enormous 
 horse, to " the Land of Promise." The story, in modern 
 version, is shortly as follows : Finn MacCool was one day in 
 camp at Knockainy in Limerick, most of his companions being 
 away hunting, when a look-out apprised him of the advent of 
 a huge unwieldy man, leading or rather dragging an immense 
 skeleton-like horse after him. On emerging from his tent 
 Finn beheld this extraordinary being approaching in a most 
 lazy fashion, each step achieved as if by a painful effort. Finn 
 demanded his name, his birthplace, and what he wanted. 
 " Gilla Dacker (Slothful Fellow) is the name I am called. 
 The spot I come from is not worthy of a place in your memory. 
 No one will employ me, I am so lazy, and so I seek service with 
 the hospitable ciiief of the Feni of Erin." Finn laughed, and 
 told him that he might stay with his grooms. The giant 
 thanked him, saying, " May the King of the North live in fear 
 of you. Go my poor horse, and graze with the noble beasts on 
 the meadow, the great Finn gives you permission." Finn had, 
 however, scarcely entered his tent, when he heard such a squeal- 
 ing and galloping from the pasture that he rushed out and beheld 
 the bony steed of the lazy felloAV, biting and kicking the other 
 horses, and scattering them in all directions. "Dog of a slug- 
 gard," shouted the irate Finn, " run to the pasture, secure your 
 cursed beast, and let me not set eyes on either of you again." 
 " Ghief of the warriors of Erin," replied the Sluggard, " tlie 
 slowest of your men would be in Dublin before your servant 
 coiild reach the meadow. But let Gonan catch him by the mane 
 and I will be warrant for his quietness." Conan seized the 
 brute's mane, and the Aveird steed at once stood still as if changed 
 into stone ; in vain did stick antl leathern thong resound on his 
 ribs ; he remained witli set feet as if ])lanted in the ground. At 
 tlie suggestion of its owner Conan then jumped on its back and
 
 ENUHKRATIOX OF WIJJ} ]Ji(iEXDS. 153 
 
 plied stick and thong afresh, but without avaiL " Ah, where is 
 my memory fled," said the Slothful One, " he will not move 
 without feeling the weight of sixteen men such as Conan." 
 Fifteen of Conan's companions clambered, one by one, on to the 
 back of the ill-conditioned steed, who thereupon, at a touch of 
 his master's magical rod, galloped away followed by his owner, 
 but at such a pace as made pursuit vain. The men tried to 
 throw themselves off, but failed, as they found that they were 
 firmly fastened to the back of the magical horse. 
 
 For the adventures of Finn and of his companions in the 
 pursuit and recovery of their captive comrades there is not space. 
 
 For the most part these tales bear internal evidence of their 
 origin and composition belonging to no very remote period, and 
 they have, in many instances, been interpolated or amended by 
 modern transcribers. Whilst illustrating a very rude state of 
 society, they often present interesting evidences of inventive 
 power, and many of these humorous and lengthened composi- 
 tions were recited from memory, and thus transmitted through 
 many successive generations in the mountainous districts of 
 Munster, in the plains of Leinster, in the glens of Ulster, or 
 throughout the wilds of Connaught. 
 
 According to modern criticism, these stories naturally divide 
 themselves into two epochs, one comparatively ancient, the 
 other modern. The older series is that of which Cuchullin is the 
 centre, and is supposed, by some, to have first been reduced to 
 writing in the ninth century, when monastic chroniclers converted 
 mythical tradition into pseudo-history, and the after-descent of 
 these stories belongs to written literature rather than to oral 
 tradition. In fact, as already stated, each fresh transcriber 
 adapted them to the times in which he wrote. 
 
 The reader who is not acquainted with Irish may be warned 
 parenthetically that Cuchullin is pronounced somewhat like 
 Coolin, according to the orthographic fancy of Celtic ideas, 
 which invariably supplies a superabundance of consonants. We 
 should, however, remember that one of the greatest defects in 
 the English language is its extraordinary spelling, but neverthe- 
 less in this it is completely outdone by the Irish Gaelic, which, 
 as pointed out by William Larminie in West Irish Folk Talcs, 
 "■ is troubled in an aggravated form with every evil that 
 afflicts English. Dift'erent sounds are written in the same 
 way. Identical sounds are written in dift'erent ways. Hilent 
 letters attain to a tropical forestine luxuriance, through which 
 the tongue of the learner despairs of hewing a way. There are, 
 moreover, cases in which there is no indication in writing of 
 single sounds, and even syllables which are actually pro- 
 nounced; and there is at least one case of a word being written
 
 154 MAN AS AUT/fOK. AR77S'/\ SCTLPTOR. 
 
 as if it began witli a vowel wliiU' it really l)e,t^iiis with a 
 consonant," 
 
 Cuchullin combined in bis person the bravery of Acbilles 
 with the beauty of Paris. Tighernach (Teernah) calls bini " the 
 bravest hero of all the Scots "; and Irish writers delight t(y 
 dwell on his exploits. According to these chroniclers he had, 
 however, three faults — he was too young, too bold, and too 
 handsome. Eegarded from another standpoint Cuchullin is, to 
 a certain extent, a mythical and mytholo^ncal being, as the 
 account of his life given in written records has apparently been 
 remodelled on that of Christ. Cuchullin's age at death is thirty- 
 three, lie lias an immortal father and a mortal mother of the 
 royal line ; he is born in a disti'ict remote from Emania, the 
 Irish Jerusalem ; when a child of ten he steals away from his 
 mother with his little wooden shield and sword of lath to contend 
 with the hero-youths of Emania, as the boy Jesus went into the 
 Temple to argue with the Jewish Doctors ; in fact, his deeds, as a 
 youth, are a mere adaptation of the recorded early life of Christ 
 in the Apocryphal (lospels. He is brought up by Culand the 
 artificer, as Christ is brought up by Joseph the carpenter ; he is 
 employed defending the weak against aggression ; the last three 
 years of his life are full of trouble and misery ; he dies, after 
 being pierced by a dart, after taking a drink, exclaiming, " The 
 Gods of Erin have deserted us," standing erect with his back to 
 a pillar-stone to which he had tied himself : other coincidences 
 might be given. 
 
 The legends of the second epoch cluster around Finn 
 Mac Cool, who is placed in the third century of the Christian 
 era. It would appear as if most writers on the subject have 
 accepted the date ; but there is nevertheless a pleasing divergence 
 of opinion. Home hold that Finn was really a very ancient 
 semi-mythical personage, dragged down, so to speak, by the 
 monks to almost Christian times ; while some of the German 
 school turn Finn into a ninth-century leader of the Irish against 
 the Danes of Dublin, by whom he was slain. 
 
 Even by the most pronounced champions of Irish legendary 
 lore, popular stories, still recounted in the vernacular, are 
 allowed to be pi'ovokingly incomplete. They are, in general, 
 incoherent ; more like remembered fragments of ancient stories 
 than a complete composition. 
 
 In the written semi-historical tales and legends it is singular 
 how comparatively rare are the references to the ancient gods of 
 Erin, and although the early Fathers tell us less of heathendom 
 than they knew, still it is difficult to understand how the clerical 
 pruning knife was able, so scientifically, to cut oft" the principal 
 characters from the scene, and leave it even readable ; yet.
 
 A A' 7 • OJ-' EA RL \ ' MA .Y. 155 
 
 " liowevei- interesting to scholars in their original form," remarks 
 Dr. Ingram, " I do not think these tales will ever win their way 
 to general esteem among cultivated readers, except as trans- 
 muted into shapes hetter adapted to our ideas, and with a 
 certain breadth of modern thought and feelings subtly mingled 
 with their substance." 
 
 As a rule, the attempts at art of early man, especially in 
 Ireland, were confined to rude linear decorative patterns, an 
 exception being the extraordinary and lifelike representation 
 of the cavemen of Gaul, who incised on bone delineations of 
 men, animals, and fishes. A suspicion may be entertained that 
 these articles are possibly modern forgeries. Why should such 
 astonishing and faithful animal-designers be confined to one 
 relatively small district ? Nowhere else have traces of such 
 skilled artists been unearthed. If these sketches be authentic, 
 we are indebted to them for the oldest pictures in the world. 
 What up to the present have been regarded, by us, as " old 
 masters," are, indeed, superseded. The study of the nude, of 
 " the altogether," is of primeval antiquity, for in these primitive 
 studies in nature the human form is depicted perfectly naked, in 
 company with the mastodon, a huge-winged reptile resembling 
 the pterosaurian, the mylodon, reindeer, cave-bear, fox (or, per- 
 haps, but very unlikely, dog), together with reptiles and fishes. 
 
 The remaining period of the Stone Age shows no trace of 
 pictorial designs. If further proof were required of the paucity 
 of ancient figure drawing, it may be pointed out that in collect- 
 ing specimens for exhibition illustrative of the immense period 
 covered by the Stone Age, not more than sixty articles could be 
 procured showing any germ of pictorial design. This is empha- 
 sized by the fact that up to the middle, or even latter end of the 
 Bronze Age, ornamentation was still linear in character. 
 
 Perhaps, in the dim future, some Irish cave-explorer may 
 bring to light an etching on bone, or stone, similar to those dis- 
 covered on the Continent, but until that day arrives we must rest 
 content with the singular fact that the sculptor's art, as applied 
 to representations of the human or animal form, appears to have 
 been rarely, if, indeed, ever, practised in Ireland prior to the 
 introduction of Christianity. Even then the devices consisted 
 almost entirely in ornamentation of an arabesque character, 
 sometimes combined with grotesque animals and serpents ; if 
 human figures were introduced, they were subsidiary to the 
 scroll worls; in which they were entwined. From the tenacity 
 with which the Pagan-Christian school of artists adhered toan 
 almost stereotyped form of decoration, it is ditlicult to assign 
 even an appioximate date to many of the best specimens of
 
 1 5G J/A A' A S A I '77/nA\ A N'J/S 7\ SCI 'L PTOR. 
 
 elaborately decorated remains. It may be, however, fairly sur- 
 mised that any object of Irish art iipon which interlacing tracery 
 is displayed should not be referred to a period antecedent to 
 Christianity. Strange to say, interlaced serpents are among the 
 principal subjects treated in this stage of Irish ornamentation, 
 Ireland being itself serpentless. 
 
 As the writer has elsewhere observed, the style of ornamenta- 
 tion of which traces have been left by the Pagan Irish on gold, 
 bronze, stone, and earthenware has survived to our day. It is 
 thought that it will eventually be proved that this style is of 
 such a nature as will establish the fact that the decoration was 
 executed by one race and one school of craftsmen, and that it is 
 identical Avith Continental prehistoric work. It eventuates that 
 Irish Pagan art was of an exotic style, which, though developed 
 in a more or less characteristic manner, was not an oi'iginal or 
 national style, any more than the interlaced ornamentation, 
 whicli, introduced by the intrusion of Christianity from the 
 Continent, was idealised and beautified, so that it is with diffi- 
 culty many people can be pei'suaded tluit it is but an improvement 
 on classic ideas of decoration. 
 
 Give to a skilful modern sculptor the flint chisel and hammer 
 stone of a prehistoric workman, and he would probably declare 
 that it was impossible to do anything with such tools, and yet 
 with similar implements the prinntive workman wrought orna- 
 mental and sometimes elaborate designs. 
 
 In no field of investigation are there a greater nimiber of 
 enigmas than in the study of the origin of prehistoric designs, 
 and to their solution the Irish antiquary has brought every 
 literary quality to bear, in addition to a credulity capable of 
 believing anything. When he shall have finally discarded 
 fanciful theories, and brought to light all that can be discovered 
 of the story of the human past, a clearer idea may be obtained 
 of the purport of the designs found sculptured in comparative 
 profusion on the interior of earns and on the face of natural 
 rocks ; they represent the infancy of art, and present many 
 attributes which form some of the most interesting traits of 
 man's childhood, simplicity being their chief characteristic. 
 
 We may readily expect a high degree of attention to be paid 
 by savage man to the manufacture of his weapons, so as to 
 render tliem the best that could be produced. To him they were 
 the most valuable thing he possessed, as they not only afforded 
 him security, but provided him with food. When superfluous 
 labour, in tlie form of ornamentation, has been bestowed upon 
 implements, whieli did not, in any way, increase their efficiency, 
 a new nnd higher standard, the genesis of art, is reached, for 
 ornanu'ntation is not mere utilit;irian laljonr. pi'oviding for an
 
 A A> '/■ OF KA RL 1 ' MA A\ 1 .V7 
 
 absolute requirement, but tbe origination of a new standard of 
 value. 
 
 To the savage, time was of no account. Sir John Evans 
 describes how some members of Indian tribes on the Eio Negro 
 spend years in perforating cylinders of rock-crystal by twirling a 
 flexible leaf-shoot of wild plantain between the hands, and thus 
 grinding out the hole with the aid of sand and water. A 
 pendant, formed of a natural quartz prism, clear as glass, 
 through the amorphous end of which a hole had been pierced for 
 suspension, was found by the writer in a primitive interment in 
 a rude stone monument near the town of Sligo. The hole in the 
 pendant was, on both sides, considerably wider externally than 
 in the centre, showing that it had been bored with rude appliances ; 
 and as the remains with which the ornament was associated 
 apparently belonged to the Neolithic Period, the time taken to 
 pierce the quartz must have been immense. 
 
 In estimating the antiquity of an object, or in dealing with 
 the style of decoration, the past history of the country in which 
 it is found, or with which it is connected, has to be taken into 
 account. In Ireland powder-horns may be seen with designs 
 which look as if they ought to belong to the eighth or ninth 
 century. In Iceland many of the native art-products are in 
 appearance of the twelfth century, yet date only from the seven- 
 teenth or eighteenth century ; so we should be quite prepared to 
 find primitive ornamentation lingering in Ireland long after it 
 had been discarded elsewhere. 
 
 The patterns presented in Moko or Maori tattooing — a clever 
 combination of scrolls, spirals, line-groupings, and curves — are 
 similar to those displayed on walls of early Irish sepulchral 
 chambers, on natural rock surfaces, and on fictile ware. Thus, 
 at the Antipodes, we have anthropophagous savages evolving a 
 native form of art, resembling Irish pre-Christian effort, which 
 has only to be recognised to be fully appreciated. The study of 
 Maori art raises the problem by Avhich we are confronted when 
 studying early and medianal Irish Christian art — namely, how 
 was it that both these peoples, each equally endowed with an 
 exquisite taste for linear patterns and designs, could perpetrate 
 the ghastly hideosities they produced when they attempted to 
 picture the human form. By the designs in the tattooing on a 
 Maori chief the initiated could tell his tribe and pedigree ; yet 
 there is, in a certain sense, no more resemblance between Maori 
 ornamentation or Irish rock-scribings and the ancient inscrip- 
 tions of Egypt and Assyria, than there is between the unintelli- 
 gible scrawl made by a child and the printed pages of a closely 
 reasoned out book, except that in each instance there is a meaning 
 intended to be conveyed.
 
 158 
 
 J/A.V AS AVJHi^R, ARTIST, SCL'LJ'JOR. 
 
 Head of a ^laori Chief, showitifj 
 tattooed patterns. Reproduced 
 from Polynesian Kiseaic/ies, bv 
 William' Ellis. 
 
 Each great Maori cliiet' had I'onnerlv imprinted on his face 
 marks peculiar to his family and to his tril)e. Tho.se tattooed on 
 
 the faces of his dependents, although 
 simpler and fewer in numher, were 
 the same in form as those hy which 
 the chief was distinguished ; in fact, 
 tattooing nuiy he regarded as the 
 armorial bearings of the ancient 
 New Zealand aristocracy. Fig. 51 
 is a representation of the head of 
 Houghli, a celebrated New Zealand 
 warrior, who lived about the year 
 1830, and conveys an idea of the 
 effect of this singular practice. The 
 tattooing on the face of a New Zea- 
 ^, j^ _ ™ »\ lander answered the purpose of the 
 
 \ "^^v \ / '' '**^ particular stripe or colour of the 
 
 \ '^^ If:' ' ' Highlander's plaid (some allege that 
 
 the coloured plaid is but a modern 
 
 innovation), and marked the class 
 
 or tribe to which he belonged. It 
 
 was considered highly ornamental, 
 
 as well as useful, as the patterns 
 
 thus permanently marked on the face were a means by which 
 
 they were enabled to distinguish their friends from their enemies 
 
 in battle. 
 
 In Ireland many of the irregular scorings on the faces of 
 cliff's or on detached boulders should be regarded with archajo- 
 logical suspicion. For example, those on the pillar-stone at 
 Kilnasaggart, county Armagh, though long held to be Oghamic, 
 are now generally considered to have been worn b}- persons using 
 the pillar-stone for the very prosaic purpose of sharpening knives, 
 hatchets, or such-like implements. Scorings and scratches whicli 
 appear on another large pillar-stone standing close to the railway 
 station of Kesh, county Fermanagh, were caused in like manner, 
 as well as very similar markings observable in numerous locali- 
 ties. Killowen, county Cork, may be instanced, where they 
 occur on a block significantly designated in Irish, "the (sharp- 
 ening) Stone of the Weapons." 
 
 There is an " inscribed crondech," or sepulchral monument, 
 in the townland of Scralianard, on a hillside about three miles 
 west of Macroom, county Cork. On the underside of the table- 
 stone are a series of artificial marks, which must have been 
 incised before the stone was placed in its present position, con- 
 sisting of straight and oblique lines, numerous crosses (or, ratlier, 
 lines intersecting at right angles), and othei- curious forms. J5ut
 
 ROCK Si:RIBIX(tS. 
 
 159 
 
 tliey do not appeal' to have been designed to convey a meaning to 
 be arrived at through the medium of phonetic exponents. 
 
 There are incised scorings on the walls of a natural cavern 
 known as " the Lettered Cave," on Knockmore Mountain, near 
 the village of Derrygonnelly, county Fermanagh (see fig. 55), 
 some of which resemble runes ; others seem to be cognate with 
 the incised ornamentation on the stones of the great chambers at 
 New Grange ; but mixed wath the ancient are many modern 
 markings, laiown to be the work of recent visitors to the cave, so 
 that much caution is required to distinguish the genuine ancient 
 •carvings. These latter scribings were, as a whole, pronounced 
 to be runes, evidently intended as writing, and could be read even 
 now did Ave but know one or more of the then well-known formula. 
 But until this key is discovered we shall be unable to decipher 
 them, more especially as later hands have, as already noticed, 
 added to the original designs knots and intertwined ornaments of 
 very late Irish types, not to mention the very modern scribings. 
 
 " Scribbles," or "Wild Runes," in the Lettered Cave at Knockmore, 
 County Fermanagh. From the Jouj-nal of the present Society of 
 Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 We can all call to mind Mr. Pickwick's great antiquarian 
 discovery, as also the scene between Oldbuck the Antiquary and 
 Edie Ochiltree the Bluegown, in Scott's novel. The A)iti(jiiari/, 
 in which a dispute arises relative to the Antiquary's discovery of 
 ^i Roman entrenchment and a stone with the letters A.D.L.L. 
 This the Antiquary interpreted, Agkicola Decavit Libexs Lubexs, 
 and the Bluegown, Aiken Drum's Lang Ladle. 
 
 The English and Scottish stories are, however, quite paral- 
 leled by the controversy Avliich arose relative to the discovery and 
 meaning of an inscription carved on a slab of rock formerly 
 situated on the summit of Tory Hill, near Mullinavat, and which 
 Tighe, in Statistical OhftiTirUimis on thr Coimti/ Kilkcinti/, regards
 
 100 J/A.V AS A UTJIOR, ARTIST, SCLTTTOR. 
 
 as Phoenician, and reads it Bkli Dinose (see fig. 5G). The 
 arch^ologists Vallency and Wood relied on this inscription as the 
 sole basis of their theory respecting the Phwnician origin of the 
 early colonisation of Ireland. Even Lanigan gravely cites this 
 monument as one among many ancient remains in Ireland which 
 serve to show that the god i>el was identical with the sun. 
 
 fCLI CIU0D5 
 
 Fk;. .jG. 
 Iiisiription as given by Tighc in " Statistical Olist-rvatitms on tlio Co. Kilkenny." 
 
 The true origin of this monument ami its inscription is as 
 follows : — A millstone cutter went one morning to work at a 
 millstone he was fashioning on the lop of Tory Hill, but his 
 fellow-labourers, without whose assistance he could not com- 
 mence operations, did not join him. So, to wile away time, he 
 amused himself by cutting his name (K. Conic) and th(> date 
 (1731) on a stone on the summit of the hill (see fig. 57). 
 
 Fig. 57. 
 liiSLiiution as originally < iit by E. Conic in A.u. 1731. 
 
 He was a very indifferent scholar, and reversed, as children 
 constantly do, one of the letters, the last c of his surname. The 
 stone was at this time lying flat on the surface of the ground, 
 and remained so for many years after his death, until one day. 
 when a number of young men repaired to the hill, and to amuse 
 themselves competed as to who amongst them could jump the 
 furthest. Finding this inscribed stone readv at hand to answer 
 
 Fig. 58, 
 
 .Same Inscription reversed. 
 
 then- purpose, they raised it on otliers to the height required for a 
 " running leap," but placed it in such a position tliat the letters of 
 the inscription appeared reversed (figs. ;3(S, .'»<)). After the contest
 
 6 2 
 
 
 Q J 
 
 .^ as 
 
 3 r^
 
 102 AIAN AS AUTHOR. ARTIST, SCC/LP/OR. 
 
 they departc'cl to their respective homes, leaving it in this position, 
 little imagining that anyone would dream that they had erected 
 an altar to a god. Shortly after this, however, some gentlemen 
 happened to ascend the hill, and, observing the stone, were struck 
 with the strange appearance of the letters. One of them, thinking 
 that he had discovered an ancient inscription, made a sketch of 
 the stone and the letters in their inverted position, and, having 
 exhibited it to some Waterford arch;eologists, created a celebrity 
 for the locality which induced many to try and decipher the 
 wonderful inscription . 
 
 Mistakes like this are lauglied at, but attempts at imposition 
 cannot be too severely reprobated. Towards the close of last 
 century a writer described a remarkable rude stone monument, 
 situated on Callan ^Mountain, in Clare, bearing an Ogham inscrip- 
 tion. The translation purported to set forth that the celebrated 
 Conan was there buried. To support this reading it is alleged 
 that an Irish quatrain was forged and cited as part of an ancient 
 poem, to the effect that the above-mentioned warrior had, before 
 engaging in battle, prayed to the sun on this spot, that he was 
 slain, and there interred under a flagstone, which bore his name 
 carved in Ogham characters. 
 
 The rock-markings in the passages and chambers of New 
 Orange and Dowth, on the Eiver Boyne, present characteristics 
 distinguishing them from the rock-markings of the north of 
 I'higland and Scotland, one of the chief of which is, that whilst 
 the circidar incised figures which form the bulk of the latter are 
 concentric, with a central cup-like hollow, and a channel passing- 
 through the concentric circles, the carvings at New Grange and 
 Dowth are, as a rule, spirals, without the central hollow or inter- 
 secting channel, and are associated Avith fern-leaf patterns — 
 this fern-leaf pattern is now thought to be doubtful, as there is no 
 median line — and also with lozenge, zigzag, and chevron-like 
 nuirkings, which are analogous to the ornamentation of Irish 
 fictile sepulchral vessels. Many of the markings of New Grange 
 and Dowth were evidently carved before the stones were used for 
 their ])resent purpose. If we find carvings on a boulder — evi- 
 dently placed in position by the hand of nature, and not by the 
 li:ind of man — not in any Avay connected with Christian use, even 
 should these carvings not be strictly analogous to those at New 
 Grange and Dowth, still we have gi-ounds to conclude that it is 
 an example of an ancient custom which placed to the hand of 
 the builders of these tumuli ready carved material. There are 
 many such natural boulders, thus decorated by primitive man, 
 scattered throughout the country. Several stud the surface of 
 the green hills surrounding the Seven Churches of Clonmacnoise. 
 Close to one boulder is a earn, called in Irish, " the Monument of
 
 ROCK SCRHilXOS. 16 
 
 the Dead." When a funeral approaches the famed burial ^'round 
 of Clonmacnoise the coffin is laid down and stones thrown on the 
 earn. It is stated that no Christian rite was ever performed at 
 the boulder. On the contrary, the name by which it is known, 
 *' The Fairy's Stone," points to its Pagan origin. 
 
 The most singular markings on this rock are representations 
 apparently of the ancient Irish ring-brooch ; some with a knob 
 on top of the acus, as frequently occurs in extant specimens, 
 others being flat at top, and seeming to represent the looping of 
 the acus over the flat bar of a half -moon ring. The carvings 
 appear to have been formed by a rude-pointed tool or pick, and 
 are, on an average, about an inch deep. Other boulders occurring 
 on the hill are studded over with cup-like hollows, evidently 
 caused by the solvent property of rain-water, retained in certain 
 natural irregularities, w^hich were thereby deepened, and assumed 
 the artificial aspect which they now present. 
 
 There is an incised stone, near Cranna, county Oalway, 
 called in Irish by the very peculiar designation, " Tlie Stone of 
 the Fruitful Fairy." It is a boulder of very irregular form, 
 measuring forty-six inches by thirty-two inches, and presents, 
 with other ornamentation, the water-worn hollows already 
 described. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile from Parsonstown, on the road to 
 Dublin, there stood, many years ago, a globular-shaped limestone 
 boulder, five or six feet in diameter, and inscribed with V-shaped 
 marks, like the stone at Cranna, county Galway, and other 
 places ; also various depressions or cavities, traditionally said 
 to be the marks of Finn MacCool's thumb and fingers. It was 
 called in Irish, Finn's Seat. This stone has been removed from 
 its ancient site. The giants, as noticed, left marks of their 
 person, their fingers, and of their feet on rocks. The saints did 
 the same. Two examples will suffice. In the townland of 
 Bellanascaddan, in the county Donegal, there is a monolith on 
 which are two cup-marks. To account for these the country 
 people narrate that a giant, who lived in a neighbouring fort, 
 used it as his " finger-stone," and that the cups on the stone are 
 the marks of his fingers. Within the demesne of Sheestown, in 
 Ossory, there exists a rock marked with peculiar indentations, 
 which were believed by the people to have been traces or marks 
 of St. Patrick's footsteps. The rock was called in Irish, " St. 
 Patrick's Footprints." 
 
 A good example of carvings occurs on an inclined bed of rock 
 near the summit of Piyetield Hill, in the townland of Bally- 
 dorragh, county Cavan. The markings are described as produced 
 apparently by simple scraping with a saw-like motion. The 
 figures most commonly represented are detached straight-armed 
 
 M 2
 
 164 MAlY AS A r77/()k\ AkTIS'J\ SCT/J'/OR. 
 
 crosses, but not unfii'cjueutly these are so grouped or clustered 
 gather as Lu lunn a network of lines crossing in every direction ; 
 in two instances these crosses are enclosed in an oblong rect- 
 angular figure. About a quarter of a mile north-west of 
 " Calliagh Dirra's Plouse," in the parish of Monasterboice, 
 coimty Louth, arc I'ock-niarkings on a natural rock-surface, 
 produced by a combined method of scraping and punching. 
 Some of the devices diller tVoiii those at Kyeheld, for numy arc 
 of quite a Eunic charactei". 'This may, however, be accidental, 
 just as some of the carving on rocks in Sweden closely resembles 
 a pair of spectacles ; yet, no one could imagine that they had 
 such a significance. 
 
 When forming the new line of roaii leading from lliillydehob 
 to Bantry in the county Cork, the workmen cleared away a con- 
 siderable depth of earth from the face of a rock of red sandstone 
 of the district, and so exposed its sculptured surface. The 
 designs consist of circles, cup-shaped cavities, penannular rings, 
 and V-shaped markings ; there are two perfectly-formed circles, 
 and three imperfect or penannular circles, together with other 
 curious nuirkings. 
 
 Wliat Irish rock scribings represent is a question still 
 awaiting solution, though numeroiis conjectures have been 
 hazarded. Cup-nuirkings, incomplete rings, a series of circles 
 round a central cup, sometimes with a radial groove through the 
 circles ; these are the conniu)nest types. These emblems are 
 stated to he almost identical in Hittite, Cypriote, Cuneiform, and 
 Egy])tiiui ; thus, to solve the enigma of these scribings we nmst 
 go afield. For instance, what does this style of ornamentation 
 represent to present-day primitive peoples, to the aborigines of 
 Australia, or to the natives of the islands of the Pacific"? 
 
 It should also be pointed out that, in many instances, dot- 
 and-circle patterns occur in triplets. Can they have reference 
 to three deities, or to a triune Cod ? No doubt, these conjoined 
 figures, when placed on the tomb of the deceased, as found 
 occasionally in Ireland, had some symbolical meaning, as has 
 the Christian Cross when used as an ornament, or when placed 
 over a grave. It may be repugnant to the feelings of numy 
 people to be informed thiit their notion that the symbolic use of 
 the Cross is of purely Christian origin is a mistaken one. It 
 was common, perhaps more common, in Pagan than in present 
 times. They may, however, console themselves with the fact 
 that its real beginning was further back still in the Avorld's 
 history ; that with Paganism it was, as it is with Christianity, 
 simply an adopted and favourite symbol, brought in from an even 
 lower form of worship. In like manner, many things formerly 
 supposed to be of comparatively modern origin, can nowadays be
 
 ROCK SCRIBING S. 165 
 
 traced back to the remotest prehistoric ages ; hence, as a mere 
 matter of induction, it follows that the modern meaning, or 
 application given to many things, is often one developed in 
 recent times, and not that which was originally intended. The 
 original meaning may have been very different to what it sub- 
 sequently became, so that the interpretation belonging to the 
 epoch in which we are first enabled to trace a definite meaning, 
 is not necessarily to be regarded as that which sa-ve birth to the 
 symbol, but is, probably, only an intermediate link in the chain 
 of symbolic development. 
 
 The religious systems of many heathen nations contained the 
 germ, in a more or less developed state, of tlie idea of three 
 equally powerful deities, or of a triune God ; suffice it to 
 instance the modern Hindoos and the old Norsemen. The for- 
 mulary of one of the oaths of the latter demonstrates this. It was 
 as follows: — " So help me Frey, Njord, and the Almighty As." 
 It may be well to state that the assinine-like name is but an a\infi 
 of Odin, the great Northern God. 
 
 All the cup-like excavations met with on rock surfaces, 
 pillar stones, cromlechs, and other moniiments in Ireland and in 
 Great Britain are not by any means the work of man. Many 
 are the result of weathering and disintegration of the stone from 
 long exposure to atmospheric influences. Cuplike excavations 
 may be noticed on the surface of primary sandstone and other 
 softer rocks, as well as on the surface of far denser stone. 
 Occasionally they are the result of the mineralogical constitution 
 of the rock, or of softer portions, weathering out, or of the 
 enucleation of fossilized organic remains, or of embedded stone 
 nodules. 
 
 As a proof of the caution requisite before attaching importance 
 to such objects, an incident, observed when the discussion 
 amongst British arch;eologists about cup-markings was at its 
 height, deserves to be recorded. An Irish antiquary chanced to 
 walk towards the Miimbles, near Oystermouth, South Wales, 
 where quarrying operations were being carried on. The stone 
 that was being worked lay in vertical strata, and as each layer 
 was removed the face of the next exhibited cupped depressions in 
 considerable numbers, irregularly distributed over the surface, 
 and the antiquary immediately recognised as a fact that which 
 lie h.id previously surmised — namely, that three-fourths of the 
 cup-markings tliat had been occupying the attention of learned 
 societies, and filling the pages of their publications had no 
 archfeological significance wliatever, and wei-e merely due to 
 natural causes. 
 
 Various excavations on stones, especially on the covering stones, 
 and on the flagging in cists, in chambered tumuli and on cromlechs,
 
 16() Ar/1 .V A S.I/ -77/()A\ . I A' T/S/\ S( V 'LP'roR. 
 
 are fi'L'<|iU'Utly noticed ; 1ml ;ui L'xaiuiiuitiou of their suiooth sur- 
 faces and expanding interiors demonstrates that the excavations 
 are unmistakably the work of marine life at a time when the 
 stones formed a part of a sea-beach. This refers, of course, not to 
 cup-and-ring markings, which are clearly due to man's industry, 
 but to mere depressions resembling cups, or segments of eggs, 
 which are sometimes two and a half inches across. 
 
 It is extremely probable that the fornuition of sonu; of these 
 hollows is due to the Kchinun liridus, or purple sea-urchin, which 
 hollowed out the depressions for residence where exposed to the 
 ocean surf. Many good exam))les nuiy be observed on rocks along 
 tlu' littoral. " The investigation of this subject raises an inter- 
 esting point," remarks R. Lloyd Praeger, " one whicli has been 
 frequently discussed, and can by no means be settled offhand. In 
 the Irish No til ralist iov 1892 the cause of the cuplike indentations 
 in limestone is gone into. Dr. Scharft' disposes pretty conclu- 
 sively of the suggestion that these were made by marine organisms, 
 and points out the strong evidence of their having been made by 
 snails, notably the large Helix (is]n>rs<i. These perforations were 
 in limestone, which tlu' acid secretions of the snail is capable of 
 eroding. Some perforations, stated to be made in sandstone, the 
 snail could not dissolve, and they are larger and sluillower than 
 the snail-holes. They are certainly in size and shape similar to 
 those which the purple urchin makes, as may be seen at ]>undoran 
 and elsewhere. This subject should be handled with caution, 
 some liabitat of the purple urchin visited, its burrows carefully 
 examined, measured, and compared with cup-marked stones, and 
 they would probably throAv light on the subject." 
 
 In I'oli/uesian Iti'seairhi'ti Ellis attem^^ts to interpret the mean- 
 ing of the " dot-and-circle " designs of the Pacific Islanders, the 
 exact pattern of those carved by the ancient nihabitants of Ire- 
 land. He recounts that in the course of a tour round one of the 
 islands he met with a few specimens of what may be termed 
 the first efforts of an imcivilized people towards the construction 
 of a language of symbols. "Along the southern coast, both on 
 the east and west sides, we frequently saw a number of straight 
 lines, semi-circles, or concentric rings, with some rude imitation 
 of the human figure, cut or carved in the compact rocks of lava. 
 'I'liey did iu)t appear to have been cut with an iron instrument, 
 but with a stone hatchet or a stone less frangible than the rock 
 on which they were portrayed." It lias often been advanced 
 that similar incisions in hard rock in Ireland could only have 
 been produced without metallic implements ; but an antiquary, 
 experimenting with only the assistance of a flint chisel and a 
 wooden nudlet, cut in the space of two hours nearly an entire 
 circle on a block' of <4ranife wliich boi-e arcliaic devices.
 
 CUP- A KD- R ING MA RKIXGS. 1 67 
 
 On iiKjuirv I'jllis was intoniied that the Pacific cup-marking 
 liad been made from u motivr similar to tliat which induces a 
 person to carve his initials on a rock or tree, or to record his 
 name in an album. Their significations were interpreted to hiin 
 by the natives, as follows: — "When there were a number of 
 concentric circles with a dot or mark in the centre, the dot signi- 
 fied a man, and the number of rings denoted the number in the 
 party who had circumambulated the island. When there was a 
 ring and a number of marks it denoted the same, the number of 
 marks showing of how many the party consisted, and the ring 
 that they had travelled completely round the island ; but when 
 there was a semi-circle it denoted that they had returned after 
 reaching the place where it was made. In some of the islands 
 we have seen the outline of a fish portrayed in the same manner, 
 to denote that one of that species or size had been taken near 
 the spot ; sometimes the dimensions of an exceedingly large 
 fruit, &c., are marked in the same way. With this slight excep- 
 tion, if such it can be called, the natives of the Sandwich and 
 other islands had no signs for sounds or ideas, nor any pictorial 
 representation of events." 
 
 It is to be feared that the missionary was, in this instance, 
 the recipient of erroneous information from his converts, who 
 were, doubtless, unwilling to impart to their new spiritual adviser 
 the true meaning of the symbols. 
 
 W. F. Wakeman thus depicts the general aspect in which 
 these rock carvings may be regarded: — "Many men of ancient 
 and modern times, confined by necessity to a listless existence in 
 an inhospitable region, might very naturally have beguiled their 
 houi's by carving with a stone or metallic instrument such figures 
 as their fancy prompted upon the nearest object which happened 
 to present a surface more or less smooth. Scorings or designs 
 made under si;ch circumstances would be in character as various 
 as the skill or humours of their authors. Now, when in many 
 districts of the country, and some of them widely apart, we find 
 upon the sides of caves and rocks, and within the enclosure of 
 Pagan sepulchral tumuli, a certain w^ell-defined class of engrav- 
 ings, often arranged in groups, and, with few exceptions, present- 
 ing what may be styled a family type, we can hardly inuigine 
 them to be the result of caprice." 
 
 It is evident that there is at present no archseological expla- 
 nation offered relative to the origin of Irish rock-sculpturings 
 authoritative enough to carry conviction to the mind that the 
 real solution of the problem has been ascertained. The follow- 
 ing conclusions can, however, be safely drawn, viz. : that all 
 these designs were not made without some meaning being 
 attached to them at the time they were in use, that they were
 
 108 M. IX .1 S .1 I. '/'//( >A\ . 1 A' 7VS/; SCULPTOR. 
 
 carved by a race which occupied Ircdand, and also Great Britain, 
 many centuries before tlie introduction of (Miristianity, and that 
 the figures are in many cases symbolical, for, otherwise, what 
 could have induced tribes hundreds of iniles apart, and in many 
 instances separated by the ocean, to use precisely the same 
 designs, unless it were to express some idea, or to aid in the 
 elucidation of some superstitious rite couunon to all, whilst the 
 position and circumstances in which the markings are generally 
 placed render it extremely probable that they were, in some way, 
 connected with the thoughts, religious or otherwise, of those who 
 carved them. 
 
 Cup-and-ring markings being probably the most primitive 
 of all prehistoric designs, as well as those most widely spread, 
 deserve more special notice than they appear to have as yet 
 attracted. They are found, as already stated, in the most widely 
 separated localities, and in the most unlooked-for places : on 
 natural rock surfaces, on isolated boulders, on standing stones, 
 near, and in the chambers of, earns, on rude stone monuments, 
 on the covering and otlier slabs of cists, and on early gravestones 
 in Christian churchyards. 
 
 From cup-markings being directly associated in many in- 
 stances with sepulchral remains, both Pagan and early Christian, 
 it may fairly be inferred that they are connected, in some way, 
 with funeral rites as sacred emblems ; however, the fact of their 
 being found on natural rock-surfaces militates somewhat against 
 the theory. 
 
 When of any size, the formation of cup-markings has often 
 been attributed to their employment as mortars for pounding 
 roots, seeds, nuts, or grain, but as accounting for the marks in 
 general, an objection may be pointed out which is fatal to the 
 theory. To serve these purposes, the rocks on which they 
 occur should be in a horizontal position, but in the majority of 
 cases, all the world over, these cups are on shelving rocks, or on 
 the faces of perpendicular crags. 
 
 These round cuplike marks are also, it is alleged, suggestive 
 of the sun, moon, and stars ; but, as against this, it is to be 
 observed that in them the moon is always represented at the full, 
 never in phases. If even an occasional figvire were found repre- 
 senting what, by any ingenuity, could be regarded as a constella- 
 tion, some colour might he held to be given to the idea, for there 
 can be but little doubt that, in ancient Ireland, some tribes wor- 
 shipped the moon. The custom of paying reverence to, and in 
 some cases of praying to, the new moon, the first time thai 
 luminary Avas seen after its changes, survived in folk-lore and 
 folk history into the pres(!nt century, and is mentioned by several 
 Irisli wi'iters, as well ;is ])y a French author, who says of the
 
 CUP-AXD-RIXG MARKJXGS. 109 
 
 inhabitants of Ireland that they, " se niettant a genoux en voyant 
 la lune nouvelle, et disant, en parlant a la lune ; ' laisse nous 
 aussi sains qui tu nous a trouve.' " 
 
 Nor does the suggestion that these ubiquitous cup-niarkiiigs 
 were used as dials, for marking time by the light of the sun, find 
 any favour, as they occur in places which neither sun nor 
 shadow could reacli, as, for example, in the interior of stone 
 sepulchres in earns. 
 
 They can hardly be regarded as altogether the outcome of the 
 leisvu-e time of idle warriors, nor as the exercises of incipient 
 engineers, for their wide distribution and their family resem- 
 blance, notwithstanding small differences in detail, prove that 
 they possess a common origin, and indicate a symbolical mean- 
 ing, representing popular thought at the time they were inscribed. 
 A Swiss archaeologist believed that he had recognised in the 
 sculpturings which came under his observation maps of the 
 surrounding district, the cups and dots, in his idea, indicating 
 the mountain peaks. This theory is very similar to that held by 
 some Irish antiquarians, of which the late Right Reverend 
 Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick, was the exponent, viz. : — 
 " That these markings were maps, or rude plans, pointing out 
 the locality and characteristics of the old circular forts in the 
 neighbourhood of the sculpturings." The conjecture that these 
 Irish carvings were primitive maps appeared to be a fanciful one ; 
 however, the Bishop having examined and re-examined the 
 subject, came to the conclusion that his theory was correct, 
 that the centre of the circles and the neighbouring cups and 
 dots arranged themselves, generally three by three, in straight 
 lines, or approximately so, and that the ancient raths marked on 
 the Ordnance Survey maps appear, to some extent, to be also 
 arranged, three by three, in straight lines. 
 
 It has also been suggested that these circles were intended to 
 represent shields. This seems inconsistent with the fact that 
 the same rock surface presents so many circular symbols of 
 different sizes, varying from the small shallow cup of an inch or 
 two in diameter to the group of concentric circles two feet 
 across. 
 
 It has also been advanced that these circles were intended to 
 serve as moulds in which metal rings might be cast, or for the 
 purpose of playing some game, but the- first theory is decisively 
 negatived by the fact that circles occur on rock surfaces which 
 are not, and never have been, horizontal, and in the second 
 place, the objection to the first theory holds good as to the 
 second theory, and combined with the great dissimilarity wliich 
 exists between the figures on the same and on dilferent stones 
 renders the explanation uiitcnnble.
 
 17(^ .]/.! .V .IS .1 ry//()A'. ./A'/y.sv; sccli'ior. 
 
 tSonu' have luizanltMl ilu' opinion lluil these uiarkings indi- 
 cated places for Druidical sacritice.s, or for the practice of magic 
 or necromancy, or that tliey were emblems of the philosophical 
 views of the Druids, or symbolic enumeration of tribes or families, 
 or a species of archaic writing. Against all these theories, 
 there is the objection that the nuu'i<ings have never been found 
 in coiniexion with characters that we, nowadays, could, by any 
 possil)ility, construe as any form of writing, alphabetical, pictorial, 
 or otherwise. 
 
 It is impossible to view these markings, so strangely similar 
 and so mysterious, spread over almost the entire globe, without 
 again and again repeating the questions, by whom were they 
 made, and what is their significance? If they were merely 
 ornamental, and some of them, no doubt, may be fairly so 
 described, they are interesting on account of their catholicity 
 and of their family likeness, but there is probably a meaning 
 attached to them which is not so easily deciphered. Whoever 
 their carvers w^ere, and wherever they lived, it is beyond question 
 that for considerable periods they must have inhabited almost 
 every known country in the world. The absence of any definite 
 arrangement in the position of the cups, and the recurrence of 
 the same monotonous figures, cups, dots, rings, and grooves, 
 repeated again and again, with hardly any variation in detail, or 
 tendency to develop into more ornamental forms, have been 
 accounted for by the supposition that they were executed one by 
 one, at different times, most probably by different individuals. 
 With regard to no advance being made beyond the cup, dot, 
 ring, and groove, it may be further suggested that they were 
 well recognised and stereotyped symbols, frequently repeated, 
 and specially adapted to some ceremonial rite. The idea that 
 circles were connected with nature-worship has been dismissed 
 by some on account of the apparent absence of much well- 
 marked resemblance, but conventional figurings still employed 
 in the east, especially in India, for nature-worship, bear, in many 
 cases, but the faintest traces of wliat they are intended to 
 represent.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL TUOHLKMS. 
 
 The problems of the Ice Age — The Rude Stone Monuments — Of an ancient 
 Pagan Literature — "Was Early Man a Musician : — Whence came Amber 
 Ornaments ? — "Whence came Jet Ornaments ? — "Whence came Glass Orna- 
 ments ?— The ancient Pearl Fisheries— The origin of Gold Ornaments — The 
 date of the Introduction of Iron — The true Origin of certain Antiques — The 
 date of the tirst Foundation of a Central Authority in Ireland. 
 
 As we have already seen, the surface of Irehmd has been again 
 and again subjected to the grinding action of land ice, as well as 
 to the destructive agency of sea ice and of the sea. It is possible, 
 therefore, that the great southern fauna of Britain and rude flint- 
 using man may have been contemporaries in Ireland, but if so, 
 glaciers, sea ice, and the waves and currents of the ocean have, 
 as far as we know, obliterated the evidence of their presence. If 
 at a later date the climate again became Glacial, the great Irish 
 Big Horn and the reindeer could, at certain periods, migrate from 
 North Britain to Ireland across the land connexion or the frozen 
 sea. Terminal glaciers and floating ice were depositing, on the 
 bed of the shallow sea, rocks and boulders, many of which were 
 utilized long ages afterwards by flint-using man in the construc- 
 tion of rude stone receptacles for the dead, and rivers of ice were 
 scooping out the valleys and moulding those features in the land- 
 scape with Avhich we are so familiar. We seem to view the fall 
 and hear the loud resounding crash of avalanches from the 
 mountain heights ; we gaze on a landscape enveloped in an icy 
 shroud; we behold enormous glaciers with unseen, but neverthe- 
 less irresistible motion, creeping down the mountain flanks 
 beneath a dimmed sunlight flickering on the surface of the pallid 
 snow, and we perceive that we are in the presence of a frozen 
 death enthroned triumphant on the frost-bound land. 
 
 The majority of persons who are whirled through the little 
 valley or ^ap in the range of the Ox mountains at Carrieknagat, 
 six miles from the town of Sligo, comfortably seated in a railway 
 carriage, would receive, with a smile of incredulity, the infoi'ma- 
 tion that the heights on either hand owe their present appearance
 
 172 SOA//-: ARCI/.EOI.OCICA/. rRiViLEMS. 
 
 to tlie iiction of ice. The valley is covered with verdure, two 
 considerable villages nestle in its embrace, cows and sheep graze 
 on the fertile soil, yet there is not a square foot of the area 
 but was formerly buried beneath an incalculable depth of ice. 
 Look at the metamorphic rock-masses which fni-m the flank of 
 the mountains. 1''hoir ridges are not sharp and covered with 
 asperities, but, on the contrary, they are rounded and smoothed 
 in an extrnordinary manner, so that tlu; polislied surfaces they 
 present resemble the appearance presented by the backs of a 
 closely packed flock of sheep. This planing has been carried out 
 by an immense glacier or ice sheet which filled the valley, took 
 possession of the entire country between Ballysodai'e and Sligo, 
 and pushed its enormous ice masses westward into the Atlantic 
 (fig. GO), This was the huge engine which rounded the rocks; 
 this was the mighty ploughshare which cut the deep furrows in 
 the solid rock of the mountain side, for this powerful tool could 
 not act continuously, during the incalculable period occupied by 
 the Great Ice Age. without ])rofoundly modifying the structuie of 
 the prominences against which it pix'ssed. 
 
 We must picture to ourselves Ireland in general, and the 
 west coast in particular, as another Greenland, its sea-loughs 
 tilled with icebergs, derived from the glaciers that occupied the 
 adjacent valleys, those in turn supplied from the great ice sheet 
 that covered the island — ice not at rest, but slowly and surely 
 grinding its way onwards towards the sea through the pressure of 
 its ever moving mass. In this manner the metamorphic rocks, 
 found scattered over the Carrowmore district near Sligo, have 
 been carried several miles towards the north-west, for such is the 
 direction in which the ice-markings trend in this part of the 
 country. These rocks had fallen at intervals from the cliffs of the 
 Ox mountains, on to the then existing glaciers, which bore them 
 onward, depositing them where they are now found resting on the 
 Carboniferous Limestone, erratic specimens of this "metamorphic 
 ridge," as the Ox range of mountains is termed by geologists. 
 The huge " travelled blocks " of limestone found sit Moytirra, an 
 elevated district also in the county Shgo, did not journey far 
 from the parent rock, and since reaching their present position 
 have weathered into masses more or less irregular, fewer in num- 
 ber, but, in general, of vastly greater size than the more travelled 
 and harder, yet rounder boulders of Carrowmore. Few places in 
 the British Isles exhibit the extreme effects of glaciation better 
 tlinn parts of the county Sligo. 
 
 The stratum of stilf clay in which polished or striated 
 boulders lie embedded, beds of stratified sands and gravels 
 associated with this stiff clay, smoothed, rounded and polished 
 old I'ock' surfaces like fliosc \\\ Cai'ricknagat just noticed, ancient
 
 171 SOAIF. ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. 
 
 excavated lake basins, as at Lough (iill, near Sligo, banks of 
 boulders and debris blocking up the ends of valleys, erratic 
 boulders perched on mountain sides or scattered over plains 
 (fig. Gl), all bear corroborative and cumulative evidence to the 
 intensity and vast duration of a Great Ice Age, be it of Polar ice 
 or of enormously extended local glaciers. The Glacial Age, how- 
 ever, did not, as we have seen, comprise only one period of con- 
 tinuous and intense cold, but a prolonged time, during which 
 there Avere several alterations in temperature, the ice at one 
 period increasing and advancing ovei' the surface of the land, at 
 auotlicr retiring as the climate auu'liorated ; yet, after each 
 advance, contracting beyond its oi'iginal base, and retreating at 
 length to the highest mountains ; then finally disappearing. Thus 
 a change, considerably for the better, came over the scene of 
 desolation, and the Hora and fauna of more temperate climes 
 overspread the country. With this change of climate polished 
 flint-using man makes his entry. 
 
 Very gradually, but surely, Ave are bringing to light evidence 
 which will ultimately form the basis of the true history of the 
 land. At present the work is but at its inception, but in a few 
 years we shall be able to realise and recall this hoary past almost 
 in its entirety. The fragmentary facts which we at present 
 possess have been slowly and painfully accumulated. l^hey 
 supply us, however, with a foundation upon which future scholars 
 nuiy build a theory, possibly one of greater accuracy and detail 
 than we now dare hope for. More clear and undisputed facts 
 must be collected, the evidence of geology and archjeology given 
 each its due weight, the opinions of individual scholars and 
 investigators examined and tested, and finally a theory elaborated 
 such as will account for the facts, framing from all a consistent 
 whole. For along time there must doubtless be many competing 
 theories, but one and another will succumb to the attacks of 
 objectors, and finally, by a kind of "survival of the fittest," we 
 may hope to gain a fair approxinuition of the truth. 
 
 Of the history of the far-back jnist, few pages have been so 
 little read, and yet not one is as full of important and deeply 
 interesting lore as tliat which describes the sepulchres of the 
 dead. The tombs have been rudely torn open by the hands of 
 the spoiler or of the idly curious ; but how seldom have they been 
 scientilically examined '? It reflects but little credit on archasol- 
 ogists that no systematic attempt has ever yet been made to 
 read this page of Ireland's prehistoric annals. " Why have we 
 not a society established with such an object for its aim '? Wliy 
 not have a club of delvers, an exploration society, with its corps 
 of engineers, draughtsmen, and scientific observers, whose busi- 
 ness it should be to examine the primeval se])ulchres of the
 
 '■J 
 
 5 ^ 
 
 oei 
 
 pi to 
 
 
 o 5 
 
 oJ'O 
 
 3s
 
 176 SOME A RCH^-EOL OClL '. 1 1. /'R UBL EMS. 
 
 country, not idly, not irreverently, not as desultory diggers, but, 
 with due care, circumspection, and caution, noting down every 
 peculiarity, making accurate measurcil diawiugs, and depositing 
 in a central museum the crania, the aims, the implements, and 
 ornaments sure to be discovered in abundance ? Here is work 
 for energetic men to do, ay, good woi-K', too ! " Hall' a century 
 has passed since this was penned by the late Eev. James Graves. 
 How little has been done ! 
 
 The anatomist endeavours to extract Iroiii death the secret of 
 life ; the arclneologist essays to extract from the long entombed 
 the secret of the past. If many relics of antiquity are silent, 
 others are eloquent of the history of bygone times, and recount, 
 in unmistakeable language, the customs and ideas of the race to 
 whicli tliey belonged. For instance, the erection of rude-stone 
 monuments demonstrates that, at the time of their formation, 
 the aborigines had, in certain localities, if not throughout the 
 entire country, acquired the habit of working in concert, and 
 that they were under strict discijjline, which is the basis of all 
 regulated society. ]\Iassive rude-stone monuments erected — not 
 over every member of the tribe or family, but— to preserve the 
 memory of noted persons, demonstrate that their architects had 
 an established standard of pre-eminence. A clue to the dignity 
 of the deceased, as well as to the numerical strength of the 
 assembly by which the table-stone was raised, is, to some extent, 
 but qualified by geological surrounding conditions, afforded by 
 the magnitude of the blocks forming the monument. 
 
 What Ireland was it will never be again. Once it was the 
 scene of cannibalism, of fetish worship, and of slavery ; for, how- 
 ever humiliating the avowal may be to our national pride, it 
 niust be admitted that in the earliest period of his existence man 
 in Ireland (as elsewhere) was scarcely distinguishable from the 
 brute creation ; and from the evidence producible it is almost 
 impossible not to accuse large portions of the aboriginal popula- 
 tion of habitual cannibalism. The Augean stable has been 
 cleansed, the relics of the barbarous past are being gradually 
 removed, not suddenly, as by the pent-up waters of the Alpheus, 
 not by the teachings of Christianity alone, but by the spread of 
 k)K)wledge, and by the order of ever-increasing civilization. 
 
 AVbihi it is true that the designs on cinerary urns and gold 
 ornaments which have been brought to light, and which arc 
 classiiied as belonging to the I're-historic Age, prove the existence 
 of a genuine, though somewhat elementary, sense of beauty, yet 
 there is nothing, either in material or literary renuiins, to support 
 the assertion of the monastic chroniclers as to the glories of the 
 Green Isle of the West at the time when the first missionaries 
 began their attempt to convert the people to Christianity. But
 
 RUDE STOXE MONUMENTS 177 
 
 the recognition of the true state of things in ancient Ireland is 
 very far from detracting anything from the solid worth of St. 
 Patrick's (or the three St. Patricks') achievements, or from the 
 honour due to those Irishmen who developed a special school of 
 sacred sculpture, furnished missionaries for the evangelization of 
 Britain, and for the propagation of the faith on the Continent, 
 llie description of the ancient glories of Erin, as given hy the 
 school of enthusiastic historians, may be compared to the mirage 
 of the desert, the mere reflection of distant scenes, and the 
 phantasmagoria of Roman and Eastern civilization, which the 
 writers, imagining it ought to have existed, finally depicted as if 
 actually existing, but now, 
 
 "... like the baseless fabric of this vision, 
 The cloud-cappM towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 
 The solemn temples 
 
 shall dissolve, 
 
 And like this insubstantial pageant faded. 
 Leave not a rack behind." 
 
 Historical and archaeological sentiment is a fairy-like lichen, 
 which grows so luxuriously in the works of Irish writers as 
 to completely veil the real structure on which it flourishes. 
 Admitting even that these rhapsodies were true, they would only 
 be descriptive of a small and polished portion of the population, 
 not of the vast bulk of the inhabitants. 
 
 It is, indeed, of little use to argue regarding the probability or 
 improbability of the former existence of a state of high civiliza- 
 tion in Ireland such as is presupposed by these amiably disposed 
 writers. At present there is not a scintilla of evidence in favour 
 of such a high and ancient civilization. As there is no evidence 
 for it, or at best it is most absurdly insufhcient, we should reject 
 the theory. If evidence be at any future time produced, it is easy 
 to again advance the theory on its merits. As the writer has 
 elsewhere observed, we should strive to be honest and unbiassed. 
 Supposing that we did not possess the fanciful Irish Annals, how 
 would the story of Irish archaeology, history, religion, and folk- 
 lore have been written ? Where are the inscriptions engraven in 
 bronze, marble, or the solid rock, setting forth the acts of kings 
 and their conquests with all the pomposity of barbaric pride, 
 such as have been left by the rulers of the Eastern and Western 
 Emi)ires ? Where are there traces of the temples of the gods '.' 
 
 The civilization of a nation may, to a certain extent, be 
 gauged by the architectural outcome of its religion ; up to the 
 present time no authenticated remains of any .temples, or religious 
 edifices of the ancient Irish can be pointed to. A fierce and 
 warlike race, who raised huge rude stone monuments to the
 
 ITS SOJ//-: ARC/Ll-A)LOGICAL JUiOBLKM S. 
 
 honour of their chiefs, appeal- lo have erected these memorials to 
 coDimemorate their dead, and the worship of a deity or deities 
 in nowise entered the imagination of their huilders, though in 
 after times, the dead hecame, to a certain extent, deified. 
 Ahhough the ancient inhabitants, at this stage of human 
 existence in Erin, were doubtless somewhat removed from what 
 we would regard as mere savagery ; yet, the architectural 
 remains which they have left do not exhibit traces of tlie high 
 culture and civilization claimed for them by many enthusiastic 
 writers. 
 
 Where are llieir rciiniiiis of ancient cities? Where are their 
 relics of a highly relined '.ionicstic life '.' We ))ossess many asser- 
 tions as to the past glories of the laud, but these assertions are 
 not supported by discoveries of material remains. Tt is clear that 
 when the East was at the height of its civilization our ancestors 
 were mere savages, and were but little better in later times when 
 Home was at the zenith of her glory. 
 
 Why make ourselves ridiculous to present-day culture by 
 seeking to place the past of ancient Erin on an eminence which 
 existed merely in the imagination of early Monkish chroniclers. 
 The late Professor T. II. Huxley, who certainly cannot be 
 accused of partiality on such a subject, i.e., that of " Monkish 
 chroniclers," observes that : — "We follow the evil example set us, 
 not only by Bacon, but by almost all the men of the Renaissance, 
 in pouring scorn upon the work of our immediate spiritual fore- 
 fathers, the school-men of the Middle Ages. It is accepted as 
 a truth which is indisputable that for seven or eight centuries 
 a long succession of able men — some of them of transcendent 
 acuteness and encyclop;edic knowledge — devoted lives to the 
 grave discussion of mere frivolities, and to the arduous pursuit of 
 intellectual will-o'-the-wisps." 
 
 The term " Monkish chroniclers " is therefore to be under- 
 stood as used in no invidious sense ; it is merely employed to 
 describe a special school of writers, and it is not intended that 
 any oiliuiii t/wolofjicion should be implied. At the same time it 
 must be acknowledged that, if the Pagans possessed a literature, 
 it would have been better, for present-day students, had that 
 literature come down to our days intact. A general assertion, 
 continually made by ecclesiastical, and indeed by many lay 
 writers, is that, but for the inonks, there would not have been 
 any history of ancient times handed down to our day. If, how- 
 ever, it be granted, according to the standpoint of these writers, 
 that the country possessed a literature prior to the arrival of the 
 Christain missionaries, surely the Pagan priesthood were quite 
 capable of continuing its custody and attending to its accretions ; 
 but they were disestablished and disendowed, and the pen was
 
 A AXVE^^I' FA GA .V L ITER. I Tl ^R E. 179 
 
 torn from their grasp by the propagators of tlie new faith. If, 
 on the other hand, literature and writing were only introduced 
 into the kingdom along with Christianity, it must be at once 
 admitted that the monks were the true and only custodians of 
 literature. The admission, however, dissolves the basis on which 
 rests the alleged glories of ancient Erin. 
 
 Let us bring simple common sense into play, and not acquiesce 
 in statements solely because they appear in Irish .aiss. of a by no 
 means ancient date — records such as that of the peopling of 
 Ireland before the Flood, of the total extinction of this race who 
 yet left behind them a record of the event, and the thousand and 
 one other absurdities which it is considered unpatriotic not to 
 believe. In treating of the past of ancient Erin a writer must 
 neither cave for nor be influenced by public opinion, and must be 
 a thoroughgoing " hunter after truth." He must follow the 
 advice given by Cicero to the historian : — " Let him not dare to 
 say anything that is false, nor fear to say what is true." And 
 again : — " The day Avill come when time and the diligence of later 
 ages will bring to light things wdiich now lie concealed ; the day 
 will come when our posterity will wonder that we were ignorant 
 of things so evident." 
 
 Many writers seem to have perceived, at any rate in part, the 
 origin of civilization in Ireland, but although vague allusions to 
 the real facts are, here and there, dropped by them, they appear 
 to have been restrained from plainly expressing their opinions by 
 the dread of incurring the odium of a supposed national historical 
 heterodoxy. 
 
 Some problems it is impossible to investigate too minutely ; 
 and among these, few are of more general interest than those 
 Avhich relate to the origin and development of civilization. 
 Could we catch a glimpse of the remote past, we should probably 
 find that many primitive progressive advancements were the out- 
 come of accident. Primitive man stumbled upon a discovery 
 and had wisdom enough to profit by it ; modern man, on the 
 other hand, starts with a definite idea in view, and carefully 
 experiments for its realisation. This is the secret of the slow- 
 advances of culture in ancient days, and of its cumulative pro- 
 gress when resulting, not from mere accident, but from well- 
 directed brain-work. The rate of progress increasing thus at 
 <!ver accelerating speed, the day when all attainable knowledge 
 shall have been acquired by man may not be so very remote, unless 
 the present unsolved problems of science are practically infinite. 
 The unceasing toil of life is a perpetual grim struggle, in which, 
 with each success, something is being continually gained for 
 future generations. Whether we will or not, we must, for our 
 own sakes, improve the world for succeeding generations ; the 
 
 N 2
 
 IHO SOA//': . \ A'< 7A /tO/. Oiili \ 1 /. / 'AV V.V. EMS. 
 
 dil'terence is that tlic niicii'iits did this unwittingly, we do it 
 wittingly. A\ luii avc look Itack upon the millions of years that 
 have elapsed since lite began on this globe, we can faintly realise 
 that, as time rolls by and the rate of human development increases, 
 the future will assuredly reveal untold wonders that will make 
 our present life appear as rude to those who follow after us, as 
 does the existence passed by our prehistoric ancestors appear to 
 us. Yet it is but a very superficial observer who regards the 
 past with contempt. It filled its sphere ; in its way it did its 
 a})]K)intcd work quite as effectively as does the pix'sent. The 
 initiation of any operation is most difficult, and instead of blam- 
 ing the slow but steady workers of the past, we should, on the 
 contrary, thank the men of the Eld a\1io laid the foundation of 
 all that has since been built ; for the man who first chipped a 
 flint must be regarded as the first of all sculptors ; the man who 
 first scratched the rude picture of a mammoth on the ))ones of 
 his quarry was tlie first of all artists ; the man who first piled 
 stones together to foi'in a rude earn over the corpse of one of his 
 family was the first of all builders ; and the man who first bored 
 a hole in a reindeer's bone to make a whistle, or twanged 
 the stretched sinews of his bow-string, was the first of all 
 musicians. 
 
 \Ye know that primitive man chipped flints, carved designs 
 on bone, and erected earns, but whether or not he was acquainted 
 with music is a question to which the reply might be thought 
 to rest only on surmise, for no relics of stone have as yet come 
 to light that could by any ingenuity be construed as forming 
 either part or the whole of a musical instrument. Not only, 
 however, has there been one Orpheus, but many Orpheuses in 
 the world's history ; musical mythology teems with legends of 
 musical geniuses, so that their multiplicity may be said to pre- 
 sent an effectual bar to a successful attempt at scientific explana- 
 tion. Whistles formed of the phalanges of reindeer have been 
 found in the ca^es of the Dordogne in France, in company with 
 bones of the rhinoceros and elephant, and other relics of times in 
 which only rude flint implements Avere used ; yet of nuisical 
 instruments, made of either stone or of bone, none of any 
 antiquity have, as yet, been found in Ireland. 
 
 It should be mentioned that the origin of the harp, as given 
 in an old Irish ws., differs from that forming the subject of 
 INIoore's song, i.e. : — 
 
 " 'Tis believed tlial (liis luiip, mIucIi 1 wake nuw for tliee, 
 Was a siren of old who sung under the sea ; 
 And who often at eve tluougli the brij^ht billows roved, 
 To meet, on the green sliore, a vouth whom she loved.
 
 TrA S EA RL Y MAX A MUSICIAN? 181 
 
 But she loved him in vain, for he left her to weep, 
 And in tears, all the night, her gold ringlets to steep, 
 Till heaven looked with pitj* on true love so warm, 
 And changed to this soft harp the sea-maiden's form. 
 
 Still her bosom rose fair, still her cheek smiled the same, 
 While her sea-heaiities gracefully curled round the frame, 
 And her hair shedding tear-drops from all its bright rings. 
 Fell over her white arms to make the gold strings." 
 
 In his celebrated picture Maclise depicts the siren with her 
 long tresses thrown over her arm, which rests on a straight 
 fragment of rock, so that her attitude represents the exact form 
 of the ancient Irish harp. 
 
 The other old Irish legend, before referred to, states that a 
 certain fair lady, overcome with aversion to her husband, fled 
 from him to the woods. Attracted one day by the murmur of 
 the wind as it sighed through the fins and skeleton of a sea- 
 monster which lay on the beach, she listened so long that she 
 was lulled to sleep by the weird music. Her husband found her, 
 and, noting the cause of her slumber, he formed the framework 
 of a harp from the branches of a neighbouring tree, to which 
 he attached strings made from the fins of the stranded whale. 
 This was the origin of the first harp. The tale is borrowed, with 
 but little disguise, from the classics. 
 
 Combs, formed of bone, are found amongst the earliest relics 
 of primitive civilization ; for, on a remote day in the world's 
 unwritten history, it struck some prehistoric beauty, as she con- 
 templated her reflection in the waters of some tranquil tarn, that 
 her tangled hair required moi'e orderly arrangement, and the 
 passage of her fingers through her matted locks was the initiatory 
 stage in the invention of the comb (figs. 62, 63). In the history 
 of inventions, Avoman has been almost invariably the originator 
 of all the peaceful arts of life, whilst man has been the initiator 
 in devising the means of killing his fellow-man, the inventor in 
 every murderous art. 
 
 in Ireland weapons, whether of Hint or bronze, were, in general, 
 of home manufacture. Gold was a product of the Wicklow moun- 
 tains. Silver in smaller quantities, and at a much later period, 
 appears to have been extracted from native ores ; but Irish silver 
 articles are not relics of Pagan times ; it will probably be yet found 
 that amber, jet, and glass ornaments were all made in our island. 
 Professor Huxley was of the same opinion with regard to the 
 Continent, and believed that every raw material " emi)loycd in 
 Europe up to the Pabi^o-metallic stage, is to be found within the 
 limits of Europe."
 
 J^lp 
 
 Fig. 63. 
 Ccn:b: from the Sites of Lake Towellings in tl'o West of Irelaml. Half real size.
 
 is; SOME ARCH.-KOJ.OaiCAL PROBLEMS. 
 
 Amber was employed in the fonnation ol' oriiameuts, such as 
 beads, dress-fasteners, rings, and bracelets ; the beads vary greatly 
 in size, from diminutive objects to those nearly three inches in 
 length. Many writeis allege that amber was not found in Ire- 
 land, it is ])ii'S(^>iit in a series of deposits only to be found in 
 Ireland neai' Lough Meagli. Both amber and jet are present in 
 (juantities about the southern shores of the Baltic, and some 
 writers are of opinion that ancient Irish objects of amber came 
 from thence. There also appears to be a small but continual 
 drift of this amber into the North Sen ; :ind amber found on the 
 east coast of England is considered to be of an extremely good 
 (|uality, as it must have been, to have survived its long journey. 
 From the evidence of numerous discoveries, it is thought that 
 there was, in prehistoric times, an amber trade from the north of 
 I'^urope to the Mediterranean. Also that the Greek tale of the 
 lleliades had its origin in northern hititudes, and that the Vistula, 
 where amber is found, is pointed to in the legend of the weeping 
 (laughters of the sun, whose tears are transformed into amber. 
 In Central Russia there is an earth amber, and a salt sea must 
 have been there in very remote times, as tiny bubbles of salt 
 water have been discovered on cutting it open for purposes of 
 manufiicture. In it the scent of the brine has been hermetically 
 sealed up for vast geological feons, in the same way that the scent 
 of the pine-forest remains a permanent characteristic of amber in 
 general. However this may be, it is highly probable that, from 
 remote antiquity, a trade in amber existed between the shores of 
 the Baltic and other parts of Europe. Its first discovery by 
 savage man was, in all likelihood, owing to its being loosened 
 from its native bed in the sands of the seashore and flung by the 
 waves upon the beach. Primitive man soon learnt to smooth 
 and polish these lumps ; for on the Continent, in interments of 
 the Stone Age, some instances are found where amber ornaments 
 are laid in tlie grave with the dead ; in the Bro)ize Age the use 
 of amber became common. Early commerce, if the term be 
 applicable to svich primitive traffic, is based, as a rule, not on the 
 interchange of useful products but on barbaric geegaws, much 
 in the same way as, in the present day, barter is carried on 
 between European traders and wild tribes of Central Africa, 
 h^verything seems to point out that, in primeval times, man 
 possessed rudimentary commercial instincts, and collected objects 
 which possessed to him what to uswould he designated a pecuniary 
 value, and hoarded them most probably for purposes of exchange. 
 The subject of ancient commerce in andjcr is of great 
 interest ; for, if the extent of that commerce and its routes could 
 l)e well defined, much that is at present obscure in the early 
 unwritten history of the inhabitants of the British Isles would
 
 / MBKR ORXA MEXTS. 
 
 185 
 
 ■^Vtti^ 
 
 Fig. 04. 
 
 Amber Bead, with Ogham In- 
 scription. Full size. Repro- 
 duced from the Journal of 
 the present Society of .Anti- 
 quaries ot Ireland. 
 
 become clear. An amber bead, witb an ogbam inscription, 
 Avas for many generations in tbe possession of a family named 
 O'Connor in the county Clare. It 
 was used as an amulet for the cure 
 of sore eyes, and was also believed to 
 insure safety to pregnant women in their 
 hour of trial. After many vicissitudes it 
 came into the possession of Lord Londes- 
 borough. The following is one of the 
 readings of this curious inscription, but 
 it must, in all candour, be stated that 
 it does not appear to be the true trans- 
 lation : A Taladh iiino, i.e. "At a 
 woman's delivery" (fig. 64). 
 
 Prior to the year 1848 very handsome 
 rosaries, composed of amber beads, were 
 not uncommon in West Galway and the 
 barony of Burren, county Clare. During 
 the years of the famine many of these 
 rosaries were sold to collectors, but a few 
 still remain in use, 
 The attractive or electric properties of amber early invited 
 attention (Ezekiel i. 4); and the rubbing of a piece of amber 
 evoked, to use Faraday's words, "an invisible agent which has 
 done for mankind far more wonderful things than the genii of 
 Aladdin did or could have done for him." Worn round the neck 
 in the shape of beads, amber was thought to ward off disease, it 
 was also dissolved and used as a medicine. Many other super- 
 stitions relating to it could be given. The Finns and Lapps 
 believe, like the Irish peasantry, that ambei' cures rheumatism, 
 neuralgia, and other ailments. 
 
 Jet appears to have been extensively employed in the manu- 
 facture of decorative objects, principally necklace-beads, dress- 
 fasteners, large rings, and bracelets. In the year 12G0 Bartho- 
 lomew Angelicus, an English Fransciscan, states that jet was 
 found in Ireland. -let may occur in other places in the kingdom, 
 but it certainly was obtained from tlie coal-measures of Ballycastle, 
 county Antrim. A sample of an early specimen from this locality 
 is in the Dublin Museum. In the year 1770 miners in the 
 Ballycastle collieries broke into an old working, and on entering 
 they were astonished to find a complete gallery, supported by 
 pillars, branching into various chambers. Here lay the remains 
 of baskets and other appliances of the ancient workmen, but all, 
 on being touched, crumbled to dust. 
 
 Witb the ancients, jet was held in peculiar value, as it was 
 supposed by them, according to Pliny, to possess the power of
 
 186 so^/E ARCTTA'.oLOGJCAr. rRnju.K.}rs. 
 
 banishing noxious serpents. Bede also describes jet as bavin;.;- 
 the po^vcr, when burnt, of driving away snakes, and that wben 
 warmed bv f I'iction it possessed tbe attractive properties of amber. 
 It sliould. however, be pointed out that I'edo's account is evi- 
 d<'iillv uh'ItIv ciipicd IVdiii tliat of Soliiius. 
 
 if not a variely of coal, jet presents a strange ailinity to it. It 
 has the appearance of having been, long ages ago, a gummy 
 semi-liquid mass ; for as insects of remote geological a^ons are 
 seen in amber, so foreign substances are found eml)rd(lcd in 
 pieces of jet, and crevices in the roclc are often filled wilh it, as 
 though it had poured into them when in a liiiuid stale. 
 
 'I'here is a description of natural glass, generally found in 
 volcanic centres, called obsidian, usually of a black colour and 
 opaque, except in thin splinters. This material was used by the 
 Egyptians and liomans in the formation of small artistic vessels. 
 ''J'he art of fabricating the glass of commerce reaches back to 
 such an early date that its origin is absolutely lost. Pliny 
 recounts the tale, known to all schoolboys, how a ship returning 
 from Egypt with a cai'go of soda was cast away on the coasts of 
 Palestine, and liow the shipwrecked crew, when cooking their 
 food over a lire niadi' on the shore, found afterwards, under the 
 cinders, glass formed by the action of the heat upon the alkali 
 and the sand. As far as present information tends, it seems to 
 have been in Egypt or Assyria that the earliest glass was manu- 
 factured. In the British Museum there is a bead bearing hiero- 
 glyphics by which it is computed that it was made about 24U0 b.c. 
 
 There is one form of glass ornament which is found chiefly, if 
 not, indeed, exclusively, in Ireland, made of green vitrified 
 porcelain or o[)a,que glass, in shape somewhat like a dumbbell. 
 Though, doubtless, glass beads were first introduced from the 
 Continent, or from Great Britain, as a means of barter, yet traces 
 of continental influence are not so very perceptible as might be 
 imagined ; the trade of making them probably spread quickly 
 over the counti'y, and thus originated varieties of the introduced 
 patterns. 
 
 Tacitus mentions that pearls were found on the coast of 
 Britain. Hedc, (piotnig apparently from Solinus, says that 
 excellent specimens were found in the British seas, varying in 
 colour, though principally wliite. hi Ireland pearls seem to 
 have been formeidy plentiful, and many rivers were celebrated for 
 the quantities found in them. A writer of the seventeenth century 
 states that the pearls of the river Slaney, " though not abundant, 
 are yet excellent." Sir Bobert Reading, in the year 1G88, drew 
 attention to the structure and colour of Irish pearls, and records 
 that the river ]>ann was famous for its pearl fishery. The 
 connuoii met hod then in [)ractice of i)rocuring fresh-Avater
 
 JET AXD CLASS ORXAM EX'J'S^I'KA RLS. 1^7 
 
 mussels, in slmpe and colour like sea mussels, ^vas very simple. 
 In the warm summer months, Avhen the river was low and 
 the water clear, the county people waded in the stream and 
 gathered the shells, of such size that they were used, by the 
 poor, as a substitute for spoons. In two works published at the 
 close of the eighteenth century, this pearl fishery is again men- 
 tioned. In Smith's "History of Cork," pearls are stated to have 
 been found in one of its rivers. O'Conor, in his " Prolegomena," 
 mentions that Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick, writing to St. Anselm, 
 who had consecrated him, says that "he had sent him pearls 
 as a slight token of respect." Pearls are still found, in small 
 quantities, in fresh-water mussels, in a few of the Galway rivers, 
 in various streams in Tyrone and Donegal, as well as in several 
 other localities. Should these pearl fisheries of Ireland be again 
 started, to the mussel-gatherers may be addressed the Kelpie's 
 refrain, which so perturbed the sacristan of St. Mary's as he 
 took with her his moonlight swim : — 
 
 " Good luck to j-onr tishing." 
 
 Gold antiquities, rightly considered, are historical documents 
 of the most valuable description, for, with proper study, they will 
 help to elucidate and extend our knowledge of the arts, crafts, and 
 general state of civilization of what is, at present, a very obscure 
 period in the history of ancient Erin. With regard to gold, it is 
 stated that there is no European comitry in which such a number of 
 ancient personal ornaments of this precious metal liave been found 
 as in Ireland. Hoards of broken and fractured bronze implements 
 bear witness to interrupted preparations for re-casting, and col- 
 lections of secreted gold ornaments, twisted and contorted, 
 suggest a like purpose. Scattered broadcast over the country, it 
 would also appear that, in many instances, gold articles were 
 hidden in haste, possibly at a time when the foe pressed hotly at 
 the heels of the vanquished. In ancient days mother earth was 
 the only bank to Avhich owners confided their gold. Even 
 now-a-days we know that the best bank is a bank of earth, as it 
 rarely refuses to discount honest labour, and the best share 
 is the ploughshare, on which dividends are generally liberal. It 
 would be impossible to say how much wealth lies hid in primitive 
 man's ancient bank, for all kinds of ornaments still remain 
 concealed, and that, most probably, in the strangest and most 
 unobtrusive spots. One discovery of an antique occurred on the 
 site of a long-used dunghill which had been scraped rather more 
 deeply than usual. Axirv.m e stercnre. Other objects have been 
 occasionally brought to light under almost equally strange cir- 
 cumstances, for a beautiful torque was scratched out of the soil 
 by a fox in making a fresh earth.
 
 188 SUM K ARCTIJEOLOGTCAI. PROBLIUfS. 
 
 Belief in buried treasiu-e is universal throughout Ireland. 
 Until lately the majority of old pagan funeral urns were broken 
 into fragments by the irate discoverers ; irate for this reason : — 
 it was, and still is, in some parts of the country, a popular belief 
 amongst the peasantry that the bones and charcoal contained in 
 the vessels were in reality golden coin and ornaments belonging 
 to the "good people," or fairies, and that they returned to gold 
 during the night, but if watched with proper precautions and 
 ceremonies, the fairy gold at daybreak would still remain gold. 
 On failure of the incantations, the disappointment of the finder 
 generally found expression in the fracture of the vase, and the 
 scattering of its contents. The proverb, u.vQpaKf.<i o 6i]aavf)o<; 
 Tr€(f>i]i'ev, i.f. " our treasure turned out to be charcoal," appears to 
 demonstrate that the deceitfulness of " fairy gold " was a current 
 delusion amongst the ancient Greeks. The superstition is of 
 undoubted Eastern origin. In a description of the excavations 
 carried on in the mound of Tell-el-Hesy, supposed to be the site 
 of the ancient city of Lackish, the explorer recounts how he was 
 waited upon by a deputation from the workmen, consisting of 
 Arabs and Fellaheen, and begged not to any further bewitch the 
 " tell " or hill. " You come to a ' tell ' that is full of gold and 
 treasure, and bewitch them into the form of potsherds. Then 
 you dig out the potsherds, take them to your own country, undo 
 the spell, and they turnback to gold and treasure." The Bedouin 
 also believe that immense treasures were concealed by King 
 Solomon baneath the foundation of the city of Palmyra, in the 
 subterranean passages under Jerusalem — in fact, almost every- 
 where, committed to the care of evil spirits, which still watch 
 over them. When the Arabs, therefore, see Europeans exploring 
 among ruins, they believe them to be in search of these hidden 
 riches, and, if employed as labourers, claim beforehand their 
 share in the find. T. Crofton Croker gives an amusing account 
 of having, in the year 1814, come upon nearly a hundred peasants 
 at work on the side of a hill called " Castle Treasure," so named 
 from pieces of wrought gold having from time to time been found 
 there. The exertions of the gang, employed in uprooting and 
 turning over the rocks and boulders with which the surface of 
 the ground Avas covered, were under supervision of a tall female 
 wrapped in a ragged cloak, who with a long pole pointed now here, 
 now there, and whose motions were implicity obeyed by the move- 
 ment of tlie labourers towards the spot indiented. This witch said 
 she had dreamed, three nights in succession, of a great treasui'e 
 which lay beneath the surface of the field, and for a given quan- 
 tity of toi)acco and whiskey had engaged to point it out to her 
 neighbours, being afraid to undertake the search without plenty 
 of company, for tlie treasure wasguardcd by a fiery dragon. The
 
 THE ORIGIN UF GOLD ORXAMENTS. 189 
 
 country people had worked under the guidance of the woman for 
 three clays, but had found nothing to reward their exertions. Mr. 
 Croker's companion, greatly diverted by the scene, advised one of 
 the labourers, instead of searching for gold, to clear and manure 
 the ground, as under this treatment it would yield results as 
 good as if the crock of gold for which they were searching had 
 l)een discovered. The strange part of the story ij that this man, 
 takiiig him at his word, rented the farm, and suddenly became 
 rich ; subsetjuently he gave his adviser a circular piece of gold, 
 artistically ornamented, evidently of great antiquity. Several 
 other articles, formed of precious metal, were traced to his hands, 
 and it is therefore evident that it was not entirely owing to the 
 returns of agricultural outlay that the farmer became a man of 
 wealth and importance in the district. 
 
 At the foot of Cope's Mountain, near Sligo, to the west of the 
 road leading from the town to Glencar, and in the townland of 
 Drum, there are the remains of a rude stone sepulchral monu- 
 ment, which not many years ago narrowly escaped total oblitera- 
 tion. A countryman having dreamed twice successively that a 
 crock of gold was buried under the monument waited impatiently 
 for the dream to be repeated a third time, as this would have 
 completed the charm ; however, it never did recur, and conse- 
 quently the tomb escaped destruction. Another monument 
 closely adjoining was less fortunate. OAving to a legend, preva- 
 lent among the peasantry, that a chief of the O'Korkes had many 
 centuries ago concealed his treasures in this "Giant Grave" 
 previous to a great battle — in which both he and his favourite 
 henchman, who alone knew of the hoard, were killed — some 
 country people nearly demolished the monument. It is needless 
 to add no treasures were discovered. Avaricious gold dreamers, 
 by this means converted into gold seekers, have probably inflicted 
 more irreparable archjeological damage, particularly on these 
 interesting monuments, than the desecrating foreign enemy. The 
 burial of personal ornaments with people of distinction was 
 conformable to a usage of ancient times, both as regards Erin 
 as well as other countries. Traditions abound everywhere of 
 buried treasure, and the truth of these tales is sometimes 
 apparently corroborated by the discoveries of ornaments worn 
 during life by the occu]Dants of the grave. 
 
 Near the village of Clifibney are the remains of a "Giant's 
 Grave," presenting no feature of interest. No inducement could 
 prevail on the tenant to alloAV of an excavation. He and his 
 father before him, he stated, refused to do so, although "untold 
 gold " had been offered. However, some few days afterwards, 
 having occasion to verify the compass bearings of the monument, 
 a retiu-ii to the spot was necessitated, when it Ijecame evident
 
 1 90 .VCJ/A A R ( 7/^7: a L 0G7CA 7. 7Ui 07}7^7^J7S. 
 
 that, in the iutcrval, the grave had been dug out to a great 
 depth. In sliort, the suspicious yokel, imagining that the con- 
 templated search was for a croclv of gold, li;id (Ictcniiiiicd to 
 retain the treasure for himself. 
 
 In "Vestiges and lielics of Voughal," Edward Fitzgerald re- 
 counts a very similar instance of vandalism. Writing in the year 
 1858, lie states that : — " Of sepulchral mounds or cairns I lately 
 counted up eight in the neighbourhood of Castlemartyr, four of 
 ■which have been destroyed within a few years. One at Clasharinka, 
 about a mile north of Castlemartyr, was lately destroyed by 
 persons coming from a distance, hunting for money in it. The 
 farmer on the land told me that he thought, if there was money 
 to be got in it, he had the best right to it, iiiid when the last 
 pai'ly who came there left off their operations, he continued the 
 work until a large massive stone Avas discovered of about ten feet 
 diameter, oval-shaped, and about thirteen inches thick. This 
 stopped the digging for the time, but beneath the great stone he 
 was sure he had the gold. On getting some gunpowder this was 
 soon blown to fragments, revealing a stone cist or chest of about 
 seven feet by three, within which was a perfect human skeleton 
 in good preservation. This did not deter the money-hunter, for 
 the bones and chest were also dug out. But it was all to no 
 purpose, so the opening was again filled up, and is still to be seen 
 furze-grown and untilled. The farmer did not seem too well 
 pleased on being told that he had, in this way, been desecrating 
 the remains of one of his Celtic forefathers. Pointing across the 
 road, he said that three similar relics were destroyed there on the 
 Unds of Bally vourisheen, and lots of human renuiins found in 
 them." 
 
 The same w riter states that scores of wild legends are told of 
 a I''ornu)rian gi.int who died in the neighbourhood of Youghal 
 and had his treasure buried in his fort. He caused it to be so 
 guarded, that no person who dreamed of his hidden gold was 
 ever able to get at it. Many attempted it, but the adventurers 
 were generally frightened away by the appearance of a 
 huge cock that came flying into their faces, crowing and 
 flapping its wings in a wonderful manner. Others, moi'e 
 daring, held their ground on sight of this apparation, but 
 decamped on the advent on the scene of a monstrous bull. 
 Other still more doughty delvers persisted, until they were in 
 the act of lifting the huge flagstone which covered the giant's 
 treasure, when out rushed the owner, using language which 
 must not be repeated in polite society, and followed by a liery 
 blast that so scorched the diggers that they beat a hasty and very 
 undignified retreat. One time, however, a party more adventur- 
 ous than usual liold llieir ground, whereupon the cock and the
 
 THE ORKtIX of (rOLD ORXAMEXTS. 191 
 
 bull came to the <,naut's assistance, and drove away the gang of 
 treasure seekers in ignominous rout, and so ends this " Cock 
 and Bull Btory." 
 
 At the time of St. Patrick's mission to the Pagan Irish the 
 ladies of the period wore numerous gold ornaments, and a great 
 number were presented by the early converts as offerings to the 
 Church. St. Patrick, in his " Confessio," thus alludes to the 
 custom : — "I have endeavoured to be on my guard, even with 
 Christian brethren and virgins of Christ and religious women 
 who, of their own accord, used to bestow gifts upon me, and 
 to place their ornaments on the altar ; but I returned them again 
 to them." 
 
 Many Eastern women, of various nationaHties, still wear their 
 entire fortune on their persons, in the shape of gold coins and 
 ornaments. This is probably caused by the sense of security in an 
 unsettled state of society, imparted by palpable possession. It 
 has the additional advantage of enabling suitors to reckon up the 
 value, as well as to admire the objects of their affection. The 
 same idea also may, in olden days, have induced the ladies of 
 ancient Erin to carry about their fortunes on their persons, 
 though it is open to doubt if the poet Moore's lines correctly por- 
 tray the civilization then existing, and the honesty of the entire 
 population when a young woman's 
 
 " maiden smile 
 
 In safety lighted her round the green Ish-." 
 
 If, however, the lines depict the only clothing worn by her, 
 the pictuj-e drawn by the poet may probably Ije correct. 
 
 From the earliest period of mythical history witness is borne 
 to the abundance of gold in the country. One celebrated artificer, 
 it is stated, prosecuted his smelting labours in a locality generally 
 identified as one on the banks of the Liffey, on the borders of 
 Wicklow and Wexford, where native gold is still found. For 
 many years prior to 1 7!)5 gold had been found by the neighbour- 
 ing peasantry in the Ballinvally stream, a tributary of the Avoca, 
 and in two months preceding the occupation of the place by the 
 Government in 1796 no less than 2500 ounces of gold had been 
 washed. Besides the Wicklow district, there are other localities 
 in which gold in small quantities is stated to be present, namely, 
 in Wexford, Kildare, Tyrone, Antrim, and Derry. Gold was 
 found in a stream in the county Derry which falls into the north- 
 west corner of Lough Neagli. The country people who live in the 
 vicinity have a tradition corroborating this, but it has not been 
 ascertained if any gold has recently been found in the river-bed. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Mallet, in the year 1853, published the results of the 
 chemical examination of several ancient Irish gold ornaments.
 
 192 SOAIE ARCIIJEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. 
 
 unclevtaken in the expectation that the information thus ohtained 
 might he found of value in determininti; whether they were manu- 
 factured from native gold or from alloys artificially produced. 
 From the results ohtained hy the analysis it was concluded that 
 the prohahilities were somewhat in favour of the articles having 
 been nuide with artificially produced alloys, hut it is evident that 
 before anything very definite on the siihject can be written more 
 numerous experiments are requisite. Those recently made 
 coincide, to a great extent, with the assays of Mr. ^lallet. It 
 was apparent, however, that, in the more modern articles, com- 
 paratively large quantities of silver and copper occurred, it is 
 known that there are some natural alloys, and also that clectrum 
 was much used for ornaments and coins by the Romans, and 
 afterwards by the nations which imitated their arts. An artificial 
 as well as a natural electrum was also used by them. 
 
 The view taken by the late W. Frazer, I'-.r.c.s.i., respecting 
 the source of early gold ornaments found in Ireland was that 
 they are made of imported gold ; that the idea that gold was 
 ever found in Ireland is incorrect. He was of opinion that the 
 tlieory of its being native of the soil is chimerical — 
 
 '' like our Lageiiian iiiiiu-, 
 
 Where sparkles of golden splenflour 
 
 All over the surface shine ': 
 But. if in i)ursuit we go deeper 
 
 Allured by the gleam that shone, 
 Ah I false as the (h-eani of the sleeper. 
 
 Like Love, the bright ore is gone." 
 
 Dr. Frazer considered that the fabrication of early Irish 
 ornaments implies considerable metallurgic skill, and the pos- 
 session of means for smelting gold in ample quantity, and sub- 
 sequently manufacturing ornaments from it. He was of opinion 
 tliat the primitive inhabitants of these lands — before the advent 
 of the liomans, and Koman gold workers in Britain — had not the 
 necessary skill, and he asserted that Ireland is not a gold pro- 
 ducing land, its auriferous district a limited corner of the county 
 Wicklow, where it was accidentally found about one hundred 
 years ago and soon worked out. The great central limestone 
 plain, the extensive bogs, the gneissose rocks of Donegal, the 
 chalk measures of Antrim, the coal districts about Kilkenny, and 
 the sandstones of the south and west are incapable of yielding 
 gold, nor have other granite districts (except Wicklow) shown 
 traces of it. Thus almost the entire geologic formations of Ireland 
 are hopeless as gold fields. No one as yet has sought for it in 
 the quartz rocks, and it is doubtful if they contain even the 
 slightest trace of gold. But if it is present, all the skilled
 
 THE ORIGIX OF GOLD 0RXAME:^TS, 1!)8 
 
 appliances of modern civilization would be needful to pulverize 
 the rock and seek after the metal. 
 
 Again, according to the above authority, Wicklowgold difters 
 in composition and density from the gold found in Irish orna- 
 ments, being of inferior purity and specific gravity, whilst these 
 ornaments have a certain composition and gravity which 
 approximates to that of Koman aurei coined by Diocletian and 
 subsequently. Gold workers have found it convenient, when 
 making ornaments to melt down coin ; it is an easily available 
 source of metal, of known weight and recognised purity, and 
 when remelting it, the addition of a small amount of alloy, diffi- 
 cult to detect, compensates for possible loss and augments the 
 profit. From the uniformity of the gold in Irish ornaments there 
 is reason to believe it was so obtained. Furthermore, Dr. Frazer 
 believed it is evident from the weights of these Irish gold orna- 
 ments that they were fabricated from coins weighing 72 to 70 grains, 
 and such is the weight of Roman aurei from the time of Diocletian 
 to the fall of the Roman Empire. Amidst the vicissitudes of 
 coinage of silver and copper, gold was maintained at its recognised 
 standard and full Aveight. Any apparent exceptions amongst the 
 ornaments are explained by the recognised practice of employing 
 a variable number of coins, one, two, or more for making two, 
 three, live articles, and so on. 
 
 Great quantities of gold circulated in Roman Britain for pay- 
 ing the Legionaries and for purposes of commerce. So long as 
 Rome was supreme, invasions from Scotia and Caledonia Avere 
 repelled ; but from the time of Diocletian repeated devastations 
 reduced it to barbarism, and Celtic kingdoms were founded in 
 Cornwall, in Wales, and in North Britain. Britain was thoroughly 
 drained of its gold by these Celtic invaders, who, as coin was use- 
 less to them, had it converted into personal decorations. The 
 presence of gold ornaments in Scandinavia, a land unproductive 
 of gold, has been accounted for by their being made out of gold 
 brought in coin from Rome or from Byzantium. 
 
 To bring before the mind's eye of the reader the ordinary 
 processes used in the manufacture of gold ornaments, we must 
 take a look into the workshop of a craftsman of this early period. 
 The first operation of the workman was to try to melt the metal. 
 Coal was imknown, but charcoal, especially birclnvood charcoal, 
 generates a greater heat than coal, and birch being then plentiful, 
 it is almost certain that it was the fuel used in ancient, as it is 
 often in modern, times. A small furnace with an orifice at the 
 bottom, and some meians of producing a draught, would develop 
 the necessary heat, and the pot or crucible containing the gold 
 would be buried in the centre of the glowing mass of charcoal. 
 A mould cut in stone, or the impression of a model of tlie
 
 1!)1 SOM/-: ARCH.'EOLOGJCAL />R()BJ./-:AJS. 
 
 rt'quii'od form in soft blue clay, for that mat(>vial stands tlu> greatest 
 degree of heat, would, when baked, answer the purpose of casting 
 the ingot, and into this mould tbc gold would b(! poured. The 
 craftsman would now have a iiiccc' of gold somewliat near the 
 iiMpiired shape. But mere castings would not answer, as in this 
 eondition gold is of a porous and spongy nature, and requires 
 liannnering, and it has been remarked that most anci(>nt gold 
 ornaments are very close in the grain. Thus the only tools and 
 appliances necessary for the production of gold ornanunits were 
 a furnace, crucible, mould, Hux, luunmers, anvils, and tools for 
 producing concentric rings. 
 
 It is well to note thai no really ancient coin has as yet been 
 coiichisively proved to have been discovered in Ireland. Sir 
 William Betham alleged that Etruscan silver money liad been 
 found, but this assertion has never been authenticated. The 
 majority of coins are from Roman mints, and bear date about tlie 
 time of the break up of imperial rule in Great J5ritaiu. It is 
 certain that the Irish possessed no coined money, and liiere can 
 be little doubt but that, at a very late period, the precious metals 
 were amongst them, valued by weight as a circulating medium, 
 sometimes as ingots, possibly also in the form of rings ; hence, 
 probably, the frequent employment of the epithet " extractors of 
 rings," as applied to the northern invaders by native historians. 
 These norfchmen were the first to issue silver money in Ireland, 
 for at no period of her history had Ireland a gold coinage. In 
 its origin and to its end the currency was silver. The first silver 
 coins were struck by the Danish kings of Dublin, Waterford, and 
 Limerick. Although the Danish and Norse invaders carried oft" 
 great quantities of Irish gold, they utilised it, not for coinage 
 purposes, but for personal decoration, inlaying with it, amongst 
 other articles, the handles of their swords. Hence Irish gold 
 ornaments gradually disappeared in the North, and many 
 Scandinavian weapons, and personal ornaments now exhibited 
 in museums are doubtless inlaid or formed of these stolen 
 treasiires which supplemented the spoils of Home and of 
 Byzantium. 
 
 When these freebooters had beaten their swords into plough- 
 shares, or had developed into honest merchants, and their 
 piratical barques had been converted into peaceful traders, their 
 silver money became, on account of its purity, the standard 
 coinage of the then trading world. From it is derived the 
 designation of " sterling," applied to our currency or legal tender. 
 " Easterling " was, according to IloUinshed, the popular term 
 employed to describe " merchants of Norwaie, Denmark, and of 
 other those parties called Ostomanni, or as, in our vulgar 
 language, we terme easterling, because they lie east in respect of
 
 THE IXTRODUCTION OF TRON. 195 
 
 us"; and coin of the realm, " since that time," says Camden, 
 " was called of them sterling for Easterling." 
 
 Iron and Christianity were introduced into the country 
 within an approximately short period of each other, for although 
 iron may, in small quantities, have found its way into Ireland 
 through the ordinary channels of commerce open at, or just 
 before, the commencement of the Christian era, yet iron ingota 
 or iron articles so acquired would be comparatively few in number. 
 The approximate date of the introduction of iron into the southern 
 portion of Britain has been estimated, by various authorities, at about 
 200 B.C., some writers leaning to a later period. From this part 
 it spread sloAvly northward. In the Scotch Highlands the Bronze 
 Age lasted for a considerable time — in fact, down to a period 
 considerably later than that of the Roman conquest of Britain ; 
 yet iron was nevertheless known, but to a very limited extent, to 
 the Caledonians north of the Pioman wall, who were otherwise 
 but little affected by the introduced civilization to the south of 
 the Eoman barrier. To the Romanized Briton the rude Cale- 
 donian was what the African savage is to the Englishman of 
 to-day, or what the Highlander of the seventeenth century 
 appeared to the Englishman of that period. 
 
 The position of Ireland marked it out, more so even than the 
 Caledonian mountain fastnesses, as the extreme point of European 
 civilization. The relics of the past which it has yielded from its 
 soil can be properly classified only when studied in the light of 
 those found in Great Britain and on the Continent. Thus, every 
 early iron antique which is unearthed may be regarded as a 
 record of the history of metallic transition, and it is by compar- 
 ing these waifs of time, and subjecting them to the assay of 
 science, that we shall force them to tell their true story. Ireland 
 was the last resort of the earlier, as of the later, races who 
 peopled western Europe. Thus, its prehistoric age could not 
 have commenced, as already pointed out, till after that of the 
 rest of Europe. Indeed, it is extremely probable that, in the 
 earliest Paheolithic or rude Stone Age period, it was too frigid 
 for habitation, and its area may for a brief period, from a geo- 
 logical point of view, have been bereft of human life. It may 
 thus be said that throughout the ages the inhabitants of Ireland 
 were, by no fault of their own, but by geological conditions, 
 chronically behind the times. It is probable therefore that 
 the knowledge of iron reached Ireland at a much later date 
 than it reached England ; so that, allowing a considerable 
 interval for an overlap, it is possible that iron had not ad- 
 vanced into universal use in Ireland, at the very earliest, much 
 before the close of the fourth century of the Christian Era. 
 According to some other authorities the introduction of ii'on 
 
 o2
 
 196 
 
 SOME ARCm-KOLOGlCAJ. rRUBLKMS. 
 
 occurrecl at an even nuu-h later ]XM-io(1. Inn,"' after it was well 
 known on the Continent and in l''.ii,ulaii(l. Some writers assign 
 a date of about two thousand years past for its introduction, yet 
 it does not appear to have obtained absolute supremacy over 
 bronze until after the arrival of the colonies of Danish settlers and 
 of northern piratical fleets, about, at the earhest, the sixth and 
 seventh centuries. The transition from bronze to iron in a 
 country of such extent as Freland, divided into hostile populations, 
 nuist have occupied a peiiod which may be reckoned by centuries, 
 loi' tlu're must have been an epoch 
 when, in each of these small indepen- 
 dent communities, the new metal was 
 being introdiiced and the old conditions 
 (■i\ ilization had l)een entirely changed. 
 
 Fine Golden -coloured nronzei'cll of 
 the class styled " Crotals," found 
 at Dovvris, near Hirr, in 
 bronze caldron, together witli 
 other antiques. Half size. 
 
 f iron, the tongue is 
 ; at Tybrochan, near 
 eal size. 
 
 The rectangulai- bells of the early missionaries — examples, 
 it is alleged, of primitive Chi'istian metal work' — are of rude and 
 unfinished manufacture. It was evidently a trade at which they
 
 ORIGIN OF CERTAIN ANTJqUES. 197 
 
 were novices, though their work in hronze antl gold had heen 
 brought to great perfection. Tlie tine bells of tlie late bronze 
 period, as Avitnessed by the Dowris find (fig. 65), are in finish and 
 design indefinitely superior to the wretched productions alleged 
 to have belonged to the early Irish saints (fig. 66). The iron 
 bell, as shown in fig. 06, resembles articles very frequently found 
 on the sites of Eoman villas in England. The Untinnahulxun, or 
 small handbell, Avas probably used to summon the slaves and 
 attendants when their services were required. These bells are as 
 frequently square as round, and are usually made of bronze. The 
 development of Irish art after the introduction of Christianity was 
 the outcome of the mixture of the two styles of ornamentation, 
 the Irish or Pagan, and the Continental or Christian. In Britain 
 Roman Art appears to have almost entirely supplanted Celtic Art, 
 but in Ireland the native style of ornamentation was conserved 
 intact until the introduction of Christianity. During the period 
 that followed, a new religion and a fresh civilization rose suddenly 
 into eminence, and then slowdy sank into decrepitude. 
 
 Hitherto when any peculiar antique, composed either of metal 
 or other material, has been for the first time discovered, Irish 
 archf^ologists assign to it a foreign, frequently a Roman origin ; 
 yet these waifs of time are, in general, ultimately identified as of 
 home manufacture. Every archaeological relic has its history : it 
 has either already told its tale, or its story has to be read, and we 
 thus learn how and when it was made, what it was used for, and 
 how it came to be lying where it was found. 
 
 " Thej- are the 
 
 Registers, the chronicles of the age 
 
 The}' wei'e made in, and speak the truths of historj- 
 
 Better than a hnndredof your printed communications." 
 
 In systematic research, close and accurate observation is 
 absolutely necessary, the imperfection of our present knowledge, 
 and the limitation of our experience involve uncertainty as 
 to special classification of some works of art. By patient 
 analysis we can alone hope to accomplish solid results, and arrive 
 at clear, broad, and thoroughly correct deductions. Exceptional 
 specimens should therefore be temporarily adjudged, until the 
 contrary is demonstrated, as being of native workmanship, and 
 not imported articles. If the numerous articles belonging to the 
 ordinary usage of everyday life which have been found on pre- 
 historic sites in different parts of the kingdom were collected 
 together and arranged, they would, no doubt, go far towards 
 giving us a perfect picture of the civilization of the population of 
 early times. Unfortunately, great numbers liave been lost or 
 destroyed; many of those which remain are scattered about in
 
 198 SOME ARCFI.'KOL OCK '. I /. I'ROJU. F.MS. 
 
 private collections, from tlicAViint oln really national and scientifi- 
 cally arranj^ed collection in wliidi to deposit them. 
 
 Ireland, until a time "well advanced in the Christian Era, 
 appears to have heen peopled hy an a g<^- reflation of trihes, isolated 
 from the European continent and developing their civilization in 
 a manner more or less peculiarly their own. ^Vhen Irish society 
 became knoAvn to the classic Avorld — and Latin authors are hy no 
 means complimentary as to its manners and customs — it was 
 already Avell advanced in this tlir ti ilml state. It is interesting 
 to reflect that these -vvritei-s, when a])i)lying the terms " barba- 
 rians " and " savages " to the inliabitants of lerne and of 
 the Britannic Isles, little dreamed that the despised islanders, 
 recruited, however, by the subsequent accession of much northern 
 and truly " barbarian " blood, would found an empire far sur- 
 passing that of Konie, and extend their sway over regions and 
 continents then unheard of. A inimber of tribes are enumei-ated 
 by classic authors, but no mention is made of a monarch exercis- 
 ing universal sway as described by later native writers. The Irish 
 were merely in the intei'mediate stage of the development of a 
 nation ; they had passed the limits of the family, and were in tho 
 tribal stage. From a variety of causes, this mass was never welded 
 together into a really compact body, (ieneral and chronic war- 
 fare proved fatal to the advancement of the community, and this 
 state of things, prolonged through endless centuries, kept the 
 population divided into numerous hostile septs, and stereotyped 
 disunion. 
 
 IVIoore, in his Hhtonj oj licldial, writing on this subject, 
 remarks that " the sanguinary broils of a, nation armed against 
 itself have no one elevating principle to redeem them, and are 
 inglorious alike in victory and defeat. Whatever gives dignity 
 to other warfare Avas wanting in these personal factious feuds. 
 The peculiar bitterness attributed to family quarrels marks also 
 the course of civil strife ; and that flow of generous feeling which 
 so often succeeds to fierce hostility between strangers, has 
 rarely, if ever, been felt by parties of the same state who have 
 been once arrayed in arms against each other." 
 
 The earliest heads of Irish septs exercised tluir .mthority 
 solely through the consent of the collected unit ; and the chief 
 thus elected was bound by certain obligations which, if he dis- 
 regarded, his authority was withdi'awn, or if his followers tired 
 of his rule they left him, and liis cliicftainship ended. When 
 there Avas practically no such thing as private property, there was 
 no basis for authority except by the delegation of power willingly 
 conceded. When the chiefs were able to consolidate their })ower, 
 the liberties of the members of the tribe diminished in pi-o})ortion 
 to this consolidation, tor llic cliicf was no lonjjx'r bound by ohli-
 
 FOUNDATION OF CENTRAL A UTHORITY. 199 
 
 gations. Then, for mutual protection, the chiefs themselves united 
 and elected one of their number head chief, or first amongst the 
 chiefs, but not as an absolute ruler, nor even possessed of so much 
 power over the whole as each chief exercised over his own tribe. 
 
 Even such an enthusiastic believer in the ancient glories of 
 Erin ns Standish O'Grady seems to coincide in this opinion. He 
 says : — " Like every country upon which imperial Rome did not 
 leave the impress of her genius, Ireland in these ethnic times 
 attained only a partial unity. The Chief King, indeed, presided 
 at Tara, and enjoyed the reputation and emoluments flowing to 
 him on that account, but, upon the whole, no Irish king exercised 
 more than a local sovereignty ; they were all rciiuli, petty kings, 
 and their direct authority was small." 
 
 The late Professor T. H. Huxley drew attention to the pub- 
 lished collection of the Brehon laAvs of ancient Ireland, and how 
 the original communal land ownership of the sept became modi- 
 fied. The chief, at first, received his share of land as an 
 ordinary member of the tribe as well as an extra portion of 
 pasture as a payment for his services. An increase of his power 
 was the natural result of his being able to have more cattle than 
 others of his sept. Then " he became a lender of cattle at a high 
 rate of interest to his more needy sept-fellows, who, when they 
 borrowed, became bound to do him service in other ways, and 
 
 lost status by falling into the position of his debtors 
 
 Again, the status of the original commoners of the sept was 
 steadily altered for the worse by the privilege which the chief 
 possessed, and of which he freely availed himself, of settling on 
 the waste lands of the commune such broken vagabonds of other 
 tribes as sought his patronage and protection, and who became 
 absolutely dependent on him. Thus, without war, and without 
 any necessity for force or fraud (though, doubtless, there was an 
 adventitious abundance of both), the comnumal system was 
 bound to go to pieces, and to be replaced by individual owner- 
 ship, in consequence of the operation of purely industrial causes. 
 'That is to say, in consequence of the many commercial advan- 
 tages of individual ownership over communal ownership, which 
 became more and more marked exactly in proportion as territory 
 became more fully occupied, security of possession increased, and 
 the chances of the success of individual enterprise and skill as 
 against routine, in an industrial occupation, became greater and 
 greater."
 
 CliAL'TKii VI. 
 
 THE TU)i;nF.i;L.\NP OF TTTSTORT. 
 
 Difficulty of fixing the point wliere real Irish History commcnpes — Early 
 Xarratives a mixture of truth, exaggeration, allegory, and downright lio- 
 tioii — Tighernach, the most reliable Irish scribe — Evidence of the steady 
 growth of a healthy Current of Thought now very apparent. — No state- 
 ment should be advanced merely on the authority of Irish ]\rsS. — Should 
 be corroborated by Arclnt'ological Research — Ethnology and Philology un- 
 certain guides in exploring the past — Archa'ology reliable — The present 
 school of Archa3ology very practical — The Spade a conclusive solver of 
 Problems — Pbantom Lands — Phantom Cities — I'liantom Ships — Phantom 
 Bees — Ireland as known to the Ancients — References in Greek and Roman 
 Writers — rt<)lemj''s description of the Country — Its Coasts, Rivers, Terri- 
 tories, Tribes, Cities — Agricola's alleged Conquest of the Kingdom — Prob- 
 able influx of Roman Traders from Britain — Traces of Roman Culture — 
 
 Roman Medicine Stamps Roman Relics, Ornaments, and Coins —Roman 
 
 Coins buried with the Dead — Eoman Relics few in number — Of an unim- 
 portant character — The result of Traffic, or forgotten Deposits of Irish 
 Freebooters— Romans made no Settlements in Ireland— The few local 
 Roman Xames of Ecclesiastical Origin. 
 
 This and the following Chapter must be prefaced by an apology 
 for traversing the same ground as has already been attempted by 
 the author in Pidfioi Irrhitul, so that some repetition must be 
 excused, for when treating of the Faiths professed by the inhabi- 
 tants of Erin, to omit a description of their religious ideas, of 
 the effects of the Roman Conquest of Britain, of the introduction 
 of Christianity and of the advent of St. Patrick, would be like 
 placing the play of Ihonlct on the stage and omitting the part of 
 the unlucky Prince of Demnark. In the subject here under ex- 
 amination ; it is impossible that any writer can rely only on his 
 own researches and resources. If he appropriates the thoughts 
 of his predecessors and contemporaries he is accused of being a 
 plagiarist, yet if he be a good adapter he treats each author as the 
 bee treats the flower, steals sweets from it without injuring it, 
 and essays to improve and transform them into more appetising 
 food. It has been sought to make tlie text readable, but at the
 
 COMAIEXCKMKXT OF IRISH JnSJ\)Ry. iiOl 
 
 same time in no sense perfunctory, so that if another writer 
 follows on, in the same track, lie maybe able to devote himself to 
 a complete analysis of the subject, and may find this attempt of 
 use to him in his literary labours ; for a good antiquary should 
 not only chronicle what other writers have often forgotten, but he 
 should also ignore many things on which the superticial observer 
 reposes a misplaced confidence. 
 
 According to Robert Atkinson, ll.d., amongst the many diffi- 
 culties which beset the path of the Irish historian " not the least 
 is that of fixing upon any point where real information begins. 
 The narrative, such as it is, is carried on with so plausible an 
 evenness of apparently circumstantial detail of name and place, 
 that the reader is in danger of being hurried up the stream of time 
 to a period long before the Homerian epoch. In these shaking 
 l)ogs of bardic history, where may we set firm foot?" 
 
 Tighernach, pronounced Teernah, the most reliable of early 
 Irish scribes, died, it is stated, about a.d. 1088, and if he be 
 accepted as an authority, Irish History might be considered to 
 open about two centuries before Christ ; his words, " omnia 
 monumenta Scotorum usque Cimbeath incerta erant," must, as 
 O'Donovan remarks, inspire a feeling of confidence in the writer ; 
 but while his details of foreign history, relating to remarkable 
 events at and preceding the Christian Era, are ample, his enu- 
 meration of Irish events down to the third and fourth century 
 is exceedingly meagre. He only mentions a feAV kings whose 
 reigns are, by later scribes, filled with fabulous performances ; he 
 barely notices the fact of the great hero Cuchullin's (Coolin's) 
 existence, and gives but a passing notice to " the Cattle Prey of 
 Cooley." " The poor honest man Avas evidently troubled with a 
 conscience rather above his business," remarks .John M. Dickson, 
 *' and he felt that he must really draAV the line somewhere, . . . 
 yet this limit did not long confine the less scrupulous annalists 
 who followed him. They boldly undertook to carry back Irish 
 history to the arrival of ' j\[iledli,' said to have sailed for Spain, 
 ria Scythia and Egypt, some thousand years earlier still; and to 
 give names and dates to all the kings of Ireland during the inter- 
 vening time, filling in the pictures of most of them with details 
 of unnatural villainy, too gross for the latitude of Dahomy, and 
 yet all the while implying that their country had enjoyed a happy, 
 and heroic past. . . . The compilers of these various annals were, 
 no doubt, most of them, honest and painstaking men who would not 
 willingly have falsified facts within their own knowledge; but they 
 were too ambitious, they attempted the inipossil)le, and when their 
 own necessarily limited knowledge failed them, they fell back on 
 a fund of credulity that was a,pparently inexhaustil)le. To realize 
 how great was the ci'cdulity, let anyone read for himself the
 
 202 THE nORDERJ.AXn ()/■// /S7'()R ]'. 
 
 earlier portions of the Animls ,ij' i/,r lumr Masti'is (the latest and 
 most authoritative of them all), whose ottice it should have 'neen 
 to purge the works of previous writers of crudeuess and inac- 
 curacy, and yet we find them gravely ivpeating as facts the most 
 childish ohservations " ; and all this, he it ohservcd, so hitely as 
 the connnencement of the seventeenth century. 
 
 According to Tigliernach (Teernah) the starting point of Irish 
 history was the erection of the Palace of Emania, and a wild 
 legend states its origin to he as follows :- — Throe kings wlio had 
 been fighting amongst themselves finally agreed to reign for 
 seven years, each in succession. They had each enjoyed the 
 sovor(>ignty for one of these periods, when the first king died, and 
 his (lauglitci- claimed the right to reign when lici' father's term 
 of sovereignty came round ; she was opposed, hut \aiH|iiish(d all 
 opposition. Her suhjects suggested that she should piil lici- 
 prisoners to death. ; this she refused to do, hut condenuuMl them 
 to slavery, and employed them in huilding a huge rath or fortress, 
 and "she marked for them the ihm with her hrooch of gold from 
 her neck," so that the palace was called Hinniiiii, from <'o, a 
 hrooch, and iinii)i, the neck. 
 
 The early history of lindaiid, whether given hy aneient or 
 modern Avriters, is a strange mixture of truth, exaggeration, alle- 
 gory, and downright fiction ; however, the fact of incredible ex- 
 ploits being ascribed to dim historic personages is not suliicient 
 ground for denying the existence of those individuals. In the 
 eai'ly history of almost every country, the appearance of mythical 
 bemgs is reported, and formerly it Avas usual to deny that these 
 persons had ever existed, but present-day historians rather 
 incline to the opinion that they may have been real individuals, 
 remai'ka/t)le for some great quality, or for heroic deeds, aioiiiid 
 whom tradition gradually wove an accnnmlation of supernatural 
 glor\ . 'I'he statements presented by many writers as true h.istory 
 are, as is remarked by O'Doiujvan, " after all no more than their 
 own inferences, drawn, in many instances, from the half his- 
 torical, half fabulous works of the aueients. in the "Middle Ages 
 no story was acceptable to the taste of the day without the 
 assistance of some marvellous or nnraeulous incidents which, 
 in those all-believing times, formed the life and soul of every 
 narrative." 
 
 I'larly Greek writers possessed the gilt of throwing a, Acil of 
 graceful fiction over stern reality; on the other hand, the his- 
 torians of Ireland presented as sober facts, the wildest and most 
 extravagant fictions, and as nature imperceptibly, but, none the 
 less surely, planes and rounds off the rocks, covering them with 
 ever increasing masses of verdure, so ai'e actual facts of the elder 
 days of I'jiii, planed, rouiide(l, and roNcred by the accretions of
 
 TRUTH A XD FICTIOX. 203 
 
 successive generations of so-called historians, until tliey are car- 
 peted "svitli a luxuiiant crop of beautiful, but comparatively 
 valueless legends. These legends, however, while without value 
 as history, are of the very highest value as guides to popular 
 thought at the time of their composition, and in some instances 
 nuxy contain a germ of fact which it requires the most delicate 
 literary acumen of the historian to discern. 
 
 There is a strange kind of excitement in endeavouring to 
 unravel a complicated problem ; and certainly ample room is 
 afforded to a student desirous of analysing and investigating the 
 so-called history and description of ancient Erin, which have 
 been handed down to us and repeated by writer after writer. 
 The mythical stories of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and other scribes 
 of that school, relative to the colonization and history of England, 
 have long been consigned to the literary Avaste-paper basket ; 
 and why shoiild the extravagant legends related of Ireland be 
 treated with more leniency? To transmit, by oral tradition, 
 a chain of events, extending back, in an unbroken order to the 
 Creation, would be an impossibility ; we possess also good 
 authority for not giving " heed to fables and endless genealogies," 
 or to "profane and old wives' fables." Writers of the olden 
 school usually commenced their histories w'itli fables, the length 
 and extravagance of which was in proportion to their estimate 
 of the importance of the theme ; and nothing has tended so much 
 to bring discredit on the proper study of Irish history and Irish 
 antiquities as this exaggeration. In this characteristic Irish 
 writers do not, by any means, occupy a unique position, for the 
 early historians of all nations appear to have possessed an innate 
 tendency to magnify the antiquity of the origin cf the race whose 
 deeds they recorded. The Arcadians alleged that they existed 
 before the creation of the moon, and, according to Ovid, the 
 inliabitants of Attica, not to be outdone, boasted that they were 
 a nation before the sun shone : — 
 
 '• Ante Jovern geiiitum terras habuisse feruiiltir 
 Arcades, et lima gens prior ilia fiiit." 
 
 Nations pride themselves on their antiquity, individuals on 
 their ancestry ; but as antiquity, or remote ancestry, is in itself 
 nothing, that in which is their pride is in reality their humilia- 
 tion ; for " if an individual is worthy of his ancestors, why extol 
 those with whom he is on a level? And if he is unworthy of 
 them, to laud them is to libel himself. And nations also, when 
 they boast of their antiquity, only tell us, in other words, that 
 they are standing on the ruins of so many generations. But if 
 their view of things is limited and their prospect of the sciences 
 narrow and confined, if other nations, who stand upon no such
 
 204 THE BORDKRLAX]^ OF HISTORY. 
 
 eminence, see farther than tliey do, is not the very antiquity of 
 which they hoast a proof that tlieir foi'ofathers were not t)iants 
 in knowledge ; ov, if tlicy Avcre, that tlicir chilch'on lunc de- 
 generated?" 
 
 " Fioni you blue liciiviMis ahovc iis li<'iit. 
 Tlic Gardener Adam and his wilV 
 
 Smile at the claims of loii^ descent. 
 Howe'er it l)e it seems to mo, 
 
 "K\< onlv nolde to he <;o0(].'' 
 
 IJei'angcr, towards the close of the last century, wrote on 
 this suhject of historical exaggeration ; and one Avould almost 
 imagine that the cnutious old ai'tist-antiquary liad been inditing 
 a prospectus for ilic origination of an Architological Society 
 when he states, that " no traces remain of the grandeur of the 
 ancient Irish, wdiicli we arc pressed to believe without proofs, 
 except some manuscripts, which very few can read, and out of 
 which the Irish historian picks what suits him, and hides what 
 is fal)ulous and absurd."' Isven, now-a-days, the stories trans- 
 lated from the Irish, for popular reading, are eclectically selected, 
 and many portions of the text are suppressed. 
 
 No statement should be advanced on the mere authority of 
 native Irish annals and manuscripts, unless corroborated by 
 outside and disinterested evidence, such as is afforded by classic 
 or foreign writers, or archoeologicul :ind material evidences of 
 sepulchral remains, dwellings, implements, ornaments, and other 
 traces left by the primitive and early inhabitants of the land. 
 
 If material objects be accepted as proofs of the pagan ideas 
 and customs of the aborigines, surely the evidence of still exist- 
 ing superstitious observances of the peasantry, Avhich can be 
 traced to a pre-Christian source, ought to be received with, at 
 least, the same authority ; and we should look upon all these 
 subjects as mere links in one great chain which binds together 
 many separate periods of semi-culture. The past can always be 
 found in the present ; for it is easy to bring some custom or 
 superstition of the present into connexion with the past, and to 
 use it to bring out distinctly what was believed in and acted upon 
 in by-gone centuries. 
 
 It is to be hoped that research into the past, on these lines, 
 may contribute to the re-construction of early history, a work 
 which can only be finally accomplislied by many united efforts ; 
 for our discoveries are founded on those of oui- predecessors, and 
 w'e merely utilize the ascending steps formed by an innumerable 
 army of fellow-workers. We stand on a better basis than those 
 that went before. It is certain that those who follow after will 
 be better placed than ourselves; for even " a dwarf on a giant's 
 shoulders sees further of the two." Thus the science of
 
 TRL'TII AND FICTIOX. 205 
 
 archjeology is gradually evolving out of apparent chaos ; it Las 
 become vertebrate, and possesses a solid framework which can be 
 gradually clothed correctly with details. Evidence of this steady 
 growth of healthy arclueological thought is very apparent ; yet 
 we have made but little progress in higher and scientific archae- 
 ology, and the ancient antiquities of Ireland still remain in an 
 unclassified condition. For a lengthened period arclut'ology was 
 not recognised as a science, although it treats of the arts, 
 manners, customs, and entire past of primitive man, whilst, 
 now-a-days, it miist be acknowledged as an able assistant to 
 ethnology and philology. It is evident that philology, as a 
 guide, must give place to, or rest its evidence on, the material 
 proofs produced by arclijeology or ethnology. Indeed, a student 
 seeking to discover the origin of a peojile, through analysis of the 
 spoken language, may be led to conclusions of the most erroneous 
 description. For instance, in Ireland, a stranger ignorant of its 
 early history, and finding the vast majority of the population 
 speaking English, might come to the conclusion that they were 
 of English descent. A good example occurred not long ago, 
 when an English-speaking writer lamented that he could not 
 give vent to his feelings in the Gaelic tongue, of which he Avas 
 quite ignorant — English being, in his opinion, totally inadequate 
 to express his indignation at being called an Anglo-Saxon. 
 And, from his point of view, he was perfectly right ; for he was 
 no more an Anglo-Saxon, because he spoke English only, than 
 he would have been a horse had he been born in a stable. 
 
 Grant Allen illustrates, with the following personal anecdote, 
 the facility with which the ethnological generaliser may be pre- 
 cipitated into unexpected pitfalls: — "It happened to me once, 
 many years since, to be taking a class in logic in a West Indian 
 college. The author of our text-book had just learnedly explained 
 to us that personal names had no real comiotation. ' Neverthe- 
 less,' he went on, ' they may sometimes enable us to draw certain 
 true inferences. For example, if we meet a man of the name of 
 John Smith, we shall at least be justified in concluding that he 
 is a Teuton.' Now, as it happened, that class contained a John 
 Smith ; and as I read those words aloud, he looked up in my 
 face with the expressive smile of no Teutonic forefathers ; for 
 tlih John Smith was a pure-blooded negro.'' 
 
 It is difficult to define limits to this species of investigation ; 
 for ethnologists are of opinion that even the so-called Irish race 
 is really a compound one, containing in addition to the true 
 Celtic or Aryan element at least two others that are non-Aryan, 
 probably a Mongolian or Finnish element and an Iberian 
 element. "Very little attempt," remarks William Larminie, 
 "h;is liithci'to Ix'cii made to settle in what parts of the countiy
 
 200 TIIK nORDKRJ.AXD OJ- ///S'/'ORV. 
 
 these elements respectively pvepondevate ; hut that there must 
 be some preponderance of dilferent races in different localities is 
 shown clearly eiuiugh by the varyin,i( physical types. It is 
 beyond question that Donegal differs from Connaught, and that 
 both differ from Munster ; and Avhen we fiiul that, in spite of a 
 co-existence of at least two thousand years in tiie same island, 
 and the possession of a conniion hmguagc, different districts 
 have a different folklore, is it extravagant to surmise that these 
 different bodies are due to varying racial deposits?" The creeds 
 of their faith, namely, the myths, legends, and superstitions of a 
 people, are far truer guides to their origin than is their spoken 
 dialect. The tongue of th(> aborigines is usually either extin- 
 guished or forcH'd on one side hy the stronger and dominant race, 
 but the bent of mind of the subjected people becomes more or 
 less stereotyped, and forms the distinguisliing feature of their 
 character. 
 
 The inhal)itnnts of ('ornwall, though largely of (Vdlic blood, 
 speak English ; the liomans imposed their language upon the 
 conquered races inhabiting France and Spain. The late Pro- 
 fessor Huxley, writing on this subject, remarked that: — " At the 
 present day the physical characters of the people of Belgic Gaul 
 remain distinct from those of the people of Aquitame, mjtwith- 
 standing the immense changes which have taken place since 
 Cfesar's time ; but Belgte, Celtre, and Aquitani (all but a mere 
 fraction of the last two, represented by the Basques and the 
 Bretons) are fused into one nationality, ' le peuple Francais.' But 
 they have adopted the language of one set of invaders and the 
 name of another ; their original names and languages having 
 almost disappeared. Suppose that the French language remained 
 as the sole evidence of the existence of the population of (laul, 
 would the keenest philologer arrive at any other conclusion 
 than that this population was essentially and fundamentally a 
 ' Latin ' race which had some comnumication with Celts and 
 Teutons ? Would he so much as suspect the former existence of 
 the Aquitani ?" 
 
 Thus language is no absolute or even approximate test of 
 race; it is merely evidence of a contact having taken place 
 between races. Language may explain much ; it cannot explain 
 everything, and may, as we have seen, in fact, in some instances, 
 prove actually detrimental to research. Although the English 
 language is nuiinly of Saxon origin, yet it is by no means so certain 
 that the blood of i^jnglishmen — taken as a wliole nation — is as 
 fully Saxon as their tongue ; the Celtic strain, tliough to a great 
 extent absent from our tongue, exists no doubt to a large extent 
 in the bh)od. Anglo-Celtic is probably a truer description of 
 Ih'itish nationality tliaii Anglo-Saxon; for all ai-e not Celtic
 
 TRU'JJJ AX J) FICTION. 207 
 
 that speak with a brogue, and all are not Saxon that are guile- 
 less of the letter //. On the other hand there is more Saxon and 
 Norse blood flowing in the veins of Irishmen than is generally 
 supposed. As already noticed, Ireland at the very earliest period 
 contained a dark and a fair race, which there is every reason to 
 believe are identical with the dark and the fair races of Britain. 
 AVhen the Irish first became known to history they spoke a 
 Gaelic dialect; and though for many centuries Scandinavians 
 made continual incursions upon and settlements among them, 
 the Teutonic languages took no more root among the Irish than 
 they did among the French. " How much Scandinavian blood 
 was introduced there is no evidence to show. But, after the 
 conquest of Ireland by Henry II., the English people, consisting 
 in part of the descendants of Cymric speakers, and. in part of the 
 descendants of Teutonic speakers, made good their footing in the 
 eastern half of the island, as the Saxons and Danes made good 
 theirs in England ; and they did their best to complete the 
 parallel by attempting the extirpation of the Gaelic-speaking 
 Irish, and they succeeded to a considerable extent. A large 
 part of eastern Ireland is now peopled by men who are substan- 
 tially English by descent, and the English langiiage has spread 
 over the land far beyond the limits of English blood. . . . What, 
 then, is the value of the ethnological difference between the 
 Englishman of the western half of England and the Irishman of 
 the eastern half of Ireland '? For Avhat reason does the one 
 deserve the name of ' Celt ' and not the other ? And, further, if 
 we turn to the inhabitants of the western half of Ireland, wliy 
 should the term ' Celts ' be applied to them more than to the 
 inhabitants of Cornwall? And if the name is applicable to the 
 one as justly as to the other, why should not intelligence, perse- 
 verance, thrift, industry, sobriety, respect for law, be admitted to 
 be Celtic virtues ? And why should we not seek for the cause of 
 their absence in something else than the idle pretext of ' Celtic 
 blood ' ? I have been unable to meet with any answers to these 
 questions," concludes the late Professor T. H. Huxley. 
 
 There is scarcely any branch of knowledge of the past with 
 which arclueology may not claim to concern itself ; and even 
 if the term be taken in its narrower sense, as the study only of 
 the history of the outward and material life of man in past ages, 
 and especially of the extant works of human ingenuity, yet even 
 the historical limits of the subject are only bounded by the first 
 appearance of man on the earth. Until a comparatively recent 
 period the study of Irish archieology was in a deplorable state ; 
 travellers along the road to anti(|uarian knowledge were beguiled 
 at every step from the true track by false guides who, like " Will- 
 o'-the-wisp,'' led tlicni aimlessly about ; yet the old school of
 
 208 THE BORDER LAX I) ()/■' III STORY. 
 
 ■writers, whom it is the custom to sneer at, sliouhl be jiuI^chI, 
 like other men in simihir circumstances, accordin.n' to tlu' linht of 
 their time, llius while we need pay hut little heed to their 
 arguments, deductions, and assumplioii of k-raiiing, we must 
 acknowledge that we are indebted to them for many most useful 
 and explanatory facts that might otherwise have escaped being 
 r(>corded. Of all the writers of the old school. General Vallancey 
 is the one most to be admired and the least to he blamed. He 
 wrote as he believed, and in all sinccrily, as a sympathetic writer 
 exclaims : — -" Good, worthy, biavc did anti(|uarian : jieace he to 
 his ashes. He had an Irish licai't, all Ikhi'^Ii he clianccd to l)i' 
 born on the wrong side of St. Georges Cliaiincl : and an Irish 
 head, too, if the making of a blunder, now and then, be deemed 
 a true characteristic of our country ; but aiiti([iuirians in i'nigland 
 can make bhnulers, too, only their blunders ai'e not lilundei's, 
 they are * erroneous conclusions.' " 
 
 Almost always, at the birth of a new study, zealous votaries 
 undertake much laborious research, which has to be gone over 
 afresh as soon as systematized work is commenced. Not only has 
 the student proper to undo the futile work that obstructs scientific 
 in(pnry, but he has, after pulling down the edifice, to attempt a 
 reconstruction. The very fact of great errors having been com- 
 mitted should make us proceed with the more caution, especially 
 in forming our own judgment. The unweighed theories of the 
 old school of archaeologists hardly require refutation, nevertheless 
 the emotional basis on which they rested must be demolished 
 with a firm hut, it must be admitted, reluctant hand ; and 
 though the path be strewn, like that of the iconoclasts of old, 
 with shattered fragments of broken idols, the remains will be 
 found not worth the trouble of an attempted restoration. A new 
 structure must be erected ; for an attempt to utilise too much of 
 the old material would but mar the aiclueological harmony of 
 the rising edifice. 
 
 Dr. Petrie's essay on the origin of Ii'ish Kound Towers, a 
 nu)del for archicological writers, created a literary revolution, yet, 
 as is the case with too many other Irish Avriters, the amount of 
 published matter which he has left represents most inadequately 
 liis great knoAvledge of archicology. To the overthrow of 
 romantic theories and fanciful speculations he marshalled solid 
 ai-guments and a bristling array of facts, and conclusively proved 
 that the Kound Towers of Ireland, instead of being Pagan temples 
 of the remotest antiquity, were erected by Christian ecclesiastics, 
 in comparatively modern times, for various purposes, but certainly 
 for keeps, or places of protection, against sudden attacks from 
 predatory foes. 
 
 The present school of archaology is before all tilings pi'acti-
 
 TRUTH AND FICTION. 209 
 
 cal, and is pre-eminently that of the spade. The spade is a 
 <^reat solver of problems and destroyer of fantastical theories ; it 
 must ultimately unfold, in its entirety, primitive man's ideas 
 regarding the dead, of the future state, of burial customs, cere- 
 monies, and the institutions to which they gave rise. It is 
 precisely at this early stage that the spade has much to tell ; for 
 where historical and legendary traditions are absent, the ultimate 
 appeal must be to it. The trend of all modern science is to essay 
 to recover from caves, middens, and other such like sites, precise 
 acquaintance with the manners and methods of life of the men 
 of long past ages. Need it be stated that, as far as it has gone, 
 investigation on every side has proved fruitful. We have, to 
 some extent, solved the secret of the Eld. The knowledge that 
 to-day we possess, and at which we have long ceased to wonder, 
 would, a few years ago, have been deemed a mere dream ; but 
 there are many more secrets of the past belonging to our land 
 yet unravelled because traces of them are very faint, and it is 
 to the examination of these that we should direct our attention. 
 
 The mass of literature which has appeared on the subject of 
 the name and meaning of the ancient designation of Ireland 
 would fill a goodly sized volume : in some of the earliest manu- 
 scripts the name is written Eriu. One legend, which on the 
 face of it appears to bear the impress of truthfulness, alleges 
 that, at some period either prior to or after the Deluge, Ireland 
 was discovered by fishermen who had been blown out to sea in 
 their skiff ; this was at least a natural and not improbable manner 
 of discovering a new island. 
 
 Whether or not Ireland was known to the Phcenicians is a 
 subject of controversy amongst antiquarians. Even had these 
 energetic traders been acquainted with the island, it is more than 
 probable that they would have tried to conceal their knowledge, 
 as they would have been unwilling to allow otlier maritime 
 nations to discover the sources from which they drew their riches. 
 We have the well-known and hackneyed story of the wily Phoe- 
 nician shipmaster who, observing that, on his voyage to Britain, 
 lie was followed by a Roman galley which watched his course, 
 deliberately ran his vessel on a shoal, on which his pursuer also 
 struck ; the Phoenician, either a better or more fortunate seaman, 
 floated oft" his craft, but the Roman galley went to pieces. 
 
 The earliest writers of Gi'eece and Rome who are supposed 
 to refer to Ireland, have spoken of it in a manner so vague, that 
 very little can be learned from their words ; even if Ireland may 
 be identified as Thule, as the " sacred Island," or the poetic 
 " Island of the Blest," in which the golden age of innocence and 
 purity still continued to fiourish, aftei- all the rest of tlie world 
 had l)econu' cori'U]it : but the following linos fi'oiii ('lniidi;iii are
 
 210 THE BORDERLAND OF IT I STORY. 
 
 conclusive as to tbe designation of Tlnile, at any rate in the poet's 
 time — not being applicable to Ireland: — " Tbe Orkneys dripped 
 (witli blood) wbon the Saxons were put to flight ; Tbule grew 
 warm with the gore of tbe Picts ; icy Ireland bewailed tbe heaps 
 of (slain) Scoti."* 
 
 Eufus Festus Avienus, a poetical writer of tbe fourth cen- 
 tury, A.D., in his De Oris JSIaritiin., professes to have derived bis 
 information from a Carthaginian source ; and he is, it is alleged, 
 the only ancient author as yet known, who specially applied tbe 
 epithet of " The Sacred Island " to Ireland. His account is 
 curious ; he states that at a distance of two days' sail from the 
 a^]strumnides (tbe Cassite rides of the Greeks, supposed to be the 
 present Scilly Islands) lay an extensive land called " The Sacred 
 Island," inhabited by the nation of the Ilihornians. 'I^he text 
 may be thus translated : — 
 
 " This isle is sacred luuu'd, by all tlir ancients. 
 From times remotest in the %vomb of Chroiios. 
 This isle, M'hicli rises o'er the waves of ocean. 
 Is covered with a sod of rich lnxurianc(\ 
 Ami peopled, far and wide, liy the llil)erni.""t 
 
 "It would be a very melancholy consideration," remarks 
 O'Donovan, "if this sacred island of the Hesperides, the 
 abode of the Pious, and the Elysian Fields of the Blest, should 
 turn out, when tbe reality became known, to have been the abode 
 of incestuous cannibals." 
 
 Although we may be inclined to smile at tbe small amount 
 of geographical knowledge possessed by the ancients, yet they 
 were, perhaps, on tbe whole, better informed than were the 
 ordinary run of Irish peasantry at the close of tbe last, and the 
 commencement of the present century. O'Donovan relates bow 
 his uncle was unable to make bis listeners comprehend the 
 theories respecting the laws of motion, attraction, and gravita- 
 tion, or understand that it was the earth that moved, and that 
 the sun was comparatively stationary. The generality of man- 
 kind, for a long time, supposed that the earth was a flat plain, 
 surrounded by the sea, and that the sky was a kind of roof from 
 which heavenly bodies were suspended as lamps. Tyler, in his 
 
 . . Maduenmt Saxone i'liso 
 Orcadcs, incaliiit Pictormn sangnine Thul 
 Scotorum cumnlos flo%at glaoialis lerne." 
 
 Ast hinc duohiis in Sacram, sic Insnlara 
 Dixere prisci, solihus ciirsns rati est. 
 Hacc inter iiudas multnm cesjdtem jacit, 
 Eamque late gens llihernorum colit."
 
 TRCJ'JH AND FICTION. 211 
 
 Karbj Histonj of Mankind, states that the Polynesians thought, 
 like so many other peoples ancient and modern, that the sky 
 descended at the horizon and enclosed the earth. They called 
 foreigners " heaven-hursters," as having broken in from another 
 and outside world. The sky is to most savages merely the earth 
 on high. " There are holes or windows through the roof, or fir- 
 mament, where the rain comes through, and if you climb high 
 enough you can get through and visit the dwellers above, who look, 
 and talk, and live very much in the same way as the people upon 
 earth. As above the fiat earth, so below it, there are regions 
 inhabited by men, or man-like creatures, who sometimes come up 
 to the surface and sometimes are visited by the inhabitants of the 
 upper earth. We live as it were upon the ground floor of a 
 great house, Avith upper stories rising one over another above us, 
 and cellars down below." 
 
 The gravest objection made by the Irish peasantry to the 
 " new learning " of the eighteenth century was the late date of its 
 discovery, and the improbability that the Almighty would have 
 permitted such great truths to remain so long unrevealed to man- 
 kind. The peasantry asserted that the new science was but the 
 ■dream of visionary and irreligious madmen ; they stoutly main- 
 tained tliat the earth was not a globe, but was flat, and in all 
 probability extended to a distance simply immeasurable. With 
 regard to Commodore Anson's discoveries, '^' the peasantry argued 
 that he did not sail round the earth, but only up and down the 
 various oceans, and returned to England after having described a 
 circle, not in girth round the earth — for that was impossible — 
 but on its flat surface, in the same way that an animal might 
 walk round the flat surface of a field, but cannot pass under it. 
 This they contended was the way Commodore Anson sailed round 
 the earth. They also firmly believed that, under ground, there 
 were oceans of fresh Avater extending in various directions as the 
 seas do on the surface, that the upper crust of the earth was of 
 various degrees of thickness, but that it was very thin in some 
 places, and has been frequently broken through by the action of 
 the water, as also by the spells of sorcerers ; that there are oceans 
 of fresh water in the sky which Avould assuredly inundate the 
 earth were they not kept suspended by God, who' occasionally per- 
 mits them to descend in the form of rain to fertilize the earth, 
 and that God deigns to pour it down gently or violently, or with- 
 holds it altogether for a season, according to man's deserts. 
 
 * It is surprising how, occasionally, tho span of two lives bridges an almost 
 incredible space. A lady of the county Sligo, who died in the year 1897, was 
 acquainted with one of the officers who sailed with Captain Cook in his voyage 
 
 of discovery, 1708-1771. 
 
 1'^
 
 212 THE BORDER LA Xn Ol- mS'/'ORY. 
 
 The legend of an island or of a continent subniorj^ed by one 
 of these great catastrophes is still preserved in the folk lore of 
 almost every European nation ; for legends of the Eld and niodei-n 
 scientific speculation alike al)Ound in suggestions regarding great 
 islands and even continents once teeming with terrestrial life, hut 
 now covered with ocean billows. It has been remarked that 
 whereas the Pacific Ocean is of great geological anti(|uity, it is 
 now one of the most unquestioned facts of the world's history, that 
 large parts of the Atlantic are geologically quite modern. " What 
 lands may have been thickly populated for untold ages, and 
 subsequently have disappeared and left no sign above the waters 
 it is of course impossible for us to say ; hut unless Ave arc to 
 make the wholly unjustifiable assumption that no dry land rose 
 elsewhere when our present dry land sank, there must be half-a- 
 dozen Atalantiscs beneath the waves of the various oceans of the 
 world," observes Professor Huxley. Some hold the belief that 
 this submerged continent was the cradle of the human race. 
 That there some tribe allied to but not identical with the present 
 anthropoid species of apes, gradually developed into men — at first 
 but a step removed from the brutes : then slowly advancing in 
 the arts which characterize man. "Ancient traditions, when 
 tested by the severe processes of modern investigation, commonly 
 enough fade away into mere dreams ; but it is singular how 
 often the dream turns out to have been a half-waking one, pre- 
 saging a reality. Ovid foreshadowed the discoveries of the 
 geologist ; the Atalantis was an imagination, but Columbus 
 found a Western World." 
 
 The primitive inhabitants of the Canary Islands are said to be 
 the remnant of the ancient race who peopled the drowned land 
 of Atalantis. It was not until the fifteenth century that these 
 isolated and forgotten renmants of a supposed lost continent were 
 rediscovered. Their inhabitants were then living in a Stone Age ; 
 they had no implements but hatchets inade of obsidian, and 
 wooden darts with the points hardened in the fire. 
 
 O'Flaherty states that the phantom island of Hy-Brasil — 
 marked on many old charts near the west coast of Ireland — was, 
 in his time, " often visible." The subject has inspired several 
 poets with beautiful fancies which have been woven into pathetic 
 ballads. Gerald Griffin describes it thus : — 
 
 " (111 llic oci'aii that Iiolldws tlie rocks where ye dwell 
 A shadowy land has appeared, as they tell ; 
 Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest, 
 And they called it Ily-Hiasil, tlie isle of the Blest. 
 From year unto year on the ocean's blue rim, 
 The beautiful spectre showed lovely und dim ; 
 The golden clouds curtained tlie deep where it lay, 
 And it looked like an Eden awav, far awav !
 
 PHA NTOM LA NDS. 2 1 3 
 
 " A peasant, who heard of the wonderful tale, 
 In tlie breeze of the Orient loosened his sail ; 
 From Ara, the holy, he turned to the west, 
 For though Ara was holy, II}--Brasil was blest. 
 He lieard not the voices that called from the shore — 
 He hearti not tlie rising wind's menacing roar ; 
 Home, kindred, and safety he left on that day, 
 And he sped to Hy-Brasil, away, far away I 
 
 " Morn rose on the deep, and that Shadowy Isle, 
 O'er the faint rim of distance, reflected its smile ; 
 Noon burned on the •\\'ave, and that shadoM'y shore 
 Seemed lovelily distant and faint as before ; 
 Lone evening came down on the wanderer's track. 
 And to Ara again he looked timidly back ; 
 Oil ! far on the verge of the ocean it lay. 
 Yet the isle of the blest was away, far away ! 
 
 " Eash dreamer return ! 0, je winds of the main, 
 Bear him back to his own peaceful Ara again. 
 Hash fool ! for a vision of fanciful bliss. 
 To barter thy calm lite of labour and peace. 
 The warning of reason was spoken in vain ; 
 He never re-visited Ara again ! 
 Night fell on the deep amidst tempest and spray, 
 And he died on the waters, away, far away ! 
 
 Many attempts were made to discover this fabled island. 
 Leslie, of Glaslougli, described as a " wise man and a great 
 scholar," was so imbued with belief in its real existence that he 
 solicited a grant of the isle from Charles I. Edmond Ludlow, 
 the celebrated republican, escaped to the Continent in a vessel 
 chartered at Limerick, to sail in search of Hy-Brasil ; and so 
 firm then was belief in the actual existence of this enchanted 
 island, that the captain of the ship was allowed to depart 
 unquestioned. 
 
 A rare Avork entitled La Xdrujation V Imlt' (hientaJc, printed 
 at Amsterdam in the year 1009, contains a map on which two 
 islands, styled Brasil and Brandon, are marked as actually exist- 
 ing off the Irish coast. Fig. 67 is a reproduction of that portion 
 of the plate above referred to. Fig. 68 is a chart by the French 
 Geographer Royal made in the year 1634, on which the island of 
 Hy Brasil is also distinctly marked. Fig. 69 shows the approxi- 
 mate position of the Porcupine and Rockall Banks with regard to 
 Ireland. Rockall is still, in part, above the waters, and the 
 )'ocky pinnacle it presents is a great danger to navigation. It is 
 probal)ly the last fragment of the island of Brandon, and the 
 Porcupine Bank may represent the site of the now phantom land 
 of Ily-Brasil. 
 
 On the 2nd March, 1671 (it is well to be very particular as to 
 the exact date), a Captain Nesbett discovered, disenchanted, and
 
 214 
 
 THE BORDERLAND OF TT I STORY 
 
 actually lancled on Hy-Brasil. wliicli lie also partially explored. 
 The disenchantment was effected hy lighting a fire upon it. 
 "Since then," says the writer, "several godly ministers and 
 others are gone to visit and discover them" (/.<'., the inhabitants), 
 but as the author had heard no news of their return, he says he 
 awaits with becoming patience further particulars. We are left 
 in ignorance as to wlictlur tlusc wci'c ever given, but from a 
 silence of npwai'ds of two centuries tlie ))r()lial)ility is, that the 
 
 2? randton- 
 
 I rluiidt 
 
 Sorltnqes j,"^'^ •" %Pa 
 
 f Verde, o 
 
 'Rochellc 
 
 Hi(|3ania 
 
 Jicores Irtfu.la 
 
 O at ^landrcCrff 
 
 Madent & 
 
 CcxriXXTiat o 
 
 Ch; 
 
 I'll.. 07. 
 
 irt from La A'azi^a/ion I'Jiide Oriental, looo, on whicli the- two Islaiuls of Brasil 
 and Brandon arc marked. 
 
 disenchantment wrouglit liy the lighting of the tire was but 
 temporary; that the "godly ministers and others" have met 
 with the fate of Ossian of old, but doubtless when the day of 
 their release arrives we shall hear of strange discoveries. The 
 pamphlet, purporting to give an account of the discovery of 
 Hy-]5rasil, obtained a good circulation in London in 1075. 
 
 The existence of a land which Avould restore the aged to the full 
 vigour of youth was of woild-wide belief, but all attempts to dis- 
 cover this land necessarily tended in disappointment; neverthe- 
 less, the strange spirit of ndventuie thus engendered, laid open to
 
 PHAX'J'OAI LANDS. 
 
 21i 
 
 view countries which niiglit otherwise have remained for centuries 
 unknown. A country of indefinite magnitude, called Brasil, is 
 marked on maps made before or about the time of Columbus. It 
 
 is represented south of another island whicli, it is thought, i-epre- 
 sents tlic supposed position of the Scandinavian settlements of 
 Vinelaiid; for, although we designate tlu; American contincjit
 
 216 
 
 THE BORDERLAND OF TITSrORY. 
 
 the "New World," it was apparently known to those ancient rovers 
 of the sea. 
 
 O'Flalierty mentions the appearance, in ll(U,of "fantastical 
 ships" in the harbour of Galway sailing against the wind ; and 
 Hardinian, editor of the above work, remembered having seen a 
 Wfll-defined aerial phenomenon of the same kind from a hill 
 near Croaghpatrick in Mayo, on a serene evening in the autumn 
 
 W \T° ia" 8^ ^ 
 
 Fig. 69. 
 
 Sketch Map, showing the approximate position of the Porcupine .and Rockall Ranks 
 with regard to Ireland. 
 
 of 179H. Hundreds who also witnessed the scene looked upon it 
 as supernatural, but soon afterwards it was ascertained that the 
 ilkision had been produced by the reflection of the fleet of 
 Admiral Warren which was then in pursuit of a French squadron 
 off" the west coast of Ireland. In like manner may not tlie 
 o])tical illusion noted in the Irish annals as occurring in the year 
 llGl, in the harbour of Galway, have been produced by the 
 reflection of a distant fleet of Northern war-galleys.
 
 PHANTOM LANDS. 217 
 
 Belief iu the existence of Hy-Brasil doubtless gave rise to the 
 traditional transatlantic voyage of St. Brendan (spelled Brandion 
 (jn the map, fig. 67), an adventurous ecclesiastic, styled "the 
 Navigator," who passed seven years away from Ireland on a 
 distant island. St. Brendan has been styled " the Sindbad of 
 clerical romance " ; and so firm a hold of men's mhids had the 
 exploits of this Christian Ulysses at one time acquired, that 
 islands, supposed to have been discovered by him, became sub- 
 jects of treaty. It is not improbable that, at a later period, his 
 adventures stimulated navigators to attempt discoveries across the 
 western ocean. St. Brendan sailed about on a huge rock, which 
 he finally abandoned on the coast of Donegal. St. Declan's rock 
 may still be seen on the strand in Ardmore bay. This " boat " is 
 computed to weigh about three tons. It navigated itself, on the sur- 
 face of the sea, from Eome, carrying, by way of cargo, nine bells, 
 and the curious ship reached land with its load most opportunely, 
 just as St. Declan was in dire want of a bell to celebrate ]\Iass. 
 
 There is a curious ms. on medical subjects in the Royal Irish 
 Academy, traditionally believed to have been originally obtained 
 by a native of Connemara, transported by suj^ernatural means to 
 the enchanted isle of Hy-Brasil, where he received full instructions 
 with regard to all diseases, their treatment and cure, and was 
 presented, on leaving, with the ms. to guide him in his medical 
 practice. So late as the year 1753, there is in The Ulster Mis- 
 celhtnt/ Si cnrions s&tive entitled "A voyage to O'Brazal, a sub- 
 marine island lying off the coast of Ireland." 
 
 O'Flaherty, writing in 1G81, states that: " From the isles of 
 Aran and the west continent often appears visible that enchanted 
 island called O'Brasil, and in Irish Beg-Ara, or the Lesser Aran, 
 set down in cards of navigation; whether it be real and firm land, 
 kept hidden by special ordinance of God, as the terrestial para- 
 dise, or else some illusion of airy clouds appearing on the surface 
 of the sea, or the craft of evil spirits — is more than our judg- 
 ments can sound out." 
 
 The Rev. Luke Connolly, writing in 1816, states that he 
 received minute descriptions of extraordinary Fata Morgana 
 which appeared along the sea-coast near the Giant's Causeway, 
 from those who saw the beautiful illusions on various summer 
 evenings: — " Shadows resembling castles, riTins, and tall spires 
 darted rapidly across the surface of the sea, which were instantly 
 succeeded by appearances of trees, lengthened into considerable 
 height ; these shadows moved to the eastern part of the horizon, 
 and at sunset totally disappeared. These plienomena have given 
 rise to various romantic stories. A book still extant, printed in 
 1748, and written by a person who resided near the Giant's 
 Causeway, gives a long account of an ciiclmnled island, annually
 
 218 -JHE BORDER LA XD OF HISTORY. 
 
 seen floating along the county of Antrim coast, which he fanci- 
 fully calls the ' Old Brazils.' It is supposed by the peasants that 
 a sod from the Irish tfrra iinii<(, thrown on this island, would 
 give it stability ; but though sevei-al fishing boats have gone out, 
 at dit'ferent times, provided with \\u< ni-tidc. it lias hithei'to 
 eluded their vigilance." 
 
 Belief in the existence of the island of Hy-Brasil nuiy have 
 arisen through these optical illusions, which are not so very 
 infrequent as is generally supposed. A correspondent writes — 
 " I myself, upwards of half a century ago, saw a wonderful mirage 
 resembling that lately described as having been visible off our 
 Tireragh coast (county of Sligo) ; and had I been looking on the 
 bay for the first time, nothing could have persuaded me but that 
 I was gazing at a veritable city — a large handsome one too, trees, 
 houses, spires, castellated buildings, &c." The enchanted island 
 of Hy-Brasil was again seen off the coast of Sligo (as above 
 alluded to) in the year 1885 ; the vision forebodes — so it is 
 alleged — national trouble. 
 
 There is also another consideration with regard to this phe- 
 nomenon which has not been sufficiently taken into consideration. 
 We cannot see objects below the horizon, but sometimes, owing 
 to the peculiar state of the atmosphere, the rays of light are so 
 bent that, when they reach the eye, they make distant objects 
 visible. For instance, place a coin in a saucer, so as to be hidden 
 from observation, pour water into the vessel, and though the 
 coin is below the horizon it becomes at once visible. This re- 
 flection, usually seen across water, is among sailors know^n as 
 " looming" ; the objects that " loom " are magnified vertically, 
 and seem unnaturally near. Snowdon, in Wales, is thus occa- 
 sionally seen by pilots in Dublin Bay, though it is over one 
 hundred miles distant. 
 
 P. W. Joyce says that " the Gaelic tales abound in allusions 
 to a beautiful country situated under the sea — an enchanted land 
 sunk at some remote time and still held under spell. In some 
 romantic writings it is called Tir-fa-tonn, ' the land beneath the 
 wave ' ; and occasionally one or more of the heroes find their way 
 to it. . . . The island of Fincara and the beautiful country 
 seen beneath tlie waves by Maildun are remnants of the same 
 superstition." Tliis romantic delusion is not confined to Irchmd. 
 lielief in it is found in the mythology of ahuost every race ; and 
 "although all evidence points in an opposite direction, and 
 rather to an evolution from lower to higher conditions every- 
 where, the idea that a paradise lies behind us will probably 
 remain in the chronic fiction of humanity so long, at least, as 
 to the individual bygone troubles appear small comparatively 
 wlicn dwarfed by distance in the retrospect, and wliile the
 
 PHANTOM CITIES. 219 
 
 memory of age continues to dwell regretfully on long vanished 
 scenes that may have owed their brightness chiefly to the 
 summer atmosphere of youth." 
 
 The concord of classic and Irish tradition is remarkable ; in 
 both cases, somewhere far away in the western ocean, there was 
 a country which passed under various names ; and that this was 
 one of the elysiums of the primitive Irish, as well as of classic 
 writers, is very clear. It appears to have corresponded to the 
 " Land of the Saints " of early Irish Christianity, where the 
 souls of the blessed await the Day of Judgment, even as the 
 "Land of the Living" was to the Pagan Irish their happy 
 " Spirit Home." The general traditions of pagan peoples place 
 the point of departure from this world, and entrance to the next, 
 always to the west, and the journey lay westward. For instance, 
 in the mythological legend of the adventures of C'ondla Ruad 
 the hero embarks in a currach made of pearl, and glides away on 
 the boundless ocean, watched by his friends with straining and 
 streaming eyes imtil the skiff disappears in the glow of the great 
 " white sun," on its voyage westward to the " Island of the 
 Blessed," to 
 
 " A land of youth, a land of rest, 
 A land from sorrow free ; 
 It lies far off in the golden "West, 
 On tlie verge of the azure sea." 
 
 The poet Longfellow makes even his Indian hero, Hiawatha, 
 take his departure westward, into the fiery simset — 
 
 " To the island of the Blessed, 
 To tlie Idngdoni of Ponemah, 
 To the land of the Hereafter." 
 
 There are also numerous legends of the overwhelming, not of 
 continents and islands alone, but also of particular towns and 
 cities by the sudden rising of the waters. 
 
 The sites of many lacustrine settlements, or villages built in 
 the water, called in Irish crannogs, are often designated by the 
 peasantry "drowned islands"; for /vrt?f^//rt, signifying "drowned," 
 is applied, by the country people to places or objects submerged 
 in water. When the Irish Annalists recount how the sacred 
 books of tlic Christian Irish were destroyed by the invading 
 Danes, who threw them into the water, they use the expression 
 " the books were drowned," thus sho^^ing that the application of 
 the term is not modern. Shakespeare, in The Triiipt'st and also in 
 AlPft TIV// f/ifii P'.iiih Well, also applies the epithet "drown" to 
 inanimate objects : — ■ 
 
 ..." Deeper than ever plummet sound 
 I "11 (Iniw u lii-\' lionlc."
 
 220 THK BORD/'.RI.AXn OF TT I STORY. 
 
 And again — 
 
 ..." To tliowii my clotliiiij;-, ami say I was strii)pccl." 
 
 li' lill lately people, otherwise well informed, were totally 
 ignorant on the subject of these " drowned" dwellings, it is the 
 less surprising that the simple Irish fisherman, gliding in his skiff 
 over the placid surface of the waters, and peering into their clear 
 depths, should have failed to recognize that the mouldering piles 
 projecting from the oozy bottom were traces of the love of secur- 
 ity of his predecessors in the country ; and that in the mud of 
 the ever-accumulating lacustrine deposit are preserved material 
 evidences of a state of primitive society long since passed away : 
 indeed, few discoveries are more interesting than the spectacle of 
 the ghosts of this long-forgotten population rising from the waters 
 of oblivion. 
 
 This tradition of " drowned " islands is clearly traceable to 
 lingering remembrances of these lacustrine habitations ; for 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the twelfth century, described 
 the tradition that then prevailed in the North of Ireland, of 
 waters having overwhelmed the plain now occupied by Lough 
 Neagh — a locality thickly studded with these " drowned " 
 remains ; and the legend has been immortalised by Moore, who 
 thus alludes to it : — 
 
 " Oil J.ough Ncagh's banks as the fisherman stray?, 
 When the clear cold eve 's declining', 
 He sees the round towers of other days 
 111 the waves beneath him shining." 
 
 It would appear as if shadowy tradition prevails also in the 
 East ; at any rate the same poet makes the Peri say : — 
 
 " I know where the Isles of Perfume are, 
 Many a fathom down in the sea. 
 To the south of sun-bright Arahy." 
 
 There is a tradition that tlie origintil town of Sligo, in the 
 west of Ireland, stood on a plain now overspread by the waters 
 of Lough Gill, and that the islets studding the bosom of the lake 
 are the crests of verdant knolls which formerly adorned its green 
 expanse. There are certainly traces of lacustrine settlements 
 still plainly to be observed above water ; but as proof of the 
 alleged submergence of the ancient town, the remains of houses 
 and liuildings are said to be visible at the bottom of the lake on 
 a sunshiny day. An English tourist asked a Sligo boatnuin, 
 who had rowed him from the town to the lake, if he had ever 
 .seen " the round towers of other days," or any buildings of past
 
 PHANTOM CITIES. 221 
 
 ages, gleaming under the waters. " In troth, I have," was the 
 ready answer ; "and shure, on a still summer's day, won't you 
 see the smoke from the chimneys rising straight up in the air 
 from the surface of the lake." 
 
 Within the town of Sligo, in the townland of Knocknaganny, 
 is the celebrated well of Tobeniashelmida, or the Snail's Well. 
 Its name is derived from an enchanted or metamorphosed being, 
 supposed to be seen every seventh year emerging from its waters 
 in the form of a huge snail, and which possesses the power of 
 effecting, at some future period which, it is to be hoped, may 
 always remain in futurity, an overflowing of the well, and a 
 second submergence of the metropolis of the west of Ireland. 
 
 A curious tradition is connected with a rude stone monument 
 in Mayo, to the effect that should the giant's grave be ever dug 
 into, the wild mountain side would at once be transformed 
 into a fertile plain ; that the gate of a beautiful city, which lies 
 enchanted at the bottom of a little lake close by, could then be 
 opened by a key buried with the warrior in the tomb, and that a 
 great golden treasure would be at the disposal of the discoverer. 
 
 The tradition of toAvns buried beneath the waters is not 
 merely confined to the lakes of Ireland ; there is the beautiful 
 fable of the City of Gold, hid beneath the angry ocean, some- 
 times seen, but ever in different localities : — - 
 
 '' Years onward -liave swept, 
 
 Ay ! loii<>; ages have rolleii — 
 Since the billows first slept 
 O'ertheCity of Gold! 
 
 " 'Neath its eddy of white 
 
 Where the green wave is swelling, 
 In their halls of dcliglit. 
 
 Are the fairy tribes dwelling. 
 
 " And but sekloin the eye 
 Of a mortal can scan, 
 Where those palaces liigh 
 Eise unaided by man. 
 
 " Yet at times the waves sever, 
 And then yon may view 
 The yellow walls ever, 
 
 'Neath the ocean's deep blue." 
 
 A similar legend lingers amongst the peasantry on both banks 
 of the estuary of the Eiver Shannon. They believe that a 
 beautiful city lies buried beneath the waters, the flow of the 
 current being rufiled and disturbed by its sunken towers, spires, 
 and turrets. Once in seven years the glittering pile, they tell
 
 222 
 
 THE BORDER LAND OF HISTORY. 
 
 us, is to be seen gleaming beneath the transhicent wave, but it 
 is considered a sure omen of approacliing death to the beliolder 
 of the wonderful spectacle. 
 
 j\I. Chantry was induced to explore Lake Taladiu in Isere, 
 from hearing the recital of a local tradition that the ruins of an 
 ancient city, destroyed by Divine vengeance, were still to be seen 
 at the bottom of the lake. Researches led to the discovery of a 
 lacustrine settlement occupying the spot indicated by the legend. 
 In the Bay of Douarninez, near the Pointe de Raz, on the 
 Brittany coast, the fisherman still believes he sees, under the 
 green waves, "the ruined streets and monuments of the Breton 
 Sodom." or the mvtliir;il Citv of Ts. 
 
 
 m^ms 
 
 Present appearance p 
 artificial islets. Aft 
 
 
 --^s^^ 
 
 Similar legends oi submerged towns are prevalent in the 
 south of Scotland, on the littoral facing the Irish coast ; while 
 amongst other points of coincidence between Scotch and Irish 
 lake settlements may be noticed a tradition connected with some 
 <jf them, and common to both countries, which seems to have 
 had its origin in the submergence of the settlements by the 
 continual rising of the water level of the lakes, or the sinking of 
 the littoral. The same idea is held by the natives of Central 
 India, wlio imagine tliat the sound of fairy music is heard, and 
 panoramic views of buried cities may, fi'om the surrounding hill 
 tops, be seen beneath the waters of their lakes. John Balak, 
 who had taken up his residence on the river Osella, wrote to 
 Oerard Mercator, the famous cosmographer, an account of the 
 river on which was "the great lake of Kittay, on the shores of
 
 PHANTOM SHIPS. 
 
 223 
 
 ■which have heoii heard sweet harmony of bells, and that stately 
 and large buildings had been seen therein." 
 
 The cluster of artificial islands and shoals in Lough Eyes, 
 near Lisbellaw, county Fermanagh, is perhaps one of the most 
 remarkable remains of a large lacustrine settlement to be seen in 
 Ireland. The country people have a tradition that, in ancient 
 times, a road or roads, leading from island to island, passed 
 through the lake. When the water level is very low, traces of 
 these "roads" may be discerned consisting of peaty ridges, leading 
 from dwelling to dwelling, probably composed to a great extent 
 of the fallen platforms or gangways. Two rows of stakes 
 extending along the sides of the ridges, placed about 4 feet 
 asunder, mark the width of the causeways, which were probably 
 
 Former appearance presented by Lough Kyes and its artificial islets. An attempted 
 restoration of the ancient settlement. By W. F. Wakeman. 
 
 supported on piles. Fig. 70 is a view of the present appear- 
 ance presented by Lough Eyes and its islets. Fig. 71 is an 
 attempted restoration of the ancient settlement. Attention 
 must be drawn to the quaint boats used by their inhabitants. 
 Fig, 72 is a restoration of the huge single-piece canoe, now 
 in the Science and Art Museum. Judging by its great size 
 it was most probably used for purposes of warfare. Origi- 
 nally 43 feet over all, it was capable of carrying a crew 
 of thirty-five fighting men, and, propelled by twenty paddles, 
 would have attained a good head of speed. Fig. 72 repre- 
 sents a common incident in ancient times, a raid on, and 
 the pillaging and burning of, a cluster of lake-dwellings ; many 
 of the sites bear signs which denote that the villages had 
 been often demolished, burnt, and rebuilt ; the native clinging
 
 224 
 
 TflE BORDF.RLAXD (')/■ ///S70RV. 
 
 to his watery home with as nnu-h ])orliiuicity as. in hitter (hiys, 
 his descendant chn<^s to liis rotta^'i' on trmi Jinmi. In the pro- 
 irress of nianv centuries this state of society in Irt'hmd i;iaihiallv 
 
 a ^ 
 
 C "^ 
 
 .2 ^ 
 
 
 chan<i;ed. Forests were cleared, pasturage became more ampk'. 
 wild animals diminished, whilst sheep and oxen increased, and 
 ])()pulation became more generally spread over the country.
 
 ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS. 225 
 
 Eeiuaii)s of very similar structures have been observed in the 
 waters of the western Pacific ; the most remarkable occur at a 
 place called Metalainne where some sixty artificial islets, bearing 
 a certain resemblance to Irish and British lake-dwellings, rise 
 from the waters of a lagoon. This Venice of the Carolines 
 covers an area of about nine square miles. The few natives 
 frequenting the locahty give the islets a wide berth, as they 
 believe them to be haunted. They also recount a tradition that 
 there was here formerly a great city, but one day a large fleet of 
 canoes, filled with a horde of fierce barbarians, attacked the place, 
 captured the city, and slaughtered or sacrificed its defenders. 
 
 The gradual development of what is now the kingdom of 
 Holland can be traced back to a race of wretched fish-eaters who 
 dwelt upon mounds which they raised like beavers above the 
 almost fluid soil. Venice, the once proud Queen of the Adriatic, 
 with her marble palaces rising vision-like from her watery bed, 
 was, in origin, but a cluster of fisher-huts perched on piles in the 
 shallow lagoons at the mouth of the Po. When the Spaniards 
 captured Mexico, the city was then a second Venice. London 
 has risen to its present eminence from a nucleus of rude pile- 
 dwellings. In the case of this great city, traces of these 
 structures have been found both near London Wall and at 
 Southwark, for the Thames was formerly a less deep but a wider 
 river than at present, and appears to have had a pile-dwelling 
 population established on its shallows. 
 
 In a romantic Greek poem on Jason's Colchian expedition, 
 Ouomacritus takes his heroes over almost every part of the then 
 known world, and in the course of their adventures in the 
 Atlantic they pass an island named lerne, i.e., Ireland. The 
 passage, however, in Aristotle (b.c. 384-322), in which he notices 
 lerne, bears, it is alleged, " the unquestionable stamp of a much 
 more advanced stage of geographical knowledge than that of his 
 age." Perhaps the earliest notice on which dependence can be 
 placed is that by Eratosthenes (b.c. 276-19C). Most of his works 
 have been lost ; some, however, of his references to Ireland have 
 been preserved by Strabo, who maintains that he was so well 
 acquainted with the western parts of Europe that he had deter- 
 mined the distance of Ireland from Gaul. Strabo (born b.c. 70), 
 in describing the extent of the habitable world, considered that 
 it commenced to the north of the mouth of the Borysthenes. 
 This parallel, at the other extremity, passed to the north of 
 lerne. Little Avas known of the inhabitants of lerne ; they were 
 reputed to be mere savages, addicted to cannibalism, and hav- 
 ing no marriage ties. Solinus^who is mentioned by Servius, 
 Macrobius, and Priscianus, as well as by Jerome, Ambrose, and
 
 220 THE BQRDKRLAXD OF nrSTORY. 
 
 Aiigustin, enters into more details than any previous s^-eoj,n-apher. 
 He wrote before the birth of our Lord : — 
 
 " llibernia approaches to Uritain in size; it is inhuman in 
 the rouj^h manners of its inhabitants ; it is so hixuriant in its 
 grass, that unless its cattle are now and aj^ain removed from their 
 pasturage, satiety may cause danger to them. There is there no 
 snake, and few birds ; an inhospitable and warlike nation, the 
 conquerors among them having first drunk the blood of their 
 enemies, afterwards besmear their faces therewith ; they regard 
 right iiud wrong alike. Whenever a woman l)rings forth a male 
 child, -^hc puts his first iood on the swoid of her husband, and 
 she lightly introduces the lirst ausj)iciuin of nourishment into 
 his little mouth with the point of the sword ; and with gentle 
 vows she expresses a wisli that he may never meet death other- 
 wise than in war and amid wars. Those who attend to military 
 costume ornament the hilts of their swords with the teeth of sea- 
 monsters, which are as white as ivory, for the men glory in 
 their weapons. No bee has been brought thither, and if anyone 
 scatters dust, or pebbles brought from thence, among the hives in 
 other coimtries, the swarms desert their combs. The sea that lies 
 between this island and Britain is stormy and tempestuous during 
 the whole year, nor is it navigable except for a few days in the 
 summer season. They sail in wicker vessels, which they cover all 
 round with ox-hides, and as long as the voyage continues, the 
 navigators abstain from food. The breadth of the island is un- 
 certain ; that it extends twenty miles is the opinion of those who 
 have calculated nearest the truth." 
 
 The story about the bees, and the supposed breadth of Ireland 
 excepted, Solinus is comparatively free from errors in this brief 
 description, for it can readily be imagined that, to the coracle- 
 voyaging native, the Irish Channel might well be regarded as 
 "stormy and tempestuous during the whole year," In the 
 emblematic title-page of Sir James Ware's second edition of 
 " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Disquisitiones," published as 
 late as the middle of the seventeenth century (1G58), Hibernia 
 is represented as a kind of Diana surrounded with the princi})al 
 products of the kingdom, and in the foreground stands a large 
 tree, swarming with bees, to indicate that the land was celebrated 
 for the abundance of its wiUl honey (fig. 73). In popular belief, 
 it is still considered extremely lucky to dream of these little 
 emblems of industry and frugality, for their appearance implies 
 good luck, prosperity, and happiness to the dreamer: — 
 
 " No more of fortune's frown afraid. 
 For everything in love and trade, 
 Ilejiceforth shall \\itli him tlirive."
 
 
 v^' 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 4 « f W 
 
 
 Fig. 73. — Hilirnii.i surrcjundcd witli tlu- principal products iif the Kin.i;tl(jm. Title page uf Sir 
 James Ware's /Ji; Hibernia et A iiti,]ititatilutx r/iis Dist/uisifioncs. Second Kd., 1658.
 
 228 THE BORDERLAND OF HTSTORY. 
 
 ^Vllcn a swarm of bees suddenly quits a hive, it is a sign that 
 death is hovering over the house, but the impending evil may be 
 averted by the exorcism of the fairy doctor. It is not generally 
 known that not only the sweet product of the insect, but the 
 actual body of the bee itself, was formerly employed in thera- 
 peutics. Bees drowned in honey were recommended for strength- 
 ening the eyesight, for curing deafness, and for staying vomiting. 
 The remedy was, however, deemed so violent in its workings that 
 the curious injunction was laid on the practitioner that he should 
 bind the patient, as otherwise he could not endure it. The follow- 
 ing remedy is given by Celsus : — " The bodies of bees taken newly 
 from the comb and powdered and diunk with diarrlictic wino 
 powerfully cures dropsy." 
 
 A renuirkable tradition, which depicts St. Clobnate as the 
 patron of bees, was at one time current near Macroom, county 
 Cork. A chief, on the morning of a battle, perceiving with dis- 
 may the inferiority in number of his followers compared with 
 those of his adversaries, prayed to St. Gobnate for assistance. 
 The good saint granted his request by turning a swarm of bees, 
 close at hand, into armed soldiers, who issued from the hive in 
 military array, ranged themselves in ranks, and followed their 
 leader to victory. After the battle the victorious chief visited 
 the spot from whence he had received such miraculous assis- 
 tance, and found the rush-formed hive metamorphosed into a 
 brass utensil. This article was formerly in the possession of 
 the O'Hierlyhie family, and was held in great veneration by the 
 peasantry of the district. 
 
 Pomponius Mela, who llourishcd in the i-eign of the Emperor 
 Claudius, a.d. 41-54, appears to have extracted some of his in- 
 formation Avith regard to Ireland from Solinus, but he corrects 
 his errors relative to the size of the island : — " Beyond Britain 
 lies Juverna, an island of nearly equal size, but oblong, with a 
 coast at each side of equal extent, having a climate unfavourable 
 for ripening grain, but so luxuriant in grasses, not merely pala- 
 table but even sweet, that the cattle in a very short time take 
 suflHcient feeding for the day, and if allowed to feed too long they 
 would burst. Its inhabitants are wanting in every virtue, and 
 totally destiti;te of piety.' 
 
 Pliny, who wrote about the same time as Pomponius Mela, 
 stated that Ireland was about the same breadth as Britain, but 
 two hundred miles shorter, and that it was distant thirty miles 
 fi'om the territory of the Silures. 
 
 Diodorus, who lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, 
 writes that the most ferocious of the northern (lauls were stated 
 to be "cannibals, like the ]'>ritons who inhabit Erin." 
 
 From an allusion in I'liny, it has been surmised that the
 
 HYPERBOREAN cbud^islahos ..„„,„„„„,.„ „..r^...rn«^..u 
 ' J. ^ * HYPERBOREAN or DUECALEDONIAN 
 
 >-> r0«^«" .,„„art, nCEAN 
 
 *^1l
 
 IRELAND AS K.YOHN TO THE ANCIENTS. 22!) 
 
 Komans possessed a map, or topography of Ireland. After their 
 conquest of Britain, Ireland became better known to them. Inter- 
 course of a more or less restricted character must have sprung 
 up, for commerce, in olden as well as in modern days, was " the 
 parent of geography." Whether commerce followed "the eagles," 
 as trade now, it is alleged, follows "the flag," is a question open 
 to abundant discussion ; but Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, 
 specially states that Ireland possessed a commerce superior to 
 that of Britain, and that its harbours and estuaries were more 
 frequented and better known to traders ; also that there was very 
 little difference between the soil and climate of Ireland and that 
 of Britain. 
 
 Claudius Ptolemy who, in the second century, compiled his 
 work on geography, which remained a standard text-book until 
 the fifteenth century, is the only writer Avho has described the 
 ports and inland places of Ireland with any exactitude. He 
 essayed to systematize the result of ancient research, and 
 although, at first sight, his map may appear grotesque, yet, if 
 the feeble appliances which he had at his disposal be considered, 
 the ingenuity displayed in overcoming their deficiencies should 
 excite admiration. His information consists essentially of a 
 table of latitudes and longitudes, evidently intended to serve as a 
 sufficient guide for the construction of a map, without referring 
 to any then existing charts. 
 
 It is strange that the designation Ivernia, as Ptolemy styles 
 Ireland, differs more widely than that of lerne, by which the 
 island was first known to the Greeks, from the native name, 
 Erin. Ireland, in Ptolemaic geography, is placed too much to the 
 north, while Scotland has been made to bend towards the east, 
 instead of to the north. The map is not far wrong as regards the 
 length and breadth of Ireland, but it depicts the island as lying 
 north-east and south-west, instead of north and south (fig. 74), 
 whilst the outlines of the coast depart, in places, so far from the 
 reality as to render the identification of many of the headlands very 
 problematic. Had Ireland, however, been placed in its proper 
 position, and Scotland given the proper direction, the approximate 
 outline of Great Britain and Ireland would have been fairly re- 
 presented. This bears out the hypothesis that Ptolemy's infor- 
 mation was drawn from three separate maps which afforded to 
 him no guide as to their mutual relations. 
 
 The eastern coast of Ireland must have been that best known 
 to foreign merchants sailing for the port of Dublin, which, even at 
 this period, appears to have been a place of importance. The first 
 headland sighted would be Howth, of which the ancient Irish 
 name was Ben-Ijdair. Opposite a town styled Eblana there is 
 marketl, on Ptok'my's map, an uiiinliabited island styled Edrus
 
 230 
 
 THE nORDEK/.AXn ()!■' J/ISTORY. 
 
 (iig. 75), and connected as llowtli i iicn-lMlair) is to the mainland 
 by low-lying ground, it is easy to understand how the geographer's 
 informants mistook Ilowth for an island. Another adjoining- 
 island, designated Limnus, is prohahly Lamhay, Ehlana is clearly 
 Duhlin (Deblana) with the d softened or omitted. To the south 
 
 G3 
 
 62 
 
 
 /^ 
 
 
 RiverLib nius/ nkQMt<\k 
 
 I vt^Cv'ilsaninium .'^ 
 -^oy^ /Capei *-J 
 
 -•' ^[R.Buvinda VJ 
 
 Fig. 75. 
 
 Ireland according to I'tdliin.iic Gcographv. Drawn \<\ 1 liin\ I'.iailicv, and 
 irpr.xlurcd hom '/'//r .-7 ;y7/,/-,>/-AV>' , M.l . xh iii. 
 
 of this city of Ehlana, theie appears the river Aboca, A\hicJi 
 points to its being the Avonmore in Wicklow ; but not coiitent 
 with its identification, the stream has been recently named the 
 Avoca. Ptolemy places a town called Dunum on ,or near this 
 river. The locality has not been identified, but the name is
 
 PTOLEMY'S DESCRTPTIOX OF IRELAND. 2B1 
 
 evidently derived from the Celtic designation of a fortress, i.e., 
 down. The river lluvinda, to the north of Duhlin, is clearly the 
 Boyne. The Vinderius, from its position, appears to he Strang- 
 ford Lough, whilst the I^ogia may he identified with the river 
 Lagan at Belfast. 
 
 The northern coast of L'eland is the one most accurately re- 
 presented, and its localities are the most easily recognizable. 
 Robogdium appears to be Fair Head ; the river Argita, the 
 Bann ; the Vidua, the Foyle ; Yennicuium, Malin Head ; and the 
 Northern Cape may be the Bloody Foreland. 
 
 On the west coast the identification of localities is surrounded 
 with greater difficulties. The river Ravius may be the Erne ; 
 the Libnius the river of Sligo, and Nagnata, either Sligo or 
 Drumclift'; the Ausoha, the river Moy ; the Seni;s corresponds in 
 name, though scarcely in position, with the Shannon; whilst the 
 Southern Cape is doubtless one of the headlands of Kerry. 
 
 On the southern coast the localities are almost as clearly 
 defined as on the northern. The Dabrona answers in position 
 to the Blackwater; the Birgus, both in position and name, to 
 the Barrow ; the Sacred Cape appears to be Carnsore Point. 
 
 O'Donovan alludes to the ancient names of Lish rivers, and 
 his opinion on the subject is here given, not alone as bearing 
 iipon the identification of the names, but as showing in what 
 light this celebrated Irish scholar regarded some of the old Irish 
 writers. Quoting a poem preserved in several mss., he states that 
 in it we are given the interesting information that there were ten 
 rivers in Erin at the time of Parthalon's arrival. " Now," he 
 continues, " though we know that this poem is undoubtedly a 
 fal)ricali()u, still it is very ancient; while therefore we reject that 
 absurd part which would give us to understand that the river 
 Liffey is more ancient than the Shannon, we retain it as the 
 testimony ^of an Irish bard, that such were the names of ten 
 considerable and well-l{nowai rivers in Ireland at the time he 
 flourished ; and when he either fabricated the story, or drew it 
 from other historical muniments then existing, or founded it upon 
 foolish traditions, the like of which are to be found among every 
 nation, and upon which the commencement of the history of 
 most nations is founded." O'Donovan then proceeds to identify 
 them, and states by what names they are now known. ] Afoi is, 
 he points out, the Lee. Jlanna and Dcarliha are anglicised l)ann 
 and Barrow. Sdinier is now styled the Erne. Slii/nir/i, ALuUnnii, 
 Mxtidli are anglicised Sligo, j\Iourne, and ^loy. l-'inmi, now pro- 
 perly written Fimi, is in the County of Donegal. LijJ'e is "the 
 Liffey." The identification of one river, the lluns, alone renuiins 
 doubtful. 
 
 The towns situatrd in the interior of the country, ;is given
 
 282 TH/-: BORDER LA X]:> OR inS'lORY. 
 
 by Ploleiny, as well as his enununation of tribal icrritorios, need 
 1h' l)ut bvieriy noticed, as tliey have not been identified, at least 
 with any unaninions assent. Places situated far inland, and 
 probably never visited by foreign trafllckers, would be by them, 
 pronounci'd ill a nidrc incon-cci fonii lh;iH tliose at which they 
 had landed. I'liis \\ould fully account for the fairly successful 
 identification of localities along the littoral. Kut even with 
 regard to this identification it must be admitted that the con- 
 clusions of recent autboiities of eminence are by no meana 
 unanimous. 
 
 'Ihree at least of the tribes who licld the eastern coast, the 
 r>rigantes, the Manapii, and the Voluntii, were undoubtedly 
 colonies from the opposite shores of P>ritain. There were also 
 territories inhabited by the Coriondi, the Cauci, and the Darini. 
 
 On the northern coast dwelt the Kobogdii in Antrim and 
 Derry, and the Venniconii in the present county Donegal. 
 
 Westward were the Krdini; next to them the Xagnnta^ pro- 
 bal)ly ill the county Sligo; farther soiilli came the Autini, the 
 Gangani and the Vellebori. 
 
 The south-western littoral, together with a great portion of 
 the interior of the country, was inhabited by the Iverni, who gave 
 their name to the entire island. 
 
 Now it is almost self-evident that these various tribes, 
 governed by different chiefs and belonging to distinct races, must 
 have differed widely in manners and comparative civilization. 
 Thus we should not be justified in applying to them, individually, 
 the uncomplimentary notices of these inhabitants of Ireland, 
 in general, winch are to be found in ancient Latin and Clreek 
 writers. 
 
 The infoi'mation collected and lal)ulated by Ptolemy was 
 probably known, before his time, to traders belonging to, or 
 frequenting, the western coasts of Caledonia and of Britain ; yet 
 it is strange that no mention is made of Tara, although two cities 
 named Regia and about eight other towns are enumerated. It is 
 alleged that all vestiges of buildings, or earthworks, now or formerly 
 existing on the Hill of Tara, may be classed under two distinct 
 periods, both being within the limits of the Christian era. The 
 most important period, and that to which, it is thought, all the 
 remains now observable belong, is in the third century. Hence 
 it has been concluded that, before this date, Tara was not dis- 
 tinguished as a regal seat, or city, and therefore was omitted from 
 the map of Ptolemy. From traces of ancient remains at Tara 
 it would appear that the original structures were altogether 
 composed of earth and Avood, and judging from their uniform 
 character, they were probably erected about the same time, and 
 by the same people.
 
 A GRICOL A ' .V A L L EG ED COXQ UEST, 233 
 
 In the year a.d. 82 the lioiiiiin general Agricola encamped on 
 a portion of the Scottish httoral which faced Ireland. He appears 
 to have entertained the idea of the conquest of Ireland, on account 
 of its supposed strategic importance ; for the Romans, according 
 to Tacitus, erroneously considered it to be equi-distant from 
 Britain, Gaul and Spain. It was therefore important as a con- 
 necting link in the consolidation of these provinces. From 
 merchants well acquainted with the coasts and harbours, Agricola 
 obtained information respecting the country he intended to 
 invade, and like a very old edition of an old story, a fugitive Irish 
 chief sought an asylum in the Roman camp. Under a show of 
 friendship the politic general detained hnn to V)e used, as a fitting 
 tool, when occasion served. Agricola was confideut of success; 
 he declared that a single legion, with auxilaries, would suffice for 
 the conquest, a conquest that would, according to the Roman 
 commander, greatly contribute to bridle the stubborn spirit of the 
 Britons, who then would see, with dismay, the Roman arms 
 universally triumphant and liberty totally extinguished around 
 their coasts. 
 
 It is useless now to speculate as to whether Agricola's 
 estimate of the small force requisite to subdue Ireland was, 
 or was not, correct, nor need national pride be wounded at 
 the low estimate he made of Irish valour, for there can be 
 little doubt that had tlie Romans landed they would have erected 
 fortified camps and have constructed roads as they advanced ; they 
 would have made friends of some tribes, have employed them as 
 auxilaries, and used them against their fellow-countrymen. By 
 pursuing this, their usual policy, the Romans would have subdued 
 the island in a much shorter period even than that spent by the 
 Anglo-Normans in their conquest ; for although the first Anglo- 
 Norman invasion took place in 1169, and general submission was 
 given by the Irish chiefs to Henry II. in 1172, the subjugation 
 was merely nominal, and not a reality. 
 
 Agricola, however, was unable to bring his plans for the con- 
 quest of Ireland to maturity, owing to an invasion of the Romano- 
 British provinces by the northern tribes, which compelled him to 
 turn his arms in a different direction. Some few writers have 
 challenged the almost un'iversally received opinion that Agricola 
 did not invade Ireland, and assert that Tacitus, in his life of 
 Agricola, clearly alludes to it. The passage cited by them is as 
 follows : — " In the fifth year of his conquests Agricola crossed in 
 the first ship and subdued in a series of victories, tribes hitherto 
 unknown." The contention is that the sea which Agricola 
 crossed was the Irish Channel, and the unknown tribes he 
 .subdued were Irishmen. Of course all depends upon the identity 
 of the sea crossed by the Roman general and his position at the
 
 234 THE liORDER/.AXJ) OF If I STORY. 
 
 time. A correet view of this (Icmonstrates, liowcver, the utter 
 improbability of tlie invasion of Inland. 
 
 Towards the close of bis foiiiili \ tar's campiUj^n (a.d. 81). 
 Agricola decided to secure, by a chain of forts, the portion ot 
 north Britain Avbicb he bad subdued. Tacitus tells us that the 
 place be selected for that purpose was where the waters of the 
 Clyde and Forth are only hindered from meeting by a compara- 
 tively narrow noc]< of hind. On the south side of this istbmu.s 
 the entire couiitiy hud htin cxaciiated by the enemy, who were 
 driven, as it were, into anotiier island. Agricola's base of 
 operations for his fifth campaign (a.d. 82) was thus evidently 
 the chain of forts between the Clyde and Forth. The Irish 
 having made frecpient incursions into Britain, it became neces- 
 sary as he advanced to secure his rear from their attack which, 
 if successful, even only on one point, would cause the Jhitish 
 tribes in his rear to I'evolt and cut him off from southern 
 Britain. 
 
 Advancing on the western side of Britain, Agricola had, in 
 person, examined all the iirths and estuaries, b'rom this it is 
 evident that he had no fleet accompanying his army. This is 
 further confirmed by his invasion of Anglesea where his troops 
 swam the ]\lenai Straits, taking the Britons completely by 
 surprise as they had " expected the arrival of a fleet and a formal 
 invasion by sea." This occurred in a.d. 78, and Tacitus does 
 not refer to the fleet during the years 79, 80, or 81 ; it seems, 
 during the above period, to have been stationed at its usual 
 head(piarters, on the south-east coast of England. An invasion 
 of Ireland would have required a large fleet ; and it is not until 
 Agricohi's sixth compaign in a.d. s:'>, on the eastern side of 
 Caledonia, that Tacitus mentions the fleet, when he says : — 
 " Agricola ordered his ships to sail across the gulf (Bodotria,. 
 the Forth) and gain some knowledge of these new regions. 
 The fleet, now acting for the first time in concert with the land 
 forces, proceeded in sight of the army." Tacitus then states that, 
 at the sight of the [Ionian fleet, the I>ritons were utterly con- 
 founded, and were at length convinced that every resource was 
 cut oif, since the sea, which had always been their refuge, was 
 now conunanded by their invaders. And from his stand-point 
 Tacitus was right ; for, from this out, Britain became completely 
 subjected to tiie power of Imperial Bonu'. With their inde- 
 pendence the populations lost their nationality. The various 
 nations wlio had fought so bravely for their freedom, robbed now 
 of their individuality, were gradually transformed into Roman 
 subjects ; the vast majority into mere Boman slaves. 
 
 Thus it is apparent that the ]'>ritons had seen nothing of 
 Agricola's fleet in his fifth campaign. This could hardly have
 
 IXFLUX i)l- ROM A A' TRADERS. 285 
 
 been the case liad lie embarked a large force for the invasion of 
 Ireland. There still, however, remains the statement by Tacitus 
 that Agricola, although his fleet did not act with his army, crossed 
 over from somewhere to somewhere in " the first ship.'' The 
 generally accepted and most lilvely explanation as to this is, 
 that Agricola crossed the Firth of Clyde in the first Roman ship 
 that had ever performed such a voyage, the troops probably 
 marching round by land, or crossing the firth on small rafts or 
 extemporised vessels. 
 
 A few writers go so far as to assert that the Komans, profit- 
 ing by the after-tranquillity in Britain, crossed the channel and 
 subdued Ireland in part. It appears as if the statements of this 
 alleged conquest were based upon a claim of nominal sovereignty, 
 perhaps through the submission of the fugitive Irish chieftain 
 before mentioned, whom the politic Agricola kept in his camp, 
 as well as on a passage in one of Juvenal's satires, written about 
 A.D. 97, wherein the poet describes the conquests of his country- 
 men : — " We have indeed carried our arms beyond the shores of 
 Ireland, and the lately subdued Orkneys and the Britons contented 
 with a short night.'"'' .luvenal speaks, however, not of the conquest 
 of Ireland, but of the manner in which the Eoman eagles were 
 pushed beyond Ireland northward into the island regions where, 
 in summer, the night time was of comparatively short duration. 
 There is, at any rate, no notice of such an expedition in any 
 classic writer, nor has proof of their occupation of the country 
 ever been brought to light. Everything tends to show that no 
 military occupation of Ireland by Rome ever took place ; nearly 
 all Roman antiques yet discovered are of late date, small, of in- 
 trinsic value, and just such articles as a piratical band would carry 
 oft" on account of their portability. If Agricola had invaded 
 Ireland and failed, Avould not Domitian have been the first to 
 have had him disgraced, and probably put to death '? Had 
 Agricola on the other hand successfully eft'ected such an inva- 
 sion would it not have been recorded, and would it not have 
 added a new title to the emperor ? 
 
 The close of the second and the connnencement of the third 
 century was the palmy period of Roman sAvay in Britain, then 
 the richest and most flourishing province of the empire, for the 
 abundance of its mineral wealth, the luxuriant crops produced 
 by a virgin soil, and the discovery of clays suitable to the manu- 
 facture of pottery, attracted numbers of artisans from the Conti- 
 nent, and temples, palaces, villas, baths, and theatres arose all 
 
 . . . Anii.i (]ni(lrni ullru 
 
 Lilt<jia .luvciiiMi' iiromovinms, ut modo ca[)tns 
 
 ()rca(la>< ac iniiiiiiifi coiitentos noctp, liritaniios."
 
 236 THE BORDERLAXD OF HISTORY. 
 
 over the face of the country." It is but reasonable to suppose 
 that this wealthy and mercantile population maintained a traffic 
 Avith Ireland, and that some of its inhabitants visited our 
 country as traders, handicraftsmen, or physicians, seeking an 
 opening- in a new land. The interesting discovery, in the year 
 1842, of a lioman medicine stamp, on the rising ground above 
 the village of Golden Bridge in the county Tipperary, is some- 
 wliat in favour of this theory. It is alleged, by some anti- 
 quarians, that stamps of this class were not employed by regular 
 practitioners, but by empiric medicine vendors to impress their 
 wares, which may be styled the " patent medicines " of the 
 Romans. If this be a correct view of the case, the discovery of 
 the stamp implies the probable compounding of the medicament 
 in Ireland, and the Romano-Hibernian patent medicine seller, 
 ]\[arcus Juventius Tutianus, probably made a living in Tipperary 
 by the manufacture and sale of his salve '■'■ad reten's cicatrict'a.'" 
 Numerous medicine stamps have been found on the Continent and 
 in Great Britain, and have been the subject of much literary com- 
 ment. It is remarkable that in all, or nearly all, the examples 
 that have as yet been brought to light, the diseases, for which 
 they are the specific, are uniformly those of the eyes ; hence 
 some Avriters designate them "oculist's stamps." Disease of 
 the eyes appears to have been extremely prevalent amongst the 
 Romans, and throughout the Western Provinces, probably attri- 
 butable to some circumstances connected with the then diet or 
 manner of living of the population. For these ailments of the 
 eyes an immense number of rolh/ria, or ointments, composed 
 of a great number of ingredients were compounded. These 
 collyria were sometimes named from their original inventors, 
 from the characteristics of the mixture, from their colour, their 
 smell, or some distinguishing feature. Horace thus alludes to 
 his use of a black (or dark-coloured) eye ointment : 
 
 " Ili-j oculis ego nigriinieirt conyri;! lii)iii[ri 
 ]llin('i{\'"t 
 
 The medicine stamp found near the village of Golden Ik'idge, 
 county of Tipperary, here reproduced full size (iig. 70), is formed 
 of smooth, hard, hne-grained, liglit-grey slate. The inscription 
 indicates the name of the empiric with the quality of the 
 remedy : — 
 
 Mill'ii IVVKX/// TVTIANI 
 
 DiAMYsus AD xEJcirs cic(( tfices. 
 
 *Miich interesting information eonf-erning tliis period is contained in a work 
 entitled T/ir Celt, The Idnnin,, and Thr Sa.nnu h\ T. Wright, m.a., 2nd ed., 
 Londoi', 18(50. 
 
 t " Ilci-e I, l)lcar-eved, fbe^nni to dniil) lilm 1; cullvriiini on niy eyes."
 
 ROAIAiV MEDICINE STAMPS. 
 
 287 
 
 A little indistinct mark at the close of the first line resembles 
 a diminutive c If regarded as a letter it may signify the word 
 coUiir'nnn. These quack drugs were doubtless moulded in the 
 
 form of paste with white of egg, 
 or some adhesive compound, and 
 kept thus in a solid form to be 
 liquefied when required for use, 
 the stamp being impressed upon 
 
 Koman !Mndicine Stamp found near Ihc 
 village of Golden Hill, Co. Tippcrary ; 
 letters in intaglio and inverted. Full 
 size From The A rclneologicaiyonrnal. 
 
 \ MjVV^ hTTVT IANiCl 
 JDJAl^i r^-SVSADVHTClC/ 
 
 Fio. 77. 
 
 Impression produced by Roman 
 Medicine Stamp. Full size. 
 From The Archsological 'jour- 
 nal. 
 
 the medicine just before it had attained the last stage of solidifi- 
 cation, and the stamp being engraved in intaglio, with the 
 letters inverted, as shown in the wood-cut (fig. 7G), a durable and 
 good impression was doubtless readily produced (fig. 77). 
 
 That many Romano-British visited Ireland is extremely proba- 
 ble, that a few made their home and died in the island is equally 
 so, but we cannot expect, nor indeed do we find, any traces of 
 even an insignificant Roman colonization. The discovery of 
 Roman coins in Ireland is comparatively exceptional, although they 
 are found in abundance in Britain, more especially in the vicinity 
 of the sites of Roman towns, military stations, and villas. In 
 Ireland the only really important find was made near Coleraine ; 
 it consisted of 150G silver coins and upwards of 200 ounces of 
 silver fragments and ingots, stamped with the names of Roman 
 mint-masters, about 2000 articles in all. The money presented 
 specimens of coinage from a.d. 363 to 410, so that it must have 
 been committed to the earth after that date ; probably about the 
 time of the evacuation of Britain by the Romans. A few of the 
 fragments deserve notice. Fig. 78, No. 1, formed portion of the 
 ornamented silver lid of a small box, and bears traces of gilding. 
 No. 2 is a narrow plate of silver, also gilt. No. 3 is another 
 fragment carefully engraved. No. 4 is one of two hammered 
 and inscribed portions of ingots, and bears the lettering — 
 
 KXOFPATRICII, 
 
 i.e. ex iijliciii'i I'litririi, ''from the manufactory of Patricius." (It 
 is left open for some enthusiastic writer to enunciate the theory 
 that this relic may have emanated from the silvei- workshop of 
 the national saint.) Other inscribed ingots of the same shape.
 
 238 
 
 THE BORDER LA XD OF HISTORY. 
 
 but larger, only retain a small portion of the lettering. No. 5, 
 e\idently part of the lid of a flagon, bears a human head in pro- 
 tile, with ornaments, the style of Avhich shows the workmanship 
 to have been influenced by Egyptian ideas. No. 6 was, like 
 the foregoing, originally gilt. 
 
 •^^^^^I 
 
 ')^^^^)\ 
 
 C 
 
 r- 
 
 
 ^i 
 
 -..'Tl 
 
 .. TRlch I 
 
 "v '•^ A.- ^ T%. rv- \ '-v vX-l^i-j^, 
 
 
 Roman Antiques found near Colcrainc. About half real size. Rcpiuduced from the 
 Ulster yimrnal of Aic/iteology. 
 
 I' roni the c-liaracter of this treasure it would appear to have 
 bee)i a forgotten deposit of some Irish freebooters. The coins 
 that came under the writer's observation appear to have never
 
 ROMAX COIXS AXD RELICS. 239 
 
 been in circulation, the impressions being as distinct as on newly- 
 minted sixpences. 
 
 The poet Claudian thus extols the success of Stilicho in re- 
 pelling the conjoint Irish and Caledonian attacks on the Roman 
 settlements in Britain : — " By him," says the poet, speaking in 
 the person of Britannia, " was I protected when the Scot moved 
 all lerne against me, and the sea foamed with hostile oars.""- 
 
 And again: "Nor did he (Stilicho) under a false name, 
 conquer the Picts, and having followed the Scoti (Irish) with his 
 roving sword, he cleft the northern waves with daring oars."f 
 
 From another of the poet's eulogies, it would appear that the 
 fame acquired by a Roman legion, which guarded the northern 
 frontier of Britain, against the inroads of the Picts and their 
 Irish allies, procured for it the distinction of being summoned, 
 by Stilicho, to the defence of Rome against the Goths : — 
 
 " There iUTived also the legion spread over the fnrtherinost Briton, 
 Which hridles the ferocious Scut and examines on the dying I'ict 
 The hideous figures punctured hy the steel. "+ 
 
 Other Roman antiques, which have been found from time to 
 time in Ireland, are few in number, and of an unimportant 
 character, such as might have been the result of traffic with the 
 Romans. In the same way, the discovery of small hoards of 
 Saxon coins is of by no means rare occurrence, being the result 
 of barter, or of marauding expeditions to the English coast. 
 
 The Saxons also seem not to have been backward in pillaging 
 their neighbours ; for, in an Irish MS. entitled Chronicon Scotoniiii, 
 their first descent on the Irish littoral is noted as having occurred 
 in the year 484. This early date may be accounted for by expe- 
 ditions made from temporary settlements on the islands of the 
 north-west of Scotland. In the " Annals of Ulster" we learn 
 that, in 471, "Ireland was plundered a second time by the 
 Saxons." 
 
 The fact of the discovery of a Roman coin is of little import- 
 ance in itself, as a single coin might be accidentally dropped and 
 
 * - " Totam cum Scotus lernen, • 
 
 Movit et infesto spninavit remige Tethys," 
 wliich (,'ainden thus freely translates: — 
 
 " When Scots came thundering from tlie Irish shores. 
 And th' ocean treinhled, struck with hostile oars." 
 t " Ncc falso nomine Pictos 
 
 Eiiomiiit, Scotumriue vago mucrone secutus, 
 Fregit IlA'perboreas remis audacihus undas."' 
 J " Venit et extremis Legio pnetenta Britannis, 
 
 Qute Scoto dat fncna triici, ferrocjue notatas 
 Pcilegit exaninics I'lcto moricnte liguras." 
 
 r>r licUn Gi'tiro.
 
 240 THE BORDER LAXD OF HISTORY. 
 
 lost by some collector ; but large deposits cannot thus be accounted 
 for ; probably in times of turbulence they may have been placed 
 for safety where they were long afterwards discovered. 
 
 James Carruthers describes the discovery of a cist, containing 
 a skeleton, accompanied, as he thought, with Eoman antiques ; 
 but these appear to have been all of purely native numufacture 
 (see fig. 79). A Konian coin is stated to have been found in the 
 grave, but was not seen by an antiquary. There is nothing 
 distinctively Konum in tbe remains (except the alleged discovery 
 of the coin), nothing but what has been connuoi dy found in 
 Irish, British, as well as in Saxon sepulchres. About the year 1835, 
 workmen employed on the north side of Bray Head met with 
 several human skeletons placed in graves side by side, and one 
 or nu)re Roman copper coins lay on or beside the breast, of each 
 skeleton. Of these coins, some bore the inuige and superscription 
 of Adrian, and others those of Trajan ; several of them were greatly 
 corroded, and altogether illegible. 
 
 As the Romans never, it is believed, formed a settlement in 
 Ireland, the question arises, how came the coins found in this 
 locality, and under such circumstances? It has been suggested 
 that the bodies may have been portion of the crew of a Roman 
 galley lost on the shores of Wicklow. Some of the survivors 
 performed the funeral rites of their shipmates ; for amongst the 
 Romans it was deemed an act of great impiety to leave a corpse 
 unburied. The coins, it is presumed, were the fee (the ohlatus) 
 designed to propitiate Charon, the grim ferryman, as the shades 
 . of those who had not the proper toll, as well as those whose bodies 
 remained unburied, were condemned to wander a hundred years 
 on the banks of the Styx. 
 
 Ronuin coins are not unfrequently found in Anglo-Saxon 
 interments in England. In some instances only a single coin 
 occurs, as though the deceased or his relatives had retained the 
 old Roman custom. 
 
 It is a curious fact that small coins are even yet, in some 
 localities in Ireland, cast into the new-made grave when the 
 cofiin is lowered. In the year 1870, at the funeral of a fisher- 
 nian from the Isle of Skye, buried in the cemetery of the old 
 Collegiate Church at Howth, his countrymen carried out this 
 custom. The following quaint Irish proverb is a relic of paganism, 
 analogous to the Roman custom of placing a small coin with the 
 corpse to pay Charon his toll : — " No man ever Avent to hell 
 without sixpence at the time of his death." A humorous and 
 mock imprecation, the employment of which is generally confined 
 to the fair sex, appears to be derived from this ancient custom, 
 when a country lass exclaims : " May the devil go with you and 
 sixpence, and tlien you will waul iieitliei' money nor company."
 
 Fi,-,. 79.— Allopod Roman Anti(iiif,s touiui iioar I)onaf,'Iia(lo<-, Co. Down, about tlio yi-ar 1850. 
 Slightly loss tlian real size. ( The remains n/>/>rar /o be of piiiely native man n/acfnte).
 
 242 THE BORDERLAXJ) OE N J STORY. 
 
 Not far from the Pointe Du Raz, iu the Bale des Trepasses 
 on the coast of J5rittany, so wild is the sea that there are many 
 shipwrecks, and unhuried ghosts, "weeping in great anguish, 
 walk lip and down the shores of this bay." It must be a grue- 
 some locahty to live in, for "often the skeletons of these wrecked 
 creatures knock at the doors of the lishermen's cabins, to beg for 
 burial." 
 
 Horace, in one of his odes, represents the philosopher 
 Archytos, the pupil of Plato, who perished in a shipwreck, im- 
 ploring the compassion of the passing sailor to consign his body 
 to the earth: — " But, sailor, do not inikindly refuse to bestow on 
 my bones and unburied liead a particle of the shifting sand.""" 
 
 Then, as nowadays, there were unbelievers in popular customs 
 and popular religion, for Virgil exclaims : — " Do you suppose 
 that the ashes of the dead or the shades of the buried care for 
 that ■? "I Or again, " Whether corruption dissolve the carcase or 
 whether the funeral pile, it matters not ";]; and there is quite a 
 catholic ring in "he is covered by the heavens who has no urn."5 
 
 In the Rig Vida, a work composed, according to some 
 authorities, about u.c. 2100, there is a hymn of great beauty and 
 tenderness, still employed at Hindoo funeral ceremonies, from 
 which the following verse is taken : — 
 
 " Open thyself, Earth, aticl press not licavily ; 
 Be easy of access and of apjiroacli to him, 
 As mother with her robe, lier child, 
 So do tliou cover him, O Earth." 
 
 The reverse of the sentiment expressed in an epitaph to Sir 
 John Vanbrugh, celebrated for the massiveness of his architectural 
 designs : — 
 
 " Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he 
 Laid many a heavy load on thee." 
 
 When we consider the various modes iu which Roman coins 
 Hud antiques may have found their way into Ireland, the wonder 
 is, not that so many, but that so few have been dug up. 
 Records of their discovery are, nevertheless, so exceptional as 
 to demand a strict investigation into each fresh instance of their 
 
 • " At tu, nauta, vagae ne parce malignus arenae 
 
 Ossibus et cajnti inhumato 
 Particulam dare." 
 t "Id cinerem aiit niaucs credis curare sepidtos r " 
 
 J " Tabesno cadavera solvat 
 
 An rogus, haxid refert." 
 § " Coelo tegitur qui non hahet uniain.""
 
 ROMAX RKLICS FEW IX XUMBER. 243 
 
 alleged occurrence. Should the story be told by a dealer in 
 Irish antiquities, it will probably originate in liis desire to 
 enhance the market value of the coins he has for sale in the 
 eyes of the credulous purchaser. One hundred Roman coins 
 were stated to have been unearthed in a rath close to the ("hurch 
 of Killanummery, in the County Leitrira. On investigation, the 
 specimens produced, but seven in number, were small sized 
 third-brass Roman coins, a collection such as a tyro in numis- 
 matics might have purchased for a trifling sum in any English 
 dealer's shop. 
 
 Although the Romans made no settlements, yet, in early 
 Christian times, many of them came to Ireland, and they have 
 left their impress in a few local names still in existence : all 
 these, however, are apparently of ecclesiastical origin. 
 
 r2
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A1>VENT OF HT. rATltICK— SlDE-lJGlITS 0.\ I'ACi.WISM. 
 
 Emi "ration from Trelaiul to Scutlaiid — Tlic Cuiintrics cliaiigo name — Religion of 
 the Ancient Irish — Slight diticrencn between the Eelij;ions "Worship of the 
 inhabitants of Ireland and that of Britain and of Ganl — The Druids — 
 Great spiritual and temporal Power wielded by them — Their Teaching — 
 Their Doctrines — Their Gods and Goddesses — An opposing Religion — 
 Deified Mortals — A species of Ancestor "Worship — The Fairies — Originally 
 of hrnnan, no«' of diminutive Stature — Druidism never thoroughly 
 established iu Ireland — Trade in Slaves — St Patrick's Mission due to this 
 Commerce — He lands in Ireland — Goes to the resident e of his former 
 master — His appearance at Tara — Lights the Pascal Fire — Incurs the 
 Penalty of Death by so doing — Is summoned before the King — Expoimds 
 the new Religion — Contest between Christianity and Druidism — St. Patrick 
 makes at first but few Converts— "Wild Legends relating to his ilission — 
 St. Patrick's belief in the efficacy of the Incantations and Magic of the 
 J)i-ni(]s — His alleged epiploymcnt of the Shamrock as a Symbol of the 
 Trinity — Serpent banishing by Pagans— By St. Patrick and other Saints- 
 Incredible accoimts of St. Patrick's Miracles — Importation of Pagan Ideas 
 ar.d Observances into Christianity — Centres of Druidical Cult survived into 
 Christian Times — Druidical Rites of Purification — By Fire — By "^^'';^ter. 
 
 OROsirs, Avritiiig about the commencement of the fifth century, 
 describes Ireland as inhabited by the Scoti, or Scots; and if a 
 conclusion can be drawn from St. Patrick's authentic writings, 
 the designation was confined to the ruling class, the bulk of the 
 people being styled Hiberionaces or Hiberneginte. 
 
 ]jedc mentions the migration from Ireland into Caledonia 
 that occasioned the subsequent change in name of the latter 
 country, and states that the Scots issuing from Hibernia, took 
 possession, " either by friendship or by the sword," of the dis- 
 tricts which they still retained in Bede's time. The descendants 
 of the Caledonian Scots knew of and acknowledged this fact long 
 ages after. " There is a double cause why I should be careful 
 of the welfare of that people" {i.e. the Irish), said James I. to 
 the agents from the Irish, who waited on him in 1G14, " first as 
 King of England, by reason of the long possession the crown of
 
 EMICRATIOX FROM I RELAX/) TO SCOTLAXD. 245 
 
 England hath had in that hind, and also as King of Scotland, 
 for the ancient Kings of Scotland are descended from the Kings 
 of Ireland ; so as I have an old title as King of Scotland, there- 
 fore you shall not doubt to be relieved when you complain." 
 
 Aidan, King of Dalriada, a descendant of Niall of the Nine 
 Hostages, was consecrated, according to tradition, upon the Stone 
 of Fate, long afterwards transferred to Westminster Abbey, 
 where it now serves as the coronation stone. Queen Victoria is 
 descended from this Scottic or Hibernian Prince Aidan, and 
 through him from Niall, head King of Ireland, aoout the year 
 A.D. 400. Aidan's descendants continued to reign over Dalriada 
 till the middle of the ninth century, when a prince of this line 
 united many discordant elements under one rale. The male 
 line of this dynasty ended with x\lexauder III. It was, hoAvever, 
 succeeded by the dynasties of Bruce and Stuart descended in the 
 female line. From these branches, the blood of Aidan and of 
 Niall was transmitted to the royal family which now rules over 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 With regard to the first introduction of Christianity into 
 Ireland, there can be little doubt but that there existed two or 
 three Patricks, whose lives have been worked into a strange 
 oUa-podrida. References by Tacitus, by Caesar, and by St. 
 Patrick (or one of the St. Patricks) may be quoted as descriptive 
 of the religion, or of the religious system the St. Patricks 
 overthrew. 
 
 Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, says that " the manners and 
 genius of the inhabitants (of Ireland) differ little from those of 
 Britain." This sentence seems to imply or connote that the 
 religion of the two countries was identical, an assumption which 
 is corroborated by references to Druids and Druidical worship in 
 some existing Irish mss. 
 
 Cffisar states that the institution of the Druids in Gaul "is 
 supposed to have come originally from Britain, Avhence it passed 
 into Gaul ; and even at this day, such as are desirous of being 
 perfect in it, travel thither (i.e. to Britain) for instruction." Thus 
 we arrive at an approximate idea of the religious opinions of the 
 Irish some centuries or so before the introduction of Christianity, 
 and the heathen cult could have changed but little in the 
 interval. 
 
 The Druids (so Csesar states) taught the doctrine of the 
 immortality of the soul, and of the metempsychosis. The early 
 Fathers of the Church testify to the extensive prevalence of this 
 latter belief in the then current Christianity, for they frequently 
 condennied it as a heresy. Origen, in his l>c i'ruirijiiis, plainly 
 departs from the then orthodox faith in this particular, for he 
 holds that the souls of men existed in a previous state, and that
 
 246 AD]'KXT OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 their iiiiprisonnifnt, in material bodies, \vas a puiiisbiueiit for 
 sins which they had formerly committed. He, however, holds 
 those to be in error wlin qnntod the speaking- of Balaam's ass as 
 a proof that the soul wliich inhabited the donkey was human, 
 for he thinks that human souls cannot fall so as to become 
 animals : — " Angels may sink to be men or demons, and the 
 latter may rise to be men or angels." Origen, who lived hi the 
 third century, is, in a general way, regarded as orthodox {i.e. 
 believing as you believe), his defence of Christianity having 
 probably condoned his heterodoxy (believing as your opponent 
 believes) upon this point. His belief certainly seems to approxi- 
 mate to that attributed to Buddha in the East, and Plato in the 
 West. He quotes Scriptural authority for his contention ; he 
 was a man of talent and learning, and quite as competent 
 to form an opinion on the subject as other Fathers of the 
 Church. 
 
 Expressions in his l>f I'r'ntiii'iix exposed liini to much criti- 
 cism and many anathemas from his contemporaries. The 
 points in which it is alleged that he " plainly departed from the 
 orthodox faith " are as follows : — That the souls of men had 
 existed in a previous state ; that the human soul of Christ had 
 previously existed ; that our material bodies shall be transformed 
 into ethereal ones at the resurrection ; that all men, and even 
 devils shall be finally restored. In fact he was a too tolerant 
 Father for the age in which he lived. There are analogies and 
 coincidences in all rehgions ; thus the first missionaries in the 
 I'^ast sa,w in the Buddhist ritual a replica of their own ; whilst the 
 Spanish conquerors of Central American civilization ol)served in 
 it many things which they considered to be devilish imitations 
 of Christian rites. 
 
 In Gaul the Druids offered various kinds of sacrifices to the 
 gods whom Csesar unfortunately clothes in classic names. The 
 natives of Gaul worshipped Mercury as their chief God, the 
 inventor of all the arts, and the promoter of mercantile affairs, 
 Avho appears to equate with the Irish god, Manannan IMac Lir ; 
 next came Apollo, who cured diseases — he is the Ii'ish god, 
 Blanket ; Mars presided over war — probably the Irish god, 
 Neit, Ned, or Nudd, to whom was offered what they took by 
 arms. " To this last {i.e. Mars), when they resolve upon a 
 battle, they (so Caesar states) commonly devote the spoil.'" 
 Minerva presided over art — probably the Irish Aynia. According 
 to Csesar, the Druids taught the people in Gaul pretty much the 
 same notions about the attributes of the gods as were prevalent 
 amongst other nations at the time. In the Irish Pantheon, 
 however, as is now known to us, all appears to be confusion, 
 there is no .Jupiter as in the Gaulish system ; there is apparently,
 
 RKLICrlOX OF THE ANCIENT IRTSH. 247 
 
 as in early Irish political history, no acknowledged ruler, hut 
 *' gods meet gods and jostle in the dark." 
 
 It is hest to give rerhatim Ctesar's account of the power of 
 the Driiids, and the manner in which they imparted instruction ; 
 this will make clear how great was the power claimed and 
 exercised hy the pagan priesthood : — 
 
 " The J)ruids preside in matters of religion, have the care of 
 public and private sacrifices, and interpret the will of the gods. 
 They have the direction and education of the youth, hy whom 
 they are held in great honour. In almost all controversies, 
 wdiether public or private, the decision is left to them ; and if 
 any crime is committed, any mm*der perpetrated, if any dispute 
 arises touching an inheritance, or the limits of adjoining estates, 
 in all such cases they are the supreme judges. They decree 
 rewards and punishments ; and if anyone refuses to submit to 
 their sentence, whether magistrate or private man, they interdict 
 him the sacrifices. This is the greatest punishment that can 
 be inflicted among the Gauls, l)ecause such as are under this 
 prohibition are considered as impious and wicked ; all men shun 
 them, and decline their conversation and fellowship, lest they 
 should sutler from the contagion of their misfortunes. They 
 can neither have recourse to the law for justice, nor are capable 
 of any public ofltice." 
 
 In the eyes of any man of reflection, excommunication is as 
 palpably absurd as it is wicked, but to ignorant and superstitious 
 people it is no mere brutum fuhncn ; even at the present day it 
 holds the first and most formidable place -with the uneducated, 
 and thus what was customary 2000 years ago with the Druidical 
 priesthood is customary nowadays. A feeling of amusement 
 is occasioned by the daring presumption in each religioits per- 
 suasion of a small clique of mere mortals attempting to arrogate 
 to themselves the attributes of the Deity, and assuming the 
 position of arl)itrators of the fate of any particular individual, or 
 of any number of people collectively who, according to their good 
 will, shall, or shall not, enjoy happiness or reward beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 Caesar states that " the Druids are all under one chief, wlio 
 possesses the supreme authority in that body. Upon his death 
 if anyone remarkably excels the rest he succeeds ; but if there 
 are several candidates of equal merit, the affair is determined by 
 plurality of sufli-ages, sometimes they even have recourse to arms 
 before the election can be brought to an issue. . . . The Drttids 
 never <io to war, are cxe)ii}iletl l'r<i)ii taxes and iiiilitiu-ii serrieefi, and 
 ''"./",'/ (dl iiiinnicr nf liininniiliis. These miiihty e)ie(mr(iiie}nents hidiiee 
 )intltitii<l(s (if lh< ir mni accnnl In folhnr that /)r()fessi(»i ; and iiann/ 
 arc xviil hi/ their /lareiils and nlnlinns. They are taught to r(')H'at a
 
 248 ADVENT OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 cTi-eat many verses by heart, and olii'ii spend twenty years upon 
 this institution ; for it is unlaw liil to commit tlaeir statutes 
 to writing, though in other matters, whether pubhc or private, 
 tiiev make use of Greek characters. TJiey seem to follow this 
 method for two reasons : (1) to hide their mysteries from tlie 
 knowledge of the vulgar ; and (2) to exercise the memory of 
 their scholars, which would he apt to lie neglected had they 
 letters to trust to, as we find is often the case, . . . They teach 
 likewise many things relating to the stars and their motions, the 
 magnitude of the world and our earth ; the nature of things, 
 and the power and prerogatives of the immortal gods. ... In 
 threatening distempers and the eminent dangers of Avar, they 
 make no scruple to sacrifice men, or engage themselves by vow 
 to such sacrifices, in which they make use of the ministry of the 
 Druids ; for it is a prevalent opinion among them that nothing 
 but the life of a man can atone for the life of a man, insonmcli 
 that they have established even public sacrifices of this kind. 
 Some prepare huge colossuses of osier-twigs into which they ]mt 
 men alive, and setting lire to them, those within expire amidst 
 the flames. They prefer for victims such as have been convicted 
 of theft, robbery, or other crimes, believing them the most 
 acceptable to the gods ; 1)ut when real criminals are wanting, 
 the innocent are often made to suffer." 
 
 The Celtic word for Druid, i.e., dnti {dree), takes a " d " in the 
 end of its oblique cases (geu., druad). Both Greek and Latin 
 borrowed this word from the Celtic, and through them it has 
 found its way into English in the oblique form, Druid. " Not- 
 withstanding the long lapse of time since the extinction of 
 Druidism, the word 'Druid' is still a living word in the Irish 
 language. Even in some places where the language is lost the 
 word is remembered, for I," remarks Dr. Joyce, "have repeat- 
 edly heard the English-speaking people of the south apply the 
 term shonudlircc {saDi-drni, old 'Druid') to any crabl)ed, cunning, 
 old-fashioned looking fellow." 
 
 The term "Druid" is perpetuated in tlie names of several 
 localities — Loughnashandree, "the lake of the old Druids," lies 
 near the head of the harbour of Ardgroom ; the ancient name of 
 lied Tlill, near Skreen, county Sligo, was Knocknadrooa, the 
 " hill of the Druids." A well, not far from the village of Fresh- 
 ford, county Kilkenny, is styled Tobernadree, "the well of the 
 Druids." Loughnadrooa, three miles west of Lough Derg in 
 Donegal, signifies "the lake of the Druids." La the parish of 
 Clogherny, in Tyrone, there is a townland called Killadroy, "the 
 Druid's wood.'" A point of land i]i the Island of Achill is named 
 Gobnadruy, " theDruid's point "; whilst Derrydruel, near Dunglow 
 in Donegal, means " the Druid's oak-wood."
 
 THE DRUIDS THKfR TEACHING. 
 
 249 
 
 The " Druid Stone," at Killeen Cormac, near the enti'ance to 
 the cemetery, measures upwards of six feet in length, and is a foot 
 square (fig. 80). On the upper surface of this monument an inscrip- 
 tion is engraved, in large uncial letters, which reads, according 
 to the late Eev. J. F. Shearman, ivveeedrvvides. Under this, 
 on the arris, are Ogliam scores. The reading given by Ferguson 
 is IV. VEKE. DRuiDEs, "the fouv truc Druids." This discovery of a 
 bilingual inscription in Ireland is, it is believed, the first on 
 record. It is, as the above writer observes, " as regards the use 
 of the word ' Druid ' in its Latinised form, a unique example iu 
 the inscriptional records of the Dritish Isles." 
 
 IVVEMDf 
 
 Tig. so. "^ l" 
 
 I'ilingual inscribed stone at Killeen Corraac. Reproduced from the Join luil of 
 the present Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 
 
 There is comparatively little trace of the religion of the 
 Druids now discoverable, save in the folklore of the peasantry, and 
 the references relative to it that occur in ancient and authentic 
 Irish manuscripts are, as far as present appearances go, meagre 
 and insufficient to support anything like a sound theory for 
 full development of the ancient religion. However, if careful 
 examination be made of all the traditions bearing on this subject, 
 and they be compared with the strange customs still in many 
 places prevalent, much light maybe thrown upon many at present 
 incomprehensible passages in Irish manuscripts, as also upon 
 early Irish religious history in all its branches. We must, there- 
 fore, of necessity, return to references to Druidism in classic 
 writers, and the inquiry, after wandering in different channels, 
 returns for solution to the apparently simple, yet really difficult, 
 problem — was Irish Druidism the same as that of Gaul and 
 JJritain, and are we entitled to apply to it the description of 
 Caesar and others ? 
 
 The peculiar character of ihe Druidic organization precluded 
 the existence of any very abnormal difference in the Druidism of 
 Gaul, Britain, and Erin ; nny, further, if we assume, as Ca'sar 
 states, that Druidism not only had its origin, but even its chief 
 .seat, in iSritain, we Ccinnot but conclude tliat, at whatever period
 
 250 .'/ /; / ■/■:X/- ()/■' S7\ /'. I / AVf 7\'. 
 
 we may lix on for its iir.sl iiilroduction into Ireland, there could 
 have been but little difference between it and the Driiidism of 
 Gaul. There is, therefore, little in Ca\sar that might not be 
 applied to Irish Druidism, as that religion is faintly depicted in 
 alleged early Irish manuscripts. Caesar styles the priests by the 
 general name of Druids. Strabo divides them into three classes, 
 Bards, Vates, and Druids, and he makes the Vates the sacrificing 
 priesthood and instructors of the schools ; thus, according to this 
 authority, the Druids were the ministers or priests, the Vates 
 were the sacriiicers, and the Bards were the makers of song and 
 of histoiT. 
 
 Under Christianity the bards in Ireland a[»pear to have been 
 the representatives of the old Pagan Druids. Before and long 
 after the introduction of the new creed they were a vei-y influential 
 class. They may have been countenanced by the Druids — they 
 certainly were by tlie new priesthood — and, when superadded to 
 the clergy, they, from their numbers, became very oppressive. 
 Often threatened with expulsion from the kingdom, they, on one 
 occasion, would certainly have been expelled had it not been for 
 the exertions of Ht. Columbkille. 
 
 In the present day we can hardly estimate the full strength of 
 superstitious sanctity that was attached, even in Christian times, 
 to the person, property, or estates of the bards. To plunder 
 this sacred caste was, in the belief of the Irish, sure to draw down 
 supernatural punishment, so that they were bold men indeed who 
 ventured to touch their person, to reap where a bard had sown, 
 or to graze their herds where the bards were wont to pasture 
 theirs. Eegarded as a power to be propitiated at any cost, the 
 l)ard descended, almost imperceptibly, in the scale of importance, 
 until he was looked on as a merely dangerous person, a fall in 
 dignity which, little l)y little, ushered in the ]ieriod when tlie 
 minstrel, 
 
 '• Xo longer cumlrd and rnroscd. 
 
 High i^laced in hall, a wclcoinr guest," 
 
 degenerated into 
 
 " A \\ aiideiinj^ liarpor, .'^forned and iioor, 
 AVho hedged liis bread (Vum ddor \n ddnr."' 
 
 The Irish appear, if any reliance can be placed on their early 
 traditions, to have had, like the Gauls, an Arch-Druid, whose 
 abode was in Meath, and there the entire body of the priesthood 
 assembled annually." Like the Gaulish Druids, it was the duty of 
 
 * " Tliat all tlie Dniid.s of Ireland asseiiibl'd tlniv on \ho first of Xovember, 
 as several authors injudieiously write, is not only a thing improbable, but also 
 false in lad : m.r were tliey otberwise tlierc at that lime, nor all at any time
 
 THK I)R['/nS -THEIR TKACHIXG. 251 
 
 Irish banls to coiiiinit a number of verses to memory, and Cajsar's 
 statement that they committed none of their tenets to writing, 
 although the art was by them known and practised in all other 
 branches, makes it probable that the Irish Druids also may have 
 been acquainted with the use of letters. 
 
 A very curious and hitherto but little noticed passage from the 
 works of a Greek traveller named ^Ethicus deserves attention. 
 One writer asserts that /-Ethicus was born at the commencement 
 of the second century ; another, that he only saw the light at the 
 end of the third, or the beginning of the fourth ; in fact, it Avould 
 seem at present impossible to define, with any exactness, the 
 period at which he lived. The only certain fact is that he does 
 not appear to have had an exalted opinion of Irish literature. 
 The passage is from a work entitled Cosmoyraplnam ^Etldvi Istrii, 
 translated from Greek into Latin by a presbyter named Hierony- 
 mus. The author seems to aim at extreme brevity, using in one 
 part very elliptical phraseology : — 
 
 " He hastened to Ireland and made some stay there, examin- 
 ing their volumes, and he called them ideo)iiuclios, or ideo hista.s, 
 that is unskilled workers, or uneducated teachers. For, setting 
 them down as worthless, he says : — To end one's travels with 
 the end of the world and to come to Ireland is a heavy labour. 
 But no opportunity (of gaining knowledge by painful travels) 
 excites disgust too great (for encountering the pain), yet it profits 
 not in point of utility. It (Ireland) has unskilled occupants and 
 inhabitants destitute of instructors."''' 
 
 Caesar states that the Gaulish Druids taught the doctrine of 
 the transmigration of souls, i.e. that the soul does not die, but 
 after the death of the body passes to another body. The Druids 
 also believed that the souls of men existed in a prior state, and 
 that after the dissolution of the body they passed into other 
 bodies : the body was a mere prison for the soul, which could 
 be purified and exalted by the mortification of its corporeal 
 envelope. It may be said that, in all this there is a great amount 
 
 together in one place, 1)ut as now all tlic clergy of England are said to bo 
 pi'csent in their convncations — tliat is, liy their representatives ;ind delegates. 
 Thus Cesar is likewise to be understood when, after speaking of the Arelniruid 
 of Gaulc, he says that l/ie JJriiii/.s, at a certain ttim; of the year, a.sseiiibPd in a 
 coiiaeeratrd t/rore in tJie cotuitrij of the Cariiiitex, winch is rcckou''d the middle 
 rcr/ioii (if all (laalr.^'-'-Tohiiiir s IHkIoiij of the Druids, new edition. ISl 1, 
 p.' 118. ' 
 
 * "lliberniain pr()i)eravit et in ea ali(|uandiii eoninioratus est eorein voluniina 
 volvcn.s. A])i'llavit(iue cos ideouiochos, vel ideo histas, id est iiiiperitos laboratorcs 
 vel incultos doctores. Xaiiiquc pro nihibj ens ducens ait ; luuuili linibus teruii- 
 nare et Iliberniani pieveuire onerosus csL labor, sed nulla facultas horrorem 
 niiniiini iiicutit, sed ad utililateni non jjroficit. In peritos habet eultores et 
 instrucloiilms hiibct dfsiitulos lialiitiiloi'(><i."
 
 i>:»2 .i/)i '/■•yy OF sy. /\i 'j-rick. 
 
 of conjecture ; tlie evitU'Ucc, however, on wliicli it is t'oundcil is 
 (lorived from a number of independent sources, and is not easily 
 gainsayed. Druidism seems to have been, Avherever it existed, 
 pretty much the same ; altliough simihir situations may lead to 
 similar sentiments and correspondinf>- practices, yet, in this 
 case, the similarity is too great and extends to too many parti- 
 culars to be thus accounted for. The Irish appear to have 
 believed, not merely in the transmigration of one human soul 
 into the body of another human being, but in the transfoi'mation 
 of one body into another — a relic, probably, of the religion or 
 religions supplanted by Druidism. Thus the soul of a man 
 might pass into a deer, a boar, a ■\volf, a fox, &c., a state which 
 may he described as a continuous existence of metamorphosis. 
 A curious example of the survival of tliis superstition may be 
 cited from the county Galwiiy, wliei-f. in former limes, if a 
 fisherman of the Claddagh hap[)ened to see a fox, or even hear 
 its name mentioned, he would not on that day venture to sea. 
 A butcher took a humorous and mischievous as well as a 
 pecuniary advantage of the simplicity of his neighbours, who 
 never went to fish on Saturday, for fear of breaking in on 
 the Sunday. Friday was one of their most favoured fishing 
 days, and a successful "take" on that day had the effect of 
 reducing the price of meat in the ensuing Saturday's market. 
 The butcher, whose calling was thus injured, contrived to pre- 
 vent them starting by parading a fox every Friday morning 
 through the village. 
 
 Ijy superior intelligence, the result of long and, as regards 
 their age, profound study, the Druids acquired an undisputed 
 authority. They certainly studied the book of nature, the proper- 
 ties of plants and herbs, together with such knowledge of subtle 
 poisons and drugs, as enabled them to either kill or cure. 
 The Druids must also have possessed quick powers of pene- 
 tration and decision, and utilized their knowledge to enhance 
 their reputation for possession of necromantic powers. In short, 
 the marvels of natural magic may have been practised imder the 
 Druidical cult; for magic— which may be defined as " a childish 
 attempt to control the invisible forces which regulate the pheno- 
 mena of nature" — is probably coeval with the first germs of 
 religious thought. 
 
 Whether there really exists amongst races, which we regard 
 as inferioi', a certain power lost by those more highly developed, 
 appears to l)e a subject well worthy of investigation. Many 
 of the lower animals ara gifted with instincts, or facilities, much 
 keener than those now possessed by man, although some of these 
 are shared to a great extent by savages. It naay well be that 
 those nearly allied to the earlier races mav retain many more of
 
 THE DRUIDS— THEIR TEACHING. 25a 
 
 those occult instincts or faculties of the lower animals than 
 highly ci\ili/.ed man ; for, after making every allowance for the 
 effects of imagination, of religious excitement, and of trickery, 
 there yet remains a substratum of as yet unexplained facts which 
 has never been satisfactorily accounted for, particularly in regard 
 to that supposed influence sometimes styled hypnotism. 
 
 lu the religious feelings of the peasant there continued to dwell, 
 from generation to generation, a firm belief in the power of the 
 modern representatives of the priesthood of the past ; charms 
 were relied on and practised by the most zealous followers of the 
 new religion, and all the centuries which passed were unable to 
 obliterate the dark superstitions of the Eld. It is true that in 
 late times the half-educated peasants publicly profess to be 
 ashamed of such practices ; but none the less do they cling- 
 tenaciously, in secret, to the mysteries which their fathers and 
 mothers taught them to dread, and the deep-rooted belief of the 
 people in this kind of witchcraft still meets one at every turn. 
 Unreasoning credulity and superstition are more deeply rooted, 
 both by hereditary tendency and direct tradition, in the southern 
 than in the northern races ; and it is by no means improbable 
 that there existed in some districts of Mediterranean Europe, 
 until very recent times, an almost open Avorship of the ancient 
 pagan deities. It required, as a matter of course, to be semi- 
 veiled ; for all vanquished religions, no matter how pure they 
 might be — though no one can allege that Roman paganism was 
 pure — are accused, by the conquering creed, as early Christianity 
 was accused by moribund paganism, of teaching indecent rites 
 and organized immorality. When Christianity was triumph- 
 ing, it made similar accusations against paganism, and, when 
 enabled to use the secular arm, it invariably proceeded from mere 
 vituperation to deeds of stern repression and even of the grossest 
 barbarity. It is clear, therefore, that the biased testimony of the 
 Fathers must be taken with a considerable degree of caution with 
 regard to their allegations regarding paganism. 
 
 According to the best authorities many of the original deities 
 of the Irish appear to have been nidhe (pronounced ahcc), that 
 is deified mortals ; for they dwelt in the places where the dead 
 had been deposited, and in and around them assembled for 
 worship the family or clan of the deified persons. Hence it 
 might be termed a species of ancestral worship, and probal)ly 
 took its origin in that nameless fear of the dead which, in most 
 savage peoples, finds expression in innumerable ways. Hidhc 
 also signifies the habitations supposed to belong to these beings 
 in the hollows of the hills and mountains. Originally applied to 
 a fairy palace, it was afterwards gradually transferred to the hill 
 upon which a fairy palace was supposed to have formerly stood.
 
 254 ADVJ-LXT OF SV. /WJ-RICK. 
 
 aiul ultimately to the fairies themselves. At the lucsciii day the 
 Avor<l generally signifies a fairy. 
 
 Mr. ^\'. I'-, ^'lats has written at lar,L;e upon traces of the fairy 
 faith still reiuaniing amongst the Irish peasantry. He is a poet 
 and a mystic ; and it is, therefore, not easy for the mere modern 
 Philistine always to grasp his meaning — so if the writer has not 
 quite mastered it, he begs to be excused. 
 
 Mr. Yeats is of opinion that the peasants still believe in their 
 ancient gods, who gatln r in the raths or forts, and about the 
 twisted thorn trees, and appear in many shapes — " now little and 
 grotesque, now tall, fair-haired, and noble, and seem busy and 
 real in the world, like the people in the markets or at the cross- 
 roads . . . and they believe . . . that the most and the best of 
 their dead are among them." The writer then relates a number 
 of stories illustrating these ideas, Avliich he has himself heard 
 from Irish peasants. 'I'he following are the salient points to be 
 noticed in this collection :-- 
 
 The ancient gods, or spirits, styled by the peasantry "the 
 others," take most children who die. They prefer the young, 
 because they have a longer time before them, which may be 
 •spent in their service ; but they take the old also. They prefer 
 the good and pious, and do not like idle or cross people. The 
 living often meet " the others," and recognise among them 
 former friends and neighbours. Persons "taken" have like 
 " the others " the power of assuming various shapes. Those who 
 have been " taken " sometimes return for a short time, and may 
 perform kindly offices about their old homes. " The others " 
 often take a good hurler or dancer, or cows and horses. About 
 food there seems some difference of opinion, as " the others" can 
 come into a house, use what they like, and what is consumed will 
 not be missed in the morning. 
 
 A general theory propounded in these tales seems to be that 
 men, animals, and plants are endowed with a certain power and 
 length of life. This may be expended either all here under ordi- 
 nary conditions, or all among and in the service of " the others," 
 or the first portion of life amongst mortals, and the balance with 
 " the others." " 'i'aken " is therefore a better word for the change 
 than "die." At the end of the allotted period some fui'thei' 
 undefined transformation takes place. 
 
 The principal root idea of all this seems to be, according to 
 Mr. Yeats, that once upon a time the gods of light and of good 
 fought against those of darkness and of evil. The good gods won, 
 and got possession of the world. After a time, however, the race 
 of mortals fought against these good gods (" the others"), over- 
 came them, and forced them to live in raths and other hidiiig 
 I)laces. Though defeated, the gods still carry on a kind of
 
 THE FAIRIES. 255 
 
 mild guerilla warfare. They are on the Avhole Idnclly, and treat 
 their captives well. This appears to be a mere adaptation of 
 the theory of M. Jubainville. Nothing is more detrimental to 
 the progress of arclnuological research than that indolence of 
 reasoning power which seduces poetical imagination to place 
 •an apparently unswerving faith in opinions expressed primarily 
 as mere provisional conjectures — and not only to blindly accept 
 these tentative speculations, but to essay to enduce careless 
 readers to accept them as irrefutable canons of archai^ological 
 orthodoxy. 
 
 It would seem to have taken a lengthened period before the 
 inhabitants of the raths and sepidchral mounds assumed, in 
 popular imagination, their present diminutive size. In a medi- 
 4Bval " Life of St. Patrick" it is narrated that, at one time in his 
 travels, he repaired to a fountain about sunrise, where he stood 
 surrounded by his clergy. Two daughters of the king came, at 
 an early hour, to the fountain to wash, as was their custom, and 
 encountering the assembly of the clergy at the well, in their 
 white vestments, with their books, they wondered much at their 
 tippearance, and thought that they were fairies or phantoms. 
 They questioned St. Patrick on the subject, and asked, " Whence 
 have you come '? Whither do ye go ? Are ye men of the udhe 
 or are ye gods '?" Thus it appears that, Avhen this story was 
 composed, the .s/VAr population was, in popular imagination, of 
 ordinary or human stature. It is clear that this .s^^/Ac-worship 
 bad no affinity to Druidism ; in fact was quite opposed to it ; was 
 of altogether a lower standard ; and therefore most likely preceded 
 it in Ireland ; and it appears probable that, at the time of the 
 arrival of the first Christian missionaries, the two religions had 
 not amalgamated. When, owing to the presence and pressure 
 of Christianity, the two systems were, as seems likely, driven 
 to coalesce, by opposition and persecution, the ceremonies of the 
 different worships, and the various systems of primitive thought 
 were, in general, retained. It results that to this very day 
 seeming contradictions abound when folklore, as a whole, is 
 carefully examined. 
 
 O'Curry points out the strange medley of Druidism and 
 fairyism. He quotes from a ms. that " the demoniac power was 
 great before the introduction of the Christian faith, and so great 
 was it that they (i.e. the ae^ sidJie, or dwellers in the hills) used 
 to tempt the people in human bodies, and that they used to show 
 them secrets, and places of happiness where they should bo 
 immortal ; and it was in that Avay they were believed ; and it was 
 these phantoms that the t;nlearned people called sid/ie, or fairies, 
 \and acs .sid/w, or fairy people." 
 
 In some old tales tbe Druid and the fairy, then of full mortal
 
 2r,0 ADVENT OF ST. PATRfCK. 
 
 stature and of eitliei- sex, jippcni' in diiect untiigonisui. Jn the 
 story of " Conula of the Golden llaii- and tlie Fairy Maiden,"' tlic 
 Idn.i;- calls his Druid to his assistance to prevent a lairy from 
 hewitching and carrying- oli" his son to tlie " Land of the Living." 
 The sympathies of the listeners are all enlisted on the side of the 
 fairy as against the Druid, whose incantations are finally of no 
 avail against her power. These mllie deities, fairies, or demi-gods, 
 like those of other nations, not unfre(j[uently intermarried with 
 the daughters of men, and their offspring were either demi-gods, 
 or lu'came the heroes of L-ish romancf : they married, multiplied, 
 warred, murdered, and thieved like thrir worshippers on earth. 
 It is unjust, therefore, to recount as sohei- facts the records of 
 these purely mythical tales. Li the older stories heroes live, 
 without scruple, with the fair ladies of the hills, as Ulysses with 
 Calypso ; but in later tradition, when the Christian bard redacted 
 these occurrences, the poor hero, by the illicit union, forfeits his 
 salvation: and the ghastly superstition of the \ia\iliam\iee is pro- 
 bably the best surviving relic of this belief. Carleton has made 
 it the subject of one of his Irish stories. The spirit appears in 
 the shape of a young and beautiful female, who forms a peculiar 
 attachment for a certain mortal. If he falls under the spell of 
 the fairy he can never marry : for, although invisible to ordinary 
 sight, she is ahvays visible to, and never leaves the presence of, 
 the person to Avhom she is attached. According as he reciprocates 
 her affection she rewards him by teaching him unearthly nuisic, 
 the art of healing, and other invaluable secrets of Fairydom. 
 The haunted man does not retain his reason for long, and 
 generally commits suicide. 
 
 The alleged late introduction of Druidism into Ireland cannot 
 be refuted Ijy pointing to the appearance, in Irisli manusci'ipts, 
 of Druids from the days of Noah (or even earlier) to those of 
 St. Patrick. In late writings, Druidism is certainly sometimes 
 rampant ; but examine pieces, Avhich bear intrinsic marks of com- 
 paratively ancient compilation, and observe what a small part is 
 played by the Druid. In the hymn of St. Patrick, whilst idolati'v 
 occupies a prominent position, the Druid is barely mentioned. 
 In St. Fiacc's life of the national Saint, the author, instead of 
 depicting him as overcoming druidic magic, describes the various 
 tribes as adoring .s/r/Ac, a worship opposed to druidism ; and in 
 most ancient mss. the Druid does not appear. We may infer 
 fi'om this that Druidism was never thoroughly established in the 
 kingdom ; that the Druids, whom Pioman persecution in Cjaul and 
 J Britain drove over to Ireland, were regarded as magicians, and 
 Avere taken under the protection of the various petty kings and 
 chiefs. Irish Druidism was in the act of spreading and organizing 
 itself, but had not time for universal development before the
 
 DRCJDISM XEVER. FULLY ESTABLISHED. 257 
 
 arrival of St. Patrick. In one of the tracts of the Book of 
 Armagh, tlie Druids of Tara are brought out in bold relief, but as 
 a mere foil for the sole purpose of exalting the Christian hero 
 who Avas to destroy their power. 
 
 If, at the advent of Christian missionaries, there was still an 
 unhealed feud between the Druids, or priests of the recently intro- 
 duced spiritual religion — which appears to have been that held by 
 the chiefs and upper classes — and the majority of the people, who 
 were xiiVm or ancestor worshippers, pagans pure and simple, this 
 would quite account for the easy conversion of Ireland to Chris- 
 tianity. Kings and Druids going over, with comparative ease, to 
 Christianity, would bring in their train some portion of their 
 followers, and would place entire power, political and ecclesias- 
 tical, in the hands of the converted Druidical priesthood ; but the 
 mass of the people would drag in and implant in the Christian 
 Church organization their ancestor worship, and the numerous 
 traces of paganism still distinctly to be observed throughout the 
 land. The bent of mind in human nature seems ever to have 
 run in the same groove. Erasmus points out how, on the Conti- 
 nent, in his time, each trouble, each disease, had its patron and 
 a prescribed formula for its cure. "This cures the toothache; 
 that assists women in childbed ; a third restores what a thief has 
 stolen ; a fourth preserves you in shipwreck ; and a fifth preserves 
 your flock." 
 
 After a lengthened period the public worship of heathen 
 deities ceased among the mass of the population, but many 
 privately practised it with tenacity. Whilst the memory of the 
 greater divinities of the Irish Pantheon appears to have died out, 
 belief in the minor powers, the [lenii loconwi, and fairies, firmly 
 maintained its hold. In the same way, as already mentioned, 
 that in parts of southern Europe Christianity did not completely 
 obliterate the ancient religion, but was coexistent with it. It is 
 not the major, but the minor deities which still retain — to a great 
 extent, but under other names— their hold on the imagination of 
 the peasantry ; and in like manner, if Christianity were supplanted 
 in Ireland by some other religion, it is probable that, though the 
 name and attributes of the Deity might, in time, be forgotten, 
 yet some of the tales and legends regarding the numerous army 
 of saints would linger on. 
 
 Trade in slaves undoubtedly formed a portion of early Irish 
 commerce, and in the early and late political institutions of 
 Ireland, it is alleged that slavery formed an important part. The 
 mass of the lower class of the comnumity were born in a state 
 of serfdom, and individuals — and even tribes — for crimes real 
 or alleged, were frequently, according to the authority of some 
 Avritevs, reduced to the condition of slaves. Foreigners captured
 
 258 AD]^EXT OF Si; rATR/CK. 
 
 in war were subjected to the same fate ; and tlie captivity of 8t. 
 Patrick, to which circumstance Ireland is said to be indebted for 
 the Christian faith, was occasioned by a mai-auding expedition of 
 an Irish chief — to an unidentified locaHty either in Caledonia, 
 Albion, or Ganl — seeking for plunder, as well as desiring to recruit 
 the number of bis slaves. Captives were made, not so much in the 
 hope of ransom, as for marketable property. At a later period 
 Ciiraldus Cambrensis states that the Irish were accustomed to 
 purchase Englishmen and boys from merchants and marauders. 
 
 Probably for some time antecedent to the generally recorded date 
 of the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, sniall and scattered 
 Christian communities may have secretly existcid in the country. 
 They may have been founded through the ordinary channels of 
 commerce ; by the zeal of missionaries ; by captives carried oil' by 
 the Irish, who, at this period, harried the coasts of Britain and 
 of Gaul ; by Christians, who had fled from the Roman dominions 
 to avoid persecution, or from the swords of the northern hordes 
 already harassing the seaboards. 
 
 According to the TriiHtrtih Life, it would appear tluit St. 
 Patrick, when on one of his missionary tours, after ordaining a 
 presbyter named Ailbe, informed him of the existence of a stone 
 altar, in an underground chanilxT, in the mountains of Tirerrill, in 
 county Sligo. This, though only a legend of the twelfth century, 
 ])()ints to the previous existence of a tradition that there had 
 been missionaries in the land before St. Patrick, otherwise whence 
 came the buried altar? If any conclusion can be drawn from the 
 ancient records, it is that the whole of Ireland did not submit to 
 St. Patrick's influence. When he wrote his ( 'oiifrssio, he tells 
 us that he looked daily for a violent death, or to be brought again 
 into slavery. St. Patrick no more made Ireland a Christian land 
 than Luther made the German, Knox the Scottish, or Henry VIII. 
 the English Reformation. His phenomenal success almost con- 
 clusively demonstrates this. Many had worked the ground before 
 him ; many contemporaries helped to work the ground with him, 
 and diftused and confirmed his teacliings ; whilst many laboured 
 in the field after him. Lanigan, in his Ecclcsitisticul IlLston/, 
 states that : — " It is universally admitted that there were Christian 
 congregations in Ireland before the mission of Palladius, which 
 took place in a.d. 131, of which, were there no other proof, the 
 testimony of Prosper forms sufficient evidence ; for in his 
 clu'onicle of that year he says that Palladius was sent to the 
 Scots believing in Christ, that is, as he informs us elsewhere, 
 to the Scots in Ireland. But how, or by whom, the Christian 
 faith was first introduced it is impossible to determine." 
 
 Tertullian boasted that, in his day, Christianity had penetrated 
 to parts of the British Isles inaccessible to the Romans, yet the
 
 EARLIKR CHRISTIAX MISSIONS. 259 
 
 few allusions to the supposed establislimcut, on a large scale, 
 of Christianity in Great Britain and Ireland, in early Christian 
 writers, such as the above quoted, and Origen or Jerome, may 
 evidently be regarded, to a great degree, as rhetorical flourishes. 
 Thus, when zealous fathers wish to impress the widely extended 
 area of the Gospel field, they describe it as extending from India 
 to Britain, without considering whether they were literally correct 
 in thus indirectly implying that there then were Christian com- 
 nninities in either of the two extremes of territory. Amongst the 
 immense number of Roman interments and mortuary inscriptions, 
 found in Great Britain, we do not discern traces of the religion of 
 Christ. We are driven back, by this want of material evidence, 
 to the inevitable conclusion • that Christianity was not, either 
 openly or surreptitiously, established in Roman Britain, a con- 
 clusion totally at variance with the preconceived ideas into which 
 Ave have been led by the school of both early and medi;eval ecclesias- 
 tical historians. However, among the Roman soldiery, strangers, 
 mechanics, and settlers who visited Albion there may, doubtless, 
 have been a fair sprinkling of secretly professing Christians. 
 Christianity had evidently been to some extent established in 
 Britain when we read of the mission of Roman ecclesiastics to 
 put down " the heresy of Pelagianism." The great supporters 
 of this heresy were, it is stated, two Irishmen, Pelagius, alleged 
 to be a native of Bangor, county Down, and Celestius, both 
 celebrated as theologians, against whom St. Augustine and St. 
 Jerome entered the lists of controversy, the first in a spirit of 
 Christian toleration, the latter with all the coarseness and violence 
 for which he was distinguished as a polemic, and which earned 
 for him the title of "the foul-mouthed." The fact that these 
 Irishmen had left their native land as missionaries is another 
 proof, if further be necessary, that Christianity had taken some 
 root in Ireland before the mission of St. Patrick. However, on 
 the other hand, it is alleged that Pelagius was a mere layman, 
 and that Celestius was a lawyer, that there is very little known 
 about them, and it is not clearly proved that they ever left their 
 native land. St. Jerome, in his usual polished style, calls his adver- 
 sary Celestius "a blockhead swollen with Irish stirabout [Scotonoii 
 pnltibHsprae(jravaUis), a great corpulent barking dog, fitter to kick 
 with his heels than to bite with his teeth ; a Cerberus who, witJi 
 his master Pluto (so Jerome designated Pelagius), deserved to be 
 knocked on the head and so put to eternal silence," In other 
 words, St. Jerome suggested in very broad terms that the 
 " heretic " wlio did not agree with him ought to be " removed." 
 A bafded controversialist frequently gives vent to his resent- 
 ment by anathematising the opponent he is unable to refute ; if 
 a point in an argument l)e too strong to Ix' directly met, a 
 
 s2
 
 260 ADVEN'l OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 side-issue may be raised by con si, 2:11 in,!,' the successful lo.t^ician to 
 eternal damnation. 
 
 It is immaterial to iix the exact date of St. Patrick's arrival 
 in Ireland, tirst as a slave, secondly as a missionary. Let it 
 suthce that it was some time in the fifth century, and that he 
 be acknowledged as the author of the composition styled " St. 
 Patrick's Hymn," the St. Patrick who spent six years of his life 
 in slavery in Ireland, the captive of an Irish chieftain, who lived 
 near Slemish, in the county Antrim. Escaping from captivity, 
 he resolved to preach Christianity to the heathen Irish. It has 
 been remarked that nearly all his companions were either from 
 Ulster or were descended from Ultonian families. This may be 
 accounted for by the fact that his residence as a slave in the 
 northern portion of the kingdom made him better acquainted with 
 that race than with those in other parts. This connexion with 
 ''the Scotic Princes," of whom he makes mention in his Con- 
 fessid, and of which he was justly proud, may account for his 
 change of name. A slave in Ulster, known there under his 
 baptismal name of Sucat, it was important, in the prosecution of 
 his missionary work, to make clear, at any rate to his princely 
 adlierents, that, although formerly in servitude, he was not of 
 ignoble birth. Hence his recital of his pedigree — son of the 
 deacon Calpornius, grandson of the presbyter Potitus. In the 
 general collapse of the fabric of the Ronum Empire many of the 
 lowest of the populace "assumed the illustrious name of 
 Patricius, which, by the conversion of Ireland, has been com- 
 municated to a whole nation." Although this title at the time, 
 had, with the Roman and semi-Romanized population, lost its 
 peculiar meaning and had become merely a personal cognomen, 
 yet, amongst the "barbarous" or non-Romanized tribes of 
 Ireland, it would most jn'obably carry some of its original 
 importance, and would, doubtless, impress "the Scotic Princes," 
 who would have turned with disdain from the teaching of a, mere 
 slave, with a sense of the missionary's dignity. 
 
 St. Patrick probably landed near Downpatrick, for a chief 
 named Dichu, who ruled over a district in this neighbourhood, 
 having entertained St. Patrick and his companions, became his 
 first convert to Christianity, and granted his barn to be used as 
 a church, " which place," writes Usslier, " from the name of that 
 church, is called in Scotic to this day Sabhall Patric," i.e., 
 " Patrick's Barn," represented by the modern name " Saul." 
 
 A very likely story relates that, soon after his landing, he 
 made his way towards the house of his former master, jMelchu, 
 hoping to convert him and his household to Christianity. The 
 cliieftain, hearing of his approach, as well as rumours of tlie fame 
 uiid iiowci'of liisfoniicr slave, (h'eaded his advent, feelin;^' certain
 
 S7\ FA TRICK LA NDS IX IRELAND. 261 
 
 that St. Patrick would enslave him in turn, so when the mission- 
 ary ascended the slopes of Slemish he found that his late master 
 had gathered all his goods together in a huge funeral pyre, liad 
 mounted it, and tlien caused it to be set on fire, j)erishing in the 
 flames like a grand old heathen. In later times a cross was 
 raised on the spot, from which, tradition averred, St. Patrick first 
 looked down the Braid Valley on Melchu's burning homestead. 
 Melchu's residence was probably the Casliel, still in a fair state 
 of preservation, in the parish of Racavan. A writer who knows 
 the neighbourhood is of" opinion that the traditional locality lay 
 in St. Patrick's direct course to the Casliel, and although no trace 
 of the cross is now to be found, the site can be identified with 
 comparative certainty, as a half-demolished earn in a small plan- 
 tation is still styled in Irish " the place of St. Patrick's cross." 
 
 Arriving in the neighbourhood of Tara, the then Irish capital, 
 or residence of the chief king, St. Patrick made preparations for 
 celebrating the Christian festival. Denis Florence M'Carthy thus 
 describes the lighting of the first Paschal fire in Ireland : — 
 
 " On Tara's hill the daylight dies — 
 On Tara's plain 'tis dead : 
 'Til Baal's nnkindled fires shall rise, 
 No fire must flame instead. 
 " 'Tis thus the king comm;:,nding speaks, 
 Commands and speaks in vain — 
 For lo ! a tire defiant breaks 
 From out the woods of Slane. 
 
 " ' What means this flame that through the night 
 Illumines all the vale ? 
 What rebel hand a fire dare light 
 Before the fire of Baal?"' 
 
 No sooner did this light appear than the Druids recognised 
 a rival power, as this very time happened to be a great Pagan 
 festival, one of the inaugurating ceremonies of which commenced 
 by the extinguishing of every fire throughout the country, and 
 whoever kindled one before the Druids had re -kindled theirs on 
 the hill of Tara was liable to be put to death.''' 
 
 Despite the triumph of Christianity, a rehc of this ancient 
 custom still exists amongst the peasantry. On the morning of 
 the first day of May it is customary, in remote districts, to 
 
 •>•' 'I'he Romans also extinguislied the domestic altar-fire annually. It had to 
 be re-kindled by pieces of wood rubbed together unlil they broke into a rtam(>. 
 Alcestis, abovit to sacrifice her life for her husband, addresses a tmiclung prayer 
 to the domestic altar-firo. Agamemnon, returning from Troy, does not return 
 thanks in a temple, but before' the altar-fire of his home. This fire represented 
 the common life of the family, its entire past and future existence.
 
 262 ADVENT OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 abstain from lighting fires until the sun is at its meridian, or 
 until less cautious neighbours have ligJited theirs, as then the 
 disaster would fall on those first so ofl'ending. An exception to 
 the rule is made when smoke is seen ascending from the chimney 
 of the priest's house, for, to present-day peasants, this represents 
 the first signal from the pyre of old, which notified to their 
 pagan forefathers the advent of the yearly new-born fire. On 
 ]\Iay Day embers may not be taken outside the house to kindle 
 anything. A stranger will not be permitted even to light his 
 pipe at the household fire, as transgression of the i-ule is believed 
 to be followed by heavy penalties to the family. 
 
 These relics of the past, embalmed in present day folklore, 
 (■iial)le us to understand the action of the Druids, who, as soon 
 as they noticed the fire lighted by St. Patrick, dreacUng, like 
 the Ephesian artificers, a loss of their livelihood, at once came 
 Ix'fore the Head King at Tara, and reqiiested him to liave the fire 
 extinguished, " lest it would get the mastery of their fire and 
 bring the downfall of the kingdom." This is the first recorded 
 instance of open conflict between Christianity and Druidism in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Among the many wild legends relating to this event it is 
 stated that the Irish king had been advised by his magicians not 
 to enter the circuit of St. Patrick's fires lest he should be over- 
 come by their magical influence, and to avoid this the saint was 
 summoned to the king's presence, where a discussion ensued. 
 One magician, who made himself prominent in opposition, was 
 miraculously caught up in the air and dashed to pieces on the 
 ground. The king then ordered his attendants to seize St. 
 Patrick, but a strange darkness overspread the land, and they 
 turned their weapons against each other, A little later, being in 
 danger, St. Patrick escaped by turning himself and his com- 
 panions into stags. The more prosaic and probably more 
 accurate account narrates that, ordered to appear before the king, 
 the opportunity was afforded to St. Patrick of expounding the 
 new religion to a distinguished audience. It was on this memor- 
 able occasion, it is alleged, that he composed the hymn which he 
 sang as he approached the royal presence, and thus gave the 
 king to understand the foundation on which his courage rested, 
 but his explanations and exhortations failed to convince his 
 hearers. On the impjidsal anniversary of the death (or birth) of 
 the saint, a modern paraphrase of this hymn (in which some 
 allusions to ancient beliefs are most discreetly omitted) is 
 sung in St, Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 
 
 " Wliere through the long-din wn aisle iiiid fretted vault. 
 The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."
 
 THE NEW RELIGION. 268 
 
 The writer has been taken to task for the statement that the 
 date of both St. Patrick's birtli and death are doubtful, but 
 nevertheless he is of opinion that neither the year nor the daj' of 
 St. Patrick's birth nor the year or day of his death are known. 
 What Irishman, also, is unaware of the fact that, in olden times, 
 tivo birthdays of the saint were kept, until Father Mulcahy settled 
 the question ? — 
 
 " On the eighth of March, it was, some people say, 
 That St. Patrick, at midnight, he first saw the day. 
 Wliile others declare 'twas the ninth lie was horn, 
 And 'twas all a mistake between midnight and morn. 
 
 At last both the factions so positive grew. 
 
 That each kept a birthday — so Pat then had two. 
 
 Till Father Mulcahy, who showed them their sins. 
 
 Said ' No one could have two birthdays but a twins.' 
 
 Says he, ' Boys, don't be lighting for eight or for nine, 
 
 Don't be always dividing — but sometimes combine. 
 
 Combine eight M'ith nine, and seventeen is the mark, 
 
 vSo let that be his birthday.' ' Amen,' said the clerk, 
 
 ' If he wasn't a twins, sure our history will show. 
 
 That, at least, he 's worth any two saints that we know.' " 
 
 A very suitable monument has at long last been placed over 
 the reputed grave of the national saint at Downpatrick (fig. 81). 
 The memorial, an unchiselled weather-beaten boulder of granite 
 from the Mourne mountains, weighs seven tons, and completely 
 covers the site. The name pacpic and an early Irish cross 
 are the only i-ecords on the rock. This simple treatment of a 
 memorial to a great man is regarded as the nearest approach to 
 the ideas on sepulture prevalent in Ireland in the fifth century.''' 
 
 The literal rendering of the sixth paragraph of St. Patrick's 
 hymn, as translated by the Piev. Thomas Olden, b.a, and as it is 
 not sung in St. Patrick's Cathedral, is here given. In it occur 
 the only allusions made by the saint to the religion he was about 
 to overthrow : — 
 
 " So have I invoked all these virtues between me, (and these) 
 Against every cruel merciless power which may come against my boily 
 
 and my soul. 
 Against iiuvintations of false prophets, 
 Againsi black laws of heathenry. 
 Against false laws of heretics. 
 Against craft of idolatry. 
 
 Against spells of women and smiths and Druids, 
 Against every knowledge tiiat defiles men's souls." 
 
 * The movement for the erection of the monument was initiated by F. J. 
 Pigger, the energetic editor of the Ulster Journal of Arch(Polo(/ij, and the super- 
 vision of the woik was Tindertaken by W. F. Fennell, Architect, of Belfast.
 
 264 ADVENT OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 In this hymn St. Patrick, after lirst "binding" to himself 
 many Christian virtues, which may be taken as confession of his 
 l)eUef in certain Christian doctrines, goes on " binding " to him- 
 self the elements, claiming thus, that not alone were all the 
 powers of Christianity on his side, but nlso llie very elements 
 worshipped by his opponents. 
 
 " T 1)iml myself to-day to llio virtue of Heaven, 
 In lifjrht of 8iin, 
 In liii<ihtness of Snow, 
 In splendoui' of Firo, 
 In speed of Li^liti'.ing, 
 In swiftness of "Wind, 
 In depth of Se;i, 
 In st<al)ility of E.aiili, 
 In eompaetness of Koek." 
 
 It may be inferred, from this portion of St. Patrick's hymn, 
 that the Pagan Irish both adored and invoked the personilied 
 powers of nature, and this is corroborated by passages from Irish 
 Mss. One Chief King of Ireland received as pledges that the 
 sovereignty should for ever rest in his family, "the sun and moon, 
 the sea, the dew and colours, and all the elements visible and 
 invisible, and every element which is in heaven and on earth." 
 Another, having broken his oath perished " from sun and from 
 wind and from the rest of the pledges ; for transgressing them, in 
 that time, used not to be dared." Again, in one of the poems of 
 the heroic age, it is related that Avhen Queen Medb and the 
 Connaughtmen were pressing hard on Cuchullin, the sole cliam- 
 pion of the Ulster men, he called on the waters, on heaven, 
 earth, and the rivers to protect him, and the elements answered 
 his appeal. Even St. Paul appears to have been afraid that the 
 early converts to Christianity among the Galatians might return 
 to their former worship of the elements, and he thus upbraids 
 them : — " How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements 
 whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ; ye observe days and 
 months and times and years ; I am afraid of you, lest I have 
 bestowed upon you labour in vain." 
 
 ■ St. Patrick evidently believed that tlu; iiu-nntations and as- 
 sumed magic of the Druids were not without some real founda- 
 tion, that witches were still powerful for evil, and that "smiths" 
 [ciiirds) or cunning metal workers, the forgers of weapons and of 
 ornaments, Avere necromancers ; all, these, in alliance with the 
 evil spirit of his belief, were arrayed against him, for the demons 
 of a strange nation or tribe are always looked upon — especially Ijy 
 the conquerors — with a certain dread. Even a good Mussulman 
 is not exempt from an uiuiccountal)le awe of the fetishes of the 
 heathen. An Englishman havinij- asked a jMahometan to handle
 
 266 A DV EXT OF ST. PATRICK. 
 
 a fetish, he clrew back, ;ind when reniiiided that he was a true 
 beUever and ought not to be afraid of the devils of tlie idolaters, 
 quaintly replied, " True, sahib, tliese are idolatrous pigs, and 
 their Shaitans (devils) are accursed, but this Shaitan is most 
 spiteful — something bad might happen ! " This incident shows 
 how the superstitious ideas of an idolatrous tril)e infect the minds 
 of a superior, most strictly monotheistic, and vehemently antago- 
 nistic race and creed. 
 
 Sorcerers are not always, or of necessity, impostors, as they 
 sometimes appear to believe thoroughly in themselves. Even in 
 the present day some missionaries credit Polynesian wizards with 
 supernatural powers, and believe them to l3e possessed of evil 
 spirits ; others, not quite so credulous, admit that the idea is 
 not improbable. If Christian missionaries believe, even now, in 
 such things, it is not surprising that the first apostle to the Irish, 
 some 1400 years ago, should have been equally superstitious. 
 
 The smiths, cairds, or workers in metals, mentioned in St. 
 Patrick's hymn, were held in great estimation by the pagan 
 Irish.''' They had their (Tohltan Saor, i.e. Goban, the artificer, 
 who may be said to answer to the Scandinavian " Wayland 
 Smith," or the Greek Vulcan. In Christian times architecture 
 appears to have been added to his skill in metallurgy, and to 
 this day primitive churches, round towers, and other buildings 
 of antiquity, are, by the peasantry, attributed to the " Gobhan 
 Saor," and their folk-lore is full of the wondrous myths of this 
 strange personage. 
 
 This superstitious reverence for the skilful artisan seems to 
 be of world-wide occurrence. In parts of Africa, the smith is 
 still looked upon as a magician, and we need but turn to the pages 
 of K<')iilii(iith to see in what light — according to Sir ^Valter Scott 
 — he was regarded in England so late as Elizabethan times. 
 Smithcraft, witchcraft, and priestcraft alike attempt to con- 
 stitute themselves a distinct and separate caste ; ihey surround 
 the most trivial matters with an air of mystery, and essay in 
 every Avay to enhance the importance of their art. Charlatanism 
 is the same whether practised in the beginning of man's existence 
 on the earth, or in the nineteenth century — in the East or in the 
 West. The sword-maker, who forged the fine blades of old 
 Japan, was no mere blacksmith, but ranked first of all craftsmen 
 in the land, and was often vice-lord of ;i province. He did not 
 
 * Dr. Joyce points out that in Scotlaiul the term •■ caird " still holds its place 
 as a living word, even among speakers of Knglisli, hnt has lost its original 
 signification (i.e. a skilful artificer of any kind), and is now usurped by tinkers. 
 Burns, in one of his poems, so applies it : — 
 
 " Jlcr cli.-unis liail struck a sturdy caird."
 
 THE SHAMROCK AS A SYMBOL. 267 
 
 enter on his grave duties lightly ; for when he had a blade to 
 make for a great noble, the sword-maker abstained from all 
 animal food and strong drink, and lived strictly alone. When 
 the forge was prepared, to which no woman might approach, 
 and when the steel was selected, he repaired to the temple, and 
 prayed. Only after many ceremonies, when the five elements, 
 " fire, water, wood, metal, and earth," were all conciliated, would 
 the pious artizan take liammer in hand. 
 
 Ceremonies connected with the forging of weapons or imple- 
 ments, when accompanied with singing and chanting, by which 
 means it was thought the spells, so sung, were incorporated with 
 the article in course of fabrication, are mere relics of the customs 
 of the Stone Age. The Apache Indians, of Mexico, sing whilst 
 working their flint implements, the strokes of the mallet being 
 kept in time Avith the music, which they declare is " great 
 medicine." 
 
 There is a comparatively modern notion, devoid of historical 
 foundation, that 8t. Patrick, during his interview with the pagan 
 ruler, used the shamrock to illustrate the exposition of the 
 mysteries of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The origin 
 of the myth is probably to be found in the early respect for the 
 trefoil as a sacred plant. The Greek word comprehends the 
 numerous family of plants which have triple or ternate leaves. 
 In a passage in Pliny there is a curious reference to the supposed 
 efficacy of the trefoil in curing those suffering from the bites of 
 noxious beasts. St. Patrick and the trefoil are in popular 
 legend indissolubly connected ; so that the tale of his banishing 
 venomous snakes from Ireland may have had its origin in some 
 superstition, such as is described by Pliny. If a farmer carries 
 home a shamrock, it will go well Avith his cattle on May day ; 
 if a maiden puts it in the shoe of her lover, without his 
 knowledge, Avlien he is starting on a journey, he will be sure to 
 return ; anyone Avho carries it abou.t on his person will be able 
 to detect the presence of evil spirits ; gathered with gloved hand, 
 and brought into a house in which there is a lunatic, without 
 anyone save the bringer knowing, it Avill cure madness ; and 
 finally, it may be added, that the four-leaved shamrock has been 
 innnortalized in Lover's beautiful song as a safeguard against 
 every imaginable sorrow and misfortune : — 
 
 " I '11 seek a tou)-lc;n-ed shamrock in all tlic fairy dells, 
 
 AtuI if I find its cliarined leaves, oh, ho\\' I '11 wcive my spells ! 
 I would not waste my magic might on diamond, pearl, or gold, 
 For treasuic tires the weary sense — such triumph is hut culd !"' 
 
 Widely diNcrgcnt views jirevail in various parts of Ireland as 
 to which is the ti'ue shaiinock. 'J'lici claim of tlic wood-sorrel to
 
 208 ADVKXT OF S'J'. J'ATRICK. 
 
 the ilistinctiou is now by many iii^nored, and opinions appear to 
 be somewhat equally divided between two species of clover, the 
 Trifnlinin ininiis and the 'J'rifolhon ropcns ; others again uphold 
 the title of the black-medick to be perfect as regards its claim to 
 be accounted the true shamrock. 
 
 The exact species of the National emblems of Gi-eat ]>)'itain 
 and of Wales arc (|iiitc ;is ditlicult to define. Which is the 
 rose of i'higland ? \\ Inch is the thistle of Scotland '? ^Yhich 
 is the leek of Wales '? 
 
 In the peculiarity of serpent-destruction, or serpent-vanquish- 
 ing, St. Patrick by no means stands alone ; saints in the calendar, 
 credited with the destruction of serpents, form a numerous body; 
 and it is, by many writers, considered that these stories owe their 
 origin to the discovery of fossil remains of large extinct saurians, 
 whilst others gravely assert that these relic-bearing rocks are 
 memorials of the serpents whose descendants lived in the Holy 
 Island until expelled by the national saint. This is again but an 
 adaptation of pre-Christian legends of the destruction of fabulous 
 monsters by the heroes of pagan days. A tale recounted by the 
 peasantry may be taken as typical of the class, especially as the 
 hero was, to some extent, the originator as well as destroyer of 
 the monster; but St. Patrick is of course brought in to award it 
 its final punishment. 
 
 One day a warrior of the Feni, named Conan, hunting in the 
 mountains, came to the spot where lay unburied the skeleton of 
 a witch killed by his father many years previously. A red-haired 
 woman suddenly appeared beside him, and cautioned him against 
 touching the skeleton ; for in the thigh-bone of the sorceress 
 lay imprisoned a Avorm which, if it escaped and could procure 
 enough water to drink, was capable of destroying every living 
 thing in Erin. Disregarding the advice, the fool-hardy Conan 
 fractured the bone, from which wriggled a long hairy worm, and 
 the reckless warrior lifting it upon the point of his spear hurled 
 it into the neighbouring lake, where it quickly developed into 
 \i furious serpent-like monster, devouring flocks, herds, human 
 beings, and even houses, as voraciously as ever did the renowned 
 dragon of Wantley. In a very short time it had eaten most of 
 the cattle in Erin ; and such general indignation arose against 
 Conan that he was condemned to either kill the serpent or to be 
 devoured by the monster whom he had so recklessly called into 
 existence. J)isguised in the hide of a cow, and armed only with 
 a dagger, the unhappy Conan was driven with the herd to the 
 shore of the lake where the tribute-cattle were delivered, and 
 was there swallowed by the monster. He found the interior 
 of the serpent more vulnerable than its exterior, which was 
 encased in impenetrable scales, and succeeded witli his dagger
 
 SJ. J'AJ'RICK AXD OTHER SAIX7S. '269 
 
 in cutting his way out ; yet the monster was not killed, but 
 lay on the shore of the lake bleeding and bellowing with pain. 
 The noise attracted the attention of St. Patrick, who effectually 
 secured and banished the serpent to the bottom of the lake, the 
 water of which, discoloured by its blood, has in consequence ever 
 since been styled Lough Derg, or the Red Lake. 
 
 According to Irish mss. the spirit of paganism seems to have 
 descended on the Irish saints. Curses flowed from their lips 
 with greater frequency than blessings ; any who opposed, or did 
 not at once conform to their expressed or implied wishes, were 
 immediately anathematized ; they were lucky if their descendants, 
 escaped inclusion in the curse. 
 
 We also get side-lights on the relations in which the Christian 
 clergy stood to some of the Irish chiefs, in the early days of 
 Christianity in Ireland. St. Ruadan granted sanctuary to the 
 murderer of a messenger of Dermot MacCarroll, and as the 
 cleric refused to give him up, the king seized him by force. 
 This aroused Saints Ruadan and Brendan, who made the circuit 
 of the Hill of Tara, " ringing their bells and cursing it, and pro- 
 phesying that no king of Ireland should ever again reside there." 
 As a matter of fact, Tara was deserted from that date, and the 
 writer depicts, in very forcible manner, the danger of dealing 
 with these powerful " horsemen of the Canon," again, " ill for 
 him who enters into strife with the clerics." " Tara without 
 fire, without a house." Another poem, on the same subject, 
 paints the danger of interfering with the Church, " to strive with 
 her is not good sense," and " it is an evil plight to be challenging 
 the clerics of the crooked staves," — the cleric having now 
 assumed the role of the Druid. 
 
 Men who know to a certainty what will happen may indulge 
 in prophetic expressions of this nature. A king of the east 
 Saxons, who had good-naturedly dined Avith an excommunicated 
 person, was told by Saint Cedd that he would soon die in the 
 house in which he had sinned, and when the well-meaning but 
 unfortunate king was murdered, as foretold, the prophetic fore- 
 sight of the saint was highly praised. We possess also the 
 prediction of St. Aidan, with regard to a king who had put in 
 practice the maxim, that discretion was the better part of valour ;. 
 a, king so meek, the saint feared, was not likely to be long-lived, 
 and that fear was speedily realised. 
 
 Tuathal, King of Ireland, had banished his rival, Diarmaid, 
 from his Court. Diarmaid was one day strolling along the banks 
 of the Shannon, where he found St. Ciaran planting the first 
 pole of a wooden church. "Plant the pole with nie," said the 
 saint to him, " and let my hand be above your hand on it, and 
 your sovereign sway shall be over the men of Erin before long."
 
 270 ADl'KXr OF ST. J'ATRICK. 
 
 Diannaicl had a foster-brotlicv in his train who, on hearing the 
 prophetic words of the saiiii, loinied the resohition of fuHilHng 
 them. He immediately sprang on horseback, then gained access 
 to the presence of the king, and slew him. It is needless 
 to recount how, on Tualhars death, Diarmaid's friends imme- 
 diately proclaimed liim King of Ireland, or that in Diarmaid 
 St. Ciaran found a nnniilicent patron. 
 
 If one were to judge Ijy these legends, Christianity seems not 
 to have moderated, but rather to have added zest to the com- 
 bativeness of the saints and Irish chiefs ; yet if the accretions 
 could be separated from the truth, and the ornamentations in 
 the narratives of the early Irish saints removed, the morals in- 
 tended to be conveyed might become apparent. One must con- 
 cede a certain amount of respect to this attempt to paganize 
 Christianity ; the pagans had at any rate antiqitity on their side, 
 and their gods and goddesses were certainly more life-like than 
 the saints and saintesses, the anchorites and stylites of monastic 
 Christianity : — 
 
 "... Gi'eat God! I'd rather be 
 A pagan suckled in a creed outworn ; 
 So might I standing on this pleasant lea, 
 Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn : 
 Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea. 
 And hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." 
 
 Popular writers generally represent St. Patrick as "a worker 
 of miracles, most of them of a childish and absurd character. 
 There may be some who believe them," remarks the Kev. 
 Thomas Olden, " or rather think they believe them ; but the 
 effect in most cases is to cause the rejection of his entire his- 
 tory." Even O'Donovan, in a note in his translation of the 
 Annuls (if tlic Four blasters, observes on this subject: — "The 
 absurdity of the miracles attributed to St. Patrick, by all his 
 Ijiographers, on every frivolous occasion, without number, 
 measure, or use, has created a doubt in modern times of the 
 truth of everything they relate." Thus, continues Olden :— 
 " He curses rivers, territories, families, and individuals for most 
 trivial causes ; and, for the same reasons, prophesies evil to 
 people, though fortunately the fulfilment does not often follow." 
 
 St. Patrick makes the kid bleat in the stomach of the man 
 who had stolen and eaten it, and afterwai-ds returns it to its 
 owner uninjured : he lights a fire with icicles, instead of sticks, 
 whilst water congeals in the kettle despite the fire around it. 
 These stories are, however, quite paralleled by that recounted of 
 St. Bridget's bacon, Avhich in great charity she gave to a hungry 
 dog. and wliich wiis, after the dog had eaten it, restored again
 
 ST. PATRICK'S MIRACLES. 271 
 
 to tlie pot ; by that of St. Dunstan ^Yho held the devil by the 
 nose with a heated tongs till he made him roar ; of Dominicvis 
 who made him hold a candle till he burnt his fingers ; and of 
 Lapus who imprisoned him in a pot all night. 
 
 In the mediseval lives of St. Patrick, the national saint is 
 depicted as cursing and anathematising all and singular who did 
 not do exactly what he wanted ; but one can yet catch, through 
 this modern religious mask, glimpses of the good-humoured 
 character of the missionary ; for, although his history has been 
 written with the best intentions, St. Patrick has had to suffer 
 much at the hands of his biographers. Many violent and vin- 
 dictive deeds are laid to his charge, but he certainly would never 
 have had the credit, at any rate, of turning such numbers into 
 the ways of Christianity, as well as of filling such an important 
 niche in Church history, had he been the hot-headed, passion- 
 ate man painted by his legendary biographers. The anecdote 
 which demonstrates that he could, like St. Paul, forgive his 
 hearers falling asleep under the flow of his rhetoric demon- 
 strates this ; for what cleric can forgive the peaceful slumber of 
 his parishioner ? what author the admission of a friend that he 
 is ignorant of his latest work ? St. Patrick, however, surpassed 
 St. Paul's record, for he, on one occasion, delivered a sermon to 
 a devout Irish congregcition, which lasted four days and four 
 nights. Among his hearers was " that mother of religious 
 activity and thorough woman of business, St. Bridget. Among 
 his hearers ? Yes ; but only as Eutychus was among those of 
 Paul, Before the sun had gone down once on the preacher, 
 Bridget, worn out by her virtuous activity, was fast asleep, and 
 a compassionate miracle kept her so, till the sermon came to its 
 conclusion. When the devout maid awoke, she looked up at 
 Patrick and blushed. The Scoto-Irish apostle looked down on 
 Bridget and smiled. She excused herself by a hint that she had 
 yielded only to supernatural influences, for she had an allegorical 
 dream which was as good as a sermon, and which she described 
 at a length almost equal to that of the discourse under which 
 she had succumbed." Whether St. Patrick compared her dream 
 with his oration, or her freshness with the prostration of his 
 congregation, is not narrated, but he confessed that the sleeper 
 had known a greater enjoyment than his listeners. 
 
 Another story, illustrative of the Saint's good nature, may be 
 given. The Mayo peasantry account for the excellent feeding 
 properties of some of the bogs and wastes of various descrip- 
 tions Avitli which their country is almost entirely covered, 
 and which present a brown and desolate appearance, by the 
 legend that St. Patrick, viewing them, from afar, when on one 
 of his missiouiU'y tours, struck l)y tlioir forlorn look, exclaimed.
 
 'Al-A ADVENT OF S'l . PA TRICK. 
 
 "I'll bless you any \vii\-, but sorrab a foot ever I'll si't upon 
 you." 
 
 This, of course, is only popular ti'adition. so it may be wkW 
 to give an extract from the Sf/iliiii(( Vita, lib. ii., Colgaii, irias. 
 'llt(tHiit, p. 1-10, xcviii, in Avhich it is gravely narrated that 
 8t. Patrick blessed a river on account of the good dinner he 
 had procured from it. 
 
 " Going on his journey by tlie seashore of northern Con- 
 naught, Patrick came to a river called Sligo. There he wished 
 to refresh his wearied body. He asked the fishermen to spread 
 their nets wherever they pleased, and by the aid of their art, to 
 provide some fish for a meal, by which he might relieve the 
 present need of his body. They answered that although it 
 seemed difficult in winter, yet in return for the favour of having 
 such a guest, they would hke to try it. They cast their net 
 and caught a large salmon, which with great joy they brought to 
 the man of God. He thanked them for their kind attention. 
 He prayed for a blessing on them, and he blessed the river 
 praying, and whilst praying foretelling that fish would never fail 
 in the river. The actual state of affairs has always afforded 
 proof of his prophecy, for ever since that time the river so 
 abounds in salmon, that in every time of the year fresh salmon 
 are found in it." As a matter of fact, salmon run all the year 
 round in the Sligo river. This evidently gave rise to the story 
 of the saint's blessing. 
 
 Events regarded by our ancestors as miracles were often but 
 very ordinary displays of nature. Thus, when the Bishop of 
 Derry and Piaphoe died in the year 1173, it is stated that " a 
 great miracle was performed on the night of his death, viz., the 
 dark night became bright from dusk till morning, and it appeared 
 to the inhabitants that the adjacent parts of the globe were 
 illuminated, and a large body of hre moved over the town and 
 reinained in the south-east ; all the people rose from their beds, 
 for they thought it was day, it (the light) continued so eastward 
 along the sea." This so-called " miracle " was evidently a very 
 fine effect produced by i\\v aurora borenlis or northern lights. 
 Numerous other miraculous or alleged miraculous occurrences 
 are recounted in the IriiiJi Annnl.s. 
 
 We feel less charitably inclined towards those Avho believe 
 but half wdiat we believe, than towards those that deny all 
 that we iDrofess. Enthusiasts with zeal without knowledge, and 
 devotion without discretion, who gravely defend these invented — 
 and very badly invented — miracles, have injured the cause of 
 Christianity as mtich as, if not indeed more than, the attack of 
 modern scientific writers. 
 
 It is traditinnallv recounted tliat St. Patrick met St. Kieran
 
 ST. PATRICK'S MIRACLES. 273 
 
 for the first time, in a.d. 489, at the Church of Rath-Kieran, 
 in Iverk, county Kilkenny , St. Kieran did not acknowledge 
 St. Patrick's superiority, and refused to be dictated to by him 
 in ecclesiastical matters. St. Patrick displeased, predicted that 
 the inhabitants of Iverk should always remain Durnaxmn, and be 
 called by this name. A similar story is told of St. Ibar, at 
 Beggery, in the harbour of "Wexford. 
 
 St. Patrick, travelling through the plains of Ossory, to see 
 what progress St. Kieran had made in the conversion of the 
 inhabitants, remarks O'Donovan, " came to a remarkable hill, 
 then called Cnoc-na-radharc, i.e. hill of the sights or views, which 
 commanded a prospect, wide and varied, of the adjacent rivers, 
 harbours, and mountains ; and being struck with the beauty of 
 the situation, he resolved upon building a church there, or, as 
 some say, a town. He set to work, and collected a number of 
 labourers and artisans to the place. "While the work was pro- 
 gressing, a woman who lived in the adjacent village of Ballincrea, 
 sent St. Patrick a present of an animal cooked in a dish for his 
 dinner. After the saint had viewed the animal for some time, he 
 formed an idea in his mind that it was an unclean beast, and did 
 not wish to taste of its flesh ; and, moreover, as he found some of 
 the inhabitants of the district but ill instructed in Christianity, 
 and others stubborn pagans, he conceived the idea that this 
 present was sent with a view to insult him. So, laying down 
 the dish upon a large stone, he knelt down upon the same stone, 
 and prayed to God to restore to life whatever animal was there 
 cooked. His prayer was heard, and to the astonishment of the 
 workmen, a com bni&e (yellow hound) sprang from the dish, and 
 ran in the direction of the conflux of the Three Waters. St. 
 Patrick, horrified at the sight, desired the workmen to go in pur- 
 suit of it, and kill it, for that it would blast the fruits of the earth 
 and injure all living things in its course. The workmen, obeying 
 the saint's orders, followed the yellow hound with spades, pick- 
 axes, shovels and crowbars, and overtook it exactly a mile to the 
 east of the place from whence it started, and succeedt'd in killing 
 it. They buried its body on the roadside, and over its grave 
 sprang up a stunted white thorn, called S^eirfn-nci-con (the little 
 thorn of the hound), which remains to the present day; and, 
 in perpetual memorial of the miracle, all the stones for one 
 mile exhibit the tracks of the hound's feet ; and that on which 
 St. Patrick knelt contains a hollow, which is believed to 
 be the impression of his knee, and is called Glint I'/uuIrdi;/. 
 This hollow is usually filled with water, which is considered 
 sacred." 
 
 " The saint nialedictcd Uie wicked woman and Iwv progeny. 
 
 T
 
 274 ADVENT OF ST. PA2RICK. 
 
 and prayocl that the viUage of BaUincrea should never, through- 
 out all time, he without a lame,. or a dunih, or a deaf person. 
 His prayer was granted, and the tradition is, that its efiects 
 remain to the present day, for the inhahitants are remarkable 
 for indocility and viciousness, and for a total ineapal)ility of civi- 
 lization ! " 
 
 " Nothing but the absence of the sacred muse from the 
 locality prevented this story from getting into the ' Tripartite 
 Life of St. Patrick,' for I firmly believe," remarks O'Donovau, 
 " that it is as old, and perhaps as true as many others which 
 Colgan has adjudged as interpolations into that celebrated work." 
 In very similar manner the name of St. Patrick is connected in 
 popular legend with Coney Island, not far from the town of 
 Sligo. St. Patrick, when on one of his missionary tours, resided 
 for some time o)i the island, and observing the need of a safe 
 connuunication with the mainland, commenced a causeway, 
 wliich was to connect it with Strand Hill. He sent a messenger 
 to his hostess, a woman named Stoney, /.c. Mulclohy (hence the 
 ancient name of Coney Island, i.e. Inismulclohy), to cook a 
 rabbit for his dinner. When, however, the saint sat down, pro- 
 nouncing a blessing on the food, a gigantic cat jumped up off the 
 platter set before him. It would seem that his hoytess, not 
 having a rabbit in readiness, substituted a fine specimen of the 
 feline tribe. St. Patrick was so disgusted at this treatment, that 
 he never resumed his work, and his ante-dinner labour is now 
 represented by the small island styled Doonanpatrick. On taking 
 his departure, instead of leaving a blessing on the islanders, he 
 prayed that there might never be four of the name of Stoney alive 
 at the same time to carry the remains of one of their relations 
 to the grave. "The story of Boher-na-mias, in the county of 
 Clare, is not unlike it ; but a legend exactly similar is told of 
 St. Patrick in the uncultivated mountains of Sliabh-Cliairbre, in 
 the townland of Aughnacon, parish of Killoe, barony of Granard, 
 and county of Longford, where the saint's preaching was opposed 
 by the impious Carbry, the brother of the monarch Laeghaire, 
 son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The saint's awful curse 
 against the district and the people is preserved in the following 
 lines (here translated by O'Donovan from the Irish) obtained at 
 Granard and at Ballynamuck, in the year 1836 : — 
 
 "Accursed be Carbry's rugged mountains, 
 
 Wherein this hound was served to me. 
 Accursed its hoatlis, its streams and fountains, 
 
 As long as man and time shall be. 
 Accursed its glens ; may no kind showers 
 
 Descend into them from the skies ;
 
 .SV: J'A TRICK' S MIR A CLES. '11^ 
 
 May neither grass, nor herbs, nor fiowurs, 
 
 Be ever seen in them to rise ! 
 Accursed the people, now I strike them 
 
 "Witli my red bolt, and seal their doom ; 
 May all good men for e'er dislike them. 
 
 May they sink in min-kiest gloom." 
 
 "The ' Tripai'tite Life ' is very aieagre in its details of the 
 transactions of the Irish Apostle in the ancient Ossory, but I 
 have been long of opinion that the Avant might be supplied, to 
 some extent, from oral traditions. Take another story of St. 
 Patrick, which was very current when I was a boy living in Ida, 
 and fond of all sorts of ghost stories and fairy scenes, which had 
 no foundation except in the imaginations of old men and women. 
 St. Patrick, proceeding from Laoighis into the adjoining territory 
 of Ui-Duach in Ossory, commenced the erection of a church at a 
 remarkable place near the banks of the river Dineen ; but he was 
 insulted by the chief of this territory, who forcibly drove him 
 from that beautiful locality. Patrick, who appears to have been 
 a man of great force of character, had no notion to allow this 
 insult to pass unrevenged ; and he proceeded to hurl the red bolt 
 of his malediction against the chief of Ui-Duach and his descen- 
 dants. He opened his sacred lips to curse the territory, and 
 pronounced the words niallnigiui, nialLuigmi W\ t)uac (I curse, 
 I curse Ui t3uach). But one of his disciples, who was related to 
 the noble family of Ui-Duach, Avitli a view to avert the curse 
 from the territory and the people, added immediately after, 
 l)io6 lun un 6ion a ;^-ciiuac (let that curse be upon the thatch 
 of their corn-ricks). This rhyme, it appears, was sufficient to 
 avert the curse, so far as it was pronounced by St. Patrick ; but 
 his anger was not yet appeased, and he opened his lips again to 
 <;urse the territory, saying, TTlaUuignn, Tnalluigim Lli-'Oimc. The 
 disciple added, bfo'o I'ln cm Ikipp na Lncicpa (let that be on the 
 tops of the rushes). The saint's anger was still up, and he com- 
 menced his curse a third time, saying inaUingnu, luaUingnn 
 Ui-Ouac, and the disciple averted it once more from the lands and 
 the people by adding, t)fo& fin a]i an 'Oei5;5nin piicift (let this be 
 on the red Dineen). St. Patrick, seeing the counteracting lines 
 of his disciple so opportunely added after his own maledicting 
 ones, felt his anger subsiding, and believing that his disciple was 
 inspired by heaven thus to save his native territory from a heavy 
 malediction, left the matter so. And behold ! the effects of the 
 three curses, thus modiiied, still remain wonderfully plain in the 
 territory of Ui-Duach. The thatch of the stacks and the hay-ricks 
 is there most furiously assailed and stripped by the winds ; the 
 tops of the rushes exhibit all the withering iniluence of the curse ; 
 
 t2
 
 276 ADVENT OF ST. PA TRICK'. 
 
 and the river Dineeii, which has deserved for itself the soubriquet 
 of ' the red and deceitful Dineen,' is so subject to sudden floods 
 and inundations as to sweep away not only men, cattle, and 
 corn, but also the churchyards which lie within the reach of its 
 floods." 
 
 In his Acta Sinninniiii, Coli,nin gives a series of miracles which 
 eclipse those recounted of St. Patrick. Amongst others he relates 
 that St. Cronan requested a certain scribe, named Dimma, to 
 make a transcript of the Four Evangelists, but the copyist was 
 only willing to work nine hours a day. In fact, he seems to have 
 been on strike ; but a compromise was effected, and he promised 
 to write until the sun went down. St. Cronan then caused the 
 solar rays to shine continuously for forty days and forty nights ; 
 and neither was the writer fatigued with the continual labour, 
 iu)r did he feel the want of food, or drink, or sleep, but imagined 
 the forty days and nights were but one day, until he had com- 
 pleted his task. Colgan, with honest simplicity, thought Dimma 
 ought to divide the credit of the miracle with St. Cronan, as both 
 had an equal share in the memorable performance. 
 
 The li'ish jiss. of the lives of the early saints, like the so- 
 called historical romances, were "treated as a sort of common 
 land upon which any goose might graze," subsequent copyists 
 inserting passages by which the character of the documents was 
 changed, yet many traits of stoical heroism have, apparently 
 quite unintentionally, been allowed to remain, in which the old 
 pagan heroes are depicted as regarding courage as one of the 
 noblest of virtues, and victory the highest glory. " Shall I 
 pray that the chieftainship may never depart from your race, 
 or that your soul may find rest in heaven?" demanded St. 
 Bridget of an Irish chief. The prompt reply of the warrior 
 was characteristic of his time. " I care not for heaven, of 
 which I know nothing ; but give me victory over my enemies." 
 St. Patrick, on the eve of a battle, is reputed to have given an 
 Irish king the choice of two things, defeat and heaven, victory 
 or hell, and received the emphatic answer: "Hell to all eternity, 
 so that the victory be mine." 
 
 These stories have in them the true heroic ring, and it is 
 to be w^ondered how they escaped the clerical bill-hook. They 
 remind us of the legend of the old Viking, who, after great per- 
 suasion, had been at length induced to accept baptism. The aged 
 Avarrior was in the act of stepping into the font when he inquired 
 of his would-be bapti/er, where were the souls of his ancestors ? 
 " In hell," was the injudicious reply of the priest. The old sea- 
 dog drew back, and folding his mantle around him, said he would 
 go to his own kith and kin. Let us hope he had his wish, and 
 joined them.
 
 CHRISTIA NITY . \ XD PA GA N ID EA S. 277 
 
 There was a ferociously savage custom in full vigour, as late 
 as two hundred years ago. People on presenting infants to be 
 baptized, reserved, from the sanetification of the rite, the right 
 arms of male children ; for it was thought that the boys, when 
 they reached manhood, would be able to give a more malignant 
 blow with an unblessed, than with a blessed arm. This custom 
 must have originated at a time when Christianity first sought 
 *' to make children of grace out of children of wrath." 
 
 A perusal of the so-called "Lives" of the early Irish saints 
 brings before the reader, in a striking manner, the survival of 
 pagan institutions under Christian names and forms. As on the 
 Continent, the Christian Church first planted itself in centres of 
 intelligence, in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire ; 
 whilst long after these had accepted the truth, heathen super- 
 stitions lingered on in remote districts ; so in Ireland also, the 
 first conquests of the Church were effected in the centres of intel- 
 ligence, the Court of the Head King, the fortresses of provincial 
 chiefs, or the seats of commercial traffic ; outside this sphere of 
 influence, paganism, for many centuries, must have continued to 
 visibly exist. 
 
 Many examples can be quoted from ancient mss. of the resig- 
 nation of cashels and forts by their pagan owners for the use of 
 Christian communities, notably one occurring in the life of St. 
 Cuillin, where it is stated that the chief of the country of Brefiny, 
 or the present county Leitrim, on his conversion to Christianity 
 by the saint, gave up to him his fortress, in order that he might 
 erect his monastic buildings within the enclosure. Indeed, in 
 many instances, groups of religious buildings stand within for- 
 tresses of the greatest celebrity, as within the grand stone fort on 
 the Island of Aran, and within the walls of a cashel on the Island 
 of Inishmurray, oft" the coast of Sligo. 
 
 It is remarkable how in different countries many ancient 
 centres of Druidical cult survived into Christian times, their 
 accustomed ceremonies being converted into Christian rites. 
 For example, Chartres, about half way between Orleans and 
 Paris, possesses, according to a pamphlet bearing the hnpiiinatur 
 of >^ Franciscm EpiscojiKs < 'tiruiUensis — the sanctuary of Notre 
 Thniie (le Som-Tcrre on la Vicn/i' (Iruidiijuc, dating, according to 
 the above authority, before the birth of Christ. Then after 
 stating that the surrounding district was a great centre for 
 Druidical assemblies, it continues: — "However that may have 
 been, they say that, before the Incarnation, they worshipped 
 a rudely carved wooden image, which stood at the end of a 
 mysterious grotto, representing the Virgin Mary seated, with 
 closed eyes, holding the Divine Infant on her lap. This tradi- 
 tion, which reaches back to the most remote antiquity, is even
 
 278 
 
 ADVEN'J OF ST. PATRICK 
 
 recited in the Charters of the kiu.Lrs of France." • /-'/V/cv .s/V ih'uch 
 ouctorcni. 
 
 Tnrniiifj to other authorities, it is evident tliat Chartres was 
 really a Druidic centre. After descrihing how the Roman hhnpire 
 proscribed most impartially on political grounds both Christians 
 and Druids, Eamsey, in his Cltuiclt of the IIohkui l-^injiiir, states 
 that " the institution of the Gallic festival in the purely Eoman 
 Capitol . . . was evidently a countermove of the (rovernment 
 against the old religion of the country, with its council of priests 
 at Chai-tres, the centre of tlie Clnllic Innd." 
 
 Fig. 82. 
 
 Interior of " tlio Church of the Fire " ( Teaclt-na-Tei)iedh), showinR in the forcfrround the 
 position of " the Flagstone of the Fire." Reproduced from the Jowiial of tiie present 
 Societ}' of Anti(]uaries of Ireland. 
 
 ^' * " Quol qu'il on soit, Ton dit qu'avnnt I'lncamation ils honoraient, au fond 
 d'lino grottc niysterieuse, line statue en hois assez grossierement sculptce repro- 
 scntant la Viergc jMarie assise, Ics yeux feimes, et tenant sur ses geiioux son 
 divin Enfant. C'ette tradition qui renionte aux siecles ies plus lointains se 
 retrouve jusque dans Ies lottrcs dcs lois dc France." — Notre Lame dc C/i'irtres, 
 p. 3.
 
 DRUIDICAL PURIFICATION' BY FIRE. 
 
 279 
 
 The " splenetic Welshman," as CHraldus is styled hy some 
 Irish writers, draws attention to instances of the gradual hut 
 steady transition of the Irish population from the profession of 
 Paganism to that of Christianity, and remarks that " not one was 
 found to purple with his hlood the foundations of the rising 
 Church." Patriotic writers, in essaying to confute Giraldus, 
 instead of studying the social and religious state of the country 
 at the period of St. Patrick's advent, have endeavoured to invent 
 a few martyrs to throw discredit on a statement which, to all 
 intents, is correct. 
 
 The ancient Pagan sacred fires were occasionally taken under 
 the guardianship of the new Christian communities. Giraldus 
 Cambrensis reports the common belief, in his day, that the sacred 
 fire of St. Bridget at Kildare, which the Druids had guarded long 
 before the introduction of Christianity, had never been extin- 
 guished. 
 
 In the Church of Teach-na-Teinedh, or " the chiirch of the 
 fire" (fig. 82), one of many remains of early Christian architecture, 
 within the walls of a Pagan Cashel 
 situated on the island of Inishmurray, 
 off the Sligo coast, there was formerly 
 a remarkable flagstone styled Ledc- 
 na-Teinedh, or "the flagstone of the 
 fire " (fig. 83). Until lately it covered 
 a miraculous hearth^ — broken up by 
 the officials of the Board of Works 
 during their itsual routine of " resto- 
 ration," — only the foundations of 
 which still remain. On this flag, or 
 fire-stone, fire was always kept burn- 
 ing by the monks for the use of the 
 islanders. In later times, when monks 
 no longer inhabited the cashel, when- 
 ever a householder wanted kindling 
 for the family fire, a sod of turf or a 
 piece of wood deposited oil this holy hearth ignited spon- 
 taneously. Not many years ago, if any dependence can be 
 placed on oral tradition, a Scotchman had the profane assur- 
 ance, whilst visiting the island, to desecrate the sacred firestone 
 of St. INIolaise. Though generally reputed to be of placid tem- 
 perament, the insulted saint and patron of the island imploi'ed 
 his God to work a miracle for the confusion of the impious 
 miscreant, whereupon a supernatural flame, issuing from the 
 "fire-stone," reduced the wristcli to a cinder, and the islanders 
 still point out his calcined bon(>s, deposited on the site cf the 
 hearthstone, as n waDiing to niilx'licvers. 
 
 Fig. 83. 
 riie Flagstone of the Fire " {].fac- 
 iia- Tei)iedh). Reproduced from 
 the Joiiriial of the present So- 
 ciety of Antiquaries of Ireland.
 
 280 A /J TAW J Of SJ\ I'A I RICK. 
 
 In the observances relating to lire, both as regards human 
 beings as Avell as cattle, the ceremonies — particuhirly that of 
 passing between two fires — appear in later times to have been 
 intended not to sacrifice life, but mei'ely as a means of periodical 
 purification. For instance, Ledwick states that in his time " the 
 more ignorant Irish still drive their cattle through tliese fires as 
 an effectual means of preserving them from future accidents.""' 
 But at an .earlier period it is but too certain that the sacrifice of 
 human beings by fire formed a part of Pagan worship iu Ireland, 
 of whicli passing through or between two fires was a cucliaristic 
 celebration. 
 
 The remains of the fires were regarded with superstitious 
 veneration — a small piece of charcoal, taken from the site of a 
 bonfire 0)i St. John's night, in midsummer, and sewed up in the 
 clothes of a woman, preserves her against fairy plots, or from 
 abduction by the " good people " ; whilst a live coal is con- 
 sidered to bring great luck to the house in which it ignites the 
 new fire on the family hearth. 
 
 It is probable that the Druids consecrated water as well as 
 fire, on the eve of Bealtinne, i.e. the 1st of May, and possibly 
 they also prohibited its use, except when drawn from their own 
 sacred fountains. This assumption arises from the special rever- 
 ence in which certain springs and rude fonts were held. In 
 some instances women were prohibited from ever drawing water 
 from them ; and, until a comparatively late period, it was custo- 
 mary not to draw the first water from wells till after midnight, 
 on the eve of Bealtinne. This water was called " the purity of 
 the well," and is indubitably a relic of paganism. The people 
 of each village were in the habit of sitting up, that they might 
 be the first to draw a pitcher of water from the nearest holy 
 Well ; and as it was considered that the water should be drawn 
 
 * "Two such fires as we have mentioned were kindl'd by one another on May 
 Eve in every vilhige of the nation (as well thro' out Gaule as in Britain, Ireland, 
 and the adjoining lesser Hands), between which fires the juen and the beasts to 
 be sacrific'd were to pass ; from whence came tlie proverb, hetiveeu BeVs tivo 
 fires, meaning one in a great strait, not knowing how to extricate himself. One 
 of the fires was on the earn, another on the ground. On the eve of the first day 
 of November tliere were also such fires kindl'd, accompany'd (as they cDustantly 
 were) with saci-ifices aud feasting. These November fires were iti Ireland called 
 Tine fli>ch''d-i//iri, from t/'ich\i-!/ha, a place hence so called in iMeatli, where the 
 Archdruid of the realm had his fire on the said eve; and for which piece of 
 ground, because originally belonging to Munster, but apjtointed by the supreme 
 monarch for this use, there was an annual acku()\\lc(li;nH'nt (call'd sgrcaholl) 
 paid to the king of that province. . . . On the f()resai<l eve all the people of the 
 country, out of a religious pei-suasion instilled into them by the Druids, 
 extinguish'd their fires as intirely as the Jews are wont to sweep their houses 
 the night bel'ore the feast of unleavened bread. Then every master of a family
 
 DRUIDICAL PURIFICATION BY WATER. 281 
 
 furtively, many stratagems were devised to outwit the neighbours 
 in procuring the earliest draught, or " purity of the well." 
 Whoever succeeded in being the tirst to reach the spring, cast a 
 tuft of grass into the water by which all subsequent arrivals 
 were apprised that the spell was broken. This draught of water, 
 carefully preserved during the year, was regarded as a powerful 
 charm against witchcraft. It was used at the eve of Bealtinne 
 in the succeeding year for another ceremony in which farmers, 
 accompanied by all their household, walked round the boundaries 
 of their land, after sunset, in a sort of procession, carrying imple- 
 ments of husbandry, seeds, Ac, and this water. The procession 
 halted when passing each of the cardinal points, commencing at 
 the east, and various ceremonies were observed. All the cattle 
 were then driven together and their tails examined, lest a witch 
 might thereon have tied some spell ; if anything were found 
 attached, it was at once taken off and burned, and a sprig of 
 rowan substituted. The ceremony was completed by sprinkling 
 the assembled cattle with the water which had been preserved 
 since the preceding May Day. 
 
 In some localities, cattle, either as a preservative against, 
 or a cure of disease, were driven through certain bays, in- 
 lets, or streams ; for instance, near the village of Culdaff, 
 county Donegal, there " is a deep part of the river, into which 
 it is usual to plunge diseased cattle, and at the same time 
 to pray to St. Bodhan, who is supposed to intercede in their 
 favour." 
 
 In a Statistical account of the jiarish of Clonman;/, county 
 Donegal, by the Rev. F. L. Molloy, written in the year 1814, he 
 states that on the 9th June, on the festival day of St. Columb- 
 kille, the country people " formerly drove down their cattle to 
 the beach on that day, and su'am them in that part of the sea 
 
 was religiously oWig'd to take a portion of the consecrated fire home, and to 
 kindle the tire anew in his house, which for the ensuing year was to be lucky 
 iiiul prosperous. He was to pay, however, for his future happiness, M-hethor the 
 event prov'd answerahle or not ; and tho' his house should he afterwards humt, 
 yet he must deem it the punishment of some new sin, or ascribe it to any thing 
 lather than to want of viitue in the consecration of the fire, or of validity in 
 tlie benediction of the Druid, who, from officiating at the earns, was likewise 
 called Cdiriicdch, a name that continued to signify a priest, even in the ('hristian 
 times. But if any man had not cleai 'd with the Druids for tlie last year's dues, 
 he was neither to liave a spark of this holy tire from the earns, nor durst any of 
 his neighliours let liim take the benefit of theirs, under pain of excommunica- 
 tion, which, as manag'd by the Druids, was worse than death. If lie wou'd 
 brew, therefdre, or bake, or roast, or boil, or warm himself and family ; in a 
 word, if he would live the winter out, the Druids' dues must be paid by 
 the end of (Jctober."' — Tulaiid's History of the Druids, new edition, 1814, 
 pp. 117-11 'J.
 
 282 AJ)\-/-:yr of si: pa trick. 
 
 into which runs tlie water of St. Cohnnl)'s well, wliicli is tlioi'chy 
 made holy water." 
 
 In the west of Ii'elund cows ww also driven into certain 
 spring-s or lou<>-hs, reputf(l lioly, in order lo I'estorc them to 
 health, oi' to make them again yield the usual supply of milk 
 and hatter, snpernaturally extracteil from ttuiii liy the fairies. 
 As a necessary part of the ceremony, liunps of fresh hutter are 
 thrown into the water through which the animals pass. The 
 ceremony of swimming cattle as a cure for disease used to 
 take place on the first Sunday in harvest, i.e. on Garland 
 Sunday. 
 
 On the last day of April of each year, persons residing at a 
 distance journey to a holy well where a large " patron" is held 
 on May day. The well lies at the foot of " The Paps," two re- 
 markahle mountains which derive their name from their peculiar 
 shape, and form a striking feature in the mountain scenery 
 hetween Killarney and Cork. The pilgrims trudge to their 
 destination, where having performed their devotions, they take 
 away some water from the well in hottlcs for home consumption. 
 The manner of using this water is peculiar. The operator — 
 generally the person who performs the pilgrimage— commences 
 first with the oldest cow in the hyre, after which he takes the 
 youngest, then the others are treated indiscriminately. He lets 
 fall three drops of the holy water into the cow's right nostril, 
 then three drops into the right ear, and then three into the 
 mouth, at the same time repeating certain formula. Cattle so 
 treated are considered hy the country people to be impervious to 
 all disease. 
 
 A description of an ancient pagan water rite occurs in an 
 Irish jiss. entitled, Li'dhJiar va li- l'iil/in\ A Druid commanded 
 a child to he washed every morning, with many attendant cere- 
 monies, on the back of a cow. At the end of twelve months the 
 cow, with the hoy on its back, suddenly leaped into the sea, and 
 was inunediately changed into a rock ; the child, however, hy this 
 time cleansed from the stain and disgrace of his birth, was un- 
 injm-ed, and finally rose to great eminence. 
 
 In souterrains, in the large interior chambei's of earns, 
 and around the sites of primiti\(' churches, rude shallow stone 
 basins may be often obscrvecl. Wliethei' the hollows were 
 used for containing the ashes of the dead — for instances are on 
 record in which ashes and calcined bones have been found in 
 them when first discovered— for holding Avater, or some other 
 offering to the manes of the departed is not clear; but one thing 
 is certain, whatever their original use may have been, they, in 
 many cases, were sanctified to the new religion, and utilized by 
 the early missionaries, probably as baptismal fonts.
 
 DRUIDICAL PURIFICATION BY WATER. 283 
 
 Not far from Dungiven, county Derry, there is a holy well 
 much frequented, and the stone round which the penitents used 
 to go after performing the ceremonies at the well, is in the river. 
 Near Claudy, in the same county, there is a pool in the stream 
 below Kilgort Bridge, called Turish Lyn. Many country people 
 yet believe that innnersion in the water is a cure for all manner 
 of diseases. On May eve the devotees bathe in the pool, and the 
 offerings tied to the bush overhanging the "lyn," vary from a 
 piece of cloth to a lock of hair. Sometimes small white stones, 
 picked up from the pool, are deposited on the bank. 
 
 In the townland of Drumlighan, parish of Decies-without- 
 Drum, county Waterford, a rudely formed fence marks the 
 area of an ancient pagan burial ground. There is no tradition 
 of any interments having taken place in it within living memory ; 
 but though devoid of Christian relics or associations, the enclosure 
 is carefully preserved and guarded with superstitious veneration. 
 Close to the fence, on the north side of the old grave yard, there 
 lies a Hat stone, its surface level with the green sward. In this 
 stone there is an artificial cavity, about six inches in diameter, 
 and six inches deep, usually filled with w^ater, and containing a 
 quantity of votive oflerings in the shape of buttons, pebbles, 
 pins, needles, and berries dropped into it by persons frequenting 
 the place ; for sufferers come from a considerable distance, and 
 use the water as a cure for- various skin diseases, especially for 
 polypi and Avarts. The peasantry affirm that this cavity, or 
 "well," as they style this hollowed stone, is never without water 
 in the driest summer, and that it never freezes during the hardest 
 winter. 
 
 This idea of the curative property of water contained in a 
 depression in a rock, has been so amplified, by current super- 
 stition, that if a peasant sees a little water retained in the hollow 
 of any curiously formed stone, he will, if so afflicted, wash the 
 wart or polypus in it three times, and it will, he believes, 
 gradually dwindle away. 
 
 The celebration of the old ceremony, performed by the 
 Mayor of Cork, who takes possession of the Lee by the act of 
 throwing a dart into the sea near the river's mouth, probably 
 owes its origin to some ancient water rite practised by the 
 Druids of Pagan Ireland. The marriage which Venice annually 
 celebrated witli the Adriatic is a world-wide known example of a 
 water rite. 
 
 The pagans had thus evidently two rites of purification, 
 the one by fire, the other by water. An important rite of the 
 Druidical priesthood was purification of the postulant; so both 
 elements were enlisted in furtherance of tliat end. Fire was 
 probably the sacred symbol of annihilatory [)urification ; whilst
 
 284 ADVENl OF SI . PATRICK. 
 
 water may have been regai-ded as emblematic of the purification 
 attainable in ordinary and everyday life ; for these old-world 
 wise men were most probably well acquainted with the fact 
 that the ancient history of the globe is written by fire and by 
 Avater, but the life which it supports l)y water alone. The earth 
 they doubtless regarded as the great power that produces all 
 things, from which all life springs, and to which all life returns. 
 In nothing is the idea more noticeable than in the numerous 
 charms and superstitious observances still in use amongst the 
 peasantry with regard to the burying of objects, animate or inani- 
 mate, ill mother earth.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IDEAS REGARDING THE DEAD. 
 
 Pagan Wiiters on the Cannibalism of the Irish — Corroborated by St. Jerome and 
 others — Cannibalism and Human Sacrifices may exist with a high state of 
 civilization — St. Patrick's allusion to Human Sacrifice — Notice in the Dinn- 
 senclius — Cannibalism still prevalent in Polynesia, Australia, and Africa- 
 Belief that the ph3'sical and mental qualities of man were intimately connected 
 with his Food — Eating deceased relatives and adversaries perpetuated the 
 physical and mental virtues of the dead in the tribe — Irish AVakes — A 
 eucharistic Cannibal Feast — Various Superstitions relating to the Dead — The 
 Dead even yet figuratively as well as actually eaten — Ritual and Ceremonies 
 at Wakes — At ancient Burials, as given in Irish mss. — Human Sacrifices in 
 Pagan and in Christian times — Cremation — The Keener — Various Examples 
 of Keens — Plays and Games at Wakes — Pagan Burial Places still used — The 
 Funeral — Barbarities practised in ancient times on the Dead — The counting 
 of Heads, &c. — Funeral feasts — The custom of placing differently-coloured 
 Stones with the Dead — Their probable Significance — Various Modes of 
 Sepulture — Inhumation — Cremation — Irrefutable Evidence of Cannibalism 
 presented by human Osseous Remains. 
 
 "Whatever degree of civilization the ancient Irish had attained 
 before their reception of Christianity," remarks the well-known 
 Irish scholar, O'Donovan, "there is no nation in Europe of 
 which a more barbarous character has been drawn by Pagan 
 writers of the first century. These writers, it has been urged by 
 those who deny the civilization of the Pagan Irish, had no motive 
 for misrepresenting the Pagan inhabitants of lerne or Hibernia ; 
 and it has been inferred that these ante-Christian writers stated 
 what was actually true, or what they believed to be true, although 
 they had never been in Ireland." Previous to the first century a 
 diametrically opposite idea of the civilization of Erin appears to 
 have prevailed among early classic writers (provided always that 
 Ireland be identified with one of the isles of the Hesperides) ; and 
 it is a curious subject for speculation to determine why their 
 opinion of the character of the inhabitants became so suddenly 
 changed. In the first instance did " distance lend enchantment 
 to the view," or, at a later period, did " familiarity breed con- 
 tempt ' ' ? 
 
 Bede writes as follows : — " In course of time, Britain, besides
 
 286 IDEAS REGARJ)rXCr THE DEAD. 
 
 the Britons and Picts, received a third nation, the Scoti, who, 
 issuing from Hibernia under tlie leadership of Reuda, secured for 
 themselves, eitlier by friendship or by the sword, settlements 
 among the Picts, which they still possess." This tenacity of the 
 race in retaining iirm possession of wliat they at any time seized, 
 is exemplified in the modern rather uncomplimentary definition 
 of a Scotsman, as " one who keeps the Hahliatli and everything 
 else he can lay hands on." 
 
 Ireland and the north of Scotland, at this early period, were 
 regarded, as well by their inhabitants as by strangers, as one 
 territory, and the population passed freely from one island to the 
 other at a time when race, not territory, was the great bond of 
 association. Hence it came that deeds and memories of a great 
 warrior race belong equally to both countries ; each had its songs 
 and its legends about the self-same heroes, each liad its local 
 names taken from the same mythology. 
 
 Thus the designation Scoti, at an early period, means Ii'ish- 
 men, and on this subject some curious mistakes have been made. 
 Dempster, when writing his ^hni>h>ijium S(otrt(iri(iii Scotoniin, 
 took for granted that Scotia meant Scotland, and he transferred 
 to Caledonia the greater part of that noble army of confessors of 
 whom Erin is justly proud. For this theft Dempster was nick- 
 named IhKjidJdeptcs, or the " Saint-stealer," That the name 
 Scotia was originally applied to Ireland, and that the Irish were 
 styled Scoti, or Scots, is a fact so well known as to need no 
 more proof than a mere reference to Bede's writings. Adamnan, 
 also, in his life of St. Columbkille, uses the terms Hibernia and 
 Scotia synonymously. The saint ordered one of his monks to go 
 "on a commission to Scotia," and informed his messenger that 
 when " you arrive in Hibernia you shall find a man coming to 
 meet you, from a distance, who will be the first to seize the prow 
 of your ship in Scotia ; he will accompany you in your journey, 
 tor some time in Hiljernia." 
 
 Swift thus alludes to the same subject in poetic numbers : — 
 
 •• I'rom tliie. with pride, the Caledonians trace 
 'I'liL' glorious founder of their kingly race. 
 J Tiiy inaitial sons, whom now they dare despise, 
 
 Did once tlieir land snhdue and civilize. 
 Their dress, their language, and their Scottish name 
 (.'onfess the soil from whence the victors came. 
 Well may they hoast that ancient blood that runs 
 AVithin their veins, who are the younger sons." 
 
 1 ' The accounts given by the Pagan writers, Diodorus,''' Strabo,t 
 
 *■' <pa(T\ Tivas av6pJ>Trovs eadieiv SiffTrep Kol TUf ht>eTTavcx>v roi/s KaroiKOVvras 
 rijv uvoixa^otxivi]v'lptv ((ju. 'Upvyiv). — -(DlODOltUs, v. '.VI). 
 
 t irepi i\s (sc. ''lipVTii) ohZtv ex^'M*'' \«7«"' (Ta.(pi'> ir\yjv utl aypiwrepoi rwv 
 BpiTTavuiV vndpxovcriv ol KaToucuvures avrriv, a.vdpuiro'pdyoi re uvTiS Kal no\v-
 
 THE CANNIBALISM OF THE IRISH. 287 
 
 Pompoiiius Mela/'' and Solinus,f of the alleged cannibalism of 
 the Irish, or Scoti, of their day, are corroborated by St. Jerome, 
 who lived from about a.d. 329 to 420. The passage occurs in a 
 controversial book which was written by him. Home writers, 
 shocked at the narrative, try to evade its force by observing that 
 €a?sar, and other standard authorities, make no similar state- 
 ments ; but, if Jerome's assertion is false, we might fairly expect to 
 find it contradicted at the time, especially as the Scots are alleged, 
 by their later historians, to have possessed literature much in ad- 
 vance of the age, and many able writers. Dr. O'Connor, in his 
 Frolofioiiwna, goes so far as to assert that this Father of the Church 
 is, in the case in question, not worthy of belief, as " he was a man 
 of very fervid temper, even at an advanced age, for he asserts 
 that he was flogged by an angel because he had read Cicero." 
 That he may be accepted, with certain reservations, it may be 
 presumed, as a theologian but not as a historiographer. Classic 
 Avriters are vituperated for reciting such tales ; but Keating, the 
 " father of apocryphal Irish history," who recounts a revolting 
 story of a young girl being reared upon human flesh, is allowed 
 to escape criticism. 
 
 In the fourth century the principal food of the Irish seems to 
 have been " stirabout"; and St. Jerome apparently had as great 
 a,bhorrence of stirabout as of heresy, for, when writing against two 
 theological opponents, he describes the one as " over-fatted with 
 Scottish stirabout, and the other a huge and corpulent dog — one 
 better qualified to argue with kicks than words — for he derives 
 his origin from the Scotic nation in the neighbourhood of 
 Britain." The saint seems not to love the Scots {i.e. Irish), and 
 in his eyes the eating of stirabout is on a par with the eating of 
 human flesh, which he describes in emphatic words : — " What 
 shall I say of other nations, when I myself, when a youth in 
 Gaul, saw the Scoti (or Atticotti), a race of Britons, eating human 
 flesh ; and, although in the forests they have herds of SAvine and 
 herds of cattle, they are accustomed /;aito^'»;/i nates ct fcDnnarum, 
 et iiii/iilhis ((liscinili'rc, etean solas cihoriun. (Iclicias arJtitr<(ri 7 "I 
 
 (payoi, Tovs Te TTarepas Ti\evTr](TavTas KareaQiiiv 4v KaKqS ride/jLevoi Kal (pavepws 
 /jLiayeadai rais re aWaii yvvai^l ical fxrirpdcri koI aSeAtpals. But he adds : Kal 
 Tavra 5' outw Keyofxiv w% ovic exovres a^ioiriaTovs fidprupas. — (Strako, iv. 
 201, -1). 
 
 * iii. 8. Cullorcs ejus inconditi sunt, et omnium viitutum ignari, pietatis 
 admodum expeitcs. 
 
 t XXXV. Hibcrnia ei (sc. Britanuiac) proxiniat iiiaf;nitudin(; : iuliuinana est 
 rilu incolaiuiu aspero, alias ita pabulosa, ut pecuaria ibi niisi iuterdtiiu aestate 
 jiastiliusarccantur, in poiiculuiu agat satietas. lUi nullus aiiguis, avis lani, gens 
 in]io.-|iila et bellieosa : sanguine interoiiiptorum hausto prius, victores vultus suo.s 
 oldinunt. Fas atijue nei'as eodcin anirno ducunt. 
 
 X AdversuK lorhiifininii, ii. 7 (= ii. 33.0, Migiie). (riiiid Iii([iiar d(! eeteiis nationi-
 
 288 IDEAS REG ARDINCr THE DEAD. 
 
 \\ . K. Sullivan, in his introduction to O'Curry's Mnnncrfi and 
 Cnstunis of the J^icioit liinh, states that St. Jerome mentions 
 the Atticotti in connexion with the Scoti, and after quoting the 
 above passage, goes on to say that, " the jn'ctKiY ivhich he- 
 [Jerovw) paints of both iraK renj nnfaraurablc, and IkohhI rather on 
 prejudice than accurate information." St. Jerome, however, speaks 
 very gravely of what he had himself seen : we might, with all 
 due deference doubt of what lie had heard others say; hut to 
 doubt of what ho states lie liimself had boon oyo-witness is 
 throwing great disci'odit on a groat Fatlior of the Catholic Church. 
 Two more of Jerome's descriptions of the " manners and cus- 
 toms " of the Scoti may be cited :■ — •" Scotorum natio uxores 
 proprias non habet, et quasi Platonis politiam legerit et Catonis 
 sectetur exemplum, nulla apud eos conjux propria est sed ut 
 cuique libitum fuerit, pecudum more lasciviunt,'"'' and again, 
 " Scotorum et Atticotorum ritu ac de Republica Platonis pro- 
 miscuas uxores communes liberos habeant."! 
 
 We have the account of the conduct of Permot. King of 
 Leinster, illustrating the ferocity, if not the actual cannibalism, 
 of an Irish chief, but some seven centuries ago, A trophy of two 
 hundred human heads was erected before this savage, who, 
 on examining the pile, recognised the head of one of his most 
 detested enemies, ar.d in a paroxysm of unrestrained fury at the 
 sight he seized it by the ears with his hands and tore off the nose 
 with his teeth. 
 
 " Champion, who was in Ireland in the year 1567," remarks. 
 'Donovan, " and who was not a rabid calumniator of the Irish 
 people, like Hanmer, and even Spenser, believes that the Pagan 
 Irish used to eat human flesh." 
 
 Thus, regarded from one point of view, the ancient Scoti, or 
 Irish, were possessed of few virtues, and from the other point of 
 view were innocent of crime ; yet, when the past is examined, 
 •\\atliout regard to legendary tales or poetic fiction, we find them, 
 even in their most polished periods, advanced only to an im]ier- 
 fect civilization. If passages from classical authorities, refer- 
 ring to the ancient Irish, be compared with statements made by 
 modern travellers with regard to the various customs at present 
 prevalent amongst savage tribes, they will be found to bear a 
 great family likeness, and in trying to form a picture of human 
 life, in ages when there were no written records, we ought care- 
 fully to utilise the analogies presented by modern savage customs. 
 
 bus, cum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia videiim Scotos (al. Atticottos), gentem 
 Britannicant, hiimanis vesci carnibiis? Et oiim per silvas porconini greges et 
 arnieutoniiii pocudiinuiue rcperiu'nt, pastonim nates et feminarum, et pajnllas 
 solcre absciudere, et eas solas eiboruin delicias aibitraii ? 
 
 * Adversus lovinimmm. t Episf. tnl Oceanian.
 
 THE CAXXIBAL/SM OF THE IRISH. ^Si^ 
 
 Viewed thus, we find many of tlieni no longer inexplicable, for 
 we often succeed in discovering their parentage in ancient 
 thought. The passages in classic writers bearing on cannibalism 
 in Ireland, have been very bitterly assailed, but it does not improve 
 the position to turn to questions of textual criticism or to the 
 credibility attachable to each Avriter. These objections can be 
 simply met by the statement that the early recorded evidences of 
 savage practices amongst the ancient inhabitants of Ireland do 
 not chronicle any customs but that are to be paralleled among 
 savage nations nowadays. It is impossible, also, to believe that 
 human ingenuity could be charged Avith the invention, by different 
 authors at different times, of customs which have their analogies 
 in actual life at the present time. 
 
 Herodotus, when describing the habits of the Massageta?, 
 states that as soon as any one amongst them ^' becomes infirm 
 through age, his assembled relations put him to death, boiling 
 along with his body the flesh of sheep and other animals, upon 
 which they feast, esteeming universally this mode of death the 
 happiest. Of those who die from any disease they never eat ; 
 they bury them in the earth and esteem their fate a matter to be 
 lamented, because they have not lived to be sacrificed." 
 
 In Greece, at the festival of the Omophagia, in honour of 
 " Bacchus carnivorous," it is stated that, in early days, human 
 victims were immolated ; in later times, the sacrifice was com- 
 memorated by the priests alone being compelled to eat raw 
 animal meat. " These bloody Omophagic feasts were celebrated 
 every three years, and took place chiefly in Chios and Tenedos ; 
 from the raw flesh eaten at them, Dionysos obtained his names of 
 w/xv/o-T^s and w/xaSios. Toward the end of the third century 
 before Christ, these rites had invaded Italy ; in b.c. 186, a young- 
 Roman having been cautioned not to attend them, by a freed 
 slave who had been initiated into the mysteries, and who knew 
 that it was the intention of the priests to sacrifice him, commu- 
 nicated with the magistrates, and the horrors of the Bacchanalian 
 rites were exposed. Then the Senate issued its famous edict, 
 * De Bacchanalibus,' which banished the mysteries from Rome 
 and Italy. ' The Romans cannot be sufficiently thankful,' wrote 
 Pliny, ' that they put away these monstrosities, in which it was 
 regarded as an act of the highest religion to kill a man, and as a 
 most salutary act to eat him.' This eating of human flesh was 
 commuted afterwards to the devouring of tlie raw flesh of a ram 
 or ox ; and Arnobius describes the Bacchanalians of his day, 
 Avho thought they received the fuhiess of God's majesty when 
 they tore and ate struggling rams, with mouths that dripped 
 with blood. Firmicius ^hvternus alludes to the same custom 
 as pi'oviiiling in Crete, wlici'c. be says, in connncmortition of the 
 
 u
 
 290 IDEAS REGARDING THE DEAD. 
 
 boy Dionysos, they tear in pieces with their teeth, once in three 
 years, a hving ox. But this communion, united to a com- 
 memorative sacrifice, was not peculiar to the Bacchic rites, hut 
 prevailed in all, or nearly all, the sacrificial rites of the Greeks. 
 Consecjuently, St. Paul exhorted his converts to avoid these com- 
 munions of the heathen." 
 
 Thus human sacrifices and cannibalism have co-existed with 
 a comparatively high state of civihzation ; numerous other 
 instances could be mentioned — the Aztecs, in America, and the 
 lately discovered early race of ancient Egypt will suffice. Instead 
 of being embalmed, laid out straight, and placed in sarcophagi 
 in tombs, the dead of thi.-; strange Egyptian people were buried 
 in grave pits in their clothing, lying on tha left side, facing the 
 west, with the head to the soutli : the knees doubled up almost 
 to the chin ; the limbs frequently severed ; the head usually cut 
 off,='= and placed on a sort of pedestal. There were signs, not only 
 that the bodies were cut up before being buried, but that they 
 were sometimes partly eaten, and the marrow sucked from the 
 bones, probably as a solemn rite, by which the virtues of the 
 deceased might be transmitted to those eating him. Even more 
 recently the ghastly discovery has been made, that so late in the 
 career of the Egyptian nation as when the civilization of the 
 eighteenth dynasty had impressed itself upon the people, human 
 sacrifice was practised, and that not amongst the less cultured 
 part of the community, but by the royal family itself. 
 
 People who sacrificed human beings, ate the flesh and drank 
 the blood of their enemies, devoured their deceased relatives, and 
 indulged in such like orgies, did so in obedience to the then fixed 
 rules of society, which governed their religious life, and made 
 all these, to us, horrible observances appear strictly right and 
 proper in their eyes. 
 
 Ideas and practices of races in a very low state of culture are 
 likely to present a faithful picture of the earliest races of mankind. 
 "When investigating the sites of S^viss lake-dwellings, the anthro- 
 pologist turns for parallels to Borneo and to Africa ; and, when 
 investigating the alleged cannibalism of the primitive inhabitants 
 of Erin, we necessarily turn to tlio most uncultured savage races 
 at present in existence. 
 
 A passage from a poem in the " Dinnsenchus," on the Fair 
 of Tailte, appears to refer to an alleged prohibition by St. Patrick 
 of human sacrifice : — 
 
 " The three forbidden bloods — 
 
 Patrick preached therein {I.e. the fair), 
 
 Yoke oxen, and slaying milch cows. 
 
 Also by him (against the) burning of the first born." 
 
 * See page 335.
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 291 
 
 It is but right to state that some writers allege that the 
 expression, " burning of the first born," refers to the sacrifice of 
 cattle and not to that of children. 
 
 In Dr. Whitley Stokes' translation of the " Dinnsenclius," 
 there are passages which refer to human sacrifices to idols. " 'Tis 
 there ( Magh Slecht in the county Cavan) was the king-idol of 
 Erin, namely the Crom Croicli, and around him twelve idols 
 made of stone ; but he was of gold. Until Patrick's advent, he 
 was the god of every folk that colonised Ireland. To him they 
 used to oflt'er the firstlings of every issue, and the chief scions of 
 every class." In the poetical version of this same account the 
 object of the worship of this idol is thus described : — " Milk and 
 corn they used to ask of him urgently ; for a third of their 
 ofi'spring. Great was its horror and its wailing." It appears 
 evident from this, according to Irish mss., that at one period at 
 least in ancient Erin the gods were propitiated by human sacri- 
 fices — and we have Pliny's expressed opinion that " the dift'erence 
 is but small between sacrificing human beings and eating them." 
 
 Among cannibals the ottering of human flesh to the dead is 
 inevitable. Human sacrifices at graves had originally the purpose 
 of supplying human flesh for the support of the spirit of the 
 deceased. 
 
 Canon Greenwell, who explored numerous barrows of the 
 Stone Age — particularly in the North of England — is of opinion 
 that many of the human remains which they enclose exhibited 
 indications of cannibalism having been practised ; whilst another 
 specialist sees no difficulty in acceding to the conclusions thus 
 arrived at. Thus we may, without being guilty of calumniating 
 the dead, pronounce our ancestors of the Stone Age, if not even 
 those of later dates, to have been savages. We cannot possibly 
 reform our forefathers, we must depict them as they lived. If 
 we represent them otherwise than they really Avere, we write 
 fallacious history, pleasant reading for to-day, to be demonstrated 
 false on the morrow. The accusation of cannibalism, it must 
 be emphatically stated, relates not alone to the Irish, but to all 
 the ancient people of the British Isles, though, at the time of 
 the Roman conquest of England, its inhabitants appear to have 
 already passed beyond the stage in which they eat their dead. 
 
 The food of primitive man for a long period, in one stage of his 
 existence, was in all probability wholly, or almost Avholly, animal, 
 and the practice of an almost universal cannibalism is placed ap- 
 parently beyond a doubt. Now it is well to state distinctly, that 
 for the purpose of this investigation, (hn-umentanj eridince — though 
 classical evidence appears irrefutable — /.s- cotDparativcJy Utiiiuitcrinl ; 
 it is on the evidence the ancient inhabitants have themselves 
 left, on the witness presented by osseous and other remains that 
 
 u2
 
 292 IDEAS REGARDING I HE DEAD. 
 
 we must rely ; for it is clear that the first Christian compilers, or 
 redactors, of the Irish records, -would, as far as possihle, erase 
 from them all references to a former state of cannibalism. On 
 the advent of the early missionaries the custom would probably 
 be repudiated even by those addicted to it, whilst, unknown to 
 the first pioneers, it may have secretly continued to exist for 
 many years after the introduction of Christianity. 
 
 Until lately it was even denied by missionaries that caiaii- 
 balism existed on the Congo, although the custom is practically 
 universal ; the natives fully understand that it is not approved 
 of by the white man, and a ludicrous instance which illustrates, 
 in this connexion, the working of the uneducated conscience, is 
 given by a medical ofHcer of the Congo Free State. On asking- 
 some negroes, on the Lulanga, whether it was conunon for them 
 to eat human flesh, they replied, with feigned horror — " Oh ! no, 
 white man, we never do so ; but up the river, where you will be 
 travelling to-morrow, the people are very bad, for they do it 
 there." The doctor subsequently made inquiries from the up- 
 river people, of whom he had heard such atrocities. He asked, 
 " Do you eat one another up here ?" They indignantly replied, 
 " No, no ! white man ; but the people down-river, from whom 
 you have come, are very bad, they do such things." 
 
 The real fact was, that both tribes were cannibals. 
 
 Other races do not, however, attempt in the slightest de- 
 gree to conceal their predilection for human flesh. A vivacious 
 French writer recounts that, in the year 1725, some North 
 American Indians were brought from the banks of the Mississippi 
 to the Court of the King of France. A squaw, of whom he 
 inquired if she had eaten human flesh, replied in the affirmative. 
 The Frenchman appeared so astonished and shocked that the 
 lady excused herself by explaining that " it was better to 
 eat one's dead enemy than leave him to be devoured by wild 
 beasts." 
 
 A missionary who sought to abolish this custom among a 
 certain tribe, was met by the inquiry — " \Yould you have the 
 dead eaten by the worms?" 
 
 The Fangwes are cannibals of the most [)i-onounced type, and 
 are one of the many Afric;in tribes who eat their own dead. 
 Miss Kingsley, who travelled in the Cameroonsin the year iS95, 
 did not discover a single burial-place in the Fangwee country ; 
 but found in most of the huts junks of human flesh hung up, 
 just as at home we keep meat in our larders. 
 
 Captain S. L. Hinde who for many years lived and travelled 
 in the vast region of Equatorial Africa, states that nearly all the 
 tribes in the Congo basin either are, or have been, cannibals. 
 Since the advent of Europeans there have been greater facilities
 
 EA2ING THE DEAD. 293 
 
 for intei'-communication, tind tribes that were not originally 
 cannibals have learnt to eat human flesh, whilst cannibalism in 
 other tribes is on the wane. Captain Hinde further remarked 
 that on the night after a battle, or the storming of a village, 
 " these human wolves disposed of all the dead, and thus saved 
 us, no doubt, from many an epidemic." He could not buy 
 " meat in the markets, it being impossible to be sure that it was 
 not human flesh." 
 
 The practice of eating the dead, Avhether captives in war or 
 deceased relatives, is so prevalent, and modern travellers give so 
 many instances, that only two more typical cases need be cited, 
 one in Africa, brought into such notoriety by Stanley, the other 
 a description of a funeral feast amongst the aborigines in Queens- 
 land, Australia, in the year 1870. In the latter case, a native 
 having died, a funeral procession was formed, and the body was 
 most scientifically skinned, dissevered, and the flesh removed 
 from the bones, before a large fire. After a short absence from 
 the scene, the spectator found upon his unexpected return great 
 lumps of meat roasting on this fire, and, he significantly adds, 
 that the natives " abstain from kangaroo for several weeks after 
 a death." 
 
 It may appear strange that a creature apparently so insigni- 
 cant as the hare should have been looked on in ancient times as 
 sacred ; but such appears to have been the case, at any rate in 
 the British Isles ; for we have the authority of Caesar that, at 
 the time of his invasion of Albion, the hare was "tabooed." 
 The Roman gourmands esteemed the animal more highly 
 than we do ; and we find Horace praising it highly. Even 
 at the present day there is, in some localities in Ireland, a 
 prejudice against eating hares, lest they should turn out to be 
 witches, and a great shriek should be heard Avhen the hare was 
 being killed. 
 
 We know that various animals were sacramentally eaten and 
 others forbidden to be eaten in certain heathen and Jewish 
 rituals. The rules as to the eating and not eating of certain 
 kinds of flesh were directly connected with ancient superstitions, 
 which in the last resort must have arisen out of ideas closely 
 analogous to the totemism of modern savages. Most primitive 
 peoples have ndes forbidding the use of certain kinds of food, out 
 of religious scruple, or, on the other hand, the;y never eat certain 
 kinds of flesh except as a solemn act of worship. "An animal that 
 may not be eaten, or that may be eaten only in solemn sacra- 
 ment, is primarily a holy animal, and is often an object of wor- 
 ship, for in primitive religions the ideas holy and unclean meet. 
 Similar prohibitions have been enforced in Christian times on 
 converts from heathenism, in order to cut them off from
 
 294 IDEAS REGARD fXC TIf/-: DEAD. 
 
 participation in idolatrous feasts. Thus Simeon Stylites forbade 
 his Saracen converts to eat the flesh of the camel, wliich was the 
 chief element in the sacrificial meal of the Arabs, and our own 
 prejudice against the use of horse flesh is a relic of an old 
 ecclesiastical prohibition framed at the time when eating of such 
 food was an act of worship to Odin." 
 
 By way of guarding against the possibility of profanation the 
 Pharisees enacted that the touch of anything sacml defiled the 
 hands, while the Sadducees on tlic other hand ridiculed the idea 
 that the roll of the law dehled the hands, but not such a book as 
 Homer, tind taunted their opponents with their many lustrations, 
 or with Avhat, in modern phraseology, we should designate their 
 numerous "tabooes." 
 
 In ancient days it was a belief that the physical, mental, and 
 moral qualities of man were intimately connected with his food, 
 and it is still a very prevalent idea amongst tribes in a rude state 
 that the flesh of certain animals imparts to some extent the 
 characteristics of the animals eaten, the flesh of the fiercer beasts 
 of prey imparts courage, that of the stag speed, that of the dove 
 gentleness, that of the hare timidity, for which reason, perhaps, 
 the ancient Irish did not eat the hare. This train of thought 
 may have tempted the aborigines of Erin to eat their deceased 
 relatives, so that the warlike or other virtues of the dead might 
 be perpetuated in the family or tribe. In former days the heads 
 of Maori chiefs slain in battle were usually preserved by the 
 conqueror, so that we have, not only many beautiful specimens 
 of tattooing, but also the record of the very curious fact that the 
 eyes are generally missing, for the vanquisher generally scooped 
 out and swallowed the eyes of his foe, and thought that " he had 
 obtained the spirit and power of the slain, and Avas raised above 
 his fellows, becoming — if he swallowed enough eyes — a god, 
 even upon earth, and after death a heavenly luminary of the first 
 nifignitude." 
 
 When the motives which regulate still existing cannibalism 
 are collected and tabulated, it is found that, in more than half 
 the tribes, mental motives now prevail, whilst in the remainder 
 the physical motives of hunger or pleasure even still predominate. 
 W. N. riinders-Petrie has roughly tabulated the ideas at root of 
 present day customs amongst savage tribes thus : — 
 
 Honour, kindness, future good, love. 
 To otitain strength, or magic results, 
 As a ceremony, or to acquire position, 
 As a punisliment, .... 
 
 From hunger or need of food, 
 From preference as food. 
 
 Total, . 100 
 
 20 per cent. 
 
 \ 
 
 19 ,. 
 10 ,, 
 
 I" 
 
 18 ,, 
 2S ,, 
 
 }«
 
 IRISH JVAKES. 295 
 
 Thus we see that amongst the rudest people cannibalism is 
 now generally considered a religious or semi-religious act, on the 
 supposition that with the flesh the eater assimilates the spirit or 
 some spiritual constituent of the victim. 
 
 The custom still surviving in Irish wakes of the entire 
 assembly partaking of food, drink, salt, tobacco, or snuff, in the 
 presence of the dead, is but an attenuated form of the older 
 practice of consuming such things after they had been placed 
 upon, or near the corpse or coffin. This in turn seems to imply 
 that the recipients should have transmitted to them some of the 
 qualities of the dead man, so that we have, in the modern usage, 
 a fragmentary relic of the savage feast where the real body of the 
 deceased Avas consumed, for it is evident that this rite has not the 
 remotest affinity to that in which the " Sin-Eater " figures in 
 connexion with funeral observances in Great Britain. There 
 the " Sin-Eater " is generally a needy individual, though some- 
 times a " professional," hired to eat food laid on the chest of the 
 corpse. He is supposed thereby to release the dead person from 
 his sins, and, by his act, to take them upon himself. 
 
 Irish "Historians" are quite ready to believe anything 
 Avhich redounds to the glory of their country, but wiien the 
 authority, which before was praised for truthfulness, proceeds to 
 paint the other side of the picture, words fail to depict their 
 righteous indignation. Cambrensis relate? that when Irish chiefs 
 who had been at variance desired to befriends "they used the 
 custom of kissing the relics of the saints in the presence of a 
 bishop as a solemn testimony of their reconcilliation." That 
 was quite worthy of belief, but, according to Keating, wliat 
 follows, although the mere incorporation of a pagan (and proliably 
 funeral rite) into Christian usage " is monstroiis and incredible, 
 i.e., that they took a draught of each other's blood.' 
 
 In the Vellotr Book of Lccan St. Cairnech, in concluding 
 a treaty of amity between two opposing parties, mixed their 
 blood in one vessel, and with it wrote the purport of the treaty. 
 
 The hand of a dead person was regarded as a certain cure for 
 most diseases, hence the sick were often brought to the house in 
 which a corpse was lying, that the hand of the dead might be 
 laid on them. Bodies were often disinterred for the purpose of 
 cutting oft* the left hand, for many strange spells are effected by 
 its means. The best hand for the purpose is that of an un- 
 baptized infant. If a candle is placed in a dead man's hand 
 neither wind nor water can extinguish it ; if it is thus placed in 
 a house at niglit no earthly power will wake the inmates so long 
 as the dead hand grasps the candle. 
 
 The following curious superstition is recounted by a French- 
 man in the year 1705, in Smiroiiers dc Mrs ]'o>/(((/cs en
 
 2Ua IDEA S REGARDIXG THI-: DF. I /). 
 
 AnyU'tcrn'. Describing an execution at Newgate, he says: — 
 " My horror was intensified by seeing many men and women 
 carried to the scaftbld in order to have applied to them for tlie 
 cure of various diseases the still thi'nl)l)ing hand of the just 
 executed criminal." 
 
 There is a superstition of an extraordinary character prevalent 
 in many districts of Ireland that to dip the left hand of a corpse 
 in milk, and stir it, has the effect of making the milk produce 
 cream in increased quantity and of richer and better quality. At 
 Oran, in the county Roscommon, the corpse of a child was dis- 
 interred, its arms cut off and employed in some mystic rites, the 
 nature of which is unfortunately not stated. 
 
 In many localities throughout Ireland mould taken from the 
 reputed grave of a " saint," if mixed with water or boiled in 
 milk, and swallowed by the recipient, is considered to be an in- 
 fallible remedy for certain maladies. 
 
 The Rev. Nicholas Sheehy, P.P., of Sluiuraher, executed for 
 treason in the year 17GG, lies l)uried in the little churchyard 
 of Cloglieen. T. Crofton Croker, who visited the place in 182H, 
 recounts that a " hole is left in the side of the tomb to enable the 
 peasantry to procure earth from the grave, and it is still visited 
 for that purpose by the superstitious, who drink this earth in 
 water, as a charm for various diseases. People have been known 
 to come from Belfast and from beyond Dublin to obtain some of 
 the earth." 
 
 In tlie churchyard of Do\vn[);Ltrick Cathedral is shown the 
 alleged grave of Baint Patrick. Only a depression marked the 
 spot, as the earth was constantly removed and carried ofT to all 
 parts of the country for its supposed healing powers and other 
 virtues. The demand for the earth was at one time sufti:;ient to 
 remove the entire grave many times over, and would have done 
 so were it not that fresh earth was constantly thrown on it (see 
 (intc, pp. 2(58-1, fig. 81). A similar demand and renewed supply 
 existed at Banaghcr, county Down, and at St. Declan's grave at 
 Ardmore, county Cork. 
 
 A cure for toothache is to drink water from a human skull, or 
 to swallow a small quantity of clay from a priest's grave. Burton, 
 in his Anato))!!/ nf MclfOic/iol;/, mentions the use of a plaster 
 of spiders — the web being useful for stopping the flow of blood — 
 together with moss from a dead man's skull brought from Ireland. 
 An Inishkea fisherman states that on the island it is believed that 
 toothache may he completely removed, and will never return, if 
 the tooth be rubbed with a dead man's finger. 
 
 There is a traditional story, recounted in the parish of Clon- 
 many, county Donegal, " that the earth of a little hillock [tcm^io 
 desk) on the right of the road leading from the chapel to the
 
 SU PKRSTir J OXS RELATING TO THE DEAD. 297 
 
 fhuix'h " formerly possessed miraculous power until the earth was 
 veiided when its curative properties ceased. " Still, however, 
 they (the parishioners) carry all their dead around it, as heing an 
 ancient custom." This hillock appears to have been an old pagan 
 sepulchral mound. 
 
 Several cases of the use of " the spancel " {i.e. ligature), a love 
 charm of most gruesome character, the power of which is believed 
 to be irresistible, came under the observation of the Rev. Ctesar 
 Ottway. One notable instance, that of three young girls detected 
 in the very act of flaying a corpse, is given in full in his Krrh and 
 Tyraicleif: "The spancel" called in Irish, sthcioul dhrum agiis 
 thurragh, consists of a continuous band of human skin, stripped 
 from a corpse in the following manner, viz., " from the side of 
 one foot, up the outside of that leg and side, over the head and 
 down the other side, to the sole of the other foot, up the inside of 
 that leg and down the inside of the other, until the strip meets 
 where it first set out." In order to secure the affection of the 
 man, the only thing necessary is for the girl to tie the spancel 
 round him when asleep. If he does not awake during the 
 operation the charm will work, if he is aroused he will die 
 within twelve months ; thus the victim has no chance of 
 escape. 
 
 In the curious account of the Irish given in Camden's History, 
 some charm of the natives of the nature of the foregoing is 
 evidently referred to where it is stated that the odalisques and 
 "cast-oft" wives" of the chiefs resorted to witches, who were 
 believed by them to be able either to procure the return of their 
 husband's aft'ection for them, or to be able to aftlict their cruel 
 masters with personal, or other calamities. A small portion of a 
 human skull is also regarded as a specific. 
 
 Grose mentions that, in the graveyard of Clonthuskert, 
 county Roscommon, a skull was shown "in which milk was 
 boiled and given to a man afflicted with epilepsy." A well-known 
 cure for this disorder is to take nine pieces from the cranium of 
 a dead man, grind them quite fine and dissolve them in a decoc- 
 tion of wall-rue. The patient must swallow a prescribed portion 
 of the mixture every morning fasting, until the whole is drunk, 
 for if any be left the late owner of the skull will return to look 
 after the unswallowed portion. 
 
 The skull of the poet Carolan was thus utilized by the 
 peasantry. Small fragments broken oft' were ground fine, put 
 in water and swallowed as a cure. 
 
 Epilepsy and kindred diseases were regarded by the peasantry 
 as spiritual disorders, the work of demons, and the remedies 
 recommended are highly suggestive, consisting as they do some- 
 times of fragments of the human skull, pierced and worn as
 
 29S TDEyiS REGARDTXd TTTF. J^F.AD. 
 
 amulets round the nock, sonietinies of the aslics of a skull applied 
 as a plaster on the crown of the afflicted person's head, hut more 
 often, as already mentioned, t^round and administered internally. 
 In the Middle Ages the suhstanee of the human skull was 
 used hy regular practitioners in the treatment of epilepsy. 
 Even in the last century pharmacies contained a hottle lahelled 
 ^).s,s7/ Wnrmiana employed for the treatment of epilepsy. The 
 lambdoidal hone in form resemhles the amulets cut from the 
 human skull, thus showing a Iiu]( hftwccii preventive and mystic 
 medicine. 
 
 flaking oath upon a skull — any skull will do, but a saint's 
 for choice — used to be a very solemn affair. A writer describes 
 one instance which came under his notice. An honest and very 
 fearless woman was accused of theft. She was so indignant at 
 the charge that she procured a skull, carried it to the chapel, and 
 as the congregation came out after mass, she produced the grue- 
 some object and " cleared herself." The greatest weight is 
 attached to this strange oath, as it is believed that if it be 
 violated the spirit, to whom the skull belonged will haunt, not 
 only the [X'ljurcd one, hut the descendants from gener;ition to 
 generation. 
 
 In some localities, bodies when committed to the eai'th, do not 
 decay in the ordinary way, and adipocere in large quantities is 
 often noticed when the ground is opened for fresh interments. 
 Adipocere is a soft, unctuous, or waxy substance, of a light brown 
 colour, into which the fat and muscular fibre of bodies are con- 
 verted by burial in soil of a peculiar nature. In one graveyard 
 in the west of Ireland, the sexton had recently to gather up and 
 carefully secrete this substance, as otherwise it would be carried 
 oft" by people whose relations were afflicted with consumption ; when 
 melted, the adipocere was administered to the invalid as a certain 
 cure for the malady. Here again the real body of the deceased is 
 consumed, as in other instances before notici'd. it is ligui'atively 
 taken. 
 
 Strange ideas coiicorning human, or animal fat, were current 
 in days both ancient and modern. In sacrifices by fire, amongst 
 the Jews and heathen alike, the fat of the victim was specially 
 reserved as the food of the gods ; its use was therefore forbidden 
 to the commonalty, by whom it was considered holy, and if a 
 thing is regarded as holy or tabooed, it possessed, or is thought 
 to possess, for that very reason, certain characteristic qualities. 
 Among many savage races the fat of some animals is supposed to 
 possess healing virtues, and melted in water, is often administered 
 for cures. Dried flesh and fat are used by several African tribes 
 as charms and to effect cures ; grease is the common unguent 
 employed all over Africa ; its use is not merely considered hygienic.
 
 SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO THE DEAD. 2P^i 
 
 but has also a sacred meaning. The use of various kinds of fat, 
 but particularly of human fat as a charm, is common all the 
 world over, and this is because fat, like blood, is regarded as a 
 seat of life, and therefore a means of transmitting the virtues 
 of the being from which it is taken to the being that partakes 
 of it. 
 
 It was considered unlucky to change the clothing of a dying 
 person, and a custom that, in some parts of Ireland, attends the 
 last agonies of dissolution is stranger still. The moribund is 
 lifted oft' the bed and laid on straw on the floor. On the island 
 of Inishmurray, off the coast of Sligo, the straw or mattrass on 
 which the corpse is lying, is carried, with the body, into the 
 burial-ground, inside the enclosure of thecashel or stone fort, and 
 deposited in one of the small pre-Christian recesses, or chambers, 
 in the thickness of the cyclopean walls. 
 
 Not many years ago there were frequently deposited with the 
 corpse a piece of a candle, a coin, and a small quantity of wine 
 or spirits. The candle was to give the deceased light, the money 
 was to pay his fare over the river of death, and the liquor 
 was to sustain him on his journey. Glass bottles of the third 
 and fourth century, found in the Roman catacombs embedded 
 in the mortar of tombs, very probably contained originally a 
 portion of eucharistic wine intended as a viaticum for the 
 departed, that is, as food for his journey into the spirit 
 world. 
 
 When a person lay dying, rush-lights were left burning (the 
 unlighted end embedded in a bowl full of meal) till death 
 occurred. The candles were then extinguished, and the meal 
 given to the first person passing the house. The sheet in which 
 the corpse was wrapped was carefully laid by as a charm for 
 disease, and the pins, used in laying out the dead, were also 
 carefully preserved, as they possess great mystic power. 
 
 Many funeral rites survived the substitution of the burial of 
 the body for cremation : among them the lighting of torches with 
 which the pyre was kindled, was, in after times, replaced by the 
 lighting of candles placed around the corpse. The kindling of 
 torches, or the lighting of candles, represents the ceremony of 
 the ignition of the ancient funeral pyre. 
 
 At the ceremony of an Irish wake, the corpse is stretched on 
 its back, on a table in the middle of the room, dressed in clean 
 white grave-clothes, with five, seven, or even more candles 
 around it, according to the circumstances of the defunct. On 
 the breast of the corpse is placed a plate of tobacco, cut in short 
 lengths, and a plate of snuff. Seats are ranged round the walls, 
 and immediately l)ehind the corpse's head is the place of honour, 
 where sit the chief mourners and most respected guests. It is a
 
 
 V~. ■• .a"..<.'
 
 CEREMONIES AT WAKES. 
 
 801 
 
 common belief that if the corpse does not soon become rigid, but 
 remains flaccid and limber, another death in the family will 
 quickly follow. 
 
 When members of the family of the deceased, or near acquain- 
 tances, enter the room in which the wake is held, they stoop over 
 the body and weep and lament, on which all in the house join in 
 chorus, but when persons who are neither relatives nor acquain- 
 tances come in, they merely kneel, say a short prayer, take a seat 
 and fill their pipes and their glasses (fig. 84). 
 
 In many parts of the country new clay pipes and packets of 
 tobacco are distributed amongst the funeral guests, who sit around 
 and smoke while the grave is being dug. It is believed that it is 
 the duty of the ghost of the last arrival in a churchyard to watch 
 the other graves, and attend upon their occupants ; but the 
 recently made spirit hankers after tobacco, and dearly loves a last 
 smoke, so unused tobacco and unused pipes are not removed from 
 the graveyard ; the guests are, however, at liberty to take away the 
 pipes they themselves have smoked. The pipe has, therefore, 
 strange to narrate, developed into an actual religious symbol. 
 
 Fig. 8o. 
 
 Tobacco Pipes on a Grave in a Churchyard in the West of Ireland. 
 From Wi-Ich's Irish Views. 
 
 "When I was visiting Connemara two or three months ago" 
 (remarks a contributor to The Shrtch, July 28th, 1897), " I found 
 an interesting relic of folklore custom among some of the inhabi- 
 tants. Whenever a man of the village is buried, his friends and 
 neighbours place their pipes on his grave duly filled with tobacco. 
 Not content with this, they renew both pipes and tobacco from 
 time to time. There are at least two churchyards near Leenane, 
 in Galway, where you come across grave after grave decorated with 
 pipes (fig. 85). This nmst of course be a variation of the old prac- 
 tices of placing food and drink in the dead man's coffin; but that a 
 practice such as that, and also keening should survive to the end 
 of the nineteenth century will be a surprise to the matter-of-fact
 
 802 IDEAS RKGARDIXC THE DEAD. 
 
 people on this side of the Irish Cliannel." Pipes and tobacco 
 have been observed on graves in churchyards in the county 
 Sligo. 
 
 Wakes held in the case of a person who has In'eii di'owncd and 
 whose body cannot be found, or wakes held on the arrival of tid- 
 ings of the death of a person residing out of his native country, 
 hold to a ceremony in which the corpse is actually present the 
 same relation that does, in material matters, the cenotaph to the 
 true burial earn. Gerald Griffin has immortalised this custom in 
 his l)allad of " The Wake of the Absent " :— 
 
 " The dismal yew, the cypiiis tull, 
 
 Wave o'er the cliuichyard lone, 
 Where rest our friends and fathers all. 
 
 Beneath tlic funeral stone. 
 Unvexed in holy ground tliey sleep. 
 
 Oh early lost ! o'er tliec 
 Xo sorrowing friend shall ever weep, 
 
 Nor stranger bend the knee, 
 
 Mo Chuma I lorn am I ! 
 Hoarse dashing rolls the salt sea wave, 
 Over our perished darling's grave." 
 
 Although many writers assert that no mention is made in 
 ancient Irish mss. of the ceremony of cremation of the dead 
 amongst the Irish, yet it seems that they have overlooked 
 indirect reference to it. For example, in the Book of Balhjinnte 
 there is an account of the death of Fiachra, brother to Niall of 
 the Nine Hostages. The ms. recounts how " his grave was 
 made, his mound raised, and his cluicJie cainte ignited." 
 Cluichc cainte is explained as " funeral rites, including games and 
 dirges." Now it is plain that a "game" or a '-dirge" could 
 not be ignited, and therefore the term cluicJw cainte must refer 
 to a fire lighted for the purpose, either of consuming the body of 
 the dead chief or of preparing the funeral feast. 
 
 Commenting, however, on this passage, the late K. R. Brash, 
 remarks that he fears it does not give any information on the 
 point at issue. "The word cluiche, signifies games, and refers 
 to hurling, wrestling and mock military combats that were 
 performed at the Aenaclts or annual assemblies ; and also at the 
 obsequies of great chiefs, or warriors ; i'dintedch, signifies fluency 
 of speech, lot^uacity ; we have also Caintee, a song, a canticle ; 
 Cdointe, lamented, bewailed ; and Caointench, sad, sorrowful, 
 mournful, plaintive. The reference here is certainly to the funeral 
 games, and to dirge and laudatory requiems {r((oine], which were 
 recited, or sung, on such occasions. The word ignited, in the 
 original ' hadnad,' is very correctly rendered by Dr. Sullivan, but 
 it also signifies, fervour, zeal, heat, excitement. I conceive that
 
 CEREMONIES A T A NCIENT B URJA L S. 303 
 
 the reference here is to the warmth of feeling and fervour with 
 which the exciting portions of the funeral ceremony was carried 
 out ; the term here appears used in a similar sense as when we say 
 of an orator ' that he fired the enthusiasm of his audience.' " 
 
 In the story of the death of (';■/»/ ^/u/>//? and three other person- 
 ages, as recorded in an Irish manuscript, there occurs a passage 
 Avhich, according to O'Curry, seems to prove not oidy the tradition 
 in historic times of the practice of cremation of the dead in Ireland, 
 hut also that of putting persons to death at funerals. This 
 important passage is as folloAvs : — ^'Vuivhru then brought fifty 
 hostages with him from Munster, and he brought a great cain 
 [i.e. booty levied as legal fine), and he went forth then on his way 
 to Temar. When, however, he reached Fonid in Ui Mac Uais in 
 Meath, Fiachra died of his wounds there. His Ledcht was made, 
 and his 7' V/twas raised, and h.\^Cluichc Catntech was ignited, and 
 his Ogam name was written, and the fifty hostages which he 
 brought from the south were buried alive arou)id the Fert of 
 Fiachra, that it might be a reproach to the Momonians for ever, 
 and that it might be a trophy over them." " The reproach which 
 this act Avas intended to cast on the men of Munster consisted, no 
 doubt, in treating the Munster hostages, who were all of the 
 highest birth, as if they were the dependents and slaves of Fiachra. 
 It may be, also, that putting them to death, in the way here 
 described, and burying them around him, as they would have sat 
 in fetters along the wall of his banqueting hall, consecrated them, 
 as it were to perpetual hostageship even among the dead." Very 
 similar ideas were current in classic antiquity. Achilles sacri- 
 ficed twelve Trojan youths to the manes of Patroclus, together 
 with his favourite horse and hound and a inimber of oxen and 
 sheep. Aeneas sacrificed eight youths to the manes of his friend 
 Pallas, as well as oxen and swine to the manes of those fallen in 
 battle. Archaeologists have long regarded the ceremony, practised 
 at a mounted officer's funeral, of leading his charger in the 
 procession, as a sampler survival from barbaric times, when the 
 Avarrior's horse and trappings, armour and other Aveapons Avere 
 actually buried Avith him, or burnt on his funeral pyre. The 
 modern charger, Avhich accompanies his master's body to the 
 grave, and returns to its stable, represents the horse, which 
 some centuries before, Avould have been offered to the priests at 
 tlie church gate ; and earlier still would have been slaughtered 
 for his master's ghost to ride, in fitting guise, into the Avarrior'? 
 paradise. 
 
 A Avork, entitled Silent Gods ami SiDi-stecprd f.ands, contains 
 a series of remarkable stories, collected by E. W. Frazer, ll.b., 
 when in tlie Indian Civil Service. One based on the Avidespread 
 belief that the security of a building is insured by burying a human
 
 801 IDEAS RECrARDTXG THE DEAD. 
 
 being alive under its foundation, is annotated witli quotations 
 from reliable authorities regarding human sacritice. 
 
 Jephthali's immolation of his daughter (some theologians, to 
 avoid tlie difficulty, state that this was mere devotion and pei'potual 
 virginity), David giving the seven sons of Saul to be sacrificed, 
 Samuel hewing Agag to pieces before Jahveh (theologians have 
 little to say about these examples), appear to leave little doubt 
 but that the Israelites of old, even "when devout worshippera 
 of Jahveh, considered human sacrifices uiuler certain circum- 
 stances to be not (nihj }ii'niiiKsiI)lt' Init hiiiddhlt'." 
 
 In a primitive state of society it seems to have been a general 
 belief that when a building was to be erected something living- 
 must be Itilled, in the blood of which the foundation was laid, 
 and by this process the stability of the fabric was secured. In 
 ballads and traditions the remembrance is still preserved of how 
 human beings, children, and animals were slaughtered for the 
 purpose of upholding large buildings with their blood. A tradi- 
 tion connected with many old Ii-ish castles is that human blood 
 had been mixed with the mortar, which imparts the hardness and 
 tenacity so characteristic of ancient cement. 
 
 It was, it would thus appear, needful to appease the anger of 
 the spirit of the earth for intrusion into its domain, by digging 
 into the ground for the foundations of buildings. To this 
 spirit human blood was considered to be the highest offering that 
 it was possible to make. In India, as we have seen, and many 
 Eastern states, the belief still exists— as well as in Siam, Borneo, 
 Japan, New Zealand, and Fiji. It prevailed over the European 
 continent and the British Isles. There is a well-known legend 
 which relates that Voltigern, advised by the British Druids, 
 sought out a victim to sacrifice at the foundation of his castle. 
 In Scotland the Picts are reputed to have poured human blood on 
 the foundations of their edifices. Attention may be drawn to the 
 well-known legend which relates how Saint Columbkille defeated 
 the machinations of an evil spirit which sought to impede his 
 building operations on the island of lona, by the sacrifice of one of 
 his companions. This story contains very plain evidence indeed 
 of the fact that in early Christian times human sacrifices were 
 still remembered, if not, indeed, practised. After Columbkille* 
 
 *• ColuiiiLldllc was botli a poet anrl a tlicologian, and some of his verses throw 
 a curious sidelight on tlie contciiipoiary state of Ireland. At the close of one 
 Ijoeiu the saint observes that lie loved Erin "all but its government," a good 
 exemplification, even in those remote times, of the general bias of an Irishman's 
 mind, as also of the state of society at the period, and a sentiment intelligible to 
 the meanest comprehension wlien collated with another verse in which he 
 describes " an island in the middle of a lake," that is, a crannog or completely 
 insulated lake dwelling, as the only place in Ireland in whicli life might In; 
 
 deemeil tnleraMx secme.
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 305 
 
 was banished from Ireland, his first attempts to build on lona 
 were rendered vain by the operation of some evil spirit ; the 
 walls fell down as fast as erected, and it was revealed to the saint 
 that they could never stand until a human victim was buried 
 alive beneath the foundation. One account says the lot fell on a 
 companion of the saint named Oran, as the victim required for 
 the success of the xindertaking ; another states that Oran volun- 
 tarily devoted himself, and was accordingly interred alive. At 
 the end of three days Columbkille, wishing to take a farewell look 
 at his old friend, ordered the removal of the earth. Oran there- 
 upon raised his swimming eyes, and, addressing Columbkille, said : 
 " There is no wonder in death, and hell is not as it is reported." 
 The saint, shocked at this disclosure, and the loss to the coffers of 
 the Church which it implied, instantly ordered the earth to be 
 flung in again on Oran, uttering in Irish the words : Earth, earth, 
 on the riwuth of Oran, that he niaij Idah no more, and this saying 
 passed into a proverb. 
 
 The death of a fowl appears to be the last trace of this 
 barbaric custom, but the Wind-God seems to divide the sacrifice 
 with the Earth-God.'' It is the usage on some of the islands off 
 the western coast on St. Patrick's day to sacrifice a black cock in 
 honour of the saint, though no one can tell why it is considered 
 necessary that blood should be spilt. 
 
 So late as the commencement of the nineteenth century, on 
 the 11th of November, the eve of St. Martin, every family in the 
 parish of St. Peter's, Athloue, as well as those in the surrounding- 
 districts, killed a living creature of some kind. Those who were 
 well-to-do, an ox or a sheep, the poorer classes a goose, turkey, 
 or fowl, and they then sprinkled the threshold and the four corners 
 of the house with the blood. 
 
 In Irish biss. there are instances recorded of the punishment, 
 for what were then considered as great crimes, by behig burnt 
 alive in public, and this ancient auto da fe may be regarded as a 
 sacrifice to the deity supposed to be offended. Thus, Eile was 
 burned in a Teine Tiilca, i.e. a " hill-fire; " Murne, daughter of 
 Tadg, druid of Cathair Mor, Avould have been burned by her 
 father, but for dread of the vengeance of Con Cet Chatach. In 
 the case of the three kings of Emania, among the pledges given 
 that they should rule by rotation were seven chiefs who were 
 
 "'•' FisliL'iiiien in llie west of Gah\ay, in oider to obtain a fair wind, buried a fo%\l 
 in the sand on the seashore, turninj;- its head to the point from which the adverse 
 wind blow, and then k>ft the poor bird to perish. On tlie ishind of Inisliglora, 
 a black hen used on some occasions to be buried alive, with its wings spread out, 
 as a propitiatory offering to procure a fail- wind, or some much-desired gift, 
 from the invisible powers. 
 
 X
 
 306 IDEAS RKGARDIXG niJC DEAD. 
 
 liable to be burned if the Iving, lor whom they were security, did 
 not resign at the end of his term of seven years. 
 
 Reference to cremation also occurs in Wasserschleben's />/(■ 
 Irischf K(()i<i)it'ns((iiiiiilii)i(i. The passage runs thus : — " A Sinodus 
 Uibernensis : Basilion graece, rex latine, liuic et basilica, 
 rcgalis, quia in priniis temporibus reges tantum sepeliebantur in 
 eii, nomen sortitia est; nam ceteri homines sive igne, sive acervo 
 lapidum conditi sunt." The place which this passage has found 
 in a collection of Irish canons must be owing to its containing a 
 recognition of the right of interment -within the church. One 
 is tempted to infer that, in the first instance, the chieftain who 
 adopted the new faith desired to be there interred, as had been 
 his ancestors. The second part of the passage seems to denote 
 that cremation continued as one of the forms of burial, up to the 
 introduction of Christianity into Ireland, for after stating that in 
 early times only kings were buried in churches, the reason for 
 this exception is thus given : — " The bodies of the rest of the 
 people were either consumed by fire or buried under a heap of 
 stones," i.e. they were cremated and placed under a cam. 
 
 The capitularies of Charlemagne, of the year 71)0, contain 
 ordinances levelled against burning the bodies of the dead witli 
 pagan rites, and against sacrificing liuman beings and making 
 offerings to demons upon the corpse. Shortly after their con- 
 version to Christianity the Prussians formally renounced pagan 
 rites, such as the burning of the dead or burying them with 
 horses, clothes, and valuables. 
 
 In one of the first accounts of ancient sepulture, which 
 appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, W. 
 P>eauford, a.b., writing in the year 1788, says : — " The Irish long 
 retained an attachment to their ancient customs and pagan 
 superstitions, especially in the modes of interment ; and the 
 custom of burying in consecrated ground was not universal in 
 Ireland in the twelfth century on the arrival of the English, as 
 we find it enjoined in the Council of Cashel, held in 1172, and 
 mentioned by Cambrensis." 
 
 A curious entry occurs in the Annals uf Luch (_'e, at so late a 
 date as 1581. It is as follows: — "Brian Caech O'Coinnegain, 
 an eminent cleric, and keeper of a general house of guests died, 
 and the place of- sepulchre which he selected for himself was, 
 i.e. to be buried at the mound of Baile-an-Tobair." The com- 
 pilers of the Annals try to explain this strange incident of the 
 burial of a cleric in a pagan tumulus by the following remark : — 
 " And we think that it was not through want of religion Brian 
 Caech made this selection, but because he saw not the service of 
 God practised in any church near him at that time." 
 
 A recent writer describing tlie miiiiatui'c rcipublic of St.
 
 CRKMA TIOJV. 307^ 
 
 Marino in Italy says : — " It is a curious fact that till quite lately 
 the Sammariiiesi have had no cemetery, and their manner of 
 disposing of the dead was, to say the least, extraordinary. 
 Except the few who were buried in the vaults of the churches, 
 all were laid in stone receptacles in the Avails between the exterior 
 columns of the cathedral. After a term of years these were 
 opened to make room for other inmates, the bones taken out, 
 burnt on the hillside, and the ashes scattered to the winds of 
 heaven." 
 
 It seems extraordinary that in Ireland a memory of cremation 
 •should be almost absent from both history and tradition. Cre- 
 mation appears never to have wholly mastered and driven out 
 the more ancient and customary usage of carnal interment ; but 
 the fact remains that at one and the same time both kinds of 
 burial obtained. With the first supercession of inhumation, and 
 the substitution, in greater part at least, of incineration in its 
 atead, an immense forward stride was taken in spiritual develop- 
 ment, for it is then that the idea of immortality commenced. 
 Fire was employed in consuming the earthly shell, in order to 
 .set free the soul to ascend with the smoke of the pyre to its home 
 beyond the clouds. 
 
 Amongst the Celts, according to Caesar and other writers, 
 burning the dead was customary, and he relates how, at one 
 time, with the deceased were consumed whatever he valued most, 
 i.e. his slaves, his horses, his dogs, &c. It may be surmised that 
 calcined human remains found in Ireland are generally those of 
 the " upper stratum " of society, though — judging from the 
 exploration in the cemetery at Ballon Hill — cremation may, in 
 some districts, have been the universal custom, but generally it 
 was a funeral luxury, Pliny states that it was not an ancient 
 institution, yet one is reminded of Ovid's lines, so full of 
 pathos : — 
 
 Cara fiiit, conjiix, primae niihi ciira juventae 
 Ci)giiita; nunc ubi sit quaeritis ? Urua tegit.* 
 
 Some of the noble Roman families never adopted the new 
 fashion, and in later times, amongst the Greeks, crema ion, 
 owing to the great expense of the funeral pyre, was by no means 
 universal. 
 
 No account has yet been given of arrangements so sys- 
 tematic as that which occurred in the exploration of an 
 old Irish pagan cemetery at Mount Stewart, in the county 
 Down, where urn interment was the exclusive mode of sepulchre. 
 
 • " I once had a dear wife, known as the choice of my eaily youth ; 
 Do you ask where she is now ? The urn covers her."
 
 308 
 
 IDEAS RI-AiARDIXC; 'J'lfE DKAP. 
 
 In the year 1789, circumsUuK-i'.s necessitated tlie removal [of 
 a earn (5 feet liigli, saucer-shaped on the summit, and 80 feet 
 in diameter) in the demesne of Lord Londonderry. Thou,<,di 
 outwardly presenting no peculiarity to distinguish it from other 
 similar structures, a very systematic arrangement of cists was 
 disclosed when the stones composing it were carted away. Large 
 flagstones occurred at regular intervals covering four others, set 
 on edge, a sixth forming the hottom, and ccmipleting a hox-like 
 receptacle. The urns, thougli differing in oiiinmcntation mid 
 
 Fig. 86. — Systomatic arranfjcmcnt of Cists in a Tmmihis in tlu' county Down. 
 From the Ulster Jouninl of Arc/iwo/oi^y. 
 
 shape, were of uniform size, averaging in cjipacity a quart 
 measure. Calcined bones and charcoal mingled with gravel, 
 showed that the bodies, prior to deposition in the cists, had been 
 burned on a gravelly soil, and that in gathering up the remains 
 gravel had been talcen up with them. Each cist was 8 feet long 
 by 18 inches wide ; tlie urn was invariably at the north-west 
 corner. South of the centre the earn was closely and regularly 
 filled with small cists, but neither cists nor urns were found on
 
 THE KEENER. 309 
 
 .the north side, although the exterior presented a uniform appear- 
 ance to that on the south (fig. H6). 
 
 The assembhng of the Irish peasantry at funerals and wakes, 
 and the keening may be described in the Latin lines, of which the 
 following is a free translation : — 
 
 " Delaying not thej' hasten, speeding fast. 
 
 And reach the lionse, to find a medley strange, 
 Chaotic cries of grief, with turmoil mixed, 
 While from the arched chamber, far M-ithin, 
 The piercing shrieks of mourning women ring, 
 Ee-echoing to the stars." 
 
 In the islands off the west coast of Ireland, where ancient 
 superstitions still linger in greatest exuberance, no funeral wail 
 is allowed to be raised until three hours have elapsed from the 
 time of death, as the sound of lamentation might hinder the soul 
 from leaving the body, and would also place the many demons 
 lying in wait for it on the alert. 
 
 At an Irish wake the keener is almost invariably an aged 
 woman : or if she be comparatively j'oung, the habits of her life 
 make her look old. Mr. and Mrs. Hall state that they remember 
 one, " whom the artist has pictured from our description (fig. 87). 
 We can never forget a scene in which she 
 played a conspicuous part. A young man had 
 been shot by the police as he was resisting 
 a warrant for his arrest. He was of ' decent 
 people,' and had a ' fine wake.' The woman, 
 when we entered the apartment, was sitting 
 on a low stool by the side of the corpse. Her 
 long black uncombed locks were hanging 
 about her shoulders ; her eyes were the deep 
 
 1 TJ.J.1 L 11-1 Fig. 8/. — The Keener. 
 
 set greys peculiar to the country, and which y^^^^ ^j^ ^^ j^j^^^ Hall's 
 are capable of every expression, from the Ireland. 
 
 bitterest hatred and the direst revenge to 
 the softest and warmest affection. Her large blue cloak was 
 confined at her throat, but not so closely as to conceal the outline 
 of her figure, thin and gaunt, but exceedingly lithesome. When 
 she arose, as if by sudden inspiration, first holding out her hands 
 over the body, and then tossing them wildly above her head, she 
 continued her chaunt in a low monotonous tone, occasionally 
 breaking into a style earnest and animated, and using every 
 variety of attitude to give emphasis to her words, and enforce 
 her description of the virtues and good qualities of the deceased. 
 ' Swift and sure was his foot,' she said, ' on hill and valley. 
 His shadow struck terror to his foes ; he could look the sun in 
 the face like an eagle ; the whirl of his weapon through the air
 
 810 \mEAS RKGARDIXG THE DEAJ). 
 
 was fast and teiiible as the liglitniiig-. Tliero had be en full and 
 plenty in his father's house, and the traveller never left it empty ; 
 but the tyrants had taken all except his heart's blood, and that 
 they took at last. The girls of the mountain may cry by the 
 running streams, and weep for the flower of the country, but he 
 would return no more. He was the last of his father's house ; 
 but his people were many both on hill and valley ; and they 
 would revenge his death ! ' Then, kneeling, she clenched her 
 hands together, and cursed bitter curses against whoever had 
 aimed the fatal bullet — curses which illustrate but too forcibly the 
 fervour of Irish hatred. ' May the light fade from your eyes, so 
 that you may never see what you love ! May the grass grow at 
 your door ! Vi\\\ you fade into nothing, like snow in sunmier ! 
 May your own blood rise against ye, and the sweetest drink ye 
 take be the bitterest cup of sorrow ! May ye die without benefit 
 of priest or clergy.' To each of her curses there was a deep 
 ' Amen,' which the \hi)> cdiihithc paused to hear, and then resumed 
 her maledictions." 
 
 Mo laoch fein u, laoch mo laoch. Leanabh uio leanabh, ghil cba— umh 
 O my own youth, youth of my youth. Child of ray child, genile, valiant. 
 
 Mo chroidhe lium nich mnr long, Gulath bhrath chi n'ei rich Of — car. 
 
 My heart cries like a blackbird's. For ever gone, never [o rife, O Ofcar. 
 
 Fig. 88. 
 
 Marlih Rami Oscar — The Death-sonjj of Oscar. From the I rainac/iotis, 
 Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 Fig. 88 is the alleged keen of Finn Mac Cool over the 
 corpse of his grandson Oscar, slain at the battle of Gabhra in 
 the third century. The nnisic was preserved in the wilds of 
 Connaught, and in the Highlands of Scotland, the tune being 
 nearly the same. Poetry and music are apparently coeval and 
 of comparatively late date, having originated in the Bardic school 
 of the Province of Connaught, a fountain from whence flowed 
 many of those Irish ballads and romances which have, in these 
 latter ages, become the foundation of the numerous ideal super- 
 structures relative to the history and antiquities of this island. 
 
 The power of the keen, as a vehicle for conveying the senti- 
 ments of the heart, has, in the present day, completely vanished ;,
 
 VARIOUS EXAMPLES OF KEENS. 311 
 
 the Irish, Hke the Jews, Arabs, and other nations lamented over 
 the dead, uttering cries of grief, tearing their hair, demanding of 
 the deceased, " Why did he die ? " " Had he not food, raiment, 
 and friends: why tlien did he die?" Thomas Dineley, in the 
 account of his tour through Ireland in the reign of Charles II., 
 compares the funeral customs of some of the Carribbee Islanders 
 to those of the Irish of his day. He mentions the " howlings 
 and lamentations" practised by these savages over the dead 
 body, " to which they add the most ridiculous and nonsensical 
 discourses imaginable, and not much unlike the vulgar Irish. 
 They talk to him of the best fruits their country doth afi'ord, 
 telling him that he might have eaten of them as much as he 
 would. They put him in mind of the love his family had for 
 him, and his reputation, &c., reproaching him, above all, for 
 dying, as if it had been in his power to prevent it, as for example 
 they tell him :■ — 
 
 "'Thou might'st have lived so well and made so good cheer, 
 thou didst want neither manioe nor potatoes, bananas nor 
 ananas.' 
 
 " 'As the Irish.' 
 
 " ' Thou didst want nor usquebaugh (whiskey), oat cakes, sweet 
 milk, bonny clobber (cheese), mallahaune (sour buttermilk), 
 dillisk (an edible sea-weed), slugane (sloak), and good spoals 
 (joints of meat). How is then that thou didst die ? Thou didst 
 live in so great esteem with all men everyone did love and respect 
 thee : what is the matter, then, that thou art dead ? Thy friends 
 and relations were so kind to thee ; their greatest care was only 
 to please thee, and to let thee lack nothing : pray tell us, then, 
 why didst thou think of dying ? Thou wast so useful and 
 serviceable to the country ; thou hadst signalized thyself in so 
 many battles ; thou wast our defence and security from the assault 
 and fury of our enemies : why is it, then, that thou art dead '? ' 
 Which last words are always the burden of the howl and 
 song to both people, and the conclusion of all these complaints, 
 which they repeat a thousand times, reckoning over all the 
 actions of his life with all the advantages wherewith he was 
 endowed.'' 
 
 O'Brien, in his Irish Dictionary, described the keen as com- 
 prising a lamentation of the dead, according to certain loud and 
 mournful notes and verses " wherein the pedigree, land, property, 
 generosity, and good actions of the deceased person and his 
 ancestors are diligently and harmoniously recounted in order to 
 excite pity and compassion in the hearers, and to make them 
 sensible of their great loss in the death of the person they lament." 
 
 One of these modern keens attracted the notice of the poet 
 Crabbe, who described it as very pathetic, the more so, as in it,
 
 312 IDEAS REGARDIXG THE DEAD. 
 
 as in many of its class, there is no sus:gested Christian consohi- 
 tion, no iniphed reunion in a quiet, far off country ; all is un- 
 qualified grief and, on that account alone, most deeply melancholy. 
 Though stated to have been composed in the couuncncement 
 of the nineteenth centiiry it is pure paganism. Its beautiful 
 simplicity is in part sacrificed by its rendering into verse, so it 
 is first given in the literal translation of C'rofton Croker : — 
 
 "Cold and silent is thy bed; damp is the blessed dew of 
 night ; but the sun Avill bring warmth and heat in the morning, 
 and dry up the dew. But my heart cannot feel heat from the 
 morning sun ; no more will the print of your footsteps be seen 
 in the morning dew on the mountains of Ivera, where you had 
 so often hunted the fox and the hare, ever foremost amongst 
 your men. Cold and silent is now thy bed. 
 
 " My sunshine you were, I loved you better than the sun 
 itself, and when I see the sun going down in the west I think of 
 my boy and of my black night of sorrow. Like the rising sun, 
 lie had a red glow on his check. He was as bright as the sun at 
 midday; but a dark storm came on, and my sunshine was lost 
 to me for ever. My sunshine will never again come back. No, 
 my boy cannot return. Cold and silent is his bed. 
 
 " Life-blood of my heart ; for the sake of my boy I cared only 
 for this world. He was brave ; he was generous; he was noble- 
 minded ; he was beloved by rich and poor ; he was clear-skinned. 
 But why should I tell what everyone knows '? Why should I 
 now go back to what never can be more ? He who was every- 
 thing to me is dead. He is gone for ever : he will return no 
 more. Cold and silent is his repose ! " 
 
 The followinf,^ is a paraphrase of the foregoing keen : — 
 
 " Oh ! silent aTid cold is thy lonely repose, 
 
 Though chilly and damp falls the mist of the night ; 
 Yet the sun sliall hrin<; joys with the morn, and the dews 
 
 Shall vanish hefoi'e liis keen arrows of liglit ; 
 But the pulses of life in thy hosom no more 
 
 Shall vibrate, nor morning awaken thine eye ; 
 No more slialt thon wander thy native hills o'er, 
 
 The green Iiills of Erin, that hloom to tlie sky : 
 And childhood's gay scenes, when thy soul undetiled, 
 
 First felt the dear blossoms of friendship unclose, 
 Where infancy's features in jjlayfulness smiled: 
 
 But ah ! cold and silent is now thy lepose I 
 
 " Thou wert dearer to me than the sun in the west. 
 When lie tinges with crimson the skirts of the sea ; 
 But memory weeps, and my soul is distressed ; 
 When I look on his beau'tv, I think upon thee I
 
 VARIOUS EXAMPLES OE KEENS. 313 
 
 In youtli thou wert like liim, all blooming and gay ;■ 
 
 And soft was the down on thy cheek, as the rose ; 
 In the splendour of manhood, like him at midday ; 
 
 But thy fate was untimely, and early thy close, 
 He rises again when his journey is o'er. 
 
 But thy life has heen dimm'd by misfortune and woes ; 
 Thou hast sunk to thy rest to return no more. 
 
 For ah ! cold and silent is now thy repose. 
 
 " Oh ! thou M'lio now sleepest in earth's narrow bed, 
 
 As the nerve of my throbbing heart thou wert to me, 
 And with thee all the charms of the world are fled, 
 
 For though it was dear, it was dear but far thee. 
 Thoti wert generous and good : thou wert noble and just, 
 
 In the morning of life thou wert beauteous and brave ; 
 But why look on virtue and worth that are past? 
 
 For he who possessed them is gone to the grave ; 
 Or why call to memory the scenes that are o'er? 
 
 Tlie floweret is hid in dark evening's close ; 
 From the night of the tomb shall it blossom no more, 
 
 For ah ! cold and silent is now thy repose." 
 
 There is in this tlie deep pathos of the Greek poet, when he 
 tearfully appeals to the human heart, and contrasts the lot of 
 man with the flowers of the field, which renew their growth in 
 the spring-time, while man, with all his vaunted superiority, 
 once laid to rest in his dark and narrow bed, sleeps the sleep 
 which knows no awaking. 
 
 A most touching lament, a keen of genuine and bitter grief, 
 was taken down from the lips of a bereaved mother some years ago, 
 and is thus given by Lady Wilde in a literal English version : — 
 
 " women, look on me ! Look on me, women ! Have you 
 ever seen sorrow like mine ? Have you ever seen the like of me 
 in my sorrow ? Arrali, then, my darling ! my darling ! 'tis your 
 mother that calls you. How long you are sleeping. Do you see 
 all the people round you, my darling, and sorely weeping ? 
 Arrali, what is this paleness on your face ? Sure, there was no 
 €qual to it in Erin for beauty and fairness, and your hair was 
 lieavy as the wing of a raven, and your skin was whiter than the 
 liand of a lady. Is it the stranger must carry me to my grave, 
 and my son lying here ? " 
 
 The following keen of an Irish mother over her dead son was 
 written by Mrs. Ilemans, in imitation of this peculiar style of 
 lamentation : — 
 
 " Darkly the cloud of night come rolling on ; 
 Darker is thy repose, my fair-hair'd son. 
 
 Silent and dark. 
 There is blood upon the tlireslmld 
 
 Whence tliy step went forth at morn. 
 Like a dancer's in its fleetne-s. 
 Oh, my bright first-born.
 
 314 IDEAS RKGARDfXG THE DEAD. 
 
 '• At the glad sound of tliat t'oot.step, 
 
 Jly heart witliiu me smiled ; 
 
 Thou wert brouglit hack all silent 
 
 On thy bier, my eliild. 
 Darkly the cloud of night comes rolling on ; 
 Darker is thy repose, my fair-liair'd son. 
 Silent and dark. 
 
 " I thought to .see thy children 
 Tiangh on mo with thine eyen ; 
 But my sorrow's voice is lonely 
 Where my life's-flower lies. 
 
 " I shall go to sit beside thee, 
 Thy kindred graves among ; 
 I shall hear llie tall grass whisper ; 
 
 I shall hear it not long. 
 Darkly the cloud of night comes rolling on ; 
 Darker is thy repose, my fair-hair'd son. 
 Silent and dark. 
 
 " And I too shall find slumber 
 
 Willi my lost one, in the earth ; 
 Let none light up the ashes 
 Again on our hearth. 
 
 " Let the roof go doMn, let silence 
 On the home for ever fall. 
 Where my boy lay cold, and heard not 
 
 His lone mother's call. 
 Darkly the cloud of night comes rolling on ; 
 Darker is thy repose, my fair-hair'd son. 
 
 Silent and dark. 
 
 Wakes, and the customs attached to them, portray varied 
 phases of life in long past ages, and the idiosyncrasies of the 
 people are no where so well displayed as at these meetings, 
 where tragedy and comedy, all that is stern and all that is 
 humorous in Irish character, are displayed in unfettered freedom. 
 Transition from deepest sorroAV to inirtli occurs with the greatest 
 rapidity, so that there is melancholy in their mirth, and mirth 
 in their melancholy. Great dramatic talent was displayed l)y 
 the actors of certain plays, games, and sports performed at these 
 meetings. A peasant who saw, for the first time, a play at one 
 of the Duhlin theatres, said : "I have now seen the great English 
 actors, and heard plays in the English tongue, hut poor and dull 
 they seemed to me, after the acting of our own people at the 
 wakes and fairs ; for it is a truth the English caimot make us 
 weep and laugh, as I have seen the crowds Avith us, when the 
 players played and the poets recited their stories." 
 
 At wakes, plays, games, or sports were in use, which appear 
 to have heen essentially of pagan origin, and of such a character 
 that, although at first tolerated, yet in more civilized days tliey
 
 PLAYS A AW GAMES AT WAKES. 315 
 
 were suppressed. The game usually first performed, termed 
 " Bout," was joined in by men and women. Pagan influence 
 and pagan modes of thought may be traced all through 
 various plays, as, for example, in that of " The Cow and the 
 Bull." 
 
 The play entitled " The Building of the Ship " was divided 
 into scenes or acts, severally entitled, " Laying the Keel," 
 "Placing the Stem and Stern Post," "Painting the Ship," 
 "Erecting the Mast," and "Launching," oi- "Drawing the 
 Ship out of the Mud." 
 
 In the first proceedings the laying down of the keel, several 
 lads were placed on their baclcs in line, on the floor. The 
 hierophant, or master of the ceremonies, accompanied by his 
 attendants, then walked on the row, tappin.g them pretty smartly 
 with his wand or stick, to ascertain if the timber was sound. 
 
 The stem and stern posts were then put into position by 
 placing two young men at the end of the line in a sitting posture. 
 The ribs and planking were then arranged. These consisted of a 
 double line of young men, the first row lying, the second sitting. 
 The body of the ship being completed, the master of the cere- 
 monies, followed by one of his attendants, walked down on the 
 line of legs representing the ribs, kicking and striking them to 
 see that the timbers were sound, examining the rivets, and giving 
 an opinion as to whether they were sound or not. 
 
 When the inspection was finished, needless to say, after 
 much severe practical joking, a huge bucket of dirty water and 
 a mop were produced. The water was then poured over the 
 performers, to represent the process of painting. 
 
 In erecting the mast, one of the youngest of the lads was 
 selected, placed in the centre of the ship as a mast, and gestures, 
 expressions, and acts were used, proving that this part of the 
 play was an undoubted relic of the most primitive times. 
 
 In launching or drawing the ship out of the mud, the men 
 engaged in the performance actually presented themselves before 
 the assembled company in a state of nudity. It would be now 
 difficult to obtain further details. Those here given were ex- 
 tracted from old countrymen, a little from one, and a little from 
 the other, the fragments then pieced together. When inquiries 
 were instituted of one informant regarding the ceremony of 
 " erecting the mast," he looked surprised, and said, "Lord, how 
 did you know that ? it 's nearly sixty years since I saw it, and 
 sure the priests won't let it be acted now." The foregoing 
 account of this play is corroborated by Lady Wilde in her 
 description of Wake Games. 
 
 The play entitled " The building of the fort " was filled 
 with sarcasms on various Christian rites and customs. The
 
 316 IJ:)EAS REGARDING THE DKyil). 
 
 LTOftiou of one of these ancient strongholds must have been 
 inaugurated by the tribe with great ceremony, and the play was 
 evidently a relic of the time-honoured pagan custom. 
 
 When space had been cleared in the centre of the room where 
 the wake was held, the actors entered, wearing masks, and fan- 
 tastically attired, carrying long poles for spears, plaited straw on 
 the arms, to represent shields, and went through the form of 
 building a fort, tracing out the shape with their spears. Whilst 
 thus engaged, a new set of actors, also masked and armed, repre- 
 senting their enemies, appeared, and a general light ensued, until 
 a horn was sounded, when to save further bloodshed, it was pro- 
 posed that a single combat should be arranged between the two 
 leaders of the hostile forces. After a well-sustained fight one comba- 
 tant fell, as if mortally wounded, and was immediately surrounded 
 by women in cloaks, with the hoods drawn over their heads, who 
 keened over the fallen warrior, whilst a bard recited his exploits, 
 and pipers played nuirtial music. 
 
 It was then suggestc^l that the prostrate man was not dead, 
 and an herb-doctor, arrayed with white flowing beard, carrying 
 a huge bundle of herbs, was led in, and went through sundry 
 strange incantations. The fallen man then came to life, and was 
 carried off' by his comrades with shouts of trnimph. This con- 
 cluded the play — a very good epitome of ancient Irish life. 
 
 It may be well to give typical examples of a restored stone 
 fortress, or cashel, as also of an earthen fort, the laying out and 
 building of which form the subject-matter of the wake-play just 
 described. 
 
 The prominent feature of the primitive architecture of the 
 <3arly inhabitants of Ireland is uniformity and simplicity of 
 design ; the circle, sometimes slightly deviating into an oval, 
 being characteristic of their villages, their camps, and their indi- 
 vidual dwellings. Whether raised above the surface or below it, 
 the same architectural uniformity of shape is everywhere dis- 
 played. Fig. 89 is a bird's-eye view of Dun Conor, one of the 
 finest cashels in the Aran group, as it would appear if restored. 
 The innermost enclosure, or fort proper, is of a long oval form — 
 227 feet by 115 — and the wall has two facings and a central core. 
 The innermost wall is 7 feet thick, the interior core 5 feet 
 <j inches, and the outer face of an equal size ; the greater depth 
 of the interior face was to allow for the Aveakening of the 
 work by the different flights of steps taken out of its thickness. 
 Thus a triple compacted wall was formed 18 feet wide, and still 
 in places nearly 20 feet in height, with a considerable inward 
 slope or batter on both faces. The outer and inner compartments 
 of the wall rose, at the summit, several feet above the central 
 core, thus forming oii either side ;i highly efiiciciit bi'eastwoi'k.
 
 o ^
 
 8LS IDEAS REGAR]')IXrr THE DKAD. 
 
 On the north-eastern curve of the rampart is a semi-circular 
 enclosure, pierced on its eastern side by a doorway ; its unusual 
 size suggests the idea that it was intended for the admission of 
 cattle ; a smaller doorway led through the second wall. Upon 
 the western side of the cashel no outworks were re([uired, a pre- 
 cipitous cliff answering all requirements for the protection of the 
 hold. In the year 1HH9 many remains of bee-hive shaped huts, 
 represented in the illustration, were to be seen within the inner 
 enclosure. An array of narrow flagstones, in the form of a rude 
 citcntu.r <}f (rise, originally encircled nearly tlie Avhole of the outer 
 wall. 
 
 Probably the most remarkable and typical remains of the rath 
 class is the great work of llathkeltain, close to Downpatrick, 
 2100 feet in circumference, with three ramparts (fig. 90). The 
 central mound (a usual feature) is 00 feet in height ; the principal 
 rampart of the same elevation is in places 80 feet broad. Fig. 91 
 is an ideal restoration of a rath after a study of this great earthen 
 fortress, as well as other typical raths. 
 
 '•Turning the spit" and "Selling the pig" are the desig- 
 nations 01 two plays commonly acted at Irish wakes. " The 
 game of the Rope" and that of "The Horse Fair" appear 
 to have been also favourite pastimes. The following descrip- 
 tion of them was given by a peasant to Lady Wilde : " Two short 
 ropes, made of hay, and twisted as hard as they can be made, are 
 held by tw'O men, standing on each side of a chair placed at some 
 little distance from the corpse, lying in the coffin. Then a young 
 man is led forward, who takes his seat on the chair, and they ask 
 him wdio is his sweetheart. If he objects to tell them, they beat 
 him till he names one of the girls present ; then he is asked 
 Avould he like to kiss her, and they beat him till he answers yes. 
 The girl is then led over and seated on the chair, whilst the lover 
 kisses her ; but as he is beaten all the time with the rope, he 
 makes the ceremony as brief as possible. The girl is then asked 
 if she is content, and, sometimes, for fun, she tells them that the 
 lover they gave her had no idea of a proper kiss at all, on which 
 the young man is beaten again with ropes, till he cries out that 
 he will try again. But the girl won't have him ; and so the same 
 game goes on, till every young man in the room has been seated 
 on the chair in succession, and every girl has been kissed." 
 
 In the game of the " Horse Fair," the hierophant, holding a 
 brogue in his hand, ties a string of youngsters together as horses, 
 and drives them round the circle, while another man drags them 
 on by the rope, striking any who are restive with the brogue. 
 A blacksmith and a horse-dealer examine the horses, and put 
 them through their paces. Any short, stout young fellow is 
 named tlie "Cob," another with long legs the " Kace Horse,"
 
 PL A YS AND GAMES AT 1VAKKS. 321 
 
 a good-natured looking young man is the "Pony," and the 
 horse-dealer then declares he must see them jump before he 
 bids for them. "So a great circle is made, a man being 
 in the centre, bent as in leap-frog, for them to leap over, 
 while the young girls sit round, and the best jumper is 
 allowed the privilege of choosing the maiden he likes best, and 
 giving her a salute. The young horses generally succeed in the 
 jump, the reward is so attractive, though two men are never 
 allowed to kiss the same girl. Should one man fail in the jump, 
 he is derided and beaten with brogues, and ordered to be sent for 
 further training, and the smith is desired to see to his shoes. So 
 he is laid flat on the ground, while the smith examines his shoes, 
 and beats the sole of the foot with a l)ig stick to see if a nail is 
 loose, and wants to be fastened : but then his sweetheart inter- 
 venes, and he is let off, and even allowed to salute her as a recom- 
 pense for all he has gone through." 
 
 A gentleman who had the opportunity of collecting accounts 
 of many Avanton orgies, which disgraced wakes, particularly in the 
 province of Munster, says : " The highly obscene manner of the 
 dance called 'Droghedy' is very objectionable. . . . Tradition 
 also relates that females used to perform on these occasions as 
 well as men." 
 
 A similarity to Irish wake orgies can be traced in the rites 
 used by many savage tribes : for instance, in the Irish series of 
 " the Building of the Ship " and the games of some of the Indians 
 commemorative of the "Big Canoe." An early missionary 
 reported that he had experienced comparatively little difficulty in 
 converting one of the tribes of the Feejee Islanders to an acknow- 
 ledgment of Christianity, but found it impossible to induce them 
 to forego the obscenities enacted between death and the interment 
 of the corpse. This may be a mere coincidence, but at least it is 
 a most remarkable one. 
 
 Some modern "round games" in which young people in 
 every class of society indulge, were played at Irish wakes ; but it 
 is evident they were of comparatively modern introduction. 
 
 The Church may have tolerated the acting of these plays, at 
 certain seasons of the year, as she did the performance of some- 
 what similar burlesques elsewhere, or she may have anathe- 
 matised the plays, or the actors who performed in them : be that 
 as it may, her teachings were ridiculed to her face, up to a few 
 years ago, by professing members of her fold ; and it is possible 
 that in many places these plays are even yet acted, but probably 
 in a modified form. It is, however, right to state that in later 
 times the peasantry who practised them had "no idea of outraging 
 propriety or religion in their performance, holding an unquestion- 
 ins? faith in the old traditions tliat such observances were right
 
 •A'l'l //)/■:. IS RKCARPIXC, I'flK />/:.{ /K 
 
 iind proper at wakes, wliilsl iiuder any oilier eii-cmiistanct'S they 
 would slu-iiik with hoiToi' tVoiii sii<-li indelieate exliihitions." 
 
 Keels, with tluii' otliei' aliases, are ancient burial places, 
 originally (juile uncouiieeled with Christian remains or associa- 
 tions, and where still made use of, it is, as a rule, solely for the 
 interment of suicides, unknown strangers, and unbaptized children. 
 Suicides, as a matter of course, are by their own act (theologi- 
 cally) deprived of a desirable hereafter. To the savage and un- 
 cultured mind all unknown strangers are necessarily enemies. 
 The first very young child that dies in a family should be carried 
 to one of these burial p.laces : if it be buried in consecrated 
 ground, two others will fallow it. Many of the peasantry believe 
 that the souls of unbaptized children are blind and imprisoned 
 within these keels, or within fairy raths, and that their souls "go 
 into naught." A somewhat similar idea is foimd in Longfellow's 
 Knniiifliiu', where there is an allusion to — 
 
 "The white Ut'iche, the ghost of ;i cliiUl who, unchristened, 
 Dieil, ami was doonied to haunt unseen the chambers of children." 
 
 Wherever an unbaptized child is buried there is a "stray 
 sod." If you unintentionally step tipou this particular spot at 
 night yott are kept wandering until sunrise. Even turning your 
 coat and w^aistcoat inside out (the charm against fairy influence) 
 is no safeguard ; when day breaks yoti wall find yourself miles 
 distant from home. The idea embodied in this sttperstition occurs 
 in a cure for a sick cow. You take the piece of turf on which the 
 animal first treads when rising, hang it on the w^all and the cow 
 recovers. Bishop Corbet, in his Iter Uorcale, thus alludes to the 
 supposed charm of turning the coat as a guard against fairy 
 malice. 
 
 " . . . \\'illiam i'uund 
 A means for our deliverance, ' Turn j'our cloakes,' 
 Quoth hee, 'for I'uckeis bus}' in these oakcs ; 
 If ever wee at Bosworth will he found. 
 Then turn your cloakes, for this is fairy ground.' " 
 
 It may be of use to benighted iiiili\ idiiaJs to know that a sprig 
 of furze or gorse, carried about the person, secures the wayfarer 
 against straying on mountain or moorland. 
 
 Tradition, together with the still existing superstitions of the 
 peasantry, and other facts already noticed, indicate that many of 
 the keels were undoubtedly pagan cemeteries. Their preservation, 
 in such numbers, is due to an tmdefined feeling of dread of some 
 calamity should they be injured, yet no persuasion Avill induce 
 the peasantry to bury their lionoured dead within their precincts.
 
 PAGAN n TRIAL PLACES SIJLL USED. 323 
 
 That the teiiu keel must have been used by the old pagans to 
 designate a cemetery may be inferred from many examples. In 
 the county Cork an ancient burial place is styled Cealnadruatli, 
 the burial place of the Druids ; the townland of Killamucky 
 commemorates the burial place of a magical boar ; the name 
 cannot well signify the "the church of the pig." Kilcro should 
 not be translated "the bloody church," nor should Kilmacat be 
 rendered the "cat's church." Killtemplan and Templenakilla do 
 not mean " the church of the church," but " the church of the 
 keel or cemetery," and Kealkill and Kilkillan belong to the same 
 class of nomenclature. 
 
 A good specimen of a connecting link between the pagan 
 keel with its old-world ceremonies and Christian rites is afforded 
 by observances which were formerly practised at Ballyvourney, 
 county Cork, at a keel or low earn, composed of stones and earth, 
 evidently an ancient pagan cemetery. On the summit of the 
 mound lay a bullan, with a circular cavity or basin, overshadowed 
 with low-growing bushes on which hung rags of various colours, 
 votive offerings of pilgrims who were accustomed to encircle the 
 mound upon their knees in the course of the sun. Persons 
 afdicted with bodily ailments resorted hither, esteeming earth 
 from the mound and rain water from the bullan, to be specifics 
 for their complaints. It was also a great resort of cripples ; a 
 regular array of sticks and crutches was deposited on the 
 tumulus by professional mendicants who pretended to have been 
 cured in order to enhance the reputation of the place, as large 
 crowds upon patron days brought considerable sums into their 
 pockets. 
 
 When a murder, or supposed murder, was perpetrated, it was 
 customary in former times, as the funeral proceeded to the 
 graveyard, to carry the corpse to the house of the person 
 suspected of having committed the crime. It was laid down at 
 the door, whilst the relatives of the deceased, dropping on their 
 knees, gave vent to the deepest imprecations, and invoked the wrath 
 of offended heaven on the head of the siispected nnirderer (fig. 92). 
 In cases where the crime was self-evident, the door was closed 
 and the house abandoned, but if the accused had a sufticient 
 following the intruders were repelled by physical force ; in cases 
 where the crime was doubtful, or unjustly imputed, those thus 
 visited came out of the house, and laying their right hand upon 
 the corpse or coffin, invoked heaven to witness to the truth of 
 their denial. 
 
 The funeral is looked upon as a most important function. 
 The aged peasant, incapacitated from labour, and able only to 
 sit in the chimney corner from morning till night, will in mind 
 be busily occupied witli all tlio details of his lnsl jonnicy. Jii 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 
 
 IDEAS REGARDIXG TUK DEAD. 
 
 many country districts, even in the present day, about the only 
 neighbourly feeling displayed amongst all classes of the com- 
 munity is shown in attending funerals. Although the attendant 
 has been unacquainted with the deceased, yet if he be a neighbour, 
 not to go to the funeral is considered a slight to the corpse. 
 
 The countryman's ambition for a '\good funeral" is unbovmded, 
 and the arrangements and expenditiire on that occasion are, for 
 his income, princely, for a sum of money equal perhaps to three 
 years' rent, will be required to cover the priest's fees, the cost of 
 refreshments for friends and neighbours, and the hire of pro- 
 fessional inoiirncrs. "The imposing funeral procession, the 
 
 Fig. 92. 
 
 ■J'hf Cliallcnfro to th • Ordeal. Frcm Mr. and -Mrs. Hall's Ireland. 
 
 rear often brought up by as many as fifty mounted men, will not 
 fail to strike the ^•isitor in a very forcible way, and any casual 
 onlooker from whom he may make inquiry, will be found 
 enormously pleased to give him a full account of the life and 
 death of the departed, a full sunnnary of his estimable qualities, 
 and a complete family history, into the bargain. ' Your riverance,' 
 said a messenger to the priest engaged in preparations for the 
 approaching cortege, ' the brother of the corpse would be plaised 
 to have a word wid ye,' is truly Irish, illustrative of the para- 
 mount importance of the deceased on the occasion of his 
 funeral."
 
 THE FUNERAL. 325 
 
 It is well to see oiirselves as others see us, and the following- 
 graphic description of a funeral in the island of Achill observed, 
 in the year 1897, by an Englishman, presents a typical picture 
 of the usual funeral procession in the wilds of Western Ireland : — 
 
 " I saw a singular procession winding sinuously down the 
 opposite cliff", and surely no stranger sight was ever seen within 
 the bounds of the British Isles. Men and women on horseback 
 (for the poorest peasant owns a ' garran '), the men attired in 
 the conventional costume of the Irish high holiday, to wit, tall 
 hats, breeches, and dress cut coats of thick frieze ; the women 
 barefoot as usual, but with feet well washed, the short red kirtle 
 reaching to the knee, the head and shoulders swathed in brilliant- 
 coloured shawls, the man astride in front, the woman balancing 
 herself sideways on the crupper, all riding bare-backed, all guid- 
 ing their yellowish steeds by means of a bridle of plaited straw. 
 Sometimes there were three on a horse, never less than tAvo, and 
 there might be fifty horses proceeding at a slow pace, accom- 
 panied by some fifty women on foot. In the middle of the funeral 
 train was one of the flat carts used in Connaught, with two short 
 shafts for tilting purposes prominent behind, and on it the 
 humble coftin of uiiplaned deal, with a sheet of paper^ — which 
 may have borne the name and age of the deceased, with perhaps 
 a prayer or two — tacked over the breast. The poorest Irish dis- 
 play an inordinate affection for their dead, and in Achill the 
 nearest relatives testify their love and respect by sitting on the 
 coffin during its progress to the graveyard. On this occasion the 
 poor widow who had lost her son by drowning in Blacksod Bay 
 occupied this position, accompanied by her daughter, a good-look- 
 ing girl of twenty years or so. . . . On went the strange proces- 
 sion of the long line of riders, vv-ith the tanned complexions of 
 the women, their jet black hair, their naked limbs dangling on 
 the horses Hanks, and tlie bright colours of their attire, strongly 
 remindful of Buffalo Bill's North American Indians, save that the 
 Indian women wore moccasins. Here and there isolated dwellers 
 in villages lying oft" the route emerged on horseback, Avith the in- 
 variable ' God be with you ' in Irish, to which came the invariable 
 reply, ' God and the Virgin be with you.' Now and then were 
 seen women seated by the ditches, and by washing their feet 
 achieving, at a blow, the distinction of full dress. All were 
 speaking in Irish, modulating their tones to a sympathetic 
 cadence and incidentally showing the instinctive good breed- 
 ing which must be credited to the race. . . . The way 
 was long, but at last the cortege turned sharply to the right, 
 towards a hamlet on the mountain side. Somewhat short of it 
 was a rudely-walled enclosure, without any chapel, lych-gate, or 
 shelter of any kind, a wilderness of donsij-growing nettles, among
 
 B2n 
 
 IDEAS REdARDIXG THE DEAD. 
 
 which the bare-footed women walked and pushed their way with 
 piol'ound indifievenee to the stiiif^s. each lifting her voice in the 
 Irish wail at the moment the coffin passed the graveyard wall. 
 Echoing up the mountain, resounding over the lake hard by, 
 never surely was heard a more fearsome chant. Beginning on a 
 high note, the voices descended together in a sort of chromatic 
 scale, not unlike the cry of the starling at cei'tain seasons, the 
 dioriis numbering by tliis time at least a hundred women, whose 
 lungs equalled their enthusiasm, the men remaining silent, 
 placing the coffin by the family grave, and waiting until pre- 
 scriptive custom brought their turn to act. Presently the ' keen ' 
 (fig. 93) subsided, and the crowd dis))ersed among the graves, many 
 throwing themselves at full length among the nettles and clasping 
 the poor mound in an agony of grief, kissing it and calling in 
 heart-broken accents to the dead, with many bitter tears. ]\Iean- 
 while two young fellows wei'c digging the grave, the widow and 
 her daughter sitting on the coffin a }ard away, and watching 
 every stroke. . . . The mourners, having paid respect to the 
 family graves, sat in rows and smoked twist tobacco from new 
 pipes of very thick clay, a young fellow going round (to both 
 sexes) with a burning turf, brought from the neighbouring village, 
 between two sticks. The grave being ready, the depth less than 
 two feet, the coffin was placed therein, and then the mother came 
 forward, while the crowd surrounded her as critical spectators. 
 
 TIio Koci 
 
 Fi( 
 
 Mr 
 
 I [ Mil's /,-,■/„, 1,1. 
 
 Kneeling on the grass, and looking down upon the coffin, the 
 poor widow broke into rapid ejaculations of anguish, clasping her 
 hands, swaying to and fro. recounting her boy's good qualities, 
 bewailing his unhappy end, and expressing her irremediable 
 heart-break. Suddenly she threw herself full-length into the 
 grave, and clasping the coffin, fainted away. She Avas removed 
 and Avater thrown upon her, upon which she recovered, and the 
 daughter came forward with a precisely similar programme, only 
 stopping sliort of insensibility. Then the men shovelled in the 
 earth. ro]ilaced the pieces of rock which marked the grave, and 
 the |>i'(ic(s<i(iii returned to Dugort. the two chief nioui'uers sitting 
 on the carl, which closely resembled a costeriiionger's barrow. 
 There was no priest, nor any kind of religious service, save that
 
 BARBARITIES PRACTISED UX THE DEAD. B27 
 
 an old man, who acted as director of ceremonies, proposed at the 
 close that all ' the boys ' should stand up and say a silent prayer. 
 lie then sprinkled holy water from a lemonade bottle, and the 
 funeral was over." 
 
 It is very unlucky to dig a grave on a Monday, but having 
 once commenced, the grave-diggers must finish the work, no 
 change of labourers being allowed. In one instance where the 
 sexton was taken ill no one could be induced to complete the 
 grave, so he had to rise from his sick bed and finish it himself. 
 
 If a death should occur in a family the last, or last but one 
 day of the year, special care is taken to dig the grave — at least 
 partially — on the last day of December, and thus avoid opening 
 a new grave and a new year together. 
 
 According to Irish ms. authority many barbarities are to be 
 met witli in the tales relating to ancient warriors, who appear to 
 have been addicted to an habitual savagery. An Irish warrior, 
 when he killed his enemy, broke his skull, extracted his brains, 
 mixed up the mass well, and working the compound into a ball 
 carefully dried it in the sun, and afterwards produced it as a 
 trophy of former valour, and a presage of future victory. " Take 
 out its brains therefrom," was Conall's speech to his attendant, 
 who declared he could not carry ]\Iesgegra's head, " and ply a 
 sword upon it, and bear the brain with me, and mix lime there- 
 with, and make a ball thereof." Such trophies are described as 
 being the object of pride and contention among the chiefs, and 
 Mesgegra's brain being captured from Conall by Cet, was hurled 
 at Conor, and caused his death. The above-mentioned Mes- 
 gegra. King of Leinster, was killed in single combat by Conal 
 Cernach, who cut oft' his head and laid it down on a stone. 
 Legend records that the blood poiu'ing from the cranium pierced 
 the stone and flowed through it into the ground. The oblong 
 limestone boulder, of which this story is recounted, is a bullan 
 of the usual type. On the clift's of the mainland, opposite Tory 
 Island, a similar story is told of the blood which gushed from 
 Balor's head. 
 
 In the Aim((ls of Clonvuiciioisi' it is stated that when Muir- 
 chertach "of the leathern cloaks," who lived in the middle of 
 the tenth century, carried off the body of Cerbhall, King of 
 Leinster, he caused a chess-board to be formed of his bones. 
 Other instances of utilizing the osseous remains of a dead adver- 
 sary were, in ancient times, not uncommon. AVc have the 
 practice recorded of warriors cutting oft' the point of the tongue 
 by every man they slew and carrying it in their pouches. Carry- 
 ing the heads of the slain at their girdle, first noted by Strabo 
 and Diodorus Hiculus, is clearly implied in the tale Ciilled the 
 " Siege of Ilowth." In the story of " Echtra Nerai," the hero
 
 328 IDEAS RKCrARDIXG THE DEAD. 
 
 is said to have seen a heap of hea<ls, cut off by the wai-riors of 
 the fort. This calls to mind the piles of heads described by 
 travellers as occurring at the entrance to the residences of x\frican 
 chiefs. The Irish chiefs of olden day knew that if they fell alive 
 into the hands of their enemies they were likely to be shortened 
 of a head. Finn Mac Cool's celebrated wolf-hound, Bran, was, 
 like his master, gifted in a remarkable degree with fore-knowledge 
 of evil, and thus Avas enabled to give the chief many warnings 
 and to guard him from danger. Once, when the Feni had 
 suffered defeat. Bran showed the deepest dejection, and lying 
 down at his master's feet, lifted up his head and howled, upon 
 which Finn remarked : — " It is likely, my dog, that our heads 
 are in great danger this day." The decapitation of enemies, or 
 of the corpses of those fallen in battle, appears to have been a 
 usual custom in Ireland. In the year 802 " one hundred lieads 
 of foreigners " were exhiliited to the victorious Irish chiefs. Two 
 years later the Danes were defeated in Lough Foyle ; their heads 
 were collected in presence of the king, "and twelve score heads 
 were reckoned before him " ; in the same year, when the men of 
 Westmeath defeated the Connaught forces at Athlone, there was 
 " a slaughter of heads left behind." Giraldus Cambrensis men- 
 tions that at the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion the Irish 
 soldiery collected about two hundred of the heads of their fallen 
 enemies, and piled them before Dermod, King of Ireland. In 
 1390, an Anglo-Irish force was defeated and " six score (of their 
 heads) were carried for exhibition before O'Toole." In reading 
 the foregoing records one is irresistibly reminded of the sculptured 
 representations of similar scenes on the ancient hn>i rel'u'fa of 
 Assyria and of Egypt, where we see piles of heads of the slain 
 placed before the conqueror, and the Royal scribes depicted 
 taking an account of their number. It may be said that all this 
 is mere documentary evidence, but material evidence corroborates 
 these iMss. descriptions. In a sepulchral mound at Aylesbury- 
 road, near Donnybrook, in the county Dublin (removed in 1879 
 for building purposes) skulls were discovered in heaps, without 
 other parts of human skeletons. There were several piles, all in 
 an injured condition. The opinion the discoverers held was, that 
 after being cut off, the heads were rolled about or treated with 
 extreme violence, and the bones broken, previously to their being 
 gathered into heaps. In one group, consisting of eight skulls, 
 the facial bones were all smashed into fragments. The mouml 
 was ]M-obably of the eighth or ninth century at earliest. 
 
 Careful perusal and analysis of the accounts of the best and 
 most methodical explorations carried out by ([ualified observers 
 of the interments of the former inhabitants of Ireland, throw a 
 flood of light on the ideas regarding a future state held by these
 
 PLACING COLOURED STONES WITH DEAD. 329 
 
 men of the eld. In addition to osseous human remains, ancient 
 pagan cemeteries contain numerous hones of animals. These 
 latter relics indicate that the ohsequies of the dead were accom- 
 panied hy huge funeral feasts and cannibalistic orgies, an idea 
 which receives confirmation from the fact that excavations, 
 exhibiting perfect sections of pits sunk in the ground, are observ- 
 able. These excavations were probably used to cook animal food, 
 according to the well-known method in vogue amongst the ancient 
 Irish. Many traces of fractured shells of crustacete, of fish and 
 bird bones, show that the viands were varied. Shells are also 
 usually found in the cists Avith the dead. May not the presence 
 of cockle or other shells in undoubted early Christian interments 
 be a survival of this ancient custom, the shell-fish to be used as 
 food by the tenants of the graves on their long journey. In most 
 of the early prehistoric graves opened in England, Scotland, 
 Ireland, the Channel Islands, Normandy, and Brittany, limpet 
 and such like shells are present in great numbers. It is stated 
 that the natives of Ceylon do not consider an interment properly 
 performed until a few sea- shells of a particular species have been 
 cast into the grave. 
 
 Quaintly-coloured pebbles, picked up on the banks of streams, 
 were brought to their homes by the ancient cave-dwellers, as 
 charms or curiosities, whilst sea-shells, perforated so as to form 
 necklaces, must have been carried off from the shores of the 
 Atlantic or of the Irish Channel. The ancient Irish had also a 
 custom of burying white stones or lumps of quartz crystal with 
 the dead ; these are by the peasantry of the North of Ireland 
 sometimes called " Godstones." In a cemetery of stone-lined 
 graves, near the ancient burial-ground of Saul, county Down, it 
 was remarked that in each grave there were several white pebbles. 
 One cist examined by the writer at Barnasraghy, county Sligo, 
 was literally filled with pieces of angular-shaped white quartz, 
 and similar fragments accompanied almost every interment in 
 the Carrowmore series of rude stone monuments. A white stone 
 was found recently in a primitive interment not far from Larne, 
 county Antrim ; and many other instances, too numerous to men- 
 tion, could be given. These wlaite water-worn pebbles, or quartz 
 .stones, serve to identify the human remains as l)eloi]ging to a 
 very ancient period of sepulture. The custom, altliough common, 
 has been little noticed by explorers. At the bottom of one of 
 the cists in the celebrated pagan cemetery of Ballon Hill, county 
 Carlow, a funeral urn was found inverted, and beneath it, placed 
 in a triangular position, were three small, smooth pebbles, 
 surrounded by a few pieces of burned stones : one was white, 
 one black, and the third was of a greenish tinge. 
 
 White quartz stones have also been found in the Hebrides
 
 330 IDEAS REGARDIXC; THK DEAD. 
 
 in primitive interments, and in chambers in tlie interior of cams, 
 'I'liey have been observed in various ohl British tombs, and also 
 within the sacred circle on the Isle of Man — a circle which from 
 time immemorial has been held in reverence. In most of the old 
 tombs excavated in the neighbourhood of Dundee these pebbles 
 were also found. An examination of a " Pict's House," at 
 Kettleburn, in Caithness, Scotland, demonstrated that smooth 
 stones of varioiis shapes and sizes, such as might be picked up 
 on the sea-shore, were found in several of the chambers among 
 the ashes. The custom of burying white water-worn stones or 
 pieces of fractured (j^uartz or crystals may have been practised 
 contemporaneously in Scotland and Ireland. The smooth, white, 
 clean, and polished stones were probably to the ancient pagan 
 mind emblematic of some religious idea. 
 
 Pieces of pure rock-crystal, found in the Auvergne ^lomitains 
 in France, were brought to the rock-shelters of Les Eyzies by the 
 ancient cave-dwellers, probably as charms or on account of their 
 sparkle. With the aborigines of Australia in the present day the 
 possession of some such crystal is essential to the vocation of a 
 medicine man, and quartz crystals are also regarded by the 
 Apache Indians as " good medicine." With some of the people 
 of India a white pebble of a (certain size is reckoned a god of the 
 highest class. 
 
 On the north side of Lough Neagh there is a holy well, still 
 believed to have great poAver and sanctity. Yellow crystals are 
 found in great abundance in the vicinity ; these the country 
 people believe groAv on Midsummer's Eve, like mushrooms, in one 
 night. The crystals must be gathered whilst certain rhymes are 
 recited ; they then possess the power of averting evil, and bring 
 luck and prosperity to the household. They are found scattered 
 within an area of about two miles round the well, and in the 
 crannies of the rocks. One of the most depraved of all races, 
 the now extinct Tasmanians, believed that stones, especially 
 certain kinds of quartz crystals, could be used as mediums, or as 
 means of communication with spirits, with the dead, or with 
 living persons at a distance. On the Continent it was customary, 
 in early times, to deposit crystal balls in urns in sepulchres. 
 
 On the island of Inniskea, as well as in the ]\Iullet, it is cus- 
 tomary to decorate the graves with large white pebbles. It is 
 considered extremely unlucky to remove them ; for everything 
 dc])ositftd with the dead is held sacred. The old Romans i-egarded 
 one wild would ri)i) the dead as the lowest of the low, and as so 
 degraded that lie would even " snatch victunls fi'om the flames 
 of the funeral pile." 
 
 Near Inverary, it is the custom among the tisher-folk, and 
 has been so witiiin the memory of the oldest, to place little white
 
 SIGNIFICATIOX OF COLOURED STONES. 331 
 
 stones or pebbles on the graves of their friends. No reason is 
 now given for the practice. 
 
 In a description of Abyssinia, by J. Theodore Bent, it is 
 stated, that a place called Bogas possesses a striking and highly 
 interesting peculiarity in its numerous black and white tombs. 
 " The a])proach to Keren is a perfect Appian Way of this curious 
 form of sepulture. AYhen a man dies they build a round Avail of 
 black stones over his grave ; here they sacrifice goats, put food 
 for the dead, and perform their wails over the departed. If the 
 occupant of the tomb has died a natural death, they, in the 
 course of the year, pile up heaps of white quartz in the form of a 
 native hut ; if he has died of the vendetta, or any other unnatural 
 death, they put only black stones over him. One nest of graves 
 we saw consisted of seventy-two tombs, round the big white 
 grave of the head of the family ; three only of these tombs were 
 black, but in other groups the proportion was much larger." 
 
 Amongst the ]\Ianxmen it is considered to be unlucky to have 
 a white stone in a fishing boat, even in the ballast. No expla- 
 nation is given ; but there can be no doubt as to the fact of the 
 superstition. It may be illustrated from the case of a gentleman 
 who went out Avitli some fishermen several days in succession. 
 They chanced each time to be unsuccessful, and therefore the 
 men bestowed on their Jonah the nickname of Clagh Vane, or 
 " White Stone," 
 
 In the present day, if a person in the Orkney or Shetland 
 Islands is s-upposed to have been affected by the " Evil Eye," he 
 is cured by having administered to him water, both externally 
 and internally, into which have been dropped charms supposed 
 to possess magical power. As a rule these are pebbles of different 
 colours gathered from the sea-shore. The charm is considered 
 most potent Avhen one stone is white, another black, the remain- 
 der being red, olive, or of greenish tint. This clue may, to some 
 extent, be deemed explanatory of the deposition of pebbles, of 
 various colours, in ancient pagan graves. White, black, green, 
 reddish, and variegated coloured stones, of oval shapes, were 
 found by the writer in interments in the Carrowmore series of 
 rude stone monuments near the town of Sligo. 
 
 In the present day the peasantry still believe that a cure for 
 hip disease is to take three green stones, picked in silence between 
 tlie period of midnight and sunrise from the bed of a running 
 brook ; each stone is then rubbed seAeral times up and down on 
 the naked limb, from hip to heel, while an Irish rhyme is. 
 repeated, of which the following is a free translation : — 
 
 " ^VclU■ ;iMav, wear away, 
 There you sliall not stay, 
 Ciiipl pnin, a\\a\-, away I "
 
 332 JJ)JiAS A'/UrA A'D/\(; J'l/J-: DEAD. 
 
 On this subject A. W. Buckland remarks, that " among the 
 most ancient nations and the semi-civilized barbarians of our own 
 day, green stones seem to have been more hi^ldy prized than 
 tliose of any other colour." 
 
 Black stones are also still used as charms, particularly for 
 curing the mumps ; the form gone through is the same as in the 
 foregoing ceremony with green stones. Hir E. Tennant describes 
 certain stones, black in coloui' and polished, used in Ceylon for 
 the cure of wounds ; and a similai- pro})erty is ascribed in Ireland 
 to the ancient stone spindle whorls called " Fairy mill-stones." 
 
 The custom of placing these rounded or oval stones with the 
 dead survived intoChristian times. When the grave of 8t. Brecan, 
 in Aran, w^as opened, there were found, beneath a large uninscribed 
 flagstone, a number of rounded stones, averaging about nine 
 inches in diameter, evidently picked up and brought to the saint's 
 last resting place from the adjacent strand. One of tliesc bears 
 an inscription in Irish characters. 
 
 Shakespeare seems to have been well acquainted w^ith the 
 ancient rite of the deposition of stones with the dead ; for in the 
 play of lldtiili't he makes the priest to say, wlien attending the 
 body of Ophelia to the grave : — 
 
 " Her (leiilli Wiis doubtful ; 
 
 Slic should in ground uiisanctilied have lodged 
 Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers, 
 Shnrds, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her." 
 
 This means that in case of supposed self-destruction, the 
 corpse being deemed unworthy of the rites of the Catholic Church, 
 pagan observances should suffice. Some excellent examples of 
 this ancient peculiarity of sepulture were observable in the town- 
 land of Carrownagark, parish of Tawnagh, county Sligo. An 
 esker, or hill, composed seemingly only of good gravel and sand, 
 had been utilized as a gravel-pit. The upper surface of the soil, 
 ai)parently not eighieen inches in depth, was thickly studded 
 with human and animal bones ; the excavations made for sand 
 and gravel giving a perfect section of this interesting keel. 
 About one foot under the surface sod two human skulls were 
 observed ; over one lay a hammer-stone, formed of sandstone, 
 and over the other lay a flint flake and several pieces of charcoal. 
 This custom of depositing certain kinds of stones with the dead 
 lasted until well on in the present century ; for Carleton, who 
 drew from real life his character-sketches for Trait>i tnid Stories 
 of till' Irish ['('iisinitri/, recounts, in one of the tales, how, on 
 placing the ])ody in a coffin, two "pebbles from Lough J)erg"' 
 were deposited " on the breast of the corpse." 'Jlie early mission-
 
 / ^A RIO US MODES OF SEP UL'l L'R Ji. 333 
 
 aries may have thrown an air of Christianity around this curious 
 rite by quoting to their converts the passage in Rev. ii. 17 : — 
 " To hirn that overcometh will I give ... a white stone, and in 
 the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth savirighe 
 that receiveth it "; however, the symbolism of a white stone, as 
 representing happiness, or a happy day, is widely spread. 
 
 A white stone was of old the mark of good fortune. By it 
 the Greeks gave sentence of acquittal. The victor at the games 
 received one, which entitled him to food at the public expense. 
 The white stone of the Scripture admits the guest to the 
 heavenly feast. 
 
 The theory has often been advanced that because osseous 
 human remains decay under certain circumstances with com- 
 parative rapidity, that therefore the traces of man found in the 
 rude stone monuments of Ireland can be of no great antiquity. 
 Under certain conditions, however, the large bones of man and 
 of other mammalia are comparatively indestructible. Animal 
 matter is stated to be abundant in the bones of Egyptian mum- 
 mies known to be upwards of 3000 years old. Buckland made 
 soup from the bones of the extinct British cave hyena, and jelly 
 has been extracted from those of the Ohio mammoth. An edible 
 jelly was extracted from bones of the FAephas pyimu/eniHs, and a 
 strong paste made from those of Ursus speloeus ; bones of the 
 mastodon, found in New York in 1845, still contained nearly 30 
 per cent, of animal matter ; from these it would have been quite 
 easy to have prepared an antediluvian broth, a " real soup of 
 pre-x\damite gelatine," and this eccentric idea was actually 
 carried to a practical conclusion by a meeting of German natur- 
 alists at Tubingen, who partook of a soup of mammoth gelatine. 
 Bones committed to the ground will be preserved, or perish, in 
 accordance with natural laws ; it may, however, be fairly 
 assumed that the exclusion of water is a special requisite for pre- 
 servation . 
 
 Human skeletons are in Ireland sometimes found buried in a 
 sitting posture ; it is alleged that this was the position assumed 
 by primitive man for repose, and some writers go so far as to 
 state that " he had muscles developed specially for this purpose." 
 In a cist at Tullydruid, county Tyrone, a skeleton was discovered 
 in a sitting attitude, an urn at the knees and the head turned 
 towards the east. Another skeleton was in such good preserva- 
 tion that it was with the greatest difficulty some zealous members 
 of the Royal Irish Constabulary were dissuaded from sending for 
 the coroner to hold an inquest on the remains of the deceased, 
 wlio had " slnifded oif this mortal coil" some thousand years 
 ago. 
 
 In the county Meath a skeleton was discovered buried in an
 
 S84 IDEAS RKCARPIXa THE DEAD. 
 
 nprij,'ht position in a tumulus. This singular mode of interment 
 is noticed in Irish Jiss. One old warrior was huried within the 
 ramparts of his fortress, armed for hattle. King Laoghaire was 
 interred in a similar manner at Tara. Eoghan Bell, king of 
 Connaught, slain in 537. was buried on the banks of the river 
 Sligo, erect, weapon in hand, and his face to the foe. Till quite 
 lately it was customary for the dead of one family in the county 
 Sligo to be buried in an upright posture. 
 
 In committing to the ground the remains of their dead, the 
 customs of the aborigines appear to have varied. After the dis- 
 continuance of a probably universal, or almost universal state of 
 cannibalism, and when it had become merely ceremonial or 
 sporadic, interments were at first carnal. Then cremation appears 
 to have obtained, and again, later, carnal interments predomi- 
 nated. Of course there is confusion, and a commingling as one 
 custom lingers on and overlaps the other, but such, it is believed 
 by the writer, was the succession of funeral customs. 
 
 A good example of the transition from carnal interment to 
 cremation is afforded in the examination of the earn of Clogli- 
 manty, in the county Kilkenny. It had been originally of 
 considerable height, with an average diameter of seventy feet, 
 but the central and other cists had been denuded by the covering 
 material having been removed for various purposes. The central 
 chamber was large, and contained two almost perfect uncalcined 
 skeletons. In the course of time new customs obtained ; the 
 dead were burned, portion only of the bones of the skeleton 
 collected and placed in fictile vessels, and the old burial place was 
 still used by the people practising cremation, the calcined 
 remains being deposited in small chambers in the already exist- 
 ing earn. 
 
 Amongst a number of old pagan sepulchres examined in the 
 county Hligo was one in which the remains of numerous skeletons, 
 some evidently burned, others exhibiting no trace of lire, were 
 piled on the floor of a cist that occupied the centre of a earn. 
 All idea maybe formed of the magnitude of the cist when one of 
 the stones which formed the side was sixteen feet in length and 
 six feet in breadth. In this chamber six different human inter- 
 ments were found, occupying the eastern and western ends, the 
 centre part being unoccupied. The bones were collected into 
 heaps that rested upon the freestone flags which formed the 
 bottom or floor of the tomb. The large bones, such as those of 
 the arms, legs, and thighs, covered the half-calcined remains of 
 the smaller ones, and the skull surmounted the little pyramid 
 thus formed. Kound the margin of each heap were a quantity 
 of the bones of lairds and some of the lower mammalia, together 
 with ;i iiuiiibcr of siiinll slidls. V.\\v\\ of these six intcniieiits
 
 J \l RIO US MODES OF SEP UL TURK. 335 
 
 was distinct, and surrounded by small freestone Hags. No 
 weapon or ornament was discovered. 
 
 In a tumulus near " Gibbet Rath," on the Curraghof Kildare, 
 there was found, in a small cist, a large cinerary urn, about two 
 feet in diameter, composed of half-burned pottery, and in it were 
 deposited portions of a human skeleton comprising fragments of 
 the skull and some teeth. In the course of subsequent explora- 
 tions another urn was discovered in a neighbouring mound, and, 
 about three feet beneath the summit of another tumulus, a cist 
 was found nearly eight feet long, in which lay four or five uncal- 
 cined skeletons. In other interments portions only of the bodies 
 seem to have been originally committed to the tomb ; thus it will 
 be perceived that in this area, which appears to have been care- 
 fully examined, almost every description of interment was 
 practised by the old occupants of the land. 
 
 In an ancient sepulchral chamber at Ballynahatty, county 
 Down, situated in a field almost adjoining the great circular 
 embankment known as the " Giant's Ring," three methods of 
 interment, all contemporaneously practised, were observed — ■ 
 Cremation with urn burial ; cremation without urn burial ; and 
 the entombment of unburnt portions of the dismembered body: — 
 
 "Amongst the burnt bones contained both in the urns and the 
 recesses were numerous fragments of skulls, clearly proving that 
 the unburnt crania could not possibly have Iteen portions of 
 the individuals by whose burnt remains they were surrounded. 
 From the position occupied by three undisturbed lower jaws, the 
 heads had evidently been deposited upon their bases, with their 
 faces towards the west, no portion whatever of the trunk having 
 been deposited with them " (see page 290). 
 
 A good example of a mixed interment occurred in one of the 
 cists of the Carrowmore series of rude stone monuments near the 
 town of Sligo. x\n uncalcined interment had been made over 
 incinerated remains. At the lowest level of the side-stones of 
 the cist, a floor or flagging of calpy limestone slabs Avas found. 
 It was on this, which overlay the undisturbed " till," that the 
 body or bodies of the primary interment had been originally cre- 
 mated, portions of the floor showing marks of fire, and semi- 
 burnt Avood was found intact, Avith the layer of calcined bones 
 aboA^e. It was plainly evident, from the floors and burnt bones 
 extending in " pockets " under the side-stones of the cist, that 
 the latter had been constructed over the funeral pyre, that the 
 calcined remains Avere the primary interment, and that they had 
 not been placed Avithin an already completed chamber, differing 
 in this respect from the interments at a tunuilus at Dysart, Avhere 
 the cists Avere first finished, and the fire lighted on the covering 
 slabs. Although the soil and de])ris in the CarroAvmore cist
 
 880 IDEAS RF.CARDIXC ////■ PI-:. [P. 
 
 were carefully excavulcil and silled, no tlinl implements, orna 
 ments, or traces of fictilia were observuhle. 'riic exploration 
 seems to throw great light on the manner in which these primi- 
 tive " cremationists " burnt — at any rate in some instances — 
 their dead. The Avord cremation is apt to convey to the mind an 
 idea of swift and complete destruction of a body by fire. By 
 some modern methods an ordinary-sized corpse can be reduced to 
 a few pounds of ashes in a very few minutes, but the primitive 
 method of placing the body on a pile of wood was necessarily 
 often lengthy and imperfect in its results. I5ones, thus roughly 
 cremated, present curious cracU-like nuirl\s or nicks, the effect — a 
 mechanieal one — of unequal contraction of the bone in cooling. 
 Tliey cannot be marks of scraping, for they are, almost without 
 exception, transverse, whilst scrapes, if intended to strip the 
 bone, would be longitudinal ; they also, in many instances, extend 
 through the entire thickness of the bones, show on the interior of 
 the medullary canal, and are also found on pieces of the fiat 
 bones of the skull. To give prominence to such an apparently 
 trivial detail is necessary, for a superficial observer might, on 
 observing the cracks in calcined bones, arrive at the conclusion 
 that they Avere marks of cannibalistic origin. 
 
 Amongst the animal osseons remains foimd by W. J. Knowles 
 amidst the sites of primitive huts, believed to belong to the 
 Stone Age, at AVhitepark Bay, county Antrim, were human 
 bones; but whether these thus scattered about, in conjunction with 
 those of animals, indicated that the people of the littoral were, in 
 general, cannibals is a question not yet positively decided. In the 
 stations, rock-shelters, and cave-refuges of the Continent, amongst 
 the split bones of the larger animals fractured to extract the 
 marrow, a sufficient number of human bones have been found to 
 prove that Palaeolithic, or rude-flint using man, was, if not 
 universally, still sporadically a cannibal. In several instances 
 these bones, including those of women and children, have been 
 discovered in great quantities, charred by fire, evidently the traces 
 of cannibalistic orgies. ^Yhile traces of cannibalism are frequent 
 in the late polished Stone period they necessarily become fainter 
 in the early rude Stone Age, /'(/// /'(/.s.s/? with the diminution of 
 liuman osseous remains. 
 
 In the cave of Ballynamintra fragments of hiiman bones were 
 mixed with rude stone implements and animal osseous remains. 
 Dui-ing the exploration of one of the Knockmore caves in Fer- 
 managh, a quantity of apparently purposely fractured and broken 
 bones were found, many having been subjected to the action of 
 fire. AVhen submitted to the inspection of Professors Haughton 
 and Macalister several of these fragments were pronounced to be 
 remains ot liuman skeletons. The diseovei'v favoui's the hypo-
 
 INHUMA TION. 387 
 
 thesis that, at one period of its history, the cave was occupied by 
 a tribe of cannibals. 
 
 An urn discovered in a barrow at Topping, near Larne, 
 county Antrim, contained imperfectly burned human bones, 
 apparently much broken and split by force before being charred. 
 
 In pi-esumably early, as well as in late, carnal interments, 
 several instances occur in which stone or bronze weapons have 
 been discovered embedded in human crania ; a bronze spear- 
 head was, in the year 1814, found near Kilkenny, driven into 
 a human skull, part of the weapon being broken off, apparently 
 by the force of the blow. This, of course, only proves that the 
 defunct met his death by violence ; but again, in many instances 
 the long bones of the leg, and other parts of human skeletons, 
 are found with clearly marked longitudinal fractures, which, 
 when observed in osseous remains in the refuse-heaps of crannogs 
 or lake-dwellings, have occasioned archa?ologists to pronounce 
 without hesitation the verdict that these animal bones had been 
 fractured for the purpose of facilitating the extraction of the 
 marrow. 
 
 In general, the space in which human remains are found is 
 too limited to have contained even one adult body in an unmuti- 
 lated condition, whilst traces of several are often recognizable. 
 
 In some instances, whilst the crania were present, the re- 
 mainder of the skeletons was missing. On the subject of the 
 position of the bones, when found in dtu in an obviously hitherto 
 undisturbed sepulchral chamber, a surgeon who examined them 
 stated that they were placed there subsequent to the removal of 
 the flesh and other investing media. 
 
 The only way to account for this is, that the body or bodies 
 Avere dissevered and packed within the very limited space. Again, 
 it is a fact that, in many cases, no traces of the jaw bones or of the 
 teeth were to be seen, although teeth are known to be the most 
 enduring portion of the human frame, but otherwise the crania 
 were comparatively perfect. 
 
 "The absence of the lower jaw," remarks W. C. Borlase, 
 " has been frequently remarked in the case of Irish skulls from 
 cists in tumuli. That the sacrifices of human beings (infants 
 when a good harvest was required and famine to be averted, and 
 prisoners of war, malefactors, and strangers when the war god 
 or the national deity was to be specially honoured or appeased) 
 took place throughout the whole of north-western Europe, in 
 Ireland, in Britain, in Scandinavia, in Germany, and in Gaul 
 we have ample testimony, not from classical sources alone, but 
 from the traditions which medianal writers have rescued from 
 the past." 
 
 In a sepulchral mound opened in the neighbourhood of 
 
 z
 
 888 IDEAS RE(tARJ)1XG 'I'HE DEAD. 
 
 PortafeiTy, there was a cenlnil cliauiber, about six feet long, 
 tbi-mecl by eight very large upright stones, a large flagstone 
 forming the floor, on which lay a heap, a foot in thickness, of 
 black mould and human bones, consisting of fragments of ribs, 
 vertebrie, ends of tlie long bones, pieces of the skull and joints 
 of the Angers of a full-grown person, together witli several bones 
 of a very young child. None of these had been subjected to the 
 action of Are, but there were several fragments of incinerated or 
 calcined bone, also human, l^ither these latter were portion of 
 the same bodies burned, or they belonged to an individual sacri- 
 flced to the manes of the person whose grave this was. The 
 latter is the more probable, from the circumstances under which 
 similar remains have been discovered in other localities. There 
 were no urns, weapons, or ornaments. 
 
 A dozen tumuli which lay in a small area on the Curragh of 
 Kildare were opened, and in every instance large quantities of 
 human bones were found, in most cases giving the idea of legs, 
 arms, and skulls having been thrown in promiscuously. Examples 
 of fragmentary human interments were discovered in the cham- 
 bers of a earn on the slopes of Topped Mountain, in the county 
 Fermanagh, which had, until recently, been covered b}' a thick 
 growth of peat. 
 
 The opening of a tumulus at Dysert, county Meath, resulted 
 in tlie discovery of two chambers, containing each an unburned 
 huniiui skeleton. On the covering stone of one of the chambers 
 there were uncalcined, or slightly calcined, human remains, with 
 others fully calcined superimposed. One of these deposits con- 
 sisted of the skeleton of a youth scarcely more than twelve years 
 old. The chamber was completely surrounded with a mixture of 
 clay, ashes, and sandstone blocks, partly disintegrated by the 
 action of intense heat. It would appear as if the chamber w^as 
 first constructed, the bodies then deposited in it, the covering flag 
 imposed, and the funeral pyre erected over it, the victims immo- 
 lated, tlieir corpses then placed upon it, the torches applied, and 
 the fearful rites of pagan sepulture consummated. The victims 
 having been consumed, the fragments of their bones were col- 
 lected and deposited on the cover of the chamber ; the ashes of 
 the pyre were then heaped upon the cists, the boulders over it, 
 and lastly, the outer covering of clay over all. The supposed 
 order of the rites observed at the deposition of the skeletons con- 
 tained in the chambers, and of the immolation of the victims over 
 the cists, is corroborated by the baked appearance of the top of 
 the skulls of the tenants of the tomb. As tlie skulls are the only 
 osseous remains enclosed in the chambers which show marks of 
 having been subjected to heat, and as the upper portions of the 
 crania must, from the sitting posture of the skeletons, have come
 
 CREMA TIOX— CA NNIBA LISM. 339 
 
 into almost immediate contact with the covering flagstone over 
 whicli the funeral pyre was burning, the conclusion as to the pro- 
 cess pursued becomes in this case a certainty. 
 
 From many well authenticated excavations of previously undis- 
 turbed interments, in which no traces of cremation were apparent, 
 it is evidently physically impossible that the chamber which 
 contained some few bones of well differentiated human skele- 
 tons, could possibly have received even one corpse entire. The 
 bones must either have been the remains of victims immolated 
 during the celebration of sepulchral rites, or relics of warriors 
 slain in battle, buried, and subsequently disinterred for final 
 repose in the sepulchres of their ancestors ; but this latter theory 
 would not account for the frequent recurrence of longitudinally 
 fracturedbones with medullary canals, nor for the great deficiency 
 in the osseous fi:amework of the tenants of the tomb. 
 
 Fig. 94. 
 
 The remains oi a pre-historic Briton's dinner. Human skull and bones artificially 
 fractured for the purpose ot extracting the brains and the marrow. After a 
 sketch in the Daily Mnjl. 
 
 The prehistoric Briton, like his neighbour the prehistoric 
 Irishman, had no objection to human flesh ; on the contrary, 
 there is conclusive evidence to show that human beings, with the 
 animals, formed portion of his everyday food. In a lake-dwelling, 
 of the rude Stone .\ge, discovered recently at Braintree, human 
 skulls, split to extract the brains, and human bones, split from 
 end to end by artificial means for extraction of the marrow, were 
 discovered imbedded in the former lake bed, intermixed with 
 those of oxen and other animals, which had undergone similar 
 treatment (fig. 94). 
 
 Treating of a later period, Moore, in his History of IrcJand, 
 remarks that " in the ill repute of the ancient Irish for civilization, 
 their neighbours, the Britons, equally shared ; and the same 
 charges of incest, community of wives, and other such abomin- 
 ations, whicli we find alleged against the Irish, are brought also 
 
 Z 2
 
 840 fDEAS Rl-:GARDIX(r THE DEAD. 
 
 against the natives ol' Dritain by Ciesar and Dion Cassius. . . . 
 In reterring to the charges of these two historians against the 
 Britons, Whitaker says, ' the accusation is too surely as just as it 
 is scandalous,' In a sermon of St. Chrysostom, quoted by 
 Camden, that Father exclaims : ' How often in Britain did men 
 eat the llesh of their ow}i kind.' " 
 
 ^Vbi]st coniparativoly modern native writers state that ancient 
 Y.\\\\ was a higlily civilized, cultured, and homogeneous nation, 
 classic writers state — and in this they are corroborated hy material 
 evidence — that it was peopled by tribes of cannihals. When such 
 a divergence of opinion arises, is it not the most straightforward 
 course to appeal to the traces left by the primitive inhabitants to 
 guide us to aright decision'? If a man, in those distant ages, 
 ate his enemy, his neighbour, or his friend, he did so without 
 having before him the fear that, at a remote period, some anti- 
 quary would be investigating the dujecta rnoiibra of his feast ; 
 whilst, if it be thought that a slur is cast on the Irish by the 
 suggestion of an early prevalent cannibalism, it should satisfy 
 the national pride to know that the dwellers in Caledonia and 
 Albion, and indeed it may be said almost all primitive tribes, 
 were originally in a sinnlar state of savagery. 
 
 It may be regarded as an undisputable fact that cannibal rites 
 were practised in portions of Ireland and of the British Islands 
 down to comparatively historic times ; that savagery did not die 
 out in every locality ; but that, judged by folklore and archaeo- 
 logical evidence, there remained, here and there, restricted areas 
 of unmitigated barbarism, hideous ulcers but half concealed 
 beneath the fair surface which the pseudo-historians of early 
 times present to our gaze. 
 
 The origin of Grecian civilization was quite as rude as that of 
 the Irish or of the British ; for, if we are to credit early tradition, 
 the first inhabitants of Greece dwelt only in caves, Avhilst, during 
 the period of internecine feuds, the vanquished were devoured by 
 the victors.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AND GOBLIXS. 
 
 Survival of older Faiths than Christianity — Distinct traces of Paganism still to 
 be found — Religion commenced ■with the worship of Fetishes — Rose to a 
 Polytheistic Hierarchy — For a lengthened period there existed an un- 
 defined borderland between Paganism and Christianity — Reactions against 
 Christianit}' — Memorj^ of the Gods of ancient Erin very indistinct — Lir, 
 the Sea God — Xudd, or Neit, the War God — Dianket, the Medicine God — 
 Dagda, the Fire God — All deified mortals — The Goddesses of ancient Erin — 
 Now styled Hags — Meaning of the term — They frequent " Hag's Beds " 
 and " Dermod and Grania's Beds" — These monuments associated with 
 Aphrodisiac customs — Legends relating to them — The White-robed Pagan 
 "Hag" — The Black-rohed Christian "Hag" — Aynia — Bav, the War 
 Goddess, equates with the Gaulish Ana, or Cybele, the Valkyria of the 
 Norse, the Bellona of the Latins — Her three sisters — Neman, Morrigan, 
 and Macha — Wives of Nudd, the War God, i.e., the Three Furies — Vera, 
 Eevil, Una — The Banshee (a generic term) — an aristocratic spirit — Cleena, 
 a free and easy spirit— Localities named after " Hags " — They erect Rude 
 Stone Monuments in a single night— Grian — Grana — Murna — The water 
 sprite or demon — The water serpent or piast — Aquatic horses — Gigantic 
 Eels — An "Irish Crocodile" — Disease considered the work of demons — 
 Anecdotes regarding this — Deities of one period become the demons of 
 another — All these malignant beings degenerated representatives of the 
 Goddesses of the ancient Irish. 
 
 The presence, in our midst, of survivals of an older faith than 
 Christianity is not readily grasped. Is not the historian of 
 ancient Erin as much concerned with the faiths professed by the 
 elder inhabitants as with the history of the various races who 
 have successively occupied the country ? Survivals of what we, 
 in our pride, designate as " pagan superstitions " are in reality 
 religious ; they are fossilized fragments of the faiths of primitive 
 peoples. All through the two ages, the remote and the present 
 — often treated by superficial observers as differing in almost 
 all essentials — there is a well defined, underlying and indivisible 
 unity pervading the entire period, which modern research is 
 making every day more and more apparent, for we now rightly 
 regard " the present as the child of the past and as the parent of
 
 342 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 the future." The root idoas in most primitive rehg-ions appear 
 to he practically identical, yd the forms tlicy assume vary 
 greatly, according to the epocli in whicli they develop, and 
 country, climate, and moral chai'acteristics are important factors 
 in moulding their growth. When popular superstitions are 
 analysed a singular degree of uniformity is traceable in that 
 realm of the ideal world where most diversity miglit ho expected, 
 and we find races, separated hy the ocean, united in their de- 
 lusions. It would appear as if primitive mythology had not 
 spread from nation to nation, but that all have derived their 
 belief from some very primitive root-idea, as supernatural beings, 
 which owe their existence only to the imagination, betray, in 
 every climate and in every age, so close an affinity to one 
 another that it is scarcely possible to avoid admittmg that the 
 workings of the human mind, in separate and distinct peoples, 
 had a predominant share in giving them their characteristics. 
 Civilized and savage peoples alike divide souls into distinct parts. 
 Throughout Asia, Africa, and America there is a belief in the 
 transmigration of souls into animals, plants, and other objects, 
 and in tlie general conception of the world as a living animal, 
 witli all the tendencies ascribed to it by Plato, Many savage 
 tribes believe that their souls ascend to the stars and abide there, 
 and almost all savages believe firmly in the demoniac possession 
 of madmen and of the sick which has led to what may be styled 
 a "diabolic pathology." 
 
 A theory frequently advanced is that the religious ideas of 
 man began by the worship of special fetishes, whether elements 
 or material objects, that these fetishes gradually coalesced into 
 comprehensive types, then into polytheistic hierarchies, finally, 
 in a few instances, a vague conception arose that then; might be 
 but one ruling power. Thus we should commence our examina- 
 tion of the traces of the ancient beliefs of the Irish by studying 
 fetishism, but it may be clearer to the reader to start the inquiry 
 fi'iim the highest point attained in Ireland, namely, a very loosely 
 bound polytheistic hierarchy, and essay to discover from what 
 depths the aborigines had ascended in their search after the 
 Infinite, for the intellectual worth of a people is demonstrated in 
 its mythical products, in the quality and greatness of its beliefs, 
 and in their development into more rational notions. 
 
 Old pagan observances are being rapidly obliterated by social 
 progress and the grim utilitarianism of modern times. The 
 plains through which, as ancient tradition avers, Finn MacCool 
 pursued the flying chase are now traversed by the locomotive, for 
 the march of improvement is imperious, nay, at times ruthless, 
 and everything has to go down before the destruction which it 
 regards as necessary to progress ; but the conception of wliat is
 
 TRACES OF PAGANISM STILL FOUND. 843 
 
 really necessary is now becoming more defined, and a greater re- 
 gard is grooving up as to the honour due to ancient land-marks, 
 whether material or literary. 
 
 Studying the changes now going on throughout the length 
 and breadth of our land may be likened to viewing the effects 
 produced by magic lantern slides, where the receding picture 
 blends strangely with the features of the oncoming scene. 
 The quaint old elements of society are fading even as we gaze on 
 the screen, and are being obliterated by the new scene. Much 
 that we now see will soon have disappeared ; that which the 
 lapse of centuries failed to effect, education is now accomplisliing 
 so rapidly, that, ere long, the last faint traces of the olden times 
 will have entirely vanished from the canvas. 
 
 Many singular customs of the Irish peasantry are but faint 
 reflected lights of the old past, for, although the Christian mis- 
 sionaries did their utmost, according to their light, to stamp out 
 paganism, there remained in the hearts of the people a deeply- 
 rooted fondness for the form of worship in Avhich they had been 
 brought up. It Avas the religion of their forefathers, and despite 
 the popular idea of the rapid conversion of the island to 
 Christianity by St. Patrick, yet in almost every district there 
 must have remained some few Avho clung, with tenacity, to the 
 old tenets, and handed them down from generation to generation 
 in a more or less mutilated form. To the present day very dis- 
 tinct traces of paganism may be found in the acts of that class of 
 charlatans styled charm-mongers, herb- or fairy-doctors. Even 
 where all traces of Druidism and fairyism are supposed to have 
 vanished, many of the practices attributed to wise women or 
 witches are but reproductions of those formerly ascribed to 
 Druids. In these superstitions and observances of the peasantry 
 are enshrined strange fragmentary relics of earlier creeds, some- 
 times even traces of cannibalistic practices, but their remote 
 antiquity and- now but half decipherable implications are, in 
 general, passed unnoticed. The most exhaustive survey that 
 could well be accomplished must of necessity fail to give a perfect 
 delineation of the character of a people, unless it is based upon 
 the confessions they themselves have placed on record. Without 
 these history is a mere catalogue of dates and facts, useless alike 
 as a panorama of the past, or as an object-lesson for future 
 generations. 
 
 Close study of fragmentary remains of primeval customs pos- 
 sesses consideriil)le interest as well as authoritative value. Better 
 even than language these remains become beacons to point out 
 the true origin of nations. They illustrate analogies of customs 
 and usages in the West and in the East, Avhich, to superficial 
 observation, seem to possess little oi' no importance, yet they, to
 
 3-4i GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AND GOBLINS. 
 
 the reflective inquirer, offer subjects of interesting speculation 
 and create permanent land-marks on the road to real knowledge. 
 As observed by Froude : — " Our indifference costs us more than 
 we are aware of. It is supremely desirable that we should be 
 acquainted with the age in which Christianity became the creed 
 of civilized mankind, and we learn but half the truth from the 
 Christian Fathers. Whether we regard Christianity as a miracle 
 from without, or as developed from within, out of the conscience 
 and intellect of man, we perceive at any rate that it grew by 
 natural causes, that it commended itself by arguments and 
 example, that it was received or rejected according to the moral 
 and mental condition of those to whom it was addressed. We 
 shall understand the history of its triumph only when we see the 
 heathen world as the heathen world saw itself." 
 
 For a lengthened period there was in Ireland an undefined 
 border line between Christian and pagan ; there were wavering 
 chiefs who would fain strike a bargain with heaven ; they would 
 accept Christianity if God would but grant them victory. So 
 late as the year a.d. 561, at the battle of Cooldrumman, near 
 DrumcUft', county Sligo, St. Columbkille, when praying aloud 
 for the success of his supporters, addressed Christ as " My 
 Druid," probably considering that, by thus imploring help from 
 above, he would be better understood by his followers. The line 
 between Christianity and paganism was gradually obliterated by 
 the advancing tide of the new faith, which finally overspi-ead 
 the land ; the superstitions and legends of paganism remained, 
 and in most districts, especially in remote and mountainous 
 localities, they yet linger, but with ever diminishing strength ; 
 for rugged highlands shelter old races and foster and sustain old 
 practices. There were also several reactions against Christianity ; 
 for example, in some fragments of Irish Annals, translated by 
 O'Donovan, it is stated that many of the Irish, in the ninth 
 century, forsook the Christian faith, and joined the pagan 
 invaders in their plundering expeditions. 
 
 Religion sat lightly on the shoulders alike of pagans and of 
 Christians. According to the Saga of Egil, Athelstan, King of 
 England, when proffered the assistance of a band of sea rovers, 
 accepted their aid on condition that the chiefs were " prime- 
 signed," as was then very usual, both among traders and those 
 who went into the service of Christians ; for those who were 
 " prime-signed, had full intercourse with both Christians and 
 heathens, but at the same time they believed what they liked 
 best." A very convenient creed, resembling that professed by 
 Redwald, King of the East Angles, who built a church, at one 
 end of which he erected an altar for the sacrifice of the Mass, 
 and at the other end an altai' foi' sacrifice to his old Saxon gods.
 
 THE GODS OF ANCIENT ERIN. 345 
 
 The good simple man desired to propitiate both sides, and he 
 has accordingly been excluded from the calendar. The Nor- 
 wegian chief Helgi is another excellent type of a semi-Chris- 
 tianised warrior striving to serve two masters. As an infant he 
 had been baptized ; he therefore Avorshipped Christ when on 
 shore ; but on occasions of difticulty, or of danger, or when at 
 sea, he offered up his prayers to Thor. 
 
 The gods of ancient Erin have vanished, leaving but faint 
 traces of their former worship. The god, or demigod, Manannan 
 Mac Lir, appears to have been a tutelary deity of the sea, an 
 Irish Neptune, ruler of the waters, lakes, as well as giant Ocean. 
 He was of Dedanann descent ; we are told that he was a famous 
 merchant, who resided on and gave his name to the Isle of 
 Man. He was a weather-prophet, and ruler of the winds, and 
 by examination of the beavens, he predicted the length of time 
 fair or foul weather would continue. He has almost disappeared 
 from popular tradition, and is now best known from having left 
 nine daughters, who bequeathed their names to nine lakes. Of 
 these only five are remembered by the peasantry — they are Gill, 
 Erne, Labe, Arrow, and Key. Gill, from whom, in current 
 tradition, Lough Gill, near Sligo, takes its name, is said to be 
 often seen in the vicinity of the lake, over the waters of which 
 she skims in her fleet rolling chariot. This banshee, or rather 
 fairy queen, possesses an acknowledged pre-eminence over her 
 other sisters : — 
 
 " Foi- o'er those waves, from time unknown, 
 
 Tir enchantress fair, 
 
 Wliose name they bear. 
 Hath reigned on her crystal throne ; 
 
 There lier fleet chariot wheels of old 
 
 Over the glassj' waters roll'd. 
 And legends say ttie royal maid, 
 In robe of purest white ariay'd 
 
 And crown'd with diadem of gold, 
 Still reins abreast three coal-black steeds, 
 Still on her car of triumph speeds 
 In roj'al pride and radiant sheen. 
 Around her native valleys green, 
 
 And skims o'er the blue tide's surface cold." 
 
 It was probably owing to his familiarity with a tradition of this 
 kind that Spenser drew materials for his "Faerie Queene." 
 These goddesses enjoyed a joke as much as present day ladies 
 of Erin. Of the sisters, one possessed a beautiful lake in the 
 territory over which she held sway, whilst her elder sister had 
 none. One day the elder said to the younger, "Give me the 
 loan of your silver lake, and I promise to return it on Monday" 
 (it is well to explain that in Ii'isb, tlie terms expressing ^londay
 
 316 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 and the Day of Ju(l<,Mnent are identical). Tlie younger good- 
 naturedly poured her lake into a cow's hide and despatched it by 
 special messenger ; but when the porter was sent to carry it 
 back, the elder sister made answer : "assuredly I said Monday, 
 but I meant the Day of Judgment, and I intend keeping the lake 
 until then." So T.ougli Foyle, or the "borrowed lake," remains 
 in her country to this day, while tlie great bare and barren 
 hollow from whence it was taken may be seen in Connaught, 
 awaiting the retui-ii of the waters, wliicli will take [)lace on the 
 Day of Judgment. 
 
 Amongst the gods there was also Neit, Ned or Nudd, tlio god 
 of war ; and Diancecht, or Dianket, the god of medicine, of whose 
 healing powers extraordinary stories are told. Dr. P. W. Joyce 
 states that the latter had a son, and a daughter named Armedda, 
 more skilful than himself. The old legend relates that the son 
 " took off the silver arm which his father Dianket had put on 
 Nuada, and having procured the bones of the real arm he clothed 
 them with flesh and skin, and fixed the arm in its place as well 
 as ever." Dianket was so enraged at being excelled by his son 
 that he killed him. After some time, three hundred and sixty- 
 five healing herbs sprang up on his grave— each herb to cure 
 disease, in that part of the human body from which it grew, and 
 all of them were gathered by his sister, and placed carefully in 
 their proper order. " J^ut Ijefore she had time to study their 
 several virtues fully, her father Dianket mixed them all up in 
 utter confusion. Were it not for this churlish proceeding, 
 Armedda would have found out, and we would now know the 
 exact herb to cure each particular disease of the human frame." 
 
 Irish gods were apparently but deified mortals, celebrities of 
 their day, taken indiscriminately from the three so-called colonies 
 of the Formorians, the Dedanaini, and the Milesians. 
 
 It may bo interesting to point out that Keating, in his //"/.s/n/y/ 
 i>f IviAiDiil, explains the change in name of tlu'ec of the chiefs of 
 the Dedanann by stating that they were called, instead of their 
 proper names, Maccuill, Maceacht, and MacGreine, because the 
 idols they severally worshipped were distinguished by these 
 names. Maccuill adored, for his deity, a log of wood {ctiill), 
 ]\Iaceacht worshi]i]iod a ploughshare (cr/irht) and MacGreine 
 chose for his god Orimi, the sun. HowcNcr all llic Irish gods 
 were not inanimate ol)jects of nature, and although Dr. Todd, in 
 his life of St. Patrick, is of opinion that the Irish had no know- 
 ledge of the gods or the feminine deities of the classic world 
 under any Celtic designations, yet there can be little doubt but 
 that many of them, under ancient Gaulish names, may be 
 recognised in old Irish legends. IMany of the old Celtic gods of 
 Gaul, of l^)i'itaiii, and of li'daiid appear to have been the nature-
 
 DEIFIED MORTALS. 847 
 
 gods of the primitive Aryan family, thougb in Ireland several 
 were designated by names differing from their British and 
 Gaiihsh prototypes. Edward Clodd, f.r.a.s., remarks that among 
 those worshipped by the Irish was " Dagda, a fire-god, whose 
 caldron was the vault of the sky, and whose hammer, like that 
 of Tiranis and Thor, is the thunderbolt. . . . Among the 
 gods common to the British and Irish tribes were Don and Nudd 
 and Lir and their children. . . . Nudd, or Noden, was an 
 ocean god ... in Ireland he is King Nuada, whose wife 
 Avas the goddess of the river Boyne. . . . Lir was also a 
 sea god, who appears in old Welsh histories as Lud, to whom 
 some think that a temple, on the hill where St. Paul's Cathedral 
 stands, was once erected ; and in another form of the legend, as 
 King Lear." 
 
 It has never been sufficiently borne in mind that the deities of 
 all peoples, Avith, perhaps, the exception of the Jews, are generally 
 recognised as " earth-born." The members of the Olympian 
 hierarchy were but human beings very slightly idealised, and en- 
 dured all the ills of "suffering sad humanity." Their birth-places, 
 pedigrees, histories, and deaths are given by those who adored 
 them as deities. The grave of Zeus was shown in Crete, ApoUo 
 was buried at Delphi, and the graves of Hermes and Aphrodite 
 were all anciently pointed out. In their poetical and dramatical 
 machinery the ancients made their gods the prime agents of as 
 much evil as good. " They have described them as mixing them- 
 selves up with human infirmities, and lending themselves to 
 human passions, in so gross a manner that it is almost impos- 
 sible to admire virtue, and to esteem such gods, or to look up 
 to heaven with affection, Avithout looking down upon its rulers 
 Avith abhorrence. . . . The Avriters of the Greek tragedy were 
 continually placing their audiences in positions where, if they 
 exercised their pity it could only be at the expense of their piety, 
 and Avhere disgust Avas a feeling far more liable to be excited than 
 devotion. In short, there seems to be this difference betAveen the 
 superstition of the Pagans and the religion of the Christians — 
 the former lowered a god to a man, the latter exalts a man to a 
 god ! " Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, and Orcus contract Avhat may be 
 euphemistically styled morganatic marriages Avith mortal Avoman. 
 On the other hand, favoured mortals, such as Anchises and En- 
 dyniion, find faA'our in the eyes of goddess, or nymph of stream, 
 sea, hill, or dale. According to all accounts these good old 
 times have come to an end, the time when Ossian follows his 
 golden-haii-ed charmer through the sunlit Avaves till they reach 
 the land of youthful delight at the l)ottom of the Atlantic ; avIicu 
 jMichael Scott dwells with the fairy queen in her kingdom ; wlicn 
 the handsoiiic young fisherman is enticed by the mermaid to
 
 348 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 descend to meads niid bowers beneath llie green waves ; and when 
 women, neglecting Christian rites, are carried off by the fairies 
 into their underground palaces. 
 
 If we seek tlie origin of primitive (Ircek and Roman worship, 
 all the hierarchy who, served by Ilebe and Ganymede, feasted on 
 Olympus, vanish ; for the first worship of Greek and Roman alike 
 was the w-orship of the dead. In olden times not only every 
 celebrated man, but every man who was not an outcast, became, 
 wlien dead, a divinity to his descendants, who worshipped in him, 
 and in all ancestors, the principle of life which they inherited. 
 Just before his death Vespasian — evidently a sceptic as to his 
 promotion to divinity, for the apotheosis of Roman Emperors was 
 the last surviving application of a belief formerly universal — 
 exclaimed mockingly, " Alas ! I think I feel my divinity coming 
 upon me." Roman altars, discovered in various parts of Britain, 
 are frecpiently dedicated to the niimoi or divinity of the Emperor. 
 
 Although memory of the gods of Erin has almost vanished, 
 yet memory of the goddesses has been retained. In the folk-lore 
 of the peasantry there are still existent prominent supernatural 
 mythical beings, some passively benign, others actively malig- 
 nant, who hold sway in popular tradition, and who are reputed to 
 reside in the numerous rude stone monuments throughoiit Ireland 
 named after them. The designation of these survivals is Cailleach, 
 i.e. witch, or hag ; hence rude stone structures in which they are 
 reputed to dwell are called "hags' beds." The Irish-speaking 
 peasant still designates these grand monuments, scattered broad- 
 cast over the land, Icahfi (pronounced hihJiy), the resting-place 
 or bed, understood as grave. The most imposing structures 
 are usually called " Labby Dermody agus Grania," the bed of 
 Dermod and Grania, this designation being derived from the 
 well-known legend of Dermod O'Dyne's elopement with Grania, 
 but this portion of the story evidently took its rise from the word 
 liililnj being understood in its literal sense of " a bed." 
 
 Even in the present day "Dermod and Granisi's beds" are 
 associated with runaway couples and with aphrodisiac customs. 
 Of this Dutton's experience when in search of the ]jal]ycasheen 
 " bed " in Clare, is an excellent example. He relates that on 
 incpiiry from some country girls where this celebrated "bed" was 
 situated, he was heartily laughed at for asking one of them to 
 show him the way to it. " After a long consultation with one 
 somewhat older than herself^sometimes with very serious 
 countenances, often with smiling ones, and the elder using a 
 good deal of persuasion — she agreed to go with me, if she 
 was certain I was a stranger, and she knew my name. As 
 the conversation between them w^as in Irish, which I did not 
 understand, and the evening was growing late, I became impa-
 
 THE GODDESSES OE ANCIEN'I ERIN. 849 
 
 tient, and very ungallantly rode away. When I had ridden a 
 mile further I made the same inquiry from a herd's wife, and 
 at the same time told her how I had been laughed at by the 
 girls. She said, * No wonder for them, for it was the custom 
 that if she went with a stranger to Darby and Grane's bed she 
 was certainly to grant him everything he asked.' " Comment- 
 ing on this, W. C. Borlace remarks that from anecdotes he had 
 himself heard, as well as from covert jokes which he noticed, 
 passing in Irish, between persons who had accompanied him to 
 " Dermod and Grania's beds," he is sure that this reputation 
 is still attached to these monuments. No doubt but that from 
 Pagan times comes the widespread notion that these "Beds"' 
 were efdcacious in cases of barrenness. Dutton remarks that if a 
 woman " proves barren, a visit with her husband to Darby and 
 Grane's bed certainly cures her." Mr. Borlace states that — " A 
 similar superstition prevails in the case of some Welsh dolmens 
 (i.e. cromleacs) in which country they also are associated with 
 illicit and clandestine meetings. In Brittany, in the Pyrenees, 
 and in Spain, megalithic monuments, menhirs especially, are 
 resorted to by lovers in order to plight their troth." 
 
 There are mountain tribes in Northern India who still burn 
 their dead and erect rude stone monuments over their ashes, and 
 travellers have remarked the striking similarity that exists between 
 the Indian and the Irish structures. The manner in which, in 
 India, these stones are hauled to their destination might repre- 
 sent a scene from Neolithic Ireland. Partly according to the 
 estimation in which the deceased is held, partly according to the 
 amount of entertainment which the members of the family are 
 prepared to dispense, a greater or less number of men proceed to 
 the spot where the stones are to be raised. If of medium size 
 they are placed on trucks, with enormous massive wheels ; if of 
 greater dimensions, sheer brute force, and pushing and pulling 
 with ropes, suffice to carry them over all obstacles to their final 
 destination. 
 
 On the banks of the Jordan there are ancient tombs of great 
 rough stones, resembling the Irish; hundreds of rude stone monu- 
 ments, in all important respects identical with those in Ireland, 
 abound in Algeria. The Mediterranean parted the stream of this 
 sepulchral building race into two great currents ; one flowed 
 along the northern coast of Africa, the other across the face 
 of the European Continent. The rude stone monuments of 
 France are well known, as Brittany presents the finest collection 
 of this class to be seen in Europe ; and from thence, apparently, 
 was sent off a branch-stream, which overran Great Britain and 
 Ireland, commingling with another which descended from 
 northei'n liititudt's. That sucli nn immigration took plncc is
 
 350 GODS, (;oDJ)/-:ssj-:s, aiiosrs axd con/.Lxs. 
 
 almost self-apparent ; llie appruxiuuite dale is tlie only luuttei- 
 that appears open to discussion, the low-age school of speculation 
 brings down the use of rude stone structures to a very late 
 period : on the other hand the high-age school dates their erection 
 by many thousand years earlier. Many irrelevant observations 
 regarding Irish monuments have been made even by otherwise 
 able Avriters. Fergusson remarks that — " It is extremely difficult 
 to write anything regarding the few solitary dolmens of Irelaiid. 
 Not that their history could not be, perhaps, easily ascertained ; 
 but simply because everybody has hitherto been content to 
 consider them as pre-historic, and no one has consequently 
 given himself the trouble to investigate the matter." Now 
 Ireland, instead of possessing but a " few solitary dolmens," 
 is, on the contrary, for its size, one of the richest, if not the 
 very richest, country in Europe in that class of monuments, and 
 further, as remarked by Mr. Wakeman, "Irish archteologists 
 are not sufficiently demented as to go searching for the history 
 of remains which, upon being dug into, almost invariably present 
 calcined bones, sepulchral urns more or less perfect, and objects, 
 instruments, and personal ornaments composed of stone, flint, 
 bone or shell," the remains, in fact, of the " civilization " of 
 savages. 
 
 Legends have gatliered around these hoary monuments, even 
 as mosses and lichens cluster on their weather-beaten sides. 
 Unlike rolling stones Avhich gather no moss, these large stationary 
 masses have attracted around them a thick covering of moss, in 
 the shape of oral traditions and legends, ever accumulating new 
 material from current events, all jumbled together, just in the same 
 way that, in a mediaeval representation of the Virgin and Child, 
 ;}he painter depicts the abbot or other ecclesiastic who gave him 
 the order for the picture, in the act of adoration — placing past 
 and present on the same plane. These traditional stories were 
 recited on the long winter evenings around the turf fire, whilst 
 men, women, and children listened with eager, rapt attention. 
 The old-world tales of Ireland, however, together with its 
 language, are alike dying out, the days of traditional lore are 
 now past ; for the modern schoolmaster is abroad and, except in 
 remote parts of the country, the peasantry no longer venerate 
 monuments from whieli, in their eyes, legend and glamour have 
 alike fled. 
 
 The conclusion which Mr. Borlace, the latest writer on this 
 subject, arrived at, with regard to the subject-matter of legends, 
 and fragments of legends still existing, regarding Irish rude 
 stone monuments, is " that for the most part it is referable 
 neither to pristine ages of Aryan mythology, nor to traditions of 
 events wbicli occurred in Ireland itself; but that it is largely
 
 A 1'/ I ROD I SI A C CL'ST0MS^M0NU2IEXTS. 351 
 
 made up of genuine traditions of events which occurred on the 
 Continent, from the third to the sixth century, a.d., with some 
 more distant liglits, perhaps reaching hack to the first and second 
 centuries." 
 
 In styling rude stone monuments giants' graves, the peasantry 
 made the very pardouahle mistake of confusing great men with 
 big men ; for there is a common and very prevalent idea that 
 bigness constitutes greatness, and in vulgar minds wonder is 
 proportioned in regard to the size of the object under notice ; but in 
 the best criterion, nature's workshop, the infinitely small is usually 
 more remarkable for its superior workmanship than the infinitely 
 great. The size of some of the Irish rude stone monuments 
 first gave rise to the idea that giants were buried in them. It 
 is not, however, always the greatest men, either mentally or 
 physically, that have the largest monuments erected over them ; 
 and if some of these hitherto undisturbed tombs were scientifically 
 examined it would probably be demonstrated that their occupants 
 belonged to a primitive and undersized race. The rude stone 
 monuments alone are gigantic, not the bones they contain. 
 Bones of the gigantic Irish deer and of the mannnoth Avere long- 
 mistaken for human remains, and seemed to confirm the erroneous 
 idea as to their origin. Professor N. Joly remarks that, on the 
 Continent, "a still greater and more deplorable error was the 
 attributing these bones to saints, arid, as such, they were paraded 
 with great pomp through the towns and in the country, as late as 
 1789, in the hope of thereby obtaining rain from heaven in years 
 of prolonged drought." 
 
 Popular tradition asserts that a " giant's grave " in the town- 
 land of Lickerstown, county Kilkenny, about 25 feet long and 12 
 broad, had been erected over " Ceadach the Great." The legend, 
 preserved in the locality, which accounts for the death and burial 
 of the giant, relates that he had quarrelled with another Irish 
 Goliath, named Goll, and they chose this spot to decide their 
 difference in single combat. Two of GoU's friends accompraiied 
 him to the ground, but Ceadach came alone, mounted on an 
 enchanted horse, by means of which he traversed space instan- 
 taneously. A tree is shown marking the spot where the wonderful 
 animal stood whilst the champions fought on foot. After a ])ro- 
 longed and desperate encounter Ceadach was victorious ; but 
 Goll, in a dying effort, pierced him through the heart with his 
 spear, upon which the magical horse flew away through the air 
 to his master's palace, conveying the news of liis fall. On one 
 of the rocks forming the monument indentations were pointed 
 out, the imprints nnide by Ceadach as he fell. Goll's body was 
 removed by his two friends, but Ceadach's was interred upon the 
 spot. The legend also affirms tliat the gi.uit Goll was falhcr of
 
 852 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD CIOBLINS. 
 
 the lovely Graiiia, before luentioiied, who by her tleetuess of foot 
 won the hand of Finn MacCool at the celebrated race of Slieve- 
 naman, but ■who ran ott" with Dermod. 
 
 Another legend attached to the strand of lieltra, near Bally- 
 sodare, county Sligo, relates that the combat took place on these 
 sands ; that a young woman named Hele was a spectator, and 
 seeing Goll, her loved one, fall, she dropped dead through excess 
 of grief, and over her a earn was erected, and another over her 
 luckless lover. 
 
 Gathering and piling stones in an immense lieap was an easy 
 way of keeping a noticeable fact fresh in the mind of primitive 
 man. In a similar way we nowadays build juid endow an 
 hospital or home as a tribute to the philanthropy of some citizen, 
 or erect a statue, in a conspicuous place, to commemorate the 
 fame of some distinguished warrior. The oldest reference to a 
 cam that the writer can find is in 1 Samuel xx., where, according 
 to the Septuagint version, the Greek (v. 19) reads " beside yondei' 
 Ergab," and at verse 41, " David arose from the Ergab," Ergab, 
 being the transcription, in Greek, of a rare Hebrew word signify- 
 ing a sepulchral mound or rude monument of stones. 
 
 The Arabs, although they but destroyed the works of a foreign 
 and conquered race, when they heated the public baths of 
 Alexandria with the books of its famous library (though it is 
 now asserted that they never did so, as it had been burned long 
 previously), are execrated, even yet, in the literary world ; how 
 much more, therefore, do the Irish deserve a justly earned censure 
 for their destruction of the primitive rude stone or earthen 
 monuments of their ancestors for the purpose of macadamizing 
 public roads, feeding the greedy maws of limekilns, or manuring 
 fields. Mr. E. Lloyd Praeger draws attention to the wanton 
 destruction of rude stone monuments which "happened imder the 
 very noses of the Royal Society of Antiquarians, and the Royal 
 Irish Academy, and the energetic Field Club of Belfast." These 
 monuments are destroyed it is true, these records of the past 
 have vanished, but nevertheless worse might have happened. 
 Had they been handed over to the tender mercies of the Board 
 of Works, they might have been "restored" by that archa^o- 
 logically intelligent and energetic body, and more " Board of 
 Works lies " might have been handed down to puzzle posterity. 
 
 The destruction of these ancient structures has been the 
 subject of comment, but their preservation has been but little 
 noted. Throughout past ages, when other and later monuments 
 have been destroyed, they remained guarded by unknown but 
 dreaded beings. Legends where they have been removed and 
 miraculously restored ; beliefs which point to them as the resi- 
 dence of supernatural beings : facts which show the resentment
 
 THE M'HITE-RUBED PAGAN ''HAGr 353 
 
 formerly felt by the country people at their disturbance, are well 
 known. It is noteworthy that these former objects of the 
 peasants' veneration were erected by an early wave of population. 
 It may be suggested tliat their preservation by means of venera- 
 tion for traditional beliefs points to the continued influence, up to 
 a very late date, of their builders. 
 
 If we are to judge from their sepulchral monuments, these 
 old world folk viewed their dwellings as mere temporary shelters, 
 and regarded their tombs as their true and permanent abode. 
 Even in the already highly developed and refined civilization of 
 the earliest Egyptian dynasties, the tombs of the departed were 
 apparently mere copies of their former dwellings. In these they 
 were supposed to continue to live surrounded w'ith replicas of 
 their numerous belongings. The existence of underground beings 
 was evidently regarded as a kind of phantasmagorical continuance 
 of their past lives. 
 
 Some races, in ancient times, buried their dead in the actual 
 houses occupied by them when alive ; some savage tribes do so 
 still. Many of the chambers in the tumuli of Northern Europe 
 are regarded, by antiquaries, as copies, in stone, of the wooden 
 dwellings then in use. As the power of the chiefs increased 
 their dwellings became larger and grander, the chambers in the 
 tumuli developing in proportion. Thus, it may be suggested, 
 might not the chambers in the mounds of the New Grange 
 series of monuments, be reproductions of the architectural 
 features of the hoiises inhabited by their occupants when in the 
 land of the living ? 
 
 The way in which " hags " are even yet connected in legend 
 and story with rude stone monuments is such, that it may be 
 held as an extenuation of the pun that the myths regarding these 
 venerable dames must be regarded as forming a part of " Hagio- 
 logy." The race of Irish " hags " can at any rate boast of con- 
 siderable antiquity; for, as a rule, most rude stone monuments, or 
 earns, had their own peculiar patroness. Mr. Borlace remarks 
 that "this word {('niUcach, i.e. 'Hag') is derived from (Jaille, 
 a veil, and properly signifies simply wulier reJata palliu, a woman 
 wearing a cloak over her head, hence an old woman." Used 
 in a Christian sense, Caillcach came to signify a woman who 
 had taken the veil, who had become a nim. The sense of 
 hag or witch was, however, preserved, although it had received 
 it in respect of its connexion with a pre-existing pagan custom, 
 according to which " inspired " women banded themselves 
 together and veiled themselves, just as the druid or sorcerer had 
 his own peculiar tonsure, called opprobriously "the tonsure of 
 Simon Magus." There were female as well as male druids, and 
 there are recorded instances of w^omen placing themselves under 
 
 2a
 
 8")} GODS, GODDESSES, GlIOSJ'S AND GOBLINS. 
 
 training in sorcery. " Hags " or witches oi undoubted pagan 
 pedigree are generally clothed in white (fig. 05 , ; Christian 
 witches wear the more unobtrusive black (tig. 9G). In the same 
 way the spirit of the Bansliee assumes the form of a w"oraan, 
 sometimes young, but more generally very old. Lf young she is 
 attired in loose white drapery ; if old her long silvery locks float 
 in the wind and her body is enveloped in black drapery. 
 
 Prominent in Irish Folk-lore are three celebrated " hags," 
 Aine or Aynia, Bav, the Goddess of War, and Bhcavtha (Vera), 
 variously written in English Vera, Verah, Berah, Berri, Dirra, 
 and Dhirra. Aynia holds sway in })opular tradition, principally, 
 but not exclusively, in th ■ North of Iri'land ; the legends regard- 
 ing Bav and Vera are — as far as present investigation of legends 
 has progressed— more widely prevalent. 
 
 Fig. 95. 
 
 Thf youn;;' and whitii-rulied P.ijjan spirit. From Mr. and Mrs. Hall's Irclar.d. 
 
 Most popular superstitions and legends are found to bo of a 
 nature easily explainable. It is a strange yet well demonstrated 
 fact that the deities of one period often become the demons of 
 another ; and, in the lapse of years, those that were formerly 
 i-evered and worshipped become, under a new^ cult, ill-omened 
 and vindictive. Of this no better example can be advanced than 
 the transformation of the ancient goddesses, Aynia and Vera, 
 into witches of ordinary type ; yet, considering the attenuated 
 stream of Pagan religious tradition, it is remarkable that the 
 stories of tiiese mythical beings are so widely diffused, and have 
 descended to the present day from remote antiquity. Aynia is 
 represented as passively benign and, only when provoked, 
 demonstrates her power in an unkind manner. At Knocknanny,
 
 THE BLACK-ROBED CHRISTIAN ''HAG. 
 
 355 
 
 ill the county Tyrone, a remarkable rude stone monument crown- 
 ing the summit of a hih is, by the peasantry styled " Aynia's 
 Cove." The hill is considered to be a fairy haunt ; and woe 
 betide the unlucky wight who should dare to remove the smallest 
 of the stones which now remain of the " Cove," in which Aynia, 
 who is reputed to have become Queen of the Fairies, is said to 
 have delighted. Aynia occurs as a personal name on the Bally- 
 morereigh Ogham stone, in the county Kerry. According to 
 some writers Aynia, in Irish mythology, held the place of Cybele, 
 the Gaulish form of the name being Ana and Anauus. 
 
 Fig. 96. 
 
 The old and black-robod Christian spirit. 
 
 Edward Clodd states that amongst the old pagan Irish, " the 
 moon was worshipped under the name of Aine, or Anu,as Queen 
 of Heaven, and mother of the gods, bloody sacrifices being 
 offered to her, ' 8he was upon the hills at midsummer, and at the 
 winter feasts, when the spirits of the dead were propitiated.' " 
 
 No mere name similarity is of much intrinsic value ; still it 
 may be mentioned, as a curious coincidence, that at the head of 
 the Babylonian mythology there also stands a deity named Ann. 
 
 2 A 2
 
 35G GODS, GODDESSES, GTfOSTS AND GOBL/XS. 
 
 He I'eigiifd over the upper and lower re.s^ions of the universe ; 
 w hen these were divided, the upper portion, or the heavens, were 
 i-uled by him, whilst the lower regions of the earth were governed 
 by his wife Anatu. 
 
 Aynia appears in different guises in some of the traditional 
 tales current in Ireland. Popular legend certainly supports the 
 idea that she was at one time regarded as the moon goddess, 
 as an immense stone to be seen near Dunany is called "the 
 chair of Aynia," or "the chair of the lunatics." The country 
 people believed that lunatics, if not under restraint, actuated by 
 .some, to them, irresistible impulse, made their way to this chair, 
 seated themselves thrice upon it, and were thenceforth incurable. 
 It was also extremely dangerous for sane persons to sit upon 
 the stone, for they were then subject to the power of Aynia, 
 and liable to become lunatics. Even rabid dogs travelled from 
 all parts of the kingdom to this stone, and remained about it 
 until impelled by some invisible influence, they finally re- 
 treated to the ocean, to the submarine dominion of Aynia. Her 
 influence was particularly powerful on the Friday, Saturday, 
 and Sunday immediately following Lammas Day. Few persons 
 in the neighbourhood of Dunany would, in olden times, venture 
 to bathe during these three days dedicated to Aynia ; nor would 
 fishermen, save with great reluctance, follow their avocation, as 
 they remarked, that if they did so, one or more persons would 
 lose their lives by drowning, victims of the relentless goddess. 
 These facts, together with other evidence, warrant the belief 
 that Aynia was an ancient Irish goddess of great power, attributes, 
 and influence. 
 
 Under some circumstances there appears to have been a 
 special reverential feeling displayed towards people bereft of 
 reason, both in ancient and medisBval times ; they were regarded 
 somewhat in the manner in which an American Indian of the 
 present day looks upon a lunatic. Lunacy was formerly supposed 
 to be in some way connected with the phases of the moon, but 
 such is not the case. A mania may, however, be recurrent, and 
 the recurrent period may possibly coincide with the phases of 
 the moon — hence the quaint idea. In old mss. frequent mention 
 is made of the sudden loss of reason by wai-riors in the heat of 
 battle ; the cases of the son of the King of Ulster, at the battle 
 of Ventry ; and the Chief Druid of Nuada, King of the Dedannan, 
 at the second battle of jMoytirra, are good examples. The Irish 
 MS., from which the following legend is paraphrased, was compiled 
 in the year 1416 from an older version. The Druid, from whom, 
 according to this legend, the name of the lake, i.e. Lough Key, 
 near Boyle, in the county Roscommon, has been derived— and 
 not from the daughter of Manannan Mac Lir, as before stated —
 
 7//A- GOD/JAWS A ]\y/A . 357 
 
 is represented as having been present, and having suddenly 
 rushed from the field '• in madness and red lunacy." 
 
 " Ye green uunifflcd waves, ye pure glad waters, 
 
 Whence rose yo r "Wherefore flow'd ye o'er the plain 
 When he who fled Moytirra's field of slaughters, 
 Ignohle safety sought, but sought in vain. 
 
 •' Wlicn swords flashed, wlien arrows flew around liiiu, 
 Half fainting, panic struck, he fled the foe ; 
 A brave man Mould have fought till victory crown' d him, 
 Or fallen where many a gallant heart lay low. 
 
 " But King Xuada's Druid fled from glory, 
 Pursued and wounded on tliat fearful day ; 
 Behind him raged the battle fierce and gory. 
 Before, the velvet lawn of verdure lay. 
 
 " There, and 'mid that plain, exhausted almost dying. 
 On the rude earn he laid his weary breast. 
 There sluniber'd, all unwept, unhonour'd, lying. 
 To wake no more from that inglorious rest. 
 
 " For silent, slow as dawns the light of heaven. 
 
 Through the green sward the magic waters rose. 
 Unseen, unheard, as falls the dew of even, 
 
 Around and o'er the recreant's head they close. 
 
 " Xo daring deeds on pillar rudely graven. 
 To future ages shall record his fame ; 
 But men will ever scoi-n the dastard craven, 
 While Key's avenging waters bear his name." 
 
 There is a valley in Kerry called Glannagalt, i.e. the gien of 
 the lunatics, and it is believed that lunatics, no matter in what 
 part of the kingdom they live, would, if left to themselves, find 
 their way to the valley to be cured, " There are two little wells 
 in the glen," remarks Dr. P. W. Joyce, " called Tobernagalt, the 
 lunatic's well, to which the madmen direct their way, crossing 
 the little stream that flows through the valley, at a spot called 
 Ahagoltaun, the madmen's ford, and passing by Clochnagalt, the 
 standing stone of the lunatics ; and they drink of the healing 
 waters, and eat some of the cresses that grow on the margin — 
 the water and the cress, and the secret virtue of the valley, will 
 restore the poor wanderers to sanity." 
 
 Fairy-, herb-, and charm-mongers believed that the witch or 
 goddess, Aynia, possessed unlimited influence over the human 
 frame, regarding her as equivalent to what they designated the 
 "vital spark," which they imagined traversed the entire body 
 once in twenty-four hours. l>lood-letters would decline to 
 operate on a day devoted to Aynia, for the efflux would carry
 
 H5H GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AA^D GOBL/XS 
 
 away the " vital spark " and the patient would die. Thiis the 
 attribiites of Aynia appear to have been multifold ; she even 
 patronised literature, wept and lamented the loss of the learned, 
 and on their departure from this life, introduced them into fairy 
 realms. Two examples, both modern, of this aspect of the 
 goddess' attributes — must sulVice. Lindon, who died in 1783, de- 
 picts her lamenting the demise of a man of genius : the passage 
 may be thus translated : — 
 
 " The greater number of llic inspiring geniuses of the learned, 
 Shed tears in abundance through excessive giief ; 
 Arihhinn and Aiiw were tearing their tresses." 
 
 Dr. James "Woods, lamenting the death of a bard, thus de- 
 scribes (in Irish) the poet's reception by the goddess : — 
 
 " He ac-coinpanicd Aim' througliout tlio pleasant district of Fiiil, 
 And visited all the lull residences ot the blooming lU'an-H'ujhe, 
 To quaff copious draughts of the supreme fountain of Druidism, 
 
 fiom chaste, brightly-polished goblets, 
 Willi tlie view of whetting liis genius and firing his spirit." 
 
 Popular tradition bears testimony to former widespread belief 
 in the magical powers of Bav, the war-goddess of the ancient 
 Irish, who may be equated with Bellona of the Latins. Many 
 places called Bovan or Bavan are supposed to signify " the 
 fortress of Bav." Boa Island, in Lough Erne, is styled by 
 the " Four Masters," the island of Bav ; and the peasantry, 
 according to Dr. P. W. Joyce, still style it JnU-Badh\)han, the 
 island of Bav. 
 
 The royston-crow, or the "chattering grey fennog," as it 
 is called by Irish-speaking people, is regarded with feelings of 
 mingled dislike and curiosity by the peasantry, who still recite 
 tales of depredations and slaughter in which this bird is repre- 
 sented as exercising a sinister influence. A well-marked distinc- 
 tion is observable in the written as well as current traditions of 
 the country, between the attril)utes of the scald-crow, or cornix, 
 and those of the raven. Th(! former is regarded not only as a 
 bird of omen, but also as an agent in the fulfilment of what 
 is decreed. The country people will not rob the nest of the 
 cornix, and there is little doubt that its freedom from moles- 
 tation is traceable to superstitious fear inspired by Bav in ancient 
 times, for the croaking of the cornix was considered to be 
 peculiarly unlucky, more so than the croaking of a raven. That 
 the Komans were also imbued with superstitious ideas with 
 regard to the raven is evidenced bv their savini>-, " it was not for
 
 BAV, 7 HE IV A R GODDKSS. 859 
 
 nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand." 
 So also in Gray's fables : 
 
 " That raven on yon left-handed oak, 
 {Curse on his ill-betiding croak ;) 
 Bodes me no good." 
 
 In fact, not many years ago, sturdy men, who heard the 
 scarecrow shriek in the morning, would abandon important pro- 
 jects fixed for the same day. Nor is this superstition confined 
 to Ireland alone ; the popular tales of Scotland and Wales, echoes 
 of similar stories once current, and even now not quite extinct 
 in this country, contain frequent allusions to this mystic bird. 
 In a MS. in the library of Trinity College there is a tract on 
 omens to be drawn from the croaking of ravens. . To dream you 
 see this bird is bad ; to dream you see one flying is worse ; but 
 to hear it croaking is worst of all ; if it flies round the head of 
 anybody, the person so indicated is in imminent danger of death 
 or of some great misfortune. Even hovering near a house it is 
 a harbinger of ill, and to avert bad luck the following exorcism 
 must be at once recited in Irish : " May fire and water be in you, 
 bird of evil ! and may a curse be on your head for ever." 
 
 The term Badb (pronounced Bav), signifying rage, fury, or 
 violence, ultimately came to be applied to a witch, fairy, or god- 
 dess, represented by the scare-, scald-, or royston-crow. Ancient 
 Irish tracts, romances, and battle-pieces teem with details re- 
 specting this goddess, and her sisters Neman, Macha, and 
 Morrigan, or Morrigau, furies, witches, and sorceresses, able to 
 confound whole armies. 
 
 Bav would seem to have been the generic title of the beings 
 ruling over battle and carnage, Bav's three so-called sisters repre- 
 senting different aspects of the character of the supreme goddess. 
 Neman afflicted her victims with madness ; Morrigan incited them 
 to deeds of valour, strife, and battle ; Macha revelled amidst the 
 bodies of the slain, and all three are described as being wives of 
 Neit, the " God of Battle " of the pagan Irish, There is at least 
 one passage in an Irish ms. which attributes to the goddess of 
 battles the dedication of human heads. A gloss in the Yellow 
 Hook of Lccan, according to Professor Whitley Stokes, explains 
 Macha as "The scald-crow," or "the third Morrigau," or 
 "Great Queen." Madia's "fruit crop" is stated to be "the 
 heads of men that have been slaughtered." If we read these 
 extracts in connexion with the early practices of the Irish, as 
 recorded by classical authorities, and the practices so frequently 
 ascribed to them in early mss., and in the Irish Annals, the 
 meaning and significance seems clear, and it is evident that the 
 heaps of human crania piled up before the conqueror — often
 
 360 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS A AW GOBL/2VS. 
 
 unearthed by present day archivologists — were offci-in^s to the 
 goddess Macha. 
 
 Morrigan has l)een identitied with Arrand or Ana, evidently 
 the Aynia of popuhir folk-lore. Thus, even in the present day, 
 the memory of the goddess of the ancient faith is still preserved 
 in popular traditions. These stories abound in the North of Ire- 
 land, where, in early romances. Ana or Aynia watclicd over the 
 interests of the ITtonians. 
 
 The comparative mythologist will find a curious correspond- 
 ence between some of the attributes of the Irish Bav, and those 
 of the Yalkyria of Norse romance. In Irish tales of war and 
 battle, Bav, in the form of a scald-crow, is always represented as 
 foreshadowing, by its cries, the extent of the carnage about to 
 take place. Thus, in an ancient battle story, the impending death 
 of a hero is foretold thus :- - 
 
 " The red-inoutlied IJav will ciy aioiiiul the house, 
 I'^or })()(lics it will he solicitous." 
 
 Again :- 
 
 Pale Hav shall shriel 
 
 and whilst describing the carnage of a battle it is narrated that 
 "the red-mouthed, sharp-beaked Bav" croaked over the heads of 
 the heroes, for even until well advanced in the Christian Era it 
 was considered a disgrace for a man to die a natural death, as 
 thus graphically portrayed in the old saying : — 
 
 " A Led death : a priest's death, 
 A straw death ; a cow's death. 
 
 Such deatli liki's not me." 
 
 Bav is a term applied, even nowadays, in the South of Ire- 
 land to a scolding woman or virago ; goddess and witch have 
 tinally degenerated into common shrews. 
 
 The third celebrated " hag " of Irish folk-lore, i.e. Vera, is, 
 in popular belief, of huge stature and forbidding mien. Accord- 
 ing to a tradition, ctirrent in the county Sligo, she was so tall 
 that she could easily wade all the rivers and lakes of Ireland, but 
 one day when trying to cross fjnch-ila-t/hedh it proved beyond her 
 depth and she was drowned. Her "house" — the denuded 
 chamber of a earn — on the mountain, near the lake, still remains, 
 and is styled " Cailleach-a-Vera,'s House." 
 
 Some of the early Christian female saints seem also to have 
 been fond of wading. Such was the case with St. Araght of 
 Coolavin, in the county Sligo. She was once engaged in forming
 
 ' ' CA ILLEA CJy DIRRA ' S HO USEr 361 
 
 a causeway, as a short cut, across part of Loagh Gara, when 
 a lisherman, observing that the saint possessed a good pair 
 of ankles, approached to obtain a nearer view, whereupon the 
 ottended fair one flung down the stones out of her apron and 
 abandoned her work. This heap and the unfinished causewaj' 
 are still pointed out in corroboration of the story. 
 
 At the northern end of the parish of Monasterboice, in the 
 county Louth, there is a large sepulchral chamber in remarkably 
 good preservation called " Cailleach Dirra's House." About two 
 miles north of Dunmore East, county Waterford, is a rocky hill 
 called Carrick-a-lJhirra. On its summit is an ancient pagan 
 sepulchre consisting of five cists, also styled " Carrick-a-Dirra," 
 after this mythical being, who also gave her name to "Hag's 
 Head '' in the county Clare, as well as to the hills of Slieve-na- 
 Cailleach, the site of the most wonderful sepulchral remains m 
 Ireland. A gentleman of antiquarian tastes, living in the early 
 part of the eighteenth century, invited Dean Swift to accompany 
 him to these hills in order to collect the fables related about 
 the district. The Dean turned into English verse the Irish tales 
 thus collected. The following are a few of the lines bearing on 
 the subject : — 
 
 " Determined now lier tomb to liuilil, 
 Her ample skirt with stones she filled. 
 And dropped a lieap on Carnmore, 
 Then stepped one thousand yards to Loar, 
 And drojipod another goodlj- heap : 
 And then, with cne prodigious leap 
 Gained Cainheg : and on its height 
 Displaced the wonders of her might." 
 
 O'Donovan cites a quatrain of her alleged composition then 
 current amongst the Irish speaking peasantry of Meath, which he 
 thus translates : — 
 
 " I am poor Cailleach Bera, 
 
 Many a wonder have I ever seen ; 
 1 have seen Carn-Bane a lake. 
 Though it is now a mountain.'" 
 
 Ill some parts of Ireland she is now looked upon as a banshee, 
 and makes her appearance before the death of a member of some 
 well-known families. 
 
 It is narrated that on one occasion she turned the celebrated 
 hero of antiquity, Finn MacCool, into a decrepid old man, but his 
 soldiers threatened to dig through Slieve Gullian, in Armagh, 
 and to drive her out of a cave in which she then had her 
 residence, and forced lier to restore Finn to his former strength
 
 802 GODS, GODD/iSSES, GllOSTS AX/) (rOBL/XS. 
 
 and synniioti'V. Under the sluidow of the Slievc Gullian range 
 there is an enchanted lake styled liy the peasantry " Ijongh 
 Cailleaeh lierri." One version ot tin; story related of this 
 mountain and lake is as follows : — Finn i\lacC'ool observed a 
 hare, one side of whose head shone with a resplendent golden 
 hue, the other side being of a dazzling silvery white. He 
 instantly hallooed his hound I'ran to the chase, and for many 
 days they incessantly followed the hare until they approached 
 Ijough (iulliaii. Finn was somewhat behind, being ontpaced by 
 the hound, and just as he reached the shores of the lake he met 
 Bran returning, but so changed in appearance that he did not 
 recognize his faithful dog until the animal, jumping on him, 
 licked his hand, for the dog's coat, instead of lying in the natural 
 manner, had the hairs turned the contrary way, as if they had 
 grown from the tail toward the head, instead of from the head 
 towards the tail. Much troubled at this strange alteration, Finn 
 immediately concluded that some person had practised " druid- 
 ism " (magic) on his favourite. 
 
 He followed Bran to the edge of the lake, where he found a 
 beautiful female in tears, and apparently o\erwhelmed with grief. 
 Urged by a spirit of gallantry, Finn inquired the cause of her 
 sorrow, and whether he could afford her assistance. She thanked 
 him, and said she had dropped a golden ring into the water 
 which she was unable to recover. Finn immediately plunged 
 into the lake ; and after three attempts recovered the ring which 
 he tendered to the owner, who, in accepting it, caught Finn by 
 the hand, and changed him into an old man of miserable mien, 
 with long white hair and silvery beard. Then springing aloft 
 into the air, the witch disappeared into the midst of the hill, 
 which rises over the lake. 
 
 The chief officers of the Feni felt alarm at the prolonged 
 absence of their chief, and when the dog Bran returned his 
 odd appearance increased their fears. They at length under- 
 stood the dog's strange movements, and followed him in their 
 search after Finn. On arriving at the enchanted lake they found 
 their chief, but so altered as not to be recognizable. He too in 
 his wretched condition Avished to remain iinknoAvn ; but the hound 
 going up to him, w^agging his tail and licking his master's hand, 
 identified the missing Avarrior. Finn satisfied their curiosity by 
 reciting wliat had befallen him, and ended by pointing out the 
 retreat of the witch. They could not, however, discover the 
 entrance to her underground mansion, so they connnenced to 
 level the hill by Hinging it into the lake, when the enchantress 
 appeared, and told them that if they spared her hill she, on her 
 part, would restore; to health both Finn Mac Cool and his dog. 
 
 Probably the foregoing story is an allegory, l-'inii may have
 
 FINN MAC COOL AND 7 HE GODDESS. 863 
 
 omitted the perf'onnauce of some superstitious rite appertaining 
 to the worsliip of the goddess, or he may have quarrelled with 
 the druids and defied them, and after some time, having had the 
 worst of the conflict, made his peace with the offended goddess 
 and her priests. According to Mr. W. C. Borlace the story is 
 a version of the sun-myth. Finn Mac Cool representing the sky 
 turned to grey hy the departing sun, who is driven out of her 
 cave again, according to the usual myth current throughout the 
 Avhole northern portion of the European continent. Theie are 
 always, however, two sides to every question. Thus, while deal- 
 ing at large with the theory that myths are derived from natural 
 objects, Mr. Taylor condemns most emphatically the extravagance 
 of solar interpretation which the writings of the meteorological 
 school illustrate: — "No one-sided interpretation can be permitted 
 to absorb into a single theory such endless, many-sided corre- 
 spondences as these. Eash inferences, which on the strength of 
 mere resemblance, derive episodes of myth from episodes of 
 nature, must be regarded with utter mistrust, for the student 
 who has no more stringent criterion than this for his myths of 
 sun and sky and dawn, will find them wherever it pleases him 
 to seek them. It may be judged by simple trial what such a 
 method may lead to : in legend, no allegory, no nursery rhyme, 
 is safe from the hermeneutics of a thorough-going mythologie 
 theorist." 
 
 From a wild legend which came to the knowledge of Mr. 
 Borlace, recited of St. Barry of Kilbarry, he was strongly 
 of opinion that from it the non-Christian origin of the so-called 
 saint can be detected ; and that his name scarcely veils his 
 identity with the deity, who, as King of the Fairies, still presides 
 over the land of the dark race. " The oral legend tells us that he 
 (St. Barry) chased a hnge uUjiJiiast, or serpent, into Lough Lagan, 
 where it jumped into the water, but the saint made a prod at it 
 with his hachaU, or staff, and thrust it through. The blood 
 gushed out in such quantities that the whole lake became 
 coloured red. With the force of his thrust the saint lost his 
 balance, fell on one knee, and from the spot thus touched by his 
 person, a clear spring burst forth, which he blessed. For Barry, 
 or Barra, read Varra, and the reasons the Christians adopted 
 St. Barry for this district is clear. A whole chapter might be 
 written on the legends extant about Finvarra — all belonging to 
 these districts. The pagan hero, or heroine, it is doubti'ul whicli. 
 who probably had liis seat on Slieve Bann, was none othci' than 
 the AVhite Varra." 
 
 One story told of Cailleach Vera, amongst the peasantry near 
 Slyne Head, shows that she could giv(^ good advice of a practical 
 charactoi', and that she was mai'ried. " One ni<:^ht she was on
 
 361 GODS, GOnnKSSES, G/IOSJS AXP GOBLIXS. 
 
 the sea with her children ; the night was sliil and dark, and it 
 was freezing ; the cohl went to their very marrow. She told 
 them to make themselves warm. ' \\'e caimot,' they said. ' l>ale 
 the sea out and in,' said slic ■ Take ihe scoop, iill the boat, and 
 hale it out again.' Tluy did so, and nia(](' themselves warm 
 until morning." 
 
 Other legends make Cailleacli \'eia of Dcdanami descent, and 
 give her another name, I'lvlin. 
 
 It is extremely rash to place reliance on the similarity in 
 names of gods or goddesses Avorshipped in the east and in the 
 west ; but mention nia\ he made of a remarkable coincidence in 
 this respect, in a nolice written by M. St. Hilaire on human 
 sacrifice, amongst the Khonds of Orissa, a mountainous district 
 of India, who offered to the goddess of the earth, whom they 
 named Bera, human hecatombs unequalled except amongst the 
 ancient Mexicans. The bloody sacrihces are now a thing of the 
 past ; but the deep root which the custom had taken was proved 
 by a naive complaint made to the English liesident, and the 
 responsibility the Khonds laid upon him, should the anger of the 
 Goddess Bera lead her to withdi'aw the protection and favour she 
 had until then accorded them. 
 
 O'Donovan states that in the eastern counties of Ireland the 
 banshee is styled lioilhlili chaointc, pronounced bowr kccntij ; be also 
 draws attention to the fact that the names of many banshees are 
 preserved in Irish romantic tales as well as in elegies and other 
 poems of which the most celebrated are : — " Aeibhinn (now 
 Aoibhell) of Craigliath, near Killaloe, the banshee of the 
 Dal-gCais of North Munster ; Cliodhna of Tonn Cliodhna, at 
 (ilandore, the banshee of the Mac Carthys and other families of 
 South Munster ; Aine of Knockany in the county Limerick ; 
 Una of Cnoc Sidhe-Una, the banshee of the O'Carrolls ; Cailleach 
 Beirre of Dun Caillighe Beirre, the banshee of some of the 
 Leinster and Meath families; Grian of Cnoc Greine in Munster; 
 Aine of Lissan in Tyrone, so attached to the family of O'Corra ; 
 jMhhlinn of Sliabh-Fuaid, kc, &c. Each of these is hfiinrinii/iKii 
 itn hniiiiJuic, or queen of the fairy palace in her district." 
 
 It is narrated in an Irish ms. that the iJalcassian hero, 
 Dooling O'Hartigan, on his way to the J5attle of Clontarf, was 
 met by Aoibhell or Eevil," the guardian spirit of the Dalcassian 
 warriors, who endeavoured to dissuade him from going to the 
 fight, predicting that he should indubitably be slain. She 
 proffei'ed him pleasure and long life would he but remain away. 
 'I'lie warrior replied that nothing could induce him to abandon 
 
 * O'Donovan states tliat the conect iorin of the word is Aeibliinn, and that 
 it flosses i//iio/'i/ii, 'pleasant, sweet.'
 
 TlfK BANSHEE. 365 
 
 his friend in the day of battle. Eevil then cast around him a 
 magical cloak, which rendered him invisible, and warned him 
 that he would certainly be slain if he threw it off. In the heat 
 of the conflict he forgot this warning, and he was, according to 
 the prediction of the goddess, instantly slain. 
 
 This good-natured banshee figures in various comparatively 
 modern poetical pieces relating to the Dalcassian race. IMacNamara 
 in his ^lovk JF^neid makes her the sybil of his poem. Another 
 author, Merriman, introduces her into his facetious poem of Tlie 
 Mhln'ujht Court, and depicts her as presiding at an assembly of 
 the fairies at Craigiea, for the purpose of enacting regulations 
 for the acceleration and growth of the Dalcassian population. 
 
 In the Battle of Clontarf, before mentioned, the Irish king, 
 Brian Boru, then of great age, was urged by his attendants to 
 retire, but replied : — " Eetreat becomes us not ; and I know that 
 I shall not leave this place alive, for Eevil of Craglea appeared 
 to me last night, and told me that I should be killed this day." 
 Thus in this semi-historical tale two heroes (/. c the king and 
 O'Hartigan, before mentioned), who were presumably Christians, 
 are depicted as placing implicit faith in the powers of one of the 
 old heathen deities. 
 
 It is curious to observe that at this very period under notice, 
 the Norse or Scandinavian foes of the Irish believed in female 
 sprites and witches, who were, however, of a more gloomy and 
 diabolical nature than those attendant on the Irish, and who also 
 possessed the power of foretelling the dreadful slaughter about 
 to ensue at Clontarf. Shortly before this battle a Norse leader, 
 whilst at Caithness in Scotland, about to set sail for Ireland, 
 sought to foresee his fate ; when leaving his home he noticed 
 twelve women on horses riding towards a tumiilus. These 
 having suddenly vanished from view, he advanced to the tumulus, 
 and looking through an aperture which he found in the stones, 
 he saw women in the chamber in the interior of the earn who 
 had commenced weaving, having human heads for woof and 
 warp, a sword for a reed, an arrow for a shuttle. Whilst thus 
 employed they sang these words : — 
 
 '' Yitt er orpinn, 
 Fyrit valfalli, 
 Riss reidi skei, 
 Rigiiir hlodi," &(•. 
 
 Wliich Gray has amplified as follows : — 
 
 '■' Now the storm l)('<!;ins to lour, 
 Haste, tli« loom of hell pri-pare, 
 Iron sleet of anowy shower 
 Hurtles in the darkened ;iir.
 
 S6(i GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 Glitteiiiig lances arc tlic loom, 
 "Whcic the dusky warp we strain, 
 Weaving many a soldier's doom, 
 Orkney's W(;c and Kadncr's bane, 
 See tlie gristly texture grow, 
 ('Tis of linman entrails made) ; 
 And tiic shafts that play below, 
 Each a gas])it)g warrior's head." 
 
 When they had hnislied, these weird females drew off the 
 \\<\\ and cut it, carrying away each her own part. The witches 
 then rode off', six to the nortli and six to the south. 
 
 The morose and diahohcal character of Norse and Lapland 
 witclies IS referred to hy Milton in the description of Sin, the 
 jjortress of Hell's gate, and her son, Death : — 
 
 " Xor uglier follow the Night-hag, when, called 
 In secret, riding through the air she comes, 
 Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance 
 With Tjapland witches, while the lab'ring Momi 
 Eclipses at their charms." 
 
 O'Donovan mentions that Magrath, in his T('r//-.s o/' T/iuiiio)ul, 
 introduces Bronach Boirne, or the hag of Barren Head (now 
 Blackhead), as " foreboding the slaughter of the Abbey of Cor- 
 comroe, .\.i). 1318, by washing fantastical skulls and other human 
 bones on the margin of Loch Rasga, now Loughrask, in the 
 barony of lUirren ; but in genuine Irish folk-lore Aebhinn is never 
 represented as deligliting in slaughter of this kind. She always 
 grieves for it. In fact, she was not at all a foul and ugly 
 hag." 
 
 One of the oldest references to a banshee is to be found in 
 Mageoghegan's translation of the Annals of ClonDiacnoise, where it 
 is stated that Crimthaim, head king of Ireland at the commence- 
 ment of the Christian era, was carried off' by a banshee or fairy to 
 her palace, where he seems to have passed a very enjoyable time ; 
 and O'Flaherty, in his ^ >///////", recounts this fairy tale as if it 
 ranked as true history. 
 
 It would appear that originally every family possessed its own 
 particular banshee, i.e. the spirit of one of its ancestors who 
 always appeared to announce by its weird warning (fig. 97) the 
 approaching decease of any member of the family. 
 
 " Anon she pours a harrowing strain 
 And then — she sits all mute again — 
 Now peals the wild fur\ereal cry. 
 And now — it sinks into a si-irh."
 
 THE JTAJL OF THE BANSHEE. 
 
 367 
 
 The banshee, however, linally became aristocratic, became 
 identified with one of the ancient goddesses, only attaching her- 
 self to celebrated families. In many instances she is regarded as 
 the ghost of some person who had suffered violence from a pro- 
 genitor of the fanrily, and in revenge she utters her vengeful 
 wail to announce approaching death to his descendants. Her 
 cry often arises from a particular spot, from a spring, river, or 
 lake with which her name is connected. The characteristic 
 figure and voice of the banshee are unmistakable. 
 
 Fiu. 97. 
 
 The \v;iil ot tlie Haiishee. Archetype ot the Keen. From Air. 
 
 Mrs. Hall's /;-^/a«r/. 
 
 The following verses, from Crofton Croker's Fainj Lci/euds, 
 translated from a i^opular keen, are given on account of their 
 introduction of the banshee. The mother of the dead young man 
 speaks : — 
 
 ■' Maidens, sing no more in gladness 
 To your merry spinning wheels ; 
 Join the keener's voice of sadness, 
 Feel for what a mother feels. 
 
 " See the space within my dwelling — 
 'Tis the cold hlaiik space of death ; 
 'Twas the banshee's voice came swelling 
 Slowly o'er the midnight heath. 
 
 " 'Twas the banshee's lonely wailini;, 
 "Well I knew the voice of death, 
 On the night-wind slowly sailing 
 O'er the bleak and gloomv heath." 
 
 The last verse seem to be a paraphrase of an allusion to the 
 banshee in an Irish elegy by by John MacWalter Walsh, of the 
 county Kilkenny : — 
 
 " Gn ouic, u uupciil 615 nio cjioi&e ! 
 Oo pcpeat) 50 t)ubac cui bean pi^e ? 
 fl uieo&an cuiin nai^necic of6ce 
 Ip cuiiiac 00 V)f 05 ca5cuomea6!"
 
 368 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AND GOB L/ AS. 
 
 Thus rcndtTLMl into l-'-nglish by 0"J)()ii()v;ui : — • 
 
 "Was it for tliee, youth in love allicil. 
 Close to my bosom as the spirit there ; 
 The banshee, on the lonely mountain side, 
 
 Poured her long wailings thro' the niiilnight air'r" 
 
 Tlu' l)ansbees warued mortals wlioin they protected of iuipeiid- 
 iug danger, pointed out the right line of conduct to pursue, and 
 appear to have been of (juite as much use to the old pagans, in 
 worldly and other matters, as his guardian angel, or saint, is to 
 the Christian of the present. It is on record that the Banshee 
 has followed the family to which it was attached to distant 
 lands ; for space and time arc no impediments to the mystic 
 power appointed to bear the prophecy of death. 
 
 When the head of a noble family died, its banshee, like a 
 mediiPval herald, announced the event, and the news was passed 
 on by every local banshee from place to place until it bad made 
 the circuit of the country. The keen composed on the death of 
 Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry, describes how "from crag 
 to crag the signal flew " : — 
 
 '• When I heunl lan.eiitations, 
 
 And sad warning cries. 
 From the banshees of many 
 
 Broad disti-icts aiise, 
 I besouglit thee, Christ, 
 
 To protect me; from pain. 
 I prayed ; but my prayers 
 
 They were offered in vain. 
 
 " Aina from licr closely- 
 Hid nest did awake. 
 
 The woman of wailing 
 At Gur's voicy lalce. 
 
 From Glen Fogra of words 
 Came a mournful whine; 
 
 And all Kerry's hags 
 
 Wept the lost Geraldine. 
 
 The banshees <jf Youghal 
 
 And of stately IMogeely, 
 Were joined in their grief 
 
 By wide Imokilly. 
 Carah Afona iu gloom 
 
 Of dee]) sorrow appears. 
 And all Kinalmeaky's 
 
 Absorbed into tears.
 
 'I HE WAIL OF THE BAA^SHEE. 8Gi) 
 
 " 'I'he banshee of Dunqueen 
 
 In sweet song did deplore, 
 To the spirit that watches 
 
 On dark Dun-an-Oir. 
 And Ennismore's maid 
 
 By the Feal's gloomy wave, 
 "With her clear voice did mourn 
 
 For the fall of the brave. 
 
 " On stormy Slieve Mis 
 
 Spread the cry far and wide, 
 From steep Slieve Finnaleiin 
 
 The wild eagle replied. 
 'Mong the Reeks, like the 
 
 Thimder-iieal's echoing I'oiit, 
 It bursts, and deep bellows 
 
 Bright Brandon gives out." 
 
 In the elegy on the Knight of Kerry, before t^uoted, there 
 occurs a humorous quatrain recounting how, on this occasion, 
 when the banshee was heard, in the town of Dingle, lamenting 
 the death of the Knight, each one of the merchants was in mortal 
 terror lest the mournful cry should be the herald of his own 
 death ; but the poet, satirically, assures them that their fears 
 were quite groundless : — 
 
 " Gnnp an t)ain5ion 'nntur iie(_iprai6 an bpongol, 
 t)o glac eagla cecinnui&re an cuopaicc : 
 'Ma t)-raolJ pern nfp baogal boibjun : 
 "Nf caoinit) innd juge an pope pan.'' 
 
 His re-assurance is thus rendered from the Irish : — 
 
 " At Dingle tlie merchants 
 
 In terror forsook 
 Their sliips and tlieir business, 
 
 They trembled and shook. 
 Some fled to concealment ; 
 
 The fools thus to fly ! 
 For no trader a banshee 
 
 Will utter a cry !" 
 
 Once in seven years a female apparition appears at the earn 
 on Knocknarea, near Sligo, and any mortal who chances then to 
 see her, is certain to encounter some serious misfortune within 
 twelve months. The spectral illusions so frequently observed 
 upon many mountains, notably in Germany, and by which 
 beholders were so long perplexed, have been explained by the 
 discovery of the principles of reflection and atmospheric refraction 
 of the rays of light. Increased information on similar subj(>cts 
 
 2b
 
 870 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AND GOBIJXS. 
 
 has, liitterly, been so great that ll has taken all supernatural 
 romances out of our lives, and left us not even the ghost of a ghost. 
 Nowadays belief in the existence of the banshee is fast fading 
 away, and in a few more years it will nnly l)e remcmbei'ed in 
 legends of the marvellous. 
 
 What the Irish designate "Fetches," the l-higlish call 
 " Doubles." The Fetch approximates to the Highlander's 
 " second sight," and is a nuMt' shadow, resembling in stature, 
 features, and dress, a living person well known to the beholder. 
 If the apparition apper.rs in the morning a happy longevity for 
 the original may be confidently predicted ; but if it appears in 
 the evening the immediate dissolution of the living prototype 
 may be as surely anticipated. When the Fetch appears agitated 
 in its movements a violent or painful death is indicated for the 
 doomed prototype, who is known at the time to be labouring 
 under some serious illness. Individuals often behold their own 
 Fetches, and the Phantom may make its appearance at the same 
 time, and in different places, to several persons. Spirit-like, it 
 Hits before the sight of the beholder, walking leisurely in front, 
 and mysteriously vanishing. 
 
 The wail of the banshee, or the natural moan of the wind in 
 crevices in the rocks, frequently takes place just before the 
 approach of a storm. Moaning waves are often alluded to by 
 Irish bards ; and a description of the sounds heard at Portna- 
 traghan, between Benbaun and Bengore, on the north coast of 
 the county Antrim, may be considered typical of other localities. 
 Portnatraghan signifies the "harbour of the lamentations," and 
 no more beautiful or appropriate designation could have been 
 chosen for it. A stranger, unacquainted with its peculiarities, 
 visiting the locality for the first time, describes the effect which 
 this freak of nature produced upon his mind. He heard, sud- 
 denly, a heavy long-drawn sigh quite close beside him as he 
 imagined, though no human being was in sight, and as he con- 
 tinued to listen intently, the sigh was repeated at regular inter- 
 vals. When he regained self-possession he investigated the 
 matter, and discovered that the sound, which had so startled him, 
 issued from a fissure in the rocks over which he was standing. 
 Close to this he found a second fissure from which unearthly 
 groans proceeded, so like those of a human being, that it was 
 distressing to listen to them. If such were the impressions 
 produced on a nineteenth-century tourist by these mysterious 
 sounds, how much more appalling must they not have been to 
 the untutored savage ? 
 
 A friend of O'Donovan's sent him the following account of 
 the supposed wail of the banshee of his own family, which was 
 of Irish aristocratic, or even royal descent ; the anecdote, like that
 
 THE ]VAIL OF THE BANSHEE. 371 
 
 relating to Portnatraghan, shows how easy it is foi" the most 
 attentive listener to naisconstrue the origin of mysterious or mi- 
 usual sounds: — "In November, 1820, when I was in attendance 
 on a near and dear relative's death-bed in an old castle in the 
 county of Westmeath, I heard a most extraordinary sound resemb- 
 ling that of an ^Eohan harp, but also having a strong similitude 
 to the human voice. It was more nearly allied to singing than 
 instrumental music. I never heard anything like it before or 
 since. Had I been superstitious, I should have at once considered 
 it to be the song or wail of the banshee. The sound appeared to 
 me to be everywhere in the room, and not to come from any 
 point ; and I feel certain that the servants in the house at the 
 time might, with a little stretch of their fancy, have placed it 
 anywhere except in the real locus from whence it proceeded, and 
 that was the throat of the almost unconscious invalid. Under 
 the circumstances in which I was placed, I could not escape 
 examining into the nature of the extraordinary sounds ; and I 
 found they were due to an involuntary action of the organs of 
 voice, coupled with the spasmodic breathing of the patient, which 
 changed every moment, producing a sort of ventriloquistic singing 
 or melody which was exquisitely harmonious and perfectly un- 
 earthly, as was observed by one of the listeners, who did not ven- 
 ture to form an opinion as to the nature of the sounds she heard. 
 The sound heard on the occasion referred to is not, I feel certain, 
 the only instance of its occurrence, for I have heard of others. 
 But sensible people do not generally like to speak of such things ; 
 and servants, nurses, and indeed others who have heard of ban- 
 shees, and would believe in their existence without investigation, 
 have attributed such sounds to their agency. I have known a 
 shutter closed, when a window-sash was not entirely shut down, 
 emit sounds not unlike the /Eolian harp, but this was not the 
 sound I refer to above." 
 
 According to Dr. P. W. Joyce, Cliodhna (pronounced Cleena) 
 is " the potent banshee that rules, as queen, over the fairies of 
 South Munster ; and you will hear innumerable stories among 
 the peasantry of the exercise of her powerful spells. ... In the 
 Dinnsenchus there is an ancient poetical love story, of which 
 Cleena is the heroine, wherein it is related that she was a 
 foreigner, and that she was drowned in the harbour of Glandore, 
 near Skibbereen, in Cork. In this harbour the sea, at certain 
 times, utters a very peculiar deep; hollow, and melancholy roar 
 among the caverns of the cliffs, and which was formerly believed 
 to foretell the death of a king of the South of Ireland ; and this 
 surge has been from time immemorial called Tonn 'Jlecmi, Cleena's 
 Wave." 
 
 O'Donovan renuirks that when the wind is N.E. off the shore, 
 
 2b2
 
 372 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AND GOBLINS. 
 
 "the waves, resounding in the caverns, send forth a deep, foud, 
 liollow, monotonous roar which, in a cahn night, is pecuharly 
 impressive to the imagination, producing sensations either of 
 melancholy or fear." The cHtfs, from the caverns of which 
 Cleena sends forth this remarkable wail, are the subject of a 
 Latin poem, written by Dean Swift in 1723. The great Irish 
 wit makes no allusion to Cleena, which the genius of Ovid would 
 have turned to so much account : — 
 
 *'Ecce iiigeii.s i'lvigiiR'n scopuli (piod vcitice sunimo 
 Dcsiipev iinpendet, luillo f'un<l;uuino iiixum 
 Decidet in tiuctus : iiiiuia iindique et iindique saxa 
 Horrisono stridoro tenant, ct ad actliera mnvmur 
 Erigitur : trcpidatqiie suis Neptuniis in undis 
 Nam longa vcnti rabie, atque asjteigine crebra 
 (Kqnorei laticis, si)ecus ima rnpe eavatur: 
 Jam i'ultuia ruit, jam summa cacumina niitant 
 Jam cadit in praecops moles, ct verborat undas."* 
 
 Cleena had one of her palaces in the centre of a great rock, 
 situated about five miles from IMallow, still well known by the 
 name of Carrig-Cleena, and there is a legend attached to it, 
 recounted by Windele, from which Cleena's moral character 
 a])pears to have been doubtful. A market or fair was held in the 
 neighbourhood ; and on these occasions she came out of her abode 
 and carried off every good-looking young man at the fair who 
 pleased her. It was told how a peasant one evening had seen 
 the whole space about the rock brilliantly lighted up, the entrance 
 door thrown open, and a fair lady standing within. Home 
 people cultivated the ground around the rock with potatoes ; but 
 Cleena was heard within piteously wailing, as if lamenting the 
 desecration, and the men desisted. 
 
 Tlie cromleac in the townland of Ahaglaslin, county Cork, is 
 styled Callaheencladdig, and there is an Irish refrain relating to 
 it, which has been translated : — 
 
 " A little maiden of the shore 
 Lamenting lond and waiting sore." 
 
 The designation of this monument has also been translated 
 the " Little Hag of the Seashore," and the " hag " used formerly 
 
 * " Behold a mighty mass of rock, whose topmost peak hangs over, and sinks 
 do\\n into the waves, with no fonndation there. The sea and rocks ai'onnd re- 
 echo with the dreadful din, and eveii to the sky tlie noise ascends, the waves of 
 ocean also quiver, for by the continual raging of tlu; wind, and by the constant 
 washing of the waves, a cave is hollowed out from the solid rock. Xow the 
 storm strikes it, its topmost i)eaks tliereby are shaken, and the mighty mass falls 
 crasliiii'' down into the seethinii; waves."
 
 CLEENA, A FREE AND EASY SPIRIT. 373 
 
 to utter lamentations ^Yhen an3'one died in the neighbourhood. 
 W. C. Borlace is of opinion that she can be identified, with 
 tolerable certainty, as Cleena, " whose house on the flat stony 
 seashore, consisting of a great squarish natural rock, was pointed 
 out to me, at a turn in the road, just beyond the dolmen. Stories 
 were current of her inveigling young fellows to the rock whence 
 they never returned." 
 
 Even Cleena had a more estimable side to her character. 
 Some of the peasantry of the country around Carrig Cleena 
 regard her in the light of a benefactress. In her neighbourhood 
 no cattle die from the influence of the evil eye, nor the malignant 
 power of the unfriendly spirits of the air. Her goodness pre- 
 serves the harvest from the blights which dissipate the farmer's 
 hopes. The peasantry are the children of her peculiar care. 
 She often appears, disguised in the homely garb of a peasant 
 girl, to announce to some late wayfarer the expulsion from her 
 dominions of invading spirits, and the consequent certainty of 
 an abundant havest. Cleena is also stated to dwell in the Bay 
 of Dublin, and to cry Avhenever the head of an old Milesian 
 family dies. 
 
 The late J. O'Beirne Crowe when writing on the ancient god- 
 desses of the pagan Irish, states that the Irish possessed foreign 
 deities ; and he identified the above mentioned Cleena, Cliodna, 
 or Clida, with the Gaulish Clutonda. 
 
 A legend of the hero Cuchullin (Coolin) recites that, being 
 pursued by a Cailleach, or witch, he ran southwards toAvards the 
 ocean, until finding himself literally " between the devil and the 
 deep sea," he sprang from a headland on to a rock in the ocean, 
 closely pursued by the witch ; then, with a superhuman exertion, 
 he sprang back to the mainland ; but the hag, attempting the 
 same feat, jumped short, fell into the flood, and was drowned. 
 The body of the witch, carried northward by the current, drifted 
 ashore at a point called Cancalee, or the Hag's Head — a singular 
 conformation of rock, worn into a grotesque resemblance of the 
 human profile. The waves, however, are not, as we see, suftered 
 to claim undisputed this rude sculpture as their own ; legends 
 relate that it is the body of this malignant hag, who for her 
 misdeeds was transformed into stone, and doomed to remain 
 there for ever, lashed by the raging billows of the ocean. 
 
 On the hill of Carrick, overlooking the river Boyne, there is 
 a rock denominated the " Witch's Stone," which stantls upon its 
 northern brow. The legend attached to it recounts that a witch 
 hurled this boulder from the hill of Croghan at some early 
 Father of the Church, but missed his reverence, and tlie boulder 
 fell where it is now to be seen. 
 Meendacalliagh, in the parish of Lower Fahan, county Donegal,
 
 B74 GODS, GOD7:> ESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 signifies " the mountain flat of the two hags." A locality near 
 IMonasterboice is styled " the Witch's Hollow," and a point of 
 rock, near Youghal, jutting into the river Blackwatcr, is desig- 
 nated Srnn-CaiJU;ih(', " the Hag's Nose," or promontory. 
 
 Legends are still recounted amongst the peasantry of immense 
 earns, tumuli, rude stone monuments of various descriptions, 
 cashels, and even of the comparatively modern round towers, 
 being erected in the course of one night by a Cailleach, or 
 hag. A rude stone structure near Dundalk, figured in Wright's 
 Lmttldana, and in the ArrlKioUiiiia, is styled by the country 
 people F<i;is-na-(iin-i'i;ih, i.e. the one night's work; the earn at 
 Heapstown, county Sligo, is also styled Fas-nd-Junnialn/. The 
 designation Fas-nd-lKiiuudin (F(is-)i(i-Ji((on-(>i(llirJic), "the growth of 
 one night," i.e. a mushroom, is applied by the peasantry princi- 
 pally, however, to earns. The name may probably first have 
 been given to some earns on account of their general appearance 
 resembling that of an enormous mushroom, whilst the legend 
 of their erection in a single night was then probably invented 
 to account for their name. 
 
 A supernatural being, styled Grian, is reputed to have been 
 buried in various localities ; for several rude stone monuments 
 in different parts of the kingdom are still popularly known as 
 her last resting-place. 
 
 The legend, which transforms Grian from a beautiful charm- 
 ing young woman into an ugly vindictive old witch, relates that 
 five young warriors, sons of a chief named Conall, attacked the 
 " fairy mansion " of Grian's father, and destroyed the place. To 
 avenge this act, the sorceress transformed them into badgers. 
 When Conall heard of the fate of his sons, he set out to fight the 
 enchantress. Grian addressed him in a conciliatory manner; 
 but, when he unguardedly came close to her, she vanquished 
 him by means of a powerful spell. 
 
 The name of the Castle of Carrigogunnell, on the banks of the 
 Shannon, is understood by the peasantry to mean " the Rock of 
 the Candle " ; and, to account for the name, a legend is narrated 
 by them of a witch, named Grana, who long ago lived on it, and 
 nightly lighted an enchanted candle. Whoever beheld its rays 
 died before the morning's sun rose. Crof'ton Croker, in his 
 legend of this locality, depicts Grana as of gigantic size and 
 frightful in appearance. " Her eyebrows grew into each other with 
 a grim curve, and beneath their matted bristles, deeply sunk in 
 her head, two small grey eyes darted forth baneful looks of evil. 
 From her deeply-wrinkled forehead issued forth a hooked beak, 
 dividing two shrivelled cheeks. Her skinny lips curled with a 
 cruel and malignant expression, and her prominent chin was 
 studded with bunches of grizzly hair." So numerous were Grana's
 
 THE WITCH'S CANDLE. 215 
 
 victims that " it was the mighty Finn himself who lifted, up his 
 voice and commanded the fatal candle of the hag, Grana, to he 
 extinguished. ' Thine, Eegan, be the task,' he said, and 
 to him he gave a cap thrice charmed by the magician Luno of 
 Lochlin." 
 
 " With the star of the same evening the candle of death 
 burned on the rock, and Regan stood beneath it. Had he beheld 
 the slightest glimmer of the blaze, he, too, would have perished, 
 and the hag, Grana, with the morning's dawn, rejoiced over his 
 corpse. When Regan looked towards the light, the charmed 
 cap fell over his eyes and prevented his seeing. The rock was 
 steep, but he climbed up its craggy side with such caution and 
 dexterity, that, before the hag was aware, the warrior, ^vith 
 averted head, had seized the candle, and flung it with prodigious 
 force into the river Shannon, the hissing waters of which quenched 
 its light for ever." 
 
 " Then flew the charmed cap from the eyes of Eegan, and he 
 beheld the enraged hag, with outstretched arms, prepared to 
 seize and whirl him after her candle. Regan instantly bounded 
 westward from the rock, just two miles, with a wild and wondrous 
 spring. Grana looked for a moment at the leap, and then, 
 tearing up a huge fragment of the rock, flung it after Regan with 
 such tremendous force that her crooked hands trembled and her 
 broad chest heaved with heavy puffs, like a smith's labouring 
 bellows, from the exertion. The ponderous stone fell harmless to 
 the ground ; for the leap of Regan far exceeded the strength of 
 the furious hag. In triumph he returned to Finn : — 
 
 ' The hero, valiant, renowned, and learned, 
 White-toothed, graceful, magnaniraous, and active.' 
 
 " The hag, Grana, w'as never heard of more ; but the stone 
 remains, and, deeply imprinted in it, is still to be seen the mark 
 of the hag's fingers. That stone is far taller than the tallest 
 man, and the power of forty men would fail to move it from the 
 spot where it fell." 
 
 In the townland of Carrigmoorna, county Waterford, there is 
 a conical hill, crowned by a large rock, in which dwells the 
 enchantress Murna. When the wind blows strongly in certain 
 directions it produces in some crevices of the rock a loud roar, 
 and the country people state that this sound is the luunming of 
 Murna's spinning wheel. 
 
 The water spirit required his tribute, and hence is supposed 
 to have arisen the wide-spread reluctance amongst pi'imitive 
 seaside folk to rescue a drowning man from the water, the old 
 superstition that 
 
 " Save a stranger from the sea, 
 And he'll turn jonr enemy,"
 
 37G GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS A .YD GOBLEVS. 
 
 niight many years ago have been considered universally prevalent 
 along the Irish littoral/'' 
 
 When, in the Solomon Islands, a man accidentally falls into 
 the water, and a shark attacks him, he is not allowed to escape. 
 If he succeeds in eluding the shark, his fellow-tribesmen will 
 throw him back to his doom, believing him to be marked out for 
 sacrifice to the gods. A Hindoo will not rescue even a comrade 
 should he fall into the "svaters of the sacred Ganges ; for he thinks 
 that the spirit of the river would thereby be defrauded of his 
 just due. Tylor quotes an anecdote from Bohemia to the effect 
 that some fishermen refused to save a drowning man, as they 
 feared that the "waterman," that is, the water demon, would 
 take away their luck in fishing and drown them at the first 
 opportunity. In Egypt this idea of sacrifice to the water sprite 
 is evidently present in the minds of some of the Arabs on the 
 Nile. Before trusting their boat to the mercy of the cataract 
 when descending the river a stick is thrown into the current ; if 
 this disappears in the swirl of the waters it is looked upon as a 
 favourable omen, or that the offering has been accepted. 
 
 In an article on lona, in the Fortnvihthj llevieic, signed 
 Fiona ]\lacleod, the writer states : — " When I was a child I used 
 to throw offerings in small coins, flowers, shells, even a newly- 
 caught trout, once a treasured flint arrow-head, into the sea- 
 lough by which we lived. My Hebridean nurse had often 
 told me of Shony, a mysterious sea-god, and I know I spent 
 much time in wasted adoration ; a fearful worship, not unmixed 
 with disappointment and some anger." 
 
 The original level of the Forum at Rome was nearly forty feet 
 below the present-day surface, and this ancient level was very 
 slightly above that of the Tiber. Thus in early times the Forum 
 was a swamp, into which Curtius plunged with his horse, in 
 accordance with the widespread belief that a shaking quagmire 
 can only be given solidity by the sacrifice of a human life. It is 
 a mistake to suppose that the gulf into which he rode was an 
 earth(juake chasm. At the Ioav level of the original Forum it 
 would have at once filled with water. 
 
 The water demon, in modern times, assumes, in different 
 localities of Ireland, various forms and attributes, according to 
 the ideas of the peasantry in regard to its nature. The crops on 
 Coolnahinch Hill, in the county Meath, were, in olden times, 
 always eaten by the idlfish, which issued from the adjoining lake. 
 This fabulous monster, according to tlie oldshannachies, or story 
 
 * In Ireland the body of a drowned person is discovered by floating a bundle 
 of straw on the surface of the water; it will stop and quiver over the spot 
 \\ here the corpse is lying. This superstitious custom is very widespread.
 
 THE WATER DEMON. '611 
 
 tellers of the nei,i;hbourlioocl, is an aquatic horse, which lives at 
 the bottom of JMoyiiagh lake and other sheets of water in the 
 county Meath. VUfiali is a corruption of (illjihiast — pronounced 
 III f cent, which has the same general meaning as piast. Oil, or 
 nil, is a prefix, signifying very large, so that ollphiast is a very 
 large piast, or serpent-demon. 
 
 There is a desolate-looking, but highly picturesque tarn in a 
 hollow on the slope of Topped Mountain, county Fermanagh, a 
 little to the south of the tarn that crowns the summit of the 
 ridge. The country people recount that an apparition, in the 
 shape of a water-horse, sometimes emerges from its bosom, 
 traverses the wild heath of Cloghtogle to Loughascaul, where it 
 descends again to its watery domain. 
 
 In the vicinity of a cashel on Slieve Mis, county Kerry, are 
 two dark forbidding-looking lakelets lying in the hollow of the 
 mountain. One is regarded by the peasantry as unfathomable. 
 The tarn derives interest from a legend in the Leab/iarna h- Uidhre, 
 relating that it was once infested by an enormous piast, which 
 devoured both the inhabitants of the fortress and their cattle. 
 On one occasion when the hero Cuchullin (Coolin) was near the 
 cashel, he heard, at midnight, the approach of the monster. 
 " These be no friends of mine," said he, " that come here "; and 
 he fled before it, jumped over the cashel wall, and alighted in the 
 centre of the enclosure, at the door of the king's residence — a 
 record leap. The Irish saints are depicted as bolder in their con- 
 tests with water demons than this hero of Pagan times. Saint 
 Mochua of Balla overcame a horrid monster which infested one 
 of the Connaught lakes, whilst the saints, Senanus and Kevin, 
 struggled successfully with the piKst-f or dragons of Scattery and 
 Glendalough. 
 
 There is a piast at the bottom of a lake in the south of Ireland 
 imprisoned under a great vat. In olden times the monster was 
 the scourge of the whole country side, but on the arrival of St. 
 Patrick on a missionary tour, it was induced by the saint to try the 
 luxury of a residence under a huge vat, produced, by the national 
 .saint, for the occasion. St. Patrick promised to set him at 
 large on the next Monday, i.e. Lxian, an expression which may 
 be interpreted either as Monday or the Day of Judgment. On 
 a calm evening the poor deluded monster is heard bitterly 
 complaining and appealing to St. Patrick in these words, "It 
 is a long Luan (Monday), Padrig ! " 
 
 The oldest written reference, known to the writer, to belief 
 in supernatural aquatic horses was discovered by O'Donovan, in 
 a vellum manuscript, in Trinity College, Dublin. It is a very extra- 
 ordinary passage. Headers interested in the subject are referred 
 to the following literal translation, as given by the discoverer.
 
 378 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLIXS. 
 
 '• Tria mirabilia de GlenuDallainn in Tironia, viz. Aper de 
 Di'uim-liath ; Bestia de Letter-Dallain, et Dainh-Dile (Bos diluvii) 
 Bestia de Letter-Dallain caput humanuni habuit ; forma follis 
 fabrilis in reliqua parte fuit. Equus aquatilis, qui erat in lacu 
 juxta ecclesiam copulavit cum filia sacerdotis (ecclesije) ita ut 
 generavit banc Bestiam ex ca." 
 
 O'Donovan also i-ecounts bow, in the seventeenth century, 
 one of his ancestors, living on the lands of Timahoe, county 
 Kilkenny, close to a small lake, out of which horses of black 
 colour and very beautiful symmetry were observed to emerge, 
 became vei'y anxious to learn all about them, and at length dis- 
 covered that they were enchanted horses which had inhabited 
 this lough trom a remote period. Complying with the directions 
 of one skilled in the ] Mack Art, he caught a mare, which remained 
 with him till she had had seven foals. At last the farmer, 
 disregarding, or forgetting, the instructions which he had re- 
 ceived, violated the rules by means of which he was able to 
 retain the beautiful mare in his possession. She thereupon 
 neighed seven times, broke loose, and galloped towards the lake, 
 followed by her seven black foals. The farmer pursued them, 
 but only arrived at the brink of the water in time to see the 
 mare and her foals plunging into the lake, the mare first and 
 then the foals in succession, according to their ages. He never 
 saw them until seven years had elapsed, and by that time he 
 had forgotten the mode by which to attempt their recapture. 
 This kind of legend is not confined to Ireland ; traces of it are to 
 be found almost everywhere. 
 
 Enchanted horses used to emerge by night from Lough 
 Ramor, in the county Cavan, and eat the oats in a farmer's 
 field. The enraged owner managed at last to catch a foal, which 
 he broke and used for ordinary purposes. As he was riding late 
 one evening, along the shore of the lake, the water-horses in it 
 commenced to neigh. On hearing the sound the foal, on which 
 he was mounted, suddenly plunged into the water, taking his 
 rider with him, and neither foal nor rider were ever again seen. 
 A legend of Lough Caogh, or the Blind Lake, near Kiltubrid 
 Church, county Leitrim, relates how a lad, working in a field 
 close to the lake, caught a stray horse and commenced to harrow 
 with him. The "water-horse" at once ran away, dragging 
 harrow and boy with him, and disappeared beneath the waters of 
 the lough. Labourers, hearing the shrieks of the youth, hurried 
 to his aid ; but when they arrived on the shore the waters were 
 already dyed the colour of blood. The moral to be drawn from 
 the story is that one should not catch horses of a neighbour to 
 do farm work, lest something unfortunate should occur. 
 
 One very dry summer's day the level of a lake in the county
 
 ENCHANTED EELS. 379 
 
 Cavan became unusually low, and the ruins of a castle were 
 observed beneath the waters ; a well-known swimmer dived to 
 the bottom and soon reappeared with a golden cup, hotly pursued 
 by the guardian of the treasure, in the form of a huge eel, from 
 which he only just managed to escape. 
 
 Another enchanted eel of immense proportions was observed 
 passing from Lough Ramor down the Blackwater ; it broke 
 through two nets, but was at last captured and brought ashore. 
 It then suddenly put its tail into its mouth, making itself into 
 the shape of a hoop, blew a shrill whistle, and trundled with 
 lightning speed into the river. 
 
 Legends regarding these mythical demons assume various 
 forms in individual cases, and many are the tales the people 
 relate of fearful encounters with a monster covered with long 
 hair and mane. Legends of aquatic monsters are very ancient ; 
 almost all sheets of water possess their local demon. O'Flaherty 
 has a very circumstantial story of an "Irish crocodile" that 
 lived at the bottom of Lough Mask. The commonest legend 
 attached nowadays to almost all lakes is that they are the home 
 of a frightful serpent, and that no one will swim in the water for 
 fear of being swallowed by it. The story of immense deposits 
 of treasures buried deep in the bosom of the lakes and jealously 
 guarded by acjuatic monsters, may have arisen from the actual 
 deposition of treasure, or what was then regarded as such, in 
 lakes or fountains, as an offering to or part of an ancient cult of 
 water. 
 
 In ancient as well as in modern times, what men could not 
 understand they put down to the supernatural, an easy method 
 of explaining many things, and it was formerly, and is often 
 still, the practice to attribute to unseen powers many evils and 
 troubles for which we ourselves are directly responsible. In 
 Ireland the numerous families of the peasantry were generally 
 ascribed by them to " the will of God," quite ignoring the fact 
 that their will was the immediate cause of the increase of the 
 population. Some of the clerical profession now take a sensible 
 and up-to-date, view of the subject. During the typhoid epidemic 
 in Maidstone in 1897, one of the clergy is reported to have 
 publicly declined to use the special prayer in the Church of 
 England Liturgy set apart for epidemics, as the prayer refers to 
 the plague as a visitation from God, while the clergyman held 
 the opinion that it was entirely brought about by the remissness 
 of man, in the form of the Town Council, who, according to his 
 belief, had neglected the proper supervision of the water supply : 
 in his mind, the cause of the outbreak of the epidemic. 
 
 What became of the sanitary science of pagan Roman civili- 
 zation, and why the ages of faith in Europe were ages of filth
 
 380 GOBS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 are interesting questions which await sohition. Without some 
 system' of sanitation not inferior to that of modern London, 
 ancient Jlome would have heeu a physical impossibility. Why 
 did Roman sanitation completely disappear ? Why did the 
 triumph of Christianity bring about a reversion to filth, so com- 
 plete that, until comparatively lately, the habits and manner 
 of living of the entire population were undoubtedly what we 
 should now regard as bestial. It may be suggested that the 
 introduction of Christianity was not the boon it is commonly 
 supposed to have been, a moral which Gibbon, in his history, 
 has endeavoured to point. The more rapidly a now and very 
 revolutionary idea gains the mastery the more rapidly is the 
 ]iew equilibrium established. Now, in Europe, Christianity pro- 
 gressed but slowly. The old civilization gradually crumbled 
 away : attacked, undermined, it fell at last. Chaos supervened, 
 and from it a new order of things was slowly evolved. 
 
 There is nothing more certain than that among all barbarous 
 peoples, disease, in every form, is regarded as the work of malig- 
 nant spirits, and but for their interference human beings would 
 live on for ever. Disease is regarded by the savage as some- 
 thing outside and foreign to Inmianity, brought about by a 
 demon in the service of an enemy ; therefore, the intruder, or 
 disease, must be expelled by a more powerful spirit than that 
 which first summoned it. Thus, if tlie witch-doctor, when called 
 in, is more powerful than the evil spirit, he expels the malign 
 influence and the patient recovers ; if he be less powerful, he is 
 impotent against the demon and the patient dies. 
 
 The receipt alleged to have been prescribed by the great Irish 
 physician, Dianket.. for the expulsion of a demon from the human 
 body was to make a decoction from the roots of the alder and of 
 the apple tree, to be boiled with the brains of a wild hog and 
 drunk fasting ; the potion to be administered until the bewitched 
 person casts up the demon out of the stomach. 
 
 These Irish demons possessed the power to kill those persons 
 against whom they bore animosity, or to transform them into 
 wild animals. Sometimes their ideas of revenge presented a 
 comical aspect. A demon installed himself inside a King of 
 Connaught, and endowed him with such a voracious apj)etite 
 that, in a year and a-half, his consumption of victuals caused a 
 famine in the land. The king's breakfast consisted of two fat 
 cows, a pig, thirty eggs, sixty wheaten cakes, and a barrel of 
 ale, with a commensurate luncheon, dinner, and supper. The 
 king was only able to subsist by travelling about his kingdom, 
 visiting in turns all his well-to-do subjects, and he moved on to 
 the next house when he had eaten u[) all the provision possessed 
 by his luiwillini;- host.
 
 BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF FIENDS. 381 
 
 This wild legend of an Irish king, accidentally furnishing 
 lodgings to an evil spirit, is paralleled by that related of a 
 modern English nobleman who, in imagination, swallowed the 
 Christian devil. From the most generous motives for the wel- 
 fare of the human race, he refused to give any facilities to the 
 foul fiend to regain his liberty, but his medical attendant over- 
 came his resolution by surreptitiously administering an emetic 
 in his food. 
 
 It appears very evident that the malignant beings now styled 
 hags and witches, are but degenerated representatives of the 
 goddesses of the ancient Irish : whilst the fairies, which we shall 
 treat of next, are probably representatives of an aboriginal and 
 conquered people. 
 
 It is quite possible, and indeed most highly probable, that 
 the Irish goddesses, or witches, were not originally supposed by 
 their worshippers to be so very malevolent, but when Christianity 
 invaded and captured their territories, their disposition towards 
 their former worshippers was imagined to have changed, and 
 they plagued the people — or at least were thought to have done 
 so — to wreak on them vengeance for their change of faith. 
 
 With all our modern science, and all our boasted knowledge, 
 we cannot quite extinguish the last spark of superstition in the 
 mind, although with the lips we may deny its existence. If, 
 then, descendants of generations of more or less cultured ances- 
 tors still retain slumbering embers of belief in supernatural 
 agencies, is it to be wondered at that savages, in all ages and in 
 all climes, grovelling in ignorance, descend, at times, to depths 
 of the greatest self-abasement, and to the perpetration of what, 
 to us, appears the grossest absurdities, in order to propitiate 
 imaginary spirits, benign or malign. 
 
 To one who believed himself under the influence of these 
 malignant hags or witches, misfortunes were not the result of 
 accident ; sickness was intensified by pangs of mental anguish. 
 His cattle did not die of natural disease, but were victims of 
 blighting spells ; his corn was not laid by the action of winds 
 and rain, but by the tramplings of furious fiends, belief in 
 whose existence was at one time almost universal ; and the later 
 expounders of primitive belief, by pretending to control the 
 acts of these terrible beings, gained complete ascendancy over 
 the minds of the credulous multitude. Superadded to this fear, 
 there must have lurked in the mind of the aborigine the general 
 idea that, though the world in day time belongs to the living, in 
 night time it belongs to the dead. 
 
 It is a very mistaken idea to suppose that all this farrago of 
 seeming nonsense was invented by a priesthood for the purpose 
 of enslaving the masses. A priesthood originated in the idea
 
 3H-2 GODS, GODDESSES, GHOSTS AXD GOBLINS. 
 
 conceived by man of superhuman rulers of the universe ; but the 
 class elected to the office originated priestcraft, to lend fictitious 
 <lignity to their office and to add to their emoluments. Old 
 ■world ideas are almost inconceivable to us in these modern times. 
 Carlyle describes paganism as " a bewildering, inextricable jungle 
 of delusions, confusions, falsehoods and absurdities covering the 
 whole field of life. A thing that (ills us with astonishment, almost, 
 if it were possible, with incredulity, for truly it is not easy to 
 understand that sane men could ever calmly, wilh their eyes 
 open, believe and live by such a set of doctrines." All religions 
 in their origin possess some germ of truth, and " we shall begin 
 to have a chance of understanding paganism, when we first 
 admit that, to its followers, it was at one time earnestly true. 
 Let us consider it very certain that men did believe in paganism ; 
 men with open eyes, sound senses, men made altogether like 
 ourselves, that we, had we been there, should have believed in 
 it." 
 
 Whatever maybe thought of the character-delineations of the 
 ancient goddesses of the Irish, their implacability, their vin- 
 dictiveness, as well as on the other hand, their occasional acts of 
 benevolence, and the assistance they rendered to those whom 
 they considered ought to be protected ; they were, at any rate, 
 superior to the imbecility, depicted in mediaeval and even modern 
 representations of the devil, who in his dealings is sure to be bafifled 
 and cheated. After paying the fair market price for a soul, he 
 loses his bargain through the equivocal wording of the covenant ; 
 w'hen he is agreeing for the first living thing that is to pass over 
 the bridge he has assisted the architect to build, the latter antici- 
 pates the devil's disappointment when compelled to accept the 
 dog, by which the literal wording of the contract is to be satis- 
 fied. " The idea of the devil," observes Jacob Grimm, " is foreign 
 to all primitive religions, and for this reason, that in these the 
 idea of God is the idea of a devil. In his lowest form man has 
 no other conception of God than one of power, and that power 
 exercised for his bane. Everything that is agreeable or useful 
 he accepted as a matter of course, but that which injured him 
 riveted his attention, as his life was a prolonged contest with 
 their power ; thus the first stage in the conception of a devil is 
 the attribution of evil to God. Even in the present day inquire 
 of any peasant why he believes in an omnipotent Creator of the 
 world, and he will not expatiate on the beauty and harmony of 
 all creation ; to this he is accustomed and beholds it with un- 
 concern. He will, on the contrary, recount to you as evidence of 
 the existence of a God, the sudden and violent death of his friend 
 or of his neighbour, some fearful accident or misfortune to 
 another, or tlic inclemency of the season and the subsequent
 
 FKAR OF EVIL SPIRITS. 383 
 
 failure of the crops. In fine, such events as, with good reasoners, 
 are the chief difficulties in admitting a supreme intelligence, are 
 with him the sole arguments for it." 
 
 The gods, goddesses, and hanshees or ghosts were really feared 
 by the Irish, for, as a sublime thinker says : — " Wo keine 
 Gcitter sind walten Gespenster." But, for so-called Christian 
 teachers, the Christianized Evil Spirit never was nor ever would 
 be dreaded. Impressions stamped on the early infantile mind, 
 whether of the nation or of the individual, are not easily effaced ; 
 even those engrained in early manhood are indelible. It is re- 
 counted of a well-known character, the early part of whose life 
 was passed in great pecuniary straits, that even when fortune 
 turned and smiled upon him, nothing could eradicate from his 
 mind the fear of sheriffs' bailiff's, at sight of whom he inconti- 
 nently fled. There is also the story of a proselyte converted by 
 missionary zeal from devil worship to a supposed intelligent 
 belief in Christianity, but who, nevertheless, in his last moments, 
 grievously disappointed his spiritual father, for the good mission- 
 ary, seeing the dying man troubled by considerations of futurity, 
 and imagining he was racked by recollections of his former 
 monstrous creed, and by a wholesome dread of condign punish- 
 ment, said : — " You fear, is it not, to meet your God '? " and was 
 met by the totally unexpected and startling answer: — "Not in 
 the least ; with him, I shall be all right ; it is of the other I am 
 afraid."
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 The Food of Pbehistoric Man. 
 
 \_Nut(: to p. 29, tine 26, after tJie tcord " Continent."] 
 
 " Attention has recently boon c.illetl to some curious experimencs con- 
 ducted some time ago Ly Mr. Charters White, m.r.c.s., lately the president 
 of the Royal Odontological Society of Great Britain. Ui)on cx.imining 
 some skulls datinj;- l)aok from the Htono Age, he nott-d that several of the 
 teeth, although (juite free from caries, were thickly coated with tartar. 
 It occurred to him tliat it would he possible by a rough analysis to identify 
 any particles of food that might be embedded in this natural concrete, 
 and so reveal the character of the ailment partaken of by prehistoric 
 man. Dissolving the tartar in weak acid, a residue was left which, under 
 the microscope, was found to consist of corn-husk particles, hairs from 
 the outside of the husks, spiral vessels from vegetables, particles of starch, 
 the point of a tisli-tootb, a conglomeration of oval cells probably of fruit, 
 the barblcts of down, and portions of wool. In addition to this varied list M-ere 
 some round red bodies, the origin of which defied detection, and many sandy 
 particles, some relating to quartz and some to flint. These mineral fragments 
 were very likely attributabh! to the rough stones used in grinding the corn, and 
 would account for the erosion of the masticating surfaces, which in main- 
 cases was stiongly marked. Tliis inquiry into the food of men who lived 
 not less than four thousand years ago is a matter of great archtcological 
 interest." — (Jhamhvrs's Jouritat. February, 1901. 
 
 The Need-Fire. 
 
 \_Note to p. 36, line 21, after the uwd " old."] 
 
 " The same custom obtained in Scotland at the commencement of the nine- 
 teenth century and the charm was used, as in Ireland, against an outbreak 
 of disease among cattle. Mr. Joseph Tain, who describes the ceremony, states 
 that :— 
 
 " ' In the summer of LSIO, while remaining at Balnaguard, a village 
 of Perthshire, as I was walking along the banks of the Tay, I observed a crowd 
 of people convened on the hill above Pitna Cree ; and as I recollected having 
 seen a multitude in the same place the preceding tlay, my curiosity was roused, 
 so that 1 resolved to learn the reason of this meeting in such an unfrequented 
 place. I was close beside them before any of the company liad observed 
 me ascending the hill, their attention being fixed upon two men in the centre. 
 One was turning a small stock, which was supported by two stakes standing
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 385 
 
 perpendiciilaih-, -with a cleft at tlie top, in wliich tho crown piece Arcnt round 
 in tlie form a carpenter holds a chisel on a grinding stone ; the other was 
 holding a small branch of tir on tliat vvliich 'svas turning. Directly belo\v 
 it was a quantity of tow spread on the ground. I observed that this work was 
 taken alternately by men and women. As I Avas turning about in order 
 to leave them, a man whom I had seen before, laid his hand on my shoulder, 
 and solicited me to put my finger to tlie stick ; but T refused, merely to see if my 
 obstinacj' would be resented ; and suddenly a sigh arose from every breast, and 
 anger kindled in every eye. I saw, therefore, that immediate compliance with 
 the request was necessary to my safety. 
 
 " ' I was soon convinced that this was some mysterious rite pei formed either 
 to break or ward off the power of witchcraft; but, so intent were they on 
 the prosecution of their design, that I could obtain no satisfactory information, 
 until I met an old sclioolmaster in the neighbourhood, from whom I had 
 obtained much insight into the manners and customs of that district. IIo 
 informed me that there is a distemper occasioned bj^ want of water, which 
 cattle are subject to, called in the Gaelic language shag dnhh, wliich in English 
 signifies " black haunch." It is a very infectious disease, and, if not taken in 
 time, would carry off most of the cattle in the country.' 
 
 " The method taken by the Highlanders to prevent its destructive ravages 
 is thus : — 
 
 " ' All fires are extinguished between the two nearest rivers, and all the 
 people within that boundary convene in a convenient place, where they erect 
 a machine, as above described ; and, after they have commenced, they continue 
 night and day until they have forced fire by the friction of the two sticks. 
 Ever}- person must perform a portion of this labour, or touch the machine 
 in order not to break the charm. 
 
 " ' During the continuance of the ceremony they appear melancholy and 
 dejected, but when the fire, which they say is brought from heaven by an angel, 
 blazes in the tow, they resume their wontc d gaiety ; and while one part of the 
 company is employed feeding tlie flame, tho (.thers drive all the cattle in tho 
 neighbourhood over it. "When this ceremon}' is ended, they consider the cure 
 complete ; after which they drink whisky, and dance to the bagpipe or fiddle 
 round the celestial fire till the last spark is extinguished.' 
 
 " Here, within our own day, is evidently an act of fire-M'orship : a direct 
 worship of Baal by a Christian community in the nineteenth centuiy. There 
 were other means of preventing diseases spreading among cattle practised within 
 this century. When murrain broke out in a herd, it was believed that, if the 
 first one taken ill were buried alive, it would stop the si)read of the disease, and 
 that the other animals afTected would then soon recover. "Were a cow to cast 
 her calf ; if the calf were to be buried at tie byre door, and a short prayer or 
 a verse of Scripture said over it, it would prevent the same misfortune from 
 happening with the rest of the herd. If a sheep dropped a dead lamb, the 
 proper precaution to take was to place the lamb upon a rowan tree, and 
 this would prevent the whole flock from a repetition of the mishap." — Folk- 
 Lore, by James Xapier, f.u.s.e., pp. 82-85. 
 
 Are the English a Celtic Nationality? 
 
 \_Xofe to p. 207, line 38, riffcr the icord " Huxley."] 
 
 The question whether the English are a Germanic nationality has been 
 much discussed, but, M'ilh all our faults, wo are without those which are 
 especially characteristic of the Teuton. Again the section of the average 
 German cranium is, it is stated, usuallv circular, the section of an average 
 
 2c
 
 330 ADDITIOXAL XOTES. 
 
 Englisli cranium is usually oval, witli llie axis f'loni front to back varying 
 in length. The elongated skull is doubtless inherited from common Celtic 
 ancestors, and its prevalence in England demonstrates that tlie ])opulation may 
 with some reason be called Celtic. As a nation the English dilleis quite as 
 much from the German as it does from the French, ^^'c have characteristics 
 \vhich distinguish us from the rest of the population of Europe, so that the most 
 Irish of Irishmen is, on the Continent, often taken for an Englishman. The 
 race which inhabits the United Kingdom is A-ery much more homogeneous than 
 is generally imagined. The mixture of aborigines, Cell, Saxon, Dane, and 
 Norman whirh composes the English jiojiulation is ])recisely the same mixture 
 ■which \vc find in Ii-eland and in Scotlaml, the only dill'ercnceis that in England 
 the Saxon, in the Highlands of Scotland and in Ireland the Celt, predominate, 
 but as a whole the race is nuu'li more homogeneous than that which inhabits 
 Germany or France. 
 
 A theory, accepted by many anthropologists, is that the population of Europe 
 maj' be divided into two races, the oval or long heads, and the round or broad 
 heads. Roughly speaking these are arranged in three strata running across the 
 face of the European Continent ; fair, oval, or long heads to the north ; dark, 
 oval, or long heads to the south ; Mith a band of round or broad heads sand- 
 wiched in between. Tlie British Isles are peopled by the oval or long-lieaded 
 race. Along the eastern coasts the population is, in general, fair ; along the 
 western coasts, dark, coiTCsponding to the northern and southern long heads of 
 the Continent. But in the N.-"\V. of Ireland there is a restricted area inhabited 
 by broad heads, a vestige of the race who are known to have invaded the British 
 Isles in prehistoric times, and who still occupy tlie central European area. 
 
 BuRxixG THE Bedding of the Dead. 
 
 {Sole to p. 299, line 15, after the word *' walls."] 
 
 Joseph Tain, writing in the year 1811, refers to a very similar practice 
 then common in some parts of Scotland. 
 
 AVlion the corpse was carried out of the house, the bed on which the 
 deceased lay was also taken, and all the straw or lieather of which it M'as 
 composed was burnt, in some i)lace whore no beast could get at it. This 
 practice is commendable from a sanitary jioint of view. Xext morning the 
 ashes were carefully examined as it was believed that the footprint of the next 
 person of the family who was to die would be seen thereon imprinted. 
 
 Wake Games. 
 \_Notc to p. 321, line 22, after the v:ord " men."] 
 
 Ladv Wilde describes another game, or play, stvled " Tlie Mock Marriage " 
 as lollows : — 
 
 " Two clever young wake-men dress themselves fantasticalh* as priest 
 and clerk, the latter carrying a linen bag filled with turf ashes, which he swings 
 about to keep order, giving a good hit now and then, while the dust promotes 
 a good deal of coughing amongst the crowd. But nothing irreverent is meant ; 
 for it is considered that whatever keeps up the si)irits at a M'ake is allowable, 
 and harmless in the sight of God.
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 387 
 
 "The priest then talas his place in tlie circle, the clerk at his elbo\^', 
 and pours lorth a volley of gibberish Latin, after which he calls out the names 
 of those wlio are to be married, the selection being always most incongruous ; 
 and the clerk seizes them and hurries them forward, the hag of ashes enforcing ' 
 obedience to the call. 
 
 " As the names are called out, each man takes his place by the bride named 
 for him, and the priest begins the ceremony in Irish, adding a homily, 
 describing the horrid life probabh^ reserved for the bride and bridegroom, 
 owing to their vile temper and other bad Cjualities. But this is all pure fun, 
 as nothing private or personal would be permitted. 
 
 " Then the clerk whirls his bag of ashes, and threatens to striice any man 
 who grumbles at the wife he has got, and he demands his fee. Something must 
 be given to him, a penny, or even a button, and the bride must give an article 
 of her own property ; but this is returned to her, and she is told they only 
 wanted to test her obedience. After the ceremony is over, M'hisky is served 
 round, and priest and clerk and the bridegroom drink a glass for good luck, 
 ■while the bride sips a little from her husband's glass."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Thefpoes appended refer to tlie page^ of the Vol nine. 
 
 Abyssinian tombs, coloured stones, 331. 
 Achill, funeral, description, 3'2"). 
 kitchen midden, 93. 
 
 migrations for pasturage, 97. 
 
 Adams, Professor Leith, cave dwellings, 
 
 51. 
 • land connection of Great Britain 
 
 and Ireland, 10. 
 Adipocere, used as a cui-e, 298. 
 ^thicus, Irish literature, o;)inion of, 
 
 251. 
 Africa, cannibalism, 292. 
 Agricola, conquest of Ireland, alleged, 
 
 233. 
 Aidan, King of Dalriada, 245. 
 Aidan, St., prophecy, 269. 
 Ali, Khalif, heredity, remarks on, 2. 
 Amber, early uses, 184. 
 
 omamients, Ireland, 184. 
 
 superstitions, 185. 
 
 Anson, Commodore, Irish peasants' 
 opinion of, 211. 
 
 Antrim, mammoth remains, 61. 
 
 Araght, St., legend, 360. 
 
 Archaeology, growth and changes, 2, 46, 
 207. 
 
 historical importance of, 204. 
 
 poetry and archaeological research, 
 
 255. 
 
 school of the spade, 20<S. 
 
 Archer, M. 1\, Avorkcd Hints, dis- 
 coveries, 86. 
 
 Arctic element in Irisli fauna and flora, 
 73. 
 
 Ardnahue, kitchen midden discovery, 
 124. 
 
 Aristotle, Ireland, account of, 225. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
 Armagh, Palatio's Latin satire on in- 
 habitants, 116. 
 
 Arrow-heads, bone, 40. 
 
 flint, counterfeit, 43. 
 
 • — • — flint, superstitions about, 41. 
 
 Art, Celtic art in Britain and Ireland, 
 197. 
 
 Ireland, ancient designs, opinions, 
 
 155, 156. 
 
 stone-age, 155. 
 
 Atalantis, common belief in, 212. 
 
 Atkinson, Robert, Irish history, diffi- 
 culties, 201. 
 
 myths, opinion on, 139. 
 
 Augustine, " lives and size of the ante- 
 diluvians," quotation, 57. 
 
 Auk, great auk specimens, 73, 74, 105. 
 
 Australia, mode of producing fire, 33. 
 
 talking sticks, 135. 
 
 Avienus, Rufus Festus, " Sacred 
 Island," title of Ireland, 210. 
 
 Axes, nephrite, 92. 
 
 Aylesbury, Donnybrook, skulls, dis- 
 covery, 328. 
 
 Aynia, goddess, 354. 
 
 Azof, sea of, mammoth renuiins, 59. 
 
 Baal fires, 261, 279. 
 
 Bacchanalian feasts, cannibalism, 289. 
 
 Balak, John, 222. 
 
 Ball, Sir Robert, ice-age, 6. 
 
 Ballincrea, St. Patrick's curse, 273. 
 
 Ballintoy caves, wild horses' skulls, 
 
 remains, 05. 
 Ballon Hill, buried pebbles, 329. 
 Pagan cemetery, 307.
 
 890 
 
 IiYD£X. 
 
 Ballybetagh bog, 12. 
 Bally(!!istle, jet discovery, 185. 
 Ballyliolmc, worked flints, discovery, 
 
 86. 
 Ballymote. Book of, 132. 
 ]5allynaliatty, burial chamber, 335. 
 Ballynamintra cave, bears, remains, 65. 
 
 dwelling, 52, 62. 
 
 Iniman bones, 336. 
 
 reindeer, remains, 65. 
 
 wild pig, remains, 70. 
 
 wolf dog, remains, 75. 
 
 Ballyned, Donegal, prehistoric remains, 
 
 103. 
 Balljsimon, Fullocht, opened, 121. 
 Ballyvoui-ney Keel, customs, 323. 
 Balor, story of, 150. 
 Bamba, legend, 1-iO. 
 Bannon, Bernard, need-fii'e customs, 3(). 
 Banshee, Cleena, account of, 371. 
 
 Crimthawn, carried off by, 36G. 
 
 Eevil, legends, 364. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Maurice, keen, 368. 
 
 ■ names of, 364. 
 
 0' Donovan's friend's account, 370. 
 
 wail, 367. 
 
 Baptism, unbaptised right arms, 277. 
 
 Bards, Ireland, 250. 
 
 Baring-Gould, physique deterioration, 
 
 quotation, 23. 
 Baruasraghy, cist, white quartz pebbles 
 
 discovered, 329. 
 Barrett- Hamilton, G. E. H., bird-bones 
 
 from Irish caves, 74. 
 Barry, St., legend, 363. 
 Bartholomew Angelicus. jet in Ire- 
 land, 185. 
 Bav. goddess, 354-358. 
 Bealtiune, fires, 124, 261, 279. 
 Bears, remains, Ireland and Scotland, 65. 
 Beauford, W., burial customs, Ireland, 
 
 306. 
 Bede, creation, description of, 16. 
 
 jet, remarks on, 186. 
 
 Scoti, remarks on, 244, 285. 
 
 Beds, hags' beds, Dermod and Grauia's, 
 
 348. 
 Bees, Ireland, superstitions, 226. 
 
 Bcllanascaddan, giant's liiiger-stone, 
 
 163. 
 Bells, bronze, Dowris bell, 196. 
 
 iron, 196. 
 
 Benn, collection, flint implements, 42. 
 Bent, T. Theodore, Abyssinian tombs, 
 
 331. 
 Bera, goddess, 364. 
 Beranger, Irish history, opinion on, 
 
 204. 
 Betham, Sir William, Etruscan silver 
 
 money, 191. 
 Bigger, F. J., dog- whelk shells, 102. 
 
 St. Patrick's monument, 263. 
 
 Bird-bones in Irish caves, 74. 
 
 Birr, Finn's seat, 163. 
 
 Blackberries, I'ooka's influence on, 56. 
 
 Blessingfon, pitfall discov-ery, 69. 
 
 Boat, Dr., food of ancient Irish settlers, 
 
 98. 
 Bodleian Irish ms., 38. 
 Bogs, Ballybetagh bog, 12. 
 Bone, drawings on, 155. 
 Bone-caves, British, amusing remarks, 
 
 17. 
 Bones, animals', used as fuel, 124. 
 hiuuan, marks or fractures in 
 
 337-339. 
 
 bird-bones in Irish caves, 74. 
 
 Book of Ballymote, Ogham writing, 
 
 132, 133. 
 
 Lecan, Yellow Book of, 295. 
 
 of Lismore, quoted, 123. 
 
 Boolies, 97, 105. 
 
 Borlace, Cailleaeh, derivation of, 353. 
 
 Cleena, account of, 372. 
 
 Dermot andGrania's beds, account, 
 
 348. 
 Finn Mac Cool and goddess Vera 
 
 legend, 363. 
 
 human sacrifice, 337. 
 
 rude stone monuments, Ireland, 
 
 350. 
 
 St. ]5arry legend, 363. 
 
 Boulder-clay, 7, 8, 12. 
 Bracers, Ireland, discovery, 40. 
 Brandon Island, 213. 
 flint beds, 83.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 391 
 
 Brash, E. R., CluicheCainte discussion, 
 302. 
 
 Bray Head, Roman coins, discoveries, 
 240. 
 
 Breagho, lake-dwelling, Irish deer re- 
 mains, 64. 
 
 Brecan, St., grave, stones in, 332. 
 
 Brehon laws, land ownership, modifi- 
 cations, 199. 
 
 Brendan, St., 269. 
 
 voyage, 217. 
 
 Bridget, St., 276. 
 
 Patrick's, St., sermon, 271. 
 
 sacred fire, 279. 
 
 Bronze-age, 92, 93. 
 Scotland, 195. 
 
 Bronze hells, Dowris bell, 196. 
 
 implements, superstitions, 81, 82. 
 
 Broughderg, discovery, 36. 
 Browne, Sir John, urn-burial, 24. 
 Buckland, A. W., green stones, value 
 
 as charms, 332. 
 Burial customs, carnal interment changes 
 
 to cremation, 334. 
 
 ceremonies, 302, 303. 
 
 coloured stones, 329, 332. 
 
 consecrated ground, 306. 
 
 cremation : see that title. 
 
 keels, 322. 
 
 mixed interments, 334, 335. 
 
 St. Marino, 306. 
 
 sitting jjosture, burial in, 333. 
 
 Sligo, 334. 
 
 Burke, man, definition of, 33. 
 Burren, Ludlow's description, 37. 
 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 Cures by charms, 296. 
 
 Caesar, Druids, account of, 245. 
 
 Caird, origin of word, 266. 
 
 Cairncach, Saint, Yellow Book of Lecan, 
 
 295. 
 Callahcencladdig, legends, 372. 
 Callan mountain, Conan's tomb, 162. 
 Cambrensis, Irish chiefs, reconciliation 
 
 of enemies, custom, 295. 
 Camel, eating of, prohibited, 294. 
 
 9 
 
 Car.nibalism, Britain, Braintree lake- 
 dwelling bone discovery, 339. 
 
 British Isles, 291. 
 
 documentary evidence against un- 
 trustworthy, 291. 
 
 early peoples, 340. 
 
 Egypt, 290. 
 
 Greece, 289. 
 
 Ireland, Champion's opinion, 288. 
 
 Knockmore caves, 336. 
 
 Pagan writers, accoiuits, 
 
 286. 
 
 St. Jerome's account, 286, 
 
 287. 
 
 motives for, tabulated by Flindcrs- 
 
 Petrie, 294. 
 
 Xeolithic Period, 336. 
 
 Paheolithic Period, 336. 
 
 universal amongst primitive races, 
 
 291. 
 
 Carbry, St. Patrick's curse, 274. 
 Carleton, stones buried with dead, 332. 
 Carlyle, value of books, 129. 
 
 Paganism, opinion of, 382. 
 
 Carolan's skull, cures epilepsy, 297. 
 Carowtampull, description, 113. 
 Carrick Hill, witches' stone, 373. 
 Carrig-Cleena, legends, 372. 
 Carrowmore, flint implements, crusted, 
 
 discovery, 102. 
 
 metamorphic rocks, 172. 
 
 mixed interments, 335. 
 
 Carrownagark, stones buried with the 
 
 dead, 332. 
 Carruthers, James, Roman antiijues, 
 
 Ireland, 240. 
 Cattle, curing, 41. 
 
 diseases, need-fire customs, 36. 
 
 wild, remains of, 71. 
 
 Cavan, mammoth remains, 61. 
 Cave-dwellings, 49. 
 
 Ballinamintra, 52, 62. 
 
 bird-bone discoveries, 74. 
 
 • Gleniff, 50. 
 
 history, in periods, 52. 
 
 Irisli deer, remains, 52, 62. 
 
 Knockmore, 53. 
 
 ■ Sliaiulon cave, 61.
 
 892 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 Cave legends, 151. 
 
 men, ai'tistic tastes, 13. 
 
 Ceadach the Great, legend, 351. 
 Cedd, St., prophecy, 200. 
 Celestius, Pelagiunism, 259. 
 Celtic art, 197. 
 Celtic race, 205, 200, 207. 
 
 English viewed as, 385. 
 
 Champion, cannibalism of Irish, 288. 
 Charms, cures by, 41, 79-82. 
 Chartres, Druidism and Christianity, 
 
 277. 
 Childrenof Lir, 131, 147. 
 Christianity, Ireland, 128. 
 earlier than in Great Britain, 
 
 259. 
 
 Christian missions, 25. 
 
 easy conversion, 257. 
 
 introduction, 245. 
 
 pagan myths Christianised, 
 
 140. 
 
 Palladius' mission, 258. 
 
 Pelagius and Celestius, 259. 
 
 St. Patrick (see that title). 
 
 Chrysostom, St., cannibalism of Irish, 
 
 340. 
 Chukses, tribes, habits of, 118. 
 Ciaran, St., prophecy, 269. 
 Cicero, advice to historians, 179. 
 confesses to ignorance on some 
 
 things, 24. 
 Circumcision, flint knives used, 81. 
 City of Gold, poem, 221. 
 Ci\ali2ation, Ireland, pagan, 170. 
 
 tribal times, 198. 
 
 Claddagh tisherman, sling, use of, 40. 
 Claudian, Ireland, accounts, 239. 
 
 Thulc, location of, 209. 
 
 Cleena, banshee, account of, 371. 
 Clerical science, simplicity of, 15-17, 
 
 25. 
 Climate, man's development, effect on, 
 
 23. 
 
 Ireland, alterations in, 36. 
 
 bird discoveries, 74. 
 
 early times, 3. 
 
 Cloaks and capes, remains of, 109. 
 Spenser's description, 115. 
 
 Clodd, Edward, Irish gods, opinions, 
 
 347, 355. 
 Cloghmanty earn, discoveries, 334. 
 Clonmacnoise, monument of the dead,. 
 
 1G2. 
 Cloniiiany, miraculous earth, 296. 
 Clontarf, battle, banshee warnings, 365. 
 Cloonfinlough, lake dM-elling, Irish 
 
 deer, remains, 64. 
 Cliiiche Cainte discussion, 302. 
 Coins, Irish l]iui:il customs, proverbs, 
 
 240. 
 
 opinions, 194. 
 
 Roman, Ireland, "237. 
 
 Coleraine, Roman remains, 237. 
 Colgan, Acta Sanctorum, miracles, 276. 
 Collins, " elf-shot " superstition, 78. 
 Columbkille, St., account of Ireland, 
 
 304. 
 
 bards, prevents expulsion of, 250. 
 
 human sacrifices, 304. 
 
 prayer, 364. 
 
 Combs, origin, 181. 
 Conan, sei-pent legend, 268. 
 
 story of, 149. 
 
 tomb, pretended, 162. 
 
 Congo-tribes, cannibalism, 292. 
 Conic, E., inscription, 159. 
 Connaught, pigs, long-faced, 70. 
 Connla of the golden hair, 256. . 
 Conlock, bardic tale of, 148. 
 Conolly, Rev. Luke, fata morgana, 
 
 217. 
 Cook, Captain, Australian way of pro- 
 ducing fire, 33. 
 — — Sligo lady's recollection, 211. 
 Cookery, ancient Irish, 123. 
 
 savage tribes, 122. 
 
 Cooking-places, FuUocht Fioi\ns, 121. 
 
 lake dwellings, 122. 
 
 Cooldrumman, battle, 344. 
 
 Copper, discovery of, 91, 92. 
 
 Cork harbour, islands, kitchen-middens, 
 
 94. 
 Coulin, Act of Parliament against, 112. 
 Cow-charmer, account, 79. 
 Crania, Huxley's opinion, 26, 27. 
 Irish, types, 24, 25.
 
 lAWEX. 
 
 393 
 
 Crania, ethnological importance of, 24, 
 38fi. 
 
 Cranna, stone of the fruitful fairy, 163. 
 
 Crannogs, lake-dwellings (see that title). 
 
 Creaght, explanation of, 98. 
 
 Cremation, 24, 305, 334, 335, 336. 
 
 hones, effects of burning on, 336. 
 
 Cluiche Cainte discussion, 302. 
 
 Mount Stewart cemetery, 307. 
 
 AVasserschlehen's reference to, 
 
 306. 
 
 Criticism, unpopularity of, 138. 
 
 Croker, T. C'roiton, Lanshee, verses, 
 367. 
 
 "Castle treasure" hill, excava- 
 tions, 188. 
 
 Grana, witch, description, 374. 
 
 Irish keen, translation, 312. 
 
 Cronan, St., miracle, 276. 
 
 Cross, pagan origin, 164. 
 
 Crowe, J. O'Beirne, goddesses of 
 ancient Irish, 373. 
 
 Irish texts, corruptions in, 145. 
 
 Ci'ow, superstitions, 358. 
 
 Cuchullin, 131, 140, 145, 150, 153. 
 
 St. Patrick, intercourse with, 
 
 140, 145. 
 
 Avater horse legend, 377. 
 
 M'itch legend, 373. 
 
 Cuellar, Captain, Irish dress and cus- 
 toms, description, 112, 117. 
 Cuglass, 151. 
 Cuiilin, St., 277. 
 Cup-and-ring marlcings, 164. 
 
 natural causes, 165. 
 
 Pacific islanders, 167. 
 
 Praeger's account, 166. 
 
 ■ • theories of origin, 107-170. 
 
 Ciirragh, tumuli, human interments, 
 
 338. 
 Cuvier, mammoth remains, opinion, 61. 
 
 Dagda, fire-god, 347. 
 Dalriada, Aidan, king of, 245. 
 Danes, silver coins, Ireland, 194. 
 Darwin, bones used as fuel, remarks on, 
 125. 
 
 Darwin, Fuegians, description, 118. 
 Dead, barbarities practised on, 327. 
 
 bedding of the, burial of, 386. 
 
 ■ eating of, 292, 293. 
 
 hand of the, 295. 
 
 sujierstitions relating to, 295. 
 
 Declan, St., earth from grave, 296. 
 ■ rock, 217. 
 
 Dedanann, 345, 346. 
 
 Deer, great Irish, 12, 13, 52, 62. 
 
 ■ • bones, fractures in, explanations, 
 
 62, 64. 
 
 ■ i-ed, Ireland, 68. 
 
 Dempster, Saint- Stealer, 280. 
 Derg, Lough, name, origin, 269. 
 Dermot and Crania, legend, 50, 150, 
 
 151. 
 Dermod and Crania's beds, 348. 
 Dermot, King of Leinster, ferocity 
 
 towards enemies, 288. 
 Derryreighan Bog, Antrim, cape dis- 
 covered, 109. 
 Devil, modern idea of, 382. 
 " Diabolic Pathology," 342. 
 Diancecht, Dianket, god of medicine, 
 
 legend, 346. 
 • receipt for expelling demon from 
 
 the body, 380. 
 Diarmaid, King, 269. 
 Dichu, converted to Christianity, 260. 
 Dickson, John M., opinion of Tigher- 
 
 nach as a historian, 201. 
 Dineley, Thomas, Irish keen, account, 
 
 311. 
 Dinnsenchus, human sacrifices, 290, 
 
 291. 
 Diodorus, Ireland, account of, 228. 
 cannibalism of Irish, 
 
 286. 
 Dog-Mhelk shells, crushed, 102. 
 Dogs, earliest mention, 75. 
 
 exportation of, forbidden, 76. 
 
 Gunnar's dog, 76. 
 
 Irish wolf-hound club, 77. 
 
 Kilkenny castle, document, 76. 
 
 Rom;in games, 75. 
 
 sheep dog, Vigi, story, 76. 
 
 wolf dog, Irish, two laccs, 74.
 
 894 
 
 lAWEX. 
 
 Doiiin, Dr., Bcde on the creation, IG. 
 
 Douarninez bay, '222. 
 
 DowTies, Bishop, M-olves, n;cntion of, 71. 
 
 Dowth, rock-scribings, 102. 
 
 Dress, ancient Irish, 109 ff, 114, 117. 
 
 missionaries and native costumes, 
 
 117. 
 " Drowneil," old meaning of word, 219. 
 
 islands, 219. 
 
 Drowning persons, objections to saving, 
 
 o75. 
 Druid stone, Killeen Cormac, 249. 
 Druidism, fairy worship, opposed to, 
 
 25.5, 
 
 fires, sacred, 124, 2G1, 279. 
 
 Gaul, Caesar's account, 245. 
 
 Ireland, conflict with f'hristianity, 
 
 262. 
 
 few traces of, 249. 
 
 late introduction of, 2")G. 
 
 Druidism, Ireland, St. Patrick's, scanty 
 
 mention of, 256- 
 
 purification by water, 280. 
 
 Strabo's account, 250. 
 
 Druids, Ireland, name "Druid," 
 
 traces of, in place-names, 248. 
 Drumlighan, holy well, 283. 
 Du Noyer, G. V., worked flints, 
 
 opinion, SG. 
 Dumbell rath, remains in, 121. 
 Dun-Conor, description, 316. 
 Dungiven, holy well, 283. 
 Dunmore, cave-dwellings, 49. 
 Dunshaughlin lake-dwelling, sheep 
 
 crania, 70. 
 Dutton, Derniod and Grania's bed, 
 
 account, 348. 
 Dyer, Mr., Irish giant, discovery, 57. 
 Dysart, tumulus, human sacrifices, 
 
 supposed, 338. 
 
 Eels, enchanted, 379. 
 
 Egil, Saga of, 344. 
 
 Egypt, early race, cannibalism of, 290. 
 
 Elf-bolts, 78. 
 
 Ellis, Polynesian researches, IGG. 
 
 Emauia, palace of, building, 202. 
 
 Englisli people, Celtic or Germanic? 
 
 385. 
 Epilepsy, cure, 297. 
 Erasmus, cures for diseases, 257. 
 Eratosthenes, Ireland, account of, 225. 
 Erosion, rate of, 14. 
 Etruscan silver money, 194. 
 Evans, Sir John, Indian mode of picri ing 
 
 holes in stones, 157. 
 
 stone implement superstitions, SI. 
 
 Evil eye, 150. 
 
 Evolution, lloman idea, 2. 
 
 Eyes, Lough, lake-dwellings, 223. 
 
 Fairies, origin of, 253, 
 
 Teat's view, 254. 
 
 Falachda na Feine, 121. 
 
 Fauna, Ireland, earlj-, 10. 
 
 Faraday, Prof., amber, remarks on, 
 185. 
 
 Fat, human, used as a charm, 298. 
 
 Fata morgana, 216, 217. 
 
 Feni, 142, 144, 145. 
 
 Fennell, W. J., St. Patrick's monu- 
 ment, 263. 
 
 Fergus Mac Roig, 140. 
 
 Fergusson, rude stone monuments, Ire- 
 land, opinion, 350. 
 
 Fetches, 370. 
 
 Fiacc, St., Life of St. Patrick, 25G. 
 
 Fiachra, death, and Cluicho Cainte dis- 
 cussion, 302, 303. 
 
 Finn Mac Cool, 154, 328. 
 
 Goddess Yera's treatment of, 
 
 361. 
 
 Grana legend, 374. 
 
 Finn's Seat, 163. 
 
 Gilla Dacker, story, 152. 
 
 Fiona Maclcod, water demon, account, 
 376. 
 
 Fire, Australian method of produ( ing, 
 33. 
 
 Baal fires, 124, 261, 279. 
 
 Irish superstitions, 33, 36. 
 
 iron-pyrites discovery, 36. 
 
 need-fire customs, 36. 
 
 Prometheus fable, origin, 33.
 
 lA'DEX. 
 
 395 
 
 Fitz-Gerald, Edward, buried treasure, 
 
 account of, 190. 
 
 cooking places, Youghal, 121. 
 
 Maurice, keen, 368. 
 
 Flint, traffic in, 8."^. 
 
 beds, Brandon, 83. 
 
 implements, 14. 
 
 Benn collection, 42. 
 
 bulb of percussion, theories, 
 
 86. 
 
 counterfeit, 42. 
 
 crusted, discovery, 102. 
 
 discoveries, 86. 
 
 Larne gravels, 84. 
 
 superstitions, 41, 78, 80. 
 
 — — uses of, supposed, 89. 
 
 "Flint-Jack," 42. 
 
 Flinders-Petrie, W. N., motives for 
 
 cannibalism tabulated, 294. 
 Food, ancient Irish, 98 ; prehistoric 
 
 man, 'Sir. Charter's experiments, 384. 
 Formorians, 346. 
 
 Fort, rebuilding of, desciiption, 316. 
 Fossil wood, Lough Neagh " hones," 3. 
 Fossilized bones, 56, 57. 
 Fowl, sacrifice of, 305. 
 Fox, Irish superstition, 252. 
 Fojde, Lough, legend, 345. 
 1'' razor. Dr. \V., Irish gold ornaments, 
 
 source of, 192. 
 R. W., burial customs, account of. 
 
 303. 
 Froude, Chiistianily and the heathen 
 
 ■world, 344. 
 Fuegians, habits of, 118. 
 Fuel, bones used as, 124, 125. 
 Fullocht Fionns, 121. 
 Fullogh Fea, 122. 
 Funerals, Ireland, ceremonies, 323. 
 
 wakes (see that title). 
 
 Fynes Moryson, dress of Irisli, 117. 
 habits of Irisli, 98. 
 
 Gabhra battle, 140. 
 
 Gaelic language, Ijarminie's opinion of 
 
 the value of, 153. 
 revival, opinions, 137. 
 
 Gaelic literature, mss., destruction of, 
 
 146. 
 Gallagh, Co. Galway, corpse of man 
 
 discovered, 110. 
 Galway, mammoth remains, 61. 
 Garland Sunday, customs, 282. 
 Gaul, drawings on bones, 155. 
 
 Druids, Cajsar's account, 245. 
 
 Geikie, Professor A., plants and animals, 
 
 distribution, 21. 
 Geological changes and development, 
 
 Ireland, 4, 18. 
 Geologists, sweeping assertions, 15. 
 Giants, Irish, discoveries, 57. 
 
 graves, Ireland, origin, 351. 
 
 finger-stone, 163. 
 
 Gibbet Rath, tumulus, 335. 
 
 Gill, Lough, drowned islands, 220. 
 Gilla Dacker and his horse, 152. 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, ancient Irish 
 dress, quotation, 114, 117. 
 
 Christianity in Ireland, 279. 
 
 Irish, skulls of enemies, 328. 
 
 slavery, Ii-eland, 258. 
 
 Glacial epoch, Ice Age (see that title). 
 Glannagalt, glen of the lunatics, 357. 
 Glass, invention of, 186. 
 
 ornaments, Ireland, J 86. 
 
 Glencar Valley, 14. 
 
 Gleniff, cave-dwellings, 50. 
 
 Glibbe, Act of Parliament against, 
 
 112. 
 Gobnate, St., bee story, 228. 
 Gobhan Saor, 266. 
 Gods of ancient Erin, 345 £f. 
 
 deified mortals, 347. 
 
 Goddesses Aynia, Bav, and Vera, 354. 
 
 Bav and her sisters, 359. 
 
 hags' beds, 348. 
 
 identified with those of other 
 
 Aryan peoples, 346. 
 Godstones, 329. 
 Gold, Ireland, 187. 
 
 Ireland, abundance, 191. 
 
 fairy gold superstitions, 188. 
 
 ornaments, Roman origin, 193. 
 
 primitive mode of manufacture, 
 
 193.
 
 896 
 
 IXBEX. 
 
 Golden Bridge, Uoinan modicine stamp 
 discovery, 286. 
 
 Goll, legend, 351. 
 
 Grain-grinders, 99. 
 
 Grana, -witch's candle legend, 37-1. 
 
 Grania, legend, oO. 
 
 Grant Allen, Ethnology and personal 
 names, 205. 
 
 Graves, Dr., Bishop of l^imerick, cup- 
 and-ring markings, theorj', 2G9. 
 
 Rov. James, plea for systematic 
 
 exploration of Irish tomhs, 17-1, 175- 
 
 Gray, hanshee's warning, poem, 3G5. 
 
 Great auk, specimens, 73, 105. 
 
 Great Man's Bay, name, origin of, 108. 
 
 Greece, cannibalism, 289. 
 
 Greenwcll, Canon, caniiihalisin in Eng- 
 land, 291. 
 
 Grian, legends, 374. 
 
 Griddles, stone, 36. 
 
 Griffin, Gerald, Ily Brasil, 212. 
 
 wake of the absent, 302. 
 
 Grimm, Jacob, idea of devil, 382. 
 
 Grose, epilepsy cure, 297. 
 
 Grouse and Ptarmigan, "Waterford, 74. 
 
 Gunnar's Irish wolt'-dog, 76. 
 
 Hackett, Mr. William, opening of Ful- 
 locht, Youghal, 121. 
 
 Hags, derivation of Irisli word for, 353. 
 
 beds, 348. 
 
 legends, various, 373 ff. 
 
 Hall, Mr. and Mrs., description of pig, 
 70. 
 
 Hand of the dead, superstitions con- 
 nected with, 295. 
 
 Hare, Arctic, in Ireland, 72. 
 
 tabooed, 293. 
 
 Harp, Ireland, origin, 180. 
 
 Hart, Dr., bonfire of bones, descrijjtion, 
 124. 
 
 Hatchet, whinstone, discovery, 90. 
 
 Helgi, Norwegian chief, 345. 
 
 Hell-mouth-door, legend, 50. 
 
 Hemaus, Mrs., Irisli keen, 313. 
 
 Herodotus, Massageta;,habits of, 289. 
 
 Scythian sacrifices, 125. 
 
 Hindc, Captain S. L., cannibalism in 
 
 Africa, 292. 
 Hindoo Trinity, 165. 
 Hip-disease, cure, 331. 
 History, archioology important in, 204. 
 
 Irish, commencement of diffi- 
 culties, 200. 
 
 Ilogan, Rev. Edmund, Irish wolf-dog, 
 
 75, 77. 
 ■ value of ancient Irish legends, 
 
 151. 
 Hollywood, worlccd flints, discovery, 
 
 86. 
 Holy wells, 2.S2 ff. 
 Horace, eye ointment, 23 G. 
 
 primitive man, 23. 
 
 unhuried dead, 242. 
 
 Horse, sacred to Odin, 294. 
 • water liorse demon, 376 £F. 
 
 wild, G5. 
 
 Horseflesh, eating of, 65, 67. 
 Houghli, Maori chief, tattooing marks, 
 
 158. 
 Human sacrifices, Ireland, 290. 
 
 Borlaee's opinion, 337. 
 
 building, sacrifices at, 303, 
 
 304. 
 
 Dysart tumulus, 338. 
 
 Ireland, examples, 305. 
 
 Portaf erry sepulchral mound, 
 
 bones in, 338. 
 Hutchinson, Rev. II. N., mammoth 
 
 remains, 59. 
 
 • ■ great Irish deer, opinion, 62. 
 
 Huxley, Professor, Atalantis, common 
 
 belief in, 212. 
 
 brain of mammals, 29. 
 
 Brehon laws, 199. 
 
 crania, opinions on, 26, 27, 28. 
 
 language and race, 206, 207. 
 
 monastic chroniclers, 178. 
 
 races of Britain, physical character- 
 istics and language, 27. 
 
 raw materials of early European 
 
 manufactures, 181. 
 
 Hy Brasil, maps of, 213. 
 
 medical science learned in, 217. 
 
 oiKuions on, various, 212 if.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 397 
 
 Hy Brazil, Ulster Miscellany satire, 217. 
 
 vanished island, Porcupine Bank, 
 
 19. 
 
 Ibar, St., 273. 
 
 Ice Age, Sir Robert Ball, opinion, G. 
 
 Ireland, 171. 
 
 Europe, and especially 
 
 British Isles, 5. 
 
 three epochs, 4. 
 
 Icelandic legend Landnama, quoted, 
 
 95. 
 Ingram, Dr. J. K., criticism, views on, 
 
 138. 
 Irish literature, opinions on, 
 
 1.51, 155. 
 Inishgloria island, boolies, 9". 
 Inishmuri'ay, dead, superstitions I'elat- 
 
 ing to, 299. 
 
 flagstone of tlie fire, 279. 
 
 Inter- glacial epoch, 8. 
 
 Ireland, Aristotle's account, 225. 
 
 arrow-heads, 40-43. 
 
 climate, alteration in, 37. 
 
 early times, 3. 
 
 conquest alleged, by Agricola, 233. 
 
 fauna, early, 10. 
 
 fire superstitions, 33, 36. 
 
 — ■ — • flint implements, 14. 
 
 geological changes, 4, 18. 
 
 iron, superstitions about, 82. 
 
 land connection with Scotland, 9, 
 
 10. 
 
 man, crania, types of, 24, 25. 
 
 first appearance, 22. 
 
 two races of immigrants, 24, 
 
 28. 
 
 name origin, 209. 
 
 plants and animals comparatively 
 
 few, 21. 
 
 volcanic action, 4. 
 
 woods, 37. 
 
 Irish history, mythiial character of, 
 
 201. 
 
 races, opinions on, 205. 
 
 Iron, bells, 196. 
 
 introduction of, 195. 
 
 implements, superstitions, 81, 82. 
 
 Iron pyrites, discovery, 36. 
 Isle of Man, great Irish deer, dis- 
 coveries, 62. 
 
 Jade axes, 91, 92. 
 
 James I., King, Irish descent, 244. 
 
 Japan, bronze implements, supersti- 
 tions, 82. 
 
 Jerome, cannibalism of the Irish, 286. 
 
 Pelagius, opinion of, 259. 
 
 Jet, Ireland, 185. 
 
 Joly, M., new ideas and reigning 
 opinions, 85. 
 
 Prof. N., saints' bones, 351. 
 
 Joyce, Dr., Caird, origin of word, 266. 
 
 Celtic romances, 151. 
 
 Cleena, account of, 371. 
 
 Conan, opinion of, 149. 
 
 death song of children of 
 
 Lir, 148. 
 
 "Druid" word, remains of 
 
 in place-names, 248. 
 
 Diancecht, legend, 346. 
 
 Glannagalt, description, 357. 
 
 phantom lands, 218. 
 
 place-names, 53. 
 
 Jubainville, M., folklore theory, 255. 
 
 Jupiter Lapis, 82. 
 
 Juvenal, Ireland, mention of, 235. 
 
 Keating, cooking-places, 123. 
 
 horse flesh, eating of, 67. 
 
 Keels, 322. 
 
 Keening, 309. 
 
 Crabbe, paraphrase of an Irish 
 
 keen, 311. 
 
 Crofton Croker's translation, 312. 
 
 Dineley's, Thomas, account of, 
 
 311. 
 
 Hemans, Mrs., 313. 
 
 Oscar's keen, 310. 
 
 Wilde's, Lady, translation, 313. 
 
 Kesh, cave-dwellings, 49. 
 Kevin, St., dragon legends. 377. 
 Kieran, St., meeting with St. Patrick, 
 
 272.
 
 898 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 Kilkenny, pooka legend, 5'). 
 
 Killery, body discovered in l)og:, ancient 
 dresa, 114, 
 
 Killowen, rock-scribings, 158. 
 
 Kilnasaggart, ogliani writing, supposed, 
 158. 
 
 Kinahan, it. H., cavo-dwH'llings, infe- 
 rences, o'2. 
 
 erosion, opinion of, 14. 
 
 worked flints, 86. 
 
 Kingsley, Miss, cannil)alisni in Africa, 
 292. 
 
 Kirby, Irish giant, 57. 
 
 Kitchen middens, 93, 111), 120. 
 
 Ardnahue, 123. 
 
 Cork harbour, 94. 
 
 Knockaunbaun, Co. Sligo, cooking- 
 places, 123. 
 
 Knockmore, cave-dwellings, 53. 
 
 "lettered cave," 159. 
 
 caves, human bones discovered, 
 
 proof of cannibalism, 336. 
 
 Knocknarea banshee, SG9. 
 
 Knowles, W. J., animal osseous re- 
 mains, discoveries, 336. 
 
 flint implements, counterfeit, 43. 
 
 flint implements, superstitions, 41. 
 
 great auk specimens, 73. 
 
 • seaside settlements, explorations, 
 
 98, 103. 
 
 Lake-dwellings, Breagho, 64. 
 
 cattle, wild, remains, 71. 
 
 Cloonfinlough, 64. 
 
 cooking-places, 122. 
 
 drowned islands, 219. 
 
 Dunshaughlin, four-liorned 
 
 five-hoined sheep remains, 70. 
 
 Lough Kea, 64. 
 
 Metalainne, artifii ial islands 
 
 Scotch and Irish, resembli 
 
 222. 
 Language and race, 205. 
 
 • Huxley's views, 27. 
 
 Lanigan, Christianity in Ireland, 
 Larminie, Wm., Gaelic language, 
 races in Ireland, 20.5. 
 
 and 
 
 , 225. 
 
 :inces, 
 
 258. 
 153. 
 
 liarne gravels, flints discovered in, 84, 
 
 86. 
 Latocnaye, bone bonflres, description, 
 
 124. 
 Tiandnama legend, quoted, 95. 
 Le Goiiz, ancient Irish dress, 116. 
 Lecan, Yellow Book of, 295. 
 Ledwick, Druid fires, 280. 
 Lee, river, ancient ceremony, 283. 
 Leixlip, giants' remains, 57. 
 Lepiosy, Ireland, 98. 
 Leslie of Glaslough, 213. 
 Limestone rock, cave-dwellings, 49. 
 Lindon, goddess Aynia, description, 
 
 358, 
 Lir, god, 347. 
 
 children of, story, 117. 
 
 Literature, Ireland, ^-Ethicus opinion, 
 
 251. 
 
 pagan, 178 fl". 
 
 Longh Derg, oiigin of name, 269. 
 
 Eyes, lake-dwellings, 223. 
 
 Foyle, legend, 345. 
 
 Gill, drowned islands, 220. 
 
 Ncagh, drowned island, belief, 
 
 220. 
 
 • flint implements, 89. 
 
 fossil wood, 3. 
 
 ■ origin, legendary, 138. 
 
 Kea, lake-dwelling, Irish deer, re- 
 mains, 64. 
 Lubbock, Sir John, flint implements, 
 
 uses, 89. 
 
 erosion, slowness of, 5. 
 
 Ludlow, Edmund, Barren, description 
 
 of, 37. 
 
 • search for Ily Binsil, 213. 
 
 Lunacy, veneration for, explained, 
 
 356. 
 
 McCarthy, Denis Florence, Paschal 
 
 fire, 261. 
 Maclia, goddess, 359. 
 Mac llitchie, Thorgil's raid, account 
 
 of, 95-97. 
 Mallet, J. AV., Irish gold ornaments, 
 
 chemical examination of, 191.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 399 
 
 Mammoth, ckrical attempts to explain 
 
 a\ray, 17. 
 
 existence in Ireland, proofs of, 58. 
 
 extinction, 64. 
 
 • pooka legend, 55. 
 
 Mammoth remains, Antrim, 61. 
 
 Cavan, 61. 
 
 Cuvier's opinion, 61. 
 
 Gal way, 61. 
 
 ■ — ■ — preserved in ice, 59. 
 
 — sea of Azof, 59. 
 
 Shandon cave, 61. 
 
 Siberia, 59. 
 
 ■ supposed to be giants, 57. 
 
 Man, Britain, physical characteristics 
 
 and language, Huxley's propositions, 
 
 27. 
 Burke's definition, 33. 
 
 climate, effect on development, 
 
 23. 
 
 Europe, primitive race, 47. 
 
 second race, 24. 
 
 Ireland, first appearance, 22. 
 
 ■ two I'aces of immigrants, 
 
 24, 28. 
 
 prehistoric, food, 384. 
 
 Manannan Mac Lir, daughters, 345. 
 
 Maori cooking, 122. 
 
 tattooing, 157. 
 
 Maps, Brasil and Biandon island marked 
 on, 213. 
 
 Marcus luventius Tutianus, medicine 
 stamp, 236. 
 
 Massagetse, habits of, 289. 
 
 Maxwell, W. H., cow-charmer, descrip- 
 tion of, 79. 
 
 May Day fires, 261. 
 
 Meath, Druid assembly, 250. 
 
 Medicine stamps, Eoman, 236. 
 
 Medical science, ancient ms., 217. 
 
 Meendacalliagl), mountain flat of the 
 two hags, 373. 
 
 Melchu, 261. 
 
 Mercator, Gerald, 222. 
 
 Mesgegia's head, 327. 
 
 Metalainne, lake-dwellings, 225. 
 
 Metempsychosis, Druidic teaching of, 
 245. 
 
 Milesians, 346. 
 
 Militia, ancient Irish, 142, 144, 145. 
 Milton, night hag, description, 366. 
 Miracles, St. Patrick's and other saints, 
 
 270. 
 Mitchelstown, cave-dwellings, 49. 
 Mochaonihog, St., 131. 
 Mochua, St., dragon legends, 377. 
 Molaise, St., fire stone, 279. 
 Molyneux, Dr. 1'., red deer in Ireland, 
 
 68. 
 Molloy, Eev. F. L., Druidicial puri- 
 
 faction by water, 281. 
 Monasterboice, rock-scribings, 164. 
 Monuments, Rud-e Stone, 348. 
 
 — lUble mention of, 352. 
 
 Ireland, 348, 349. 
 
 ■ Borlace's opinion, 350. 
 
 —, destruction of, 352. 
 
 — , giants' graves, 351. 
 
 , hags' connection with 
 
 353. 
 
 origin, 176. 
 
 various countries, 349. 
 
 Moore, cannibalism in British Isles^ 
 
 remarks on, 339. 
 
 Civil Wars, opinion of, 198. 
 
 Gabhra battle, 140. 
 
 ""lis Believed that this Harp 
 
 that I now make for thee," 180. 
 Moore, Rev. P., flint superstitions, 80. 
 Morrigan, goddess, 359. 
 connection with cooking-places, 
 
 128. 
 Mount Stewart, Pagan cemetery, 307. 
 Murder, ceremonies and ordeals, 323. 
 Murna's spinning wheel, 375. 
 Music, inimitive, origin, 180. 
 Myths, Irish, 138. 
 
 Christianising of, 14 0. 
 
 resemblance to Eastern myths, 
 
 147. 
 two periods, 153. 
 
 Name of Ireland, origin, 209. 
 Neagh, Lough, drowned islands, 220. 
 flint imi)lcments, 89.
 
 400 
 
 JXDJ'JX. 
 
 Neagli, Loiigl), fossil wood, 3. 
 
 origin, legend, 138. 
 
 Xeanderthal sktill, 2G. 
 Need-fire, Uanuon, ]?ernard, account, 
 36. 
 
 cattle diseases, 30. 
 
 Scotland, 384. 
 
 Neit, god of war, 346. 
 
 wives, 359. 
 
 Neman, goddess, 359. 
 
 Neolithic age, stone-age (see that title). 
 
 Nephrite axes, 92. 
 
 Nesbett, Captain, Ily I'rasil, discovery 
 
 of, 213. 
 New Grange and Dowth, rock-scrib- 
 
 ings, 159, 1G2. 
 Newton, Prof'., great auk, 74. 
 Niall of the Nino Hostages, 245. 
 Norse Trinity, 165. 
 North American Indians, cannibalism, 
 
 292. 
 North Sea. comparative shallowness, 
 
 19. 
 Nuada, god, 347. 
 
 Obsidian, 18G. 
 
 O'Connor, Dr., opinion of St. Jerome 
 as a historian, 287. 
 
 Pearls, Irish, 187. 
 
 O'Curry, Bodleian Irisli ms., remarks 
 on, 38. 
 
 cave stories, 151. 
 
 cremation and funeral customs, 
 
 303. 
 
 Druidism and fairy worship, 255. 
 
 Odin, horse sacred to, 294. 
 
 0' Donovan, l)anshee, acconnt of, 371. 
 
 Burren head, 366. 
 
 names, 364. 
 
 civilization of ancient Irish, 210, 
 
 285, 288. 
 
 Glnn Padraig, 80. 
 
 Irish historians, opinion of, 201, 
 
 202. 
 
 Ogham texts, genuineness of, 133. 
 
 red deer, 68. 
 
 — • — rivers, Irisli, account, 231. 
 
 O'Donovan, St. Patrick's miracles, 270, 
 274. 
 
 Vera, goddess, 361. 
 
 water-horse stories, 377, 378. 
 
 O'Flaherty, crocodile story, 379. 
 
 " fantastical ships," 212. 
 
 Hy Brasil, 212, 217. 
 
 red-deer, 08. 
 
 Ogham writing, antiquity disputed, 131. 
 
 ■ Book of Ballymote, tract, 
 
 132, 133. 
 
 Cliristian or Pagan, 134. 
 
 — — date, probable, 134. 
 
 description, 130. 
 
 — key, 132. 
 
 supposed, 158. 
 
 O'Grady, Standish, local government 
 in ancient Ireland, 199. 
 
 O'Kane, chief, IIG. 
 
 Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, Irish sheep- 
 dog Vigi, 7G. 
 
 Olden, Kev. Thomas, St. I'atrick's 
 Hymn, translation, 263. 
 
 St. Patrick's miracles, 270. 
 
 Onomacritus, Ireland, account of, 225. 
 
 Oran, sacrifice of, b}' Columkille, 305. 
 
 Origen, Metemsychosis, 245. 
 
 Orosius, Ireland, description, 244. 
 
 Oscar, death song, 310. 
 
 Ossian, story of, 140. 
 
 O'Tool, Phelim, Irisli giant. 57. 
 
 Otway, Rev. Caesar, spancel story, 297. 
 
 Tory islanders, 37. 
 
 Ox mountains, " Metaniorphic Eidgc," 
 172. 
 
 Paganism, Ireland, remains of, 343. 
 Paladru lake-settlement, 222. 
 Paleolithic Age, Stone-Age (see that 
 
 title). 
 Palatio, Octavian de, I^atin satire on 
 
 Armagh citizens, 116. 
 Palladius, Ireland, mission, 258. 
 Parliament, Act of, against Glibbe, 112. 
 Parsonstown, Finn's Seat, 163. 
 Paschal fire first liglited in Ireland, 
 
 261. 
 Patrick— Saints (see that title).
 
 INDEX. 
 
 401 
 
 Pearls, Ireland, 186. 
 
 Pelagianism, 259. 
 
 Petrie, Dr., ogham texts, 133. 
 
 round towers, 208. 
 
 Petrifaction, Lough Neagh, 3. 
 Phantom cities, 220. 
 
 lands, 212. 
 
 Phoenicians, Ireland known to, con- 
 
 trovers}-, 209. 
 Phoenix Park, tumulus discovered, 28. 
 Piasts, 377. 
 
 Pickwick, antiquarianism of, 159. 
 Pigments, use of, 108 ff. 
 Pigs, Ireland, 70. 
 Pillontier, savages' feelings with regard 
 
 to cold, 117. 
 Pitfalls for wild beasts, 69. 
 Place-names, Joyce's opinion, 53. 
 Plants and animals, Ireland, Arctic 
 
 element, 73. 
 
 distribution, 21. 
 
 Pliny, cannibalism and human sacrifice, 
 
 291. 
 
 cremation, 307. 
 
 glass, origin of, 186. 
 
 Ireland, account, 228. 
 
 jet, remarks on, 185. 
 
 Plunkett, Mr. T., cave-dwellings, ex- 
 ploration, 53. 
 Polytheistic hierarchy, Ireland, 342. 
 Pomponius Mela, cannibalism of Irish, 
 
 287. 
 
 account, 228. 
 
 Pooka, legend, Kilkenny, 55. 
 Porcupine Bank, 213. 
 
 Hj- Biasil, supposed, 19. 
 
 Portaferry, sepulchral mound, human 
 
 sacrifice, 338. 
 Portnafeadog, dog-whelk shells, 102. 
 Portnatraghan, banshee wail, 370. 
 Potter}^, value of in archajology, 99. 
 Praeger, E.. Lloyd, cup-markings, 166. 
 
 rude stone monuments, 352. 
 
 Prometheus, origin of fable, 33. 
 Ptolemy, Ireland, map, 229. 
 
 Quartz, white pebbles, Bainascraghy 
 discovery, 329. 
 
 Quaternary continent, 9. 
 
 existence of, proofs, 19, 21. 
 
 Queensland aborigines, eating the dead, 
 
 293. 
 Quinlan, Mr. John, quoted, 122. 
 
 Ramsey, Gallic fe>tival, 278. 
 
 Eat, Irish, extinction, 55. 
 
 Rathkeltain, description, 318. 
 
 Raven superstitions, 358. 
 
 Rea, Lough, lake-dwelling, 64. 
 
 Reading, Sir Robert, Irish pearls, 186. 
 
 Red -deer, deer (see that title). 
 
 Redwald, king, 344. 
 
 Regan, witch's caudle legend, 374. 
 
 Reindeer, Ireland, 65. 
 
 Rig Vida, Hindoo funeral hymn, 242. 
 
 Rivers, Irish, O'Donovan's account, 
 
 231. 
 Rockall, 19, 20, 213. 
 Rock-caves, continent, 13. 
 
 scribings, 158. 
 
 meaning^of, 164. 
 
 Roman art, 197. 
 
 coins, Irish gold ornaments, 193. 
 
 • remains, Ireland, coins, 237, 239. 
 
 — • — ■ — - — few in nnmber, 243. 
 
 — — medicine stamps, 236. 
 
 Romans, Ireland, alleged conquest, 
 
 233. 
 
 Round Towers, Petrie's essay, 208. 
 
 Royal, Frencli geographer, 19. 
 
 Ruadan, St., 269. 
 
 Rude stone monuments. Monuments 
 (see tliat title). 
 
 Rufus Festus Avienus, "sacred island," 
 title of Ireland, 210. 
 
 Rush-enchantment, 139. 
 
 Ryan, Mr. James, cooking-place, dis- 
 covery, 122. 
 
 Eyefield hill, rock-scribings, 163. 
 
 Sacred island, earliest accounts, 209, 
 
 210. 
 St. John's Eve bonfire, 124. 
 St. Martin's Eve, 305.
 
 402 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Saints : 
 
 Aidan, prophecy, 2()9. 
 Aiaght, legend, 360. 
 Barry, legend, 363. 
 Erecan, grave, stones in, 332. 
 Brendan, 269. 
 
 voyage, 217. 
 
 Bridget, 276. 
 
 yt. Patrick's, sermon, 271. 
 
 sacred fire, 279. 
 
 Cairnecli, Yellow Book oi' Lecan, 
 
 295. 
 Cedd, propliecy, 269. 
 Clirysosfoni, cannibalism of Irish, 
 
 340. 
 Ciaran, prophecy, 269. 
 Coliimbkille, bards, prevents ex- 
 
 l)ulsion of, 250. 
 
 prayer, 3-14. 
 
 Cronan, miracle, 276. 
 
 Cuillin, 277. 
 
 Declan, earth from grave, 296. 
 
 rock, 217. 
 
 Fiace, life of St. Patrick, 256. 
 Gobnate and the bees, 228. 
 Ibar, 273. 
 Jerome, cannibalism of the Irish, 
 
 286, 287. 
 
 • Pelagius, opinion of, 259. 
 
 Kevin, dragon legends, 377. 
 Kieran, meeting with St. Patrick, 
 
 272. 
 Marino, Italy, burial customs, 306. 
 Mochaomhog, and the children of 
 
 Lir, 131. 
 IVIochua, dragon legends, 377. 
 Molaise, fire-stone, 279. 
 Patrick, birth and origin, 260. 
 birthday, old song, 263. 
 
 Cuchullin, story, 140, 145. 
 
 curse, 274. 
 
 Druidisni and magic, 256, 
 
 264. 
 
 earth from grave, 296. 
 
 fairy-M'orship, 255, 256. 
 
 • footprints, 163. 
 
 Glun I'adraig, 80. 
 
 Kold ornaments, 191. 
 
 Saints : 
 
 Patrick, human sacrifices, sup- 
 posed reference to, 290. 
 
 hymn, 262, 263. 
 
 lands in Ireland, 200. 
 
 later saints and their powers, 
 
 269. 
 
 miracles, 270. 
 
 monument, Downpatrick,263. 
 
 Ossian, story of, 140 11. 
 
 Paschal fire," 261. 
 
 sacrifices, 305. 
 
 serpent destruction, 268. 
 
 shamrock legend, 207. 
 
 smiths and artificers, reve- 
 rence for, 266. 
 
 three Saiiit Patricks, 245. 
 
 water demon, encounter, 377. 
 
 Ruadan, 209. 
 
 Seuanus, dragon's legends, 377. 
 
 Silan, story of, 150. 
 Saxon coins, Ireland, 239. 
 Saxons, Ireland, invasions, 239. 
 Scharff, Dr., cup-markings, 166. 
 
 Irish hare, 72. 
 
 land connection of Great Britain 
 
 and Ireland, 10. 
 Seoti, mistakes concerning meaning of 
 name, 286. 
 
 Scotland, conquest by and change 
 
 of name, 244. 
 Scotland, bears, 65. 
 
 conquered and renamed bj' Scoli, 
 
 244. 
 
 ■ and Ireland, land connection, 
 
 9, 10. 
 Scrahanard, inscribed cromlech, 158. 
 Sea of Azof, mammoth remains, 59. 
 Seashore settlements, 93. 
 Senanus, St., dragon legends, 377. 
 Serpent destruction by saints, 208. 
 Shakespeare, stones buried with dead, 
 
 custom, 332. 
 Sluunrock, superstitions relating to, 267- 
 Shandon cave, horses' remains, 65. 
 
 mammoth remains, 61. 
 
 red doer, 6S. 
 
 Shannon, ri\-er, buiicd city, 221.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 403 
 
 Sheehy, Rev. Nicholas, eartli from 
 grave, 296. 
 
 Sheep, remains in lake-dwellings, 70. 
 
 Shearman, Rev. J. F., Druid stone, 
 Killeen Cormac, 249. 
 
 Sheestown, St. Patrick's footprints, 
 163. 
 
 Shells, discovery of, in prehistoric 
 graves, 329. 
 
 Siberia, mammoth remains, 59 
 
 Sidhe, fairies (see that title). 
 
 Silan, St., 150. 
 
 Silver, Ireland, 181, 194. 
 
 Simeon Stylites, camel-flesh, prohibi- 
 tion against eating, 294. 
 
 Sin-eater, 295. 
 
 Skull, human, broad-headed and long- 
 headed races, 297. 
 
 Skulls of enemies, 327. 
 
 Slavery, Ireland, 257. 
 
 Sligo, ancient costumes, discoveries, 
 113. 
 
 ancient town under Lough Gill, 
 
 220. 
 
 borough, armorial bearings, 148. 
 
 burial customs, 334. 
 
 cave-dwellings, 49. 
 
 Dermot and Grania, legend, 50. 
 
 geology, 14. 
 
 — Hy-Brasil seen, 218. 
 
 Ice Age, effects of, 171. 
 
 MS. Survey, 1633-6, Carow- 
 
 tanipull, description of, 113. 
 
 — .— pagan sepulchres, 334. 
 
 river, St. Patrick's blessing, 272. 
 
 Sling, use of, 40. 
 
 Smiths, reverence for, 266. 
 
 Solinus, cannibalism of Irish, 287. 
 
 Ireland, account of, 225. 
 
 pearls in Britain, 186. 
 
 Spancel, use of, 297. 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, Faerie Queen, 345. 
 
 grazing in Ireland, 97, 98. 
 
 Irish cloak, description, 115. 
 
 Stanley, instance of eating the dead, 
 293. 
 
 Staples, J. II., worked flints, discovery, 
 86. 
 
 Sterling, origin of word, 194. 
 
 Stirabout, St. Jerome's hatred of, 287. 
 
 Stoat, Irish, 73. 
 
 Stokes, Dr. Whitely, Dinnsenchus, 
 translation, 291. 
 
 Macha, meaning of, 359. 
 
 Stone Age, Palaeolithic and Neolithic 
 Periods. 
 
 art, 155. 
 
 cannibalism, proofs, 336. 
 
 mammalian fauna, 12. 
 
 settlement, description, 105. 
 
 weapons, 89, 91. 
 
 Stones buried with the dead, 329. 
 
 Stoney family, St^ Patrick's curse, 274. 
 
 Strand magazine, Irish giant, 57. 
 
 Strabo, cannibalism of Iiish, 286. 
 
 Druids, account of, 250. 
 
 Ireland, account of, 225. 
 
 Submerged continent, common belief in, 
 212. 
 
 Sullivan, W. K., opinion of St. Jerome 
 as a historian, 288. 
 
 Superstitions, bronze and ii'on imple- 
 ments, 81, 82. 
 
 flint implements, 78. 
 
 Swift, Dean, Goddess Vera, verse on, 
 361. 
 
 Latin Poem, 372. 
 
 Scoti, 286. 
 
 Tacitus, Ireland, account, 229, 233. 
 
 • Irish manners, account, 245. 
 
 pearls in Britain, 186. 
 
 Tain Bo Cuailnge, story, 139. 
 
 ■ Scribe's opinion, 151. 
 
 Tain, Mr. Joseph, burning the bedding 
 
 of the dead, account, 386. 
 • need-tire, Scotland, account, 
 
 384. 
 Tara, antiquity of, 232. 
 
 Paschal Are lighted, 261. 
 
 Saint's curse on, 269. 
 
 Tattoo marks, 157. 
 
 Taylor, J. W., mythologic theorist, 
 
 363. 
 Teeth, abrasion, 29.
 
 404 
 
 nVBAW. 
 
 Tennant, SirT., stones as charms, 332. 
 
 Tertiary period, 15. 
 
 Thorgils' Saga, fjdotcd. 95-97. 
 
 Thule, lueaiiiiig of, "209. 
 
 Tighe, rock-sciiljings, opinion on, 159. 
 
 Tighernaeh, Irish historian, 201. 
 
 Tirerrill Mountuins, buried altar, 258. 
 
 Tobacco pii)es on graves, 301. 
 
 Todd, Dr.. Irish gods, 346. 
 
 Toland, Druid fires, 280, 281. 
 
 Tombs, Abyssinian, coloured stones, 331. 
 
 primeval, examination of, 174- 
 
 Topped mountain earn, 338. 
 Topping, human bones, burned, 337. 
 Tory Hill, rock-scribing, 159. 
 Tory Island, inhabitants, 37. 
 Transmigration of souls, 245, 251. 
 Trees, rarity of, in parts of Ireland, 80. 
 Trinity, idea of, 164, 165. 
 
 Norse, 165. 
 
 Tryggvason, Olaf, saga, Iiish wolf-dog 
 
 story, 76. 
 Turgesius, story of, 149. 
 Tutianius, Marcus luventius, medicine 
 
 stamp, 236. 
 Tuttesham, H., wolf exterminator, 72. 
 Tyler, primitive ideas of the sky, 210. 
 
 Ui-Duacli, St. Patrick's curse, 275. 
 UUfish, legend, 376. 
 Unbaptised, right arms, 277. 
 Ussher, Archbishop, chronology, 15,85. 
 
 cave-dwellings, inferences, 51, 62. 
 
 Mr., great auk specimens, 73. 
 
 Patrick's barn, account, 260. 
 
 Yallancey, General, 208. 
 
 Vanbrugb, Sir John, epitaph, 242. 
 
 Vera, goddess, 360. 
 
 Cailleacli Dirra's house, 361. 
 
 Finn Mac Cool, story, 361. 
 
 St. Barry, identified with, 363. 
 
 Viigil, popular religion, sceptical re- 
 marks on, 242. 
 
 Volcanic action, Great Britain and 
 Ireland, 4. 
 
 Wakes, ceremonies at, 299. 
 
 food at, 295. 
 
 games, 314, 386. 
 
 " wake of the absent," 302. 
 
 AVakenian, William h\, rock-carvings, 
 167. 
 
 rude stone monuments, Ireland, 
 
 opinion, 350. 
 
 AValsh, John MacWalter, banshee, 
 allusion to, 367. 
 
 Ware, Sir James, 226. 
 
 .Wasserschleben, cremation, reference 
 to, 306. 
 
 Water, Druid puiification, 280. 
 
 demons. Christian saints, en- 
 counters with, 377. 
 
 Trinity College MSS. ac- 
 count, 377. 
 
 Ullfish legend, 376. 
 
 water horse, legends, 377, 378. 
 
 gods, 375. 
 
 Waterford cave-dwellings, 49. 
 
 cooking places, 122. 
 
 great auk remains, 73, 74. 
 
 grouse and ptarmigan, 74. 
 
 Wells, holy, 282. 
 
 Whitakcr, cannil>alisni, account of, 
 340. 
 
 White, Mr. Charters, food of prehis- 
 toric man, 384. 
 
 Whitepark Bay, .\utrini, animal osseous 
 remains, 336. 
 
 great auk, remains, 73. 
 
 prehistoric remains, 103. 
 
 Wicklow, goldmines, 191. 
 
 Wilde, I>ady, Irish keen, translation, 
 313. 
 
 mock marriage game at wakes, 
 
 386. 
 
 St. Silan, story, 150. 
 
 Wilde, Sir William, nomadic habits of 
 Irish, account, 97. 
 
 Williams, Mr. W., 12. 
 
 Wolf-dog, dogs (see that title). 
 
 Wolves, Bantry, 71. 
 
 James I., order, 71. 
 
 Woods, Dr. James, goddess Aynia, de- 
 scription, 358.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 Woods, Ireland, 37. 
 
 Writing, Australian talking sticks, 135. 
 
 invention of, 129. 
 
 Ogham (see that title). 
 
 rock-scribings, 158, 164. 
 
 Wright, Prof. G. F., Glacial period, 
 remarks on, IG. 
 
 Wright, T. E., Romans in Britain ac- 
 count, 236. 
 
 Yeats, William Butler, opinion of 
 
 fairies, 254. 
 Young, Arthur, iron, 82. 
 
 siiperstitions regarding, 82. 
 
 larceny of ii'on shoes from the 
 
 hoofs of horses, 82. 
 
 Mayo, rarity of trees in, 37. 
 
 Youghal, buried treasure, 190. 
 cooking-places, 121. 
 
 RND OK VOLUME I.
 
 H (Tlassifieb Catalogue 
 
 OF WORKS IN 
 
 GENERAL LITERATURE 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO, 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G. 
 
 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, and 32 HORNBY ROAD, BOMBAY 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE PAGE 
 
 BADMINTON LIBRARY (THE)- - 11 [ MENTAL, MORAL, AND POLITICAL 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, PERSONAL ME- PHILOSOPHY 14 
 
 MOIRS, &c. ----- 7 MISCELLANEOUS AND CRITICAL 
 
 CHILDREN'S BOOKS - - - 26 WORKS 3r 
 
 CLASSICAL LITERATURE, TRANS- ' pr>T7T^T3v a mt^ tut7 t^daa/i a 
 
 I ATIONS ETC iQ I POETRY AND THE DRAMA - - 20 
 
 COOKERY, DOMESTIC MANAGE- POLITICAL ECONOMY AND ECO- 
 
 MENT, &c. 29 I NOMICS 17 
 
 EVOLUTION, ANTHROPOLOGY, ] POPULAR SCIENCE - - - - 24 
 
 FICTION, HUMOUR, &c. - - ^ 21 RELIGION, THE SCIENCE OF - 18 
 FUR, FEATHER AND FIN SERIES 12 SILVER LIBRARY (THE) - - 27 
 FINE ARTS {THE) AND MUSIC - 30 SPORT AND PASTIME - - - 11 
 
 "D^nT°T?T^AT^?r^^Jn^?'c /^^^^^' STONYHURST PHILOSOPHICAL 
 
 POLITICAL MEMOIRS, &c. - - 3 SERIES 16 
 
 LANGUAGE, HISTORYAND 
 
 SCIENCE OF 17 TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE, THE 
 
 LOGIC, RHETORIC, PSYCHOLOGY, COLONIES, &c. . . . . g 
 
 &c. - - - - - - - 14 WORKS OF REFERENCE- - - 25 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS AND EDITORS. 
 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
 1 Page 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Abbott (Evelyn) 
 
 3.19 
 
 Balfour (A. J.) - 11 
 
 18 
 
 Buckland (Jas.) - 26 
 
 Crake (Rev. A. D.) - 
 
 26 
 
 (T. K.) - - 
 
 14,15 
 
 (Lady Betty) - 
 
 
 
 Buckle (H. T.) - - 3 
 
 Crawford (J. H.) 
 
 21 
 
 (E. A.) - - 
 
 15 
 
 Ball (John) 
 
 9 
 
 Bull (T.) - - - 29 
 
 (R.) - - - 
 
 10 
 
 Acland (A. H. D.) - 
 
 3 
 
 Banks (M. M.) - 
 
 21 
 
 Burke (U. R.) - - 3 
 
 Creed (S.) 
 
 21 
 
 Acton (Eliza) - 
 
 29 
 
 Baring-Gould (Rev. 
 
 
 Burns (C. L.) - - 30 
 
 Creiehton (Bishop) - 
 
 4, 5. 9 
 
 Adeane(J. H.)- 
 
 8 
 
 S.)- - - 18,27 
 
 31 
 
 Burrows (Montagu) 5 
 
 Crozier (J. B.) - 
 
 «. 15 
 
 Adelborg (O.) - 
 
 26 
 
 Barnett (S. A. and H.) 
 
 17 
 
 Butler (E. A.) - - 24 
 
 Custance (Col. H.) - 
 
 13 
 
 iEschylus 
 
 19 
 
 Baynes (T. S.) - 
 
 31 
 
 
 Cutts (Rev. E. L.) - 
 
 5 
 
 Ainger (A. C.) - 
 
 12 
 
 Beaconsfield (Earl of) 
 
 21 
 
 Cameron of Lochiel 13 
 
 
 
 Albemarle (Earl of) - 
 
 II 
 
 Beaufort (Duke of) - 11 
 
 > li 
 
 CampbelURev. Lewis) 18,19 
 
 Dale (T. F.) - 
 
 12 
 
 Allen (Grant) - 
 
 25 
 
 Becker (W. A.) 
 
 19 
 
 Camperdown (Earl of) 8 
 
 Dallinger (F. W.) - 
 
 
 Allgood (G.) - 
 
 3 
 
 Beesly (A. H.) - 
 
 8 
 
 Cawlhorne(Geo. Jas.) 13 
 
 Dauglish (M. G.) - 
 
 g 
 
 Angwin (M. C.) 
 
 29 
 
 Bell (Mrs. Hugh) - 
 
 20 
 
 Chesney (Sir G.) - 3 
 
 Davidson (W. L.) 15, 
 
 17,18 
 
 Anstey (F.) 
 
 21 
 
 Bent (J. Theodore) - 
 
 9 
 
 Childe-Pemberton(W.S.) 8 
 
 Davies (J. F.) - 
 
 19 
 
 Aristophanes - 
 
 19 
 
 Besant (Sir Walter)- 
 
 3 
 
 Cholmondeley-Pennell 
 
 Dent (C. T.) - 
 
 II 
 
 Aristotle - 
 
 14 
 
 Bickerdyke (J.) - 12 
 
 13 
 
 (H.) - - - II 
 
 De Salis (Mrs.) 
 
 29 
 
 Arnold (Sir Edwin) - 
 
 9, 20 
 
 Bird (G.) - 
 
 20 
 
 Christie (R. C.) - 31 
 
 De Tocqueville (A.) - 
 
 4 
 
 — (Dr. T.) - - 
 
 3 
 
 Blackburne (J. H.) ■ 
 
 13 
 
 ChurchilU W. Spencer) 3,21 
 
 Devas (C. S.) - 
 
 16. 17 
 
 Ashbourne (Lord) - 
 
 3 
 
 Bland (Mrs. Hubert) 
 
 21 
 
 Cicero - - - 19 
 
 Dickinson (G. L.) - 
 
 4 
 
 Ashby (H.) 
 
 29 
 
 Blount (Sir K.) 
 
 7 
 
 Clarke (Rev. R. F.) - 16 
 
 (W. H.) - - 
 
 31 
 
 Ashley (W. J.) - 
 
 3. 17 
 
 Boase (Rev. C. W.) - 
 
 5 
 
 Clodd (Edward) - 18.25 
 
 Dougall (L.) - 
 
 21 
 
 Avebury (Lord) 
 
 18 
 
 Boedder (Rev. B.) - 
 
 16 
 
 Clutterbuck (W. J.)- 10 
 
 Dowden (E.) - 
 
 32 
 
 Ayre (Rev. J.) - 
 
 25 
 
 Bowen (W. E.) 
 
 7 
 
 Colenso (R. J.) - 30 
 
 Dovle (A. Conan) - 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 Brassey (Lady) 
 
 10 
 
 Conington (John) - 19 
 
 Du Hois (W. E. B.)- 
 
 5 
 
 Bacon - - 7, 
 
 14. 15 
 
 (Lord) 
 
 12 
 
 Conway (Sir W. M ) 11 
 
 Dufferin (Marquis of) 
 
 12 
 
 Baden-Powell (B. H. 
 
 ) 3 
 
 Bray (C.) - - • 
 
 15 
 
 Conybearc(Rev.W. J.) 
 
 Dunbar (Mary F.) - 
 
 21 
 
 Bagehot (W.) 7, 17, 
 
 27,31 
 
 Bright (Rev. J. F.) - 
 
 3 
 
 & Howson (Dean) 27 
 
 Dyson (E.) ' - 
 
 21 
 
 Bagwell (R.) - 
 
 3 
 
 Broadfoot (Major W.) 
 
 II 
 
 Coolidge (W. A. B.) 9 
 
 
 
 Bailev (H. C.) - 
 
 21 
 
 Brown (A. ¥.) - 
 
 2(J 
 
 Corbin(M.) - - 26 
 
 Ebrington (Viscount) 
 
 13 
 
 Baillie (A. F.) - 
 
 3 
 
 (J. Moray) 
 
 12 
 
 Corbett (Julian S.) - 4 
 
 Ellis (I. H.) • 
 
 13 
 
 Bain (Alexander) 
 
 15 
 
 Bruce (R. I.) - 
 
 3 
 
 Coutts (W.) - - 19 
 
 (R. L.) - - 
 
 14 
 
 Baker (J. H.) - 
 
 31 
 
 Bryce(J.)- 
 
 11 
 
 Coventry (A.) - - 12 
 
 Erasmus - - - 
 
 8,31 
 
 (Sir S. W.) 
 
 9 
 
 Buck (H. A.) - 
 
 12 
 
 Cox (Harding) - 11 
 
 Evans (Sir John) - 
 
 3t
 
 INDEX 
 
 Falkiner (C. L.) 
 Farrar (Dean) • - i 
 Fitzgibbon (M ) 
 Fitzmaurice (Lord E.) 
 Folkard (H. C.) 
 Ford (H.) - 
 
 (W.J.) - - 
 
 Fountain (P.) - 
 Fowler (Edith H.) - 
 Francis (Francis) 
 Francis (M. E.) 
 Freeman (Edward A.) 
 Fremantle (T. F.) - 
 Fresnfield (D. W.) - 
 Frost iG.) 
 
 OF 
 
 Pag.i 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 Froude (lames A.) 4,8,10,22 
 
 Fuller (F. VV.) - - 4 
 
 Furneaux (W.) - 24 
 
 Gardiner (Samuel R.) 4 
 Gathorne-Hardy (Hon. 
 
 A. E.) - - 13 
 Geikie (Kev. Cunning- 
 ham) - - - 31 
 Gibbons (J. S.) - 13 
 Gibson (Cf. H.) - - 14 
 Gleig(Rev. G. R.) - g 
 Goethe - - - 20 
 Going (C. B.) - - 26 
 Gore-Booth (Sir H. W.) 12 
 Graham l.-\.) - - 4 
 
 (P. A.) - - 13! 
 
 (G. F.) - - 17, 
 
 Granby (Marquess of) 13 1 
 
 Grant (Sir A.) - - 14 
 
 Craves (R. P.) - - 8 
 
 Green (T. Hill) - 15 
 
 ■Greene (E. B.)- - 5 
 
 •Greville (C. C. F.) - 4 
 
 •Grose (T. H.) - - 15 
 Gross (C.) - "4,5 
 
 Grove (F. C.) - - 11 
 
 (Mrs. Lilly) - 11 
 
 Gurdon (Ladv Camilla) 22 
 
 Gurnhill (J.)' - - 15 
 
 Gwilt (J.) - - - 25 
 
 Haggard (H. Rider) 10,22,31 
 
 Hake (O.) - - - 12 
 
 HaIliwell-Phillipps(J.) 9 
 
 Hamilton (Col. H. B.) 5 
 
 Hamlin (A. D. F.) - 30 
 
 Harding (S. B.) - 5 j 
 
 Harmsworth (A. C.) 12 ' 
 
 Harte (Bret) - - 22 
 
 Harting(J.E.)- - 13 
 
 Hartwig (G.) - - 25 
 
 Hassall (A.) - - 7 
 Haweis (H. R.) - 8, 30 
 
 Head (Mrs.) - - 30 
 
 Heath (D. D.) - - 14 
 
 Heathcote (J. M.) - 12 
 
 (C. G.) - - 12 
 
 (N.) - - - 10 
 
 Helmholtz (Hermann 
 
 von) - - - 25 
 Henderson (Lieut- 
 Col. G. F. R.) - 8 
 Henry (W.) - - 12 
 Henty (G. A.) - - 26 
 Herbert (Col. Kenney) 13 
 Herod (Richard S.) - 13 
 Hiley (R. W.) - - 8 
 Hill (Mabel) - - 5 
 Hillier (G. Lacy) - u 
 Hime (H, W. L.) - ig 
 Hodgson (Shadworth)i5, 31 
 
 Hoenig (F.) 
 Hogan (J. F.) - 
 Holmes (R. R.) 
 Holroyd (M. J.) . - 
 Homer 
 
 Hope (Anthony) 
 Horace - - . 
 Houston (D. F.) 
 Howard (Lady Mabel) 
 Howitt (W.) - 
 Hudson (VV. H.) - 
 Huish (M. B.) - 
 Hullahd.) 
 Hume (David) - 
 (M. A. S.) 
 
 AUTHORS 
 
 Pa%t 
 Hunt (Rev. VV.) - 5 
 
 Hunter (Sir VV.) - 5 
 
 Hutchinson (Horace G.) 
 
 ".13.31 
 j Ingelow (Jean) - 20 
 
 i Ingram (T. I).) - 5 
 
 [ Jackson (A. W.) - 9 
 
 James (VV.) - - 15 
 Jameson (Mrs. Anna) 30 
 
 [ lefleries (Richard) - 31 
 
 jekyll (Gertrude) - 31 
 
 Jerome (Jerome K.) - 22 
 
 ohnson (J. & J. H.) 31 
 
 Jones (H. Bence) - 25 
 Joyce (P. VV.) - 5, 22, 31 
 
 Justinian - - - 15 
 
 Kant (L) - - . 15 
 
 Kaye (Sir J. VV.) - 5 
 
 Kelly (K.)- - - 15 
 
 Kent (C. B. R.) - 5 
 
 Kerr (Rev. J.) - - 12 
 
 Killick (Rev. A. H.) - 15 
 
 Kingsley (Rose G.) - 30 
 
 Kitchin (Dr. G. VV.) 5 
 Knight (E. F.) - - 10, 12 
 
 Kostlin(J.) - - 8 
 
 Kristeller (P.) - - 30 
 
 Ladd (G. T.) - - 15 
 Lang (Andrew) 5, 11, 12, 14, 
 
 18, 20, 22, 23, 26, 32 ' 
 Lapsley (G. T.) - 5 
 
 Lascelles (Hon. G.) :i, 13 
 Laurie (S. S.) - - 5 
 
 Lawley (Hon. F.) - 12 
 Lawrence (F. VV.) - 17 
 Lear (H. L. Sidney) - 29, 31 
 Lecky (VV. E. H.) 5, i6, 20 
 Lees (J. A.) - - 10 
 Leslie (T. E. Cliffe) - 17 
 Levett-Veats (S.) - 22 
 Lillie (A.)- - - 14 
 Lindley (J.) - - 25 
 Loch (C. S.) - - 31 
 Locock (C. D.) - 14 
 
 Lodge (H. C.) - - 5 
 
 Loftie (Rev. VV. J.) - 5 
 
 Longman (C. J.) - 11, 13 
 
 (F. W.) - - 14 
 
 (G. H.) - -11,13 
 
 (Mrs. C. J.) - 30 
 
 Lowell (A. L.) - - 5 
 
 Lubbock (Sir John) - 18 
 Lucan - - - 19 
 Lutoslawski (VV.) - 16 
 Lyall (Edna) - - 23 
 Lvnch (G.) - - 6 
 
 — -(H. F. B.)- - 10 
 Lyttelton (Hon. R. H.) 11 
 
 (Hon. A.) - - 12 
 
 Lytton (Earl of) - 6, 20 1 
 
 AND 
 
 31 
 
 Macaulay (Lord) - 6, 2c 
 
 Macdonald (Dr. G.) - 20 
 
 Macfarren (Sir G. A.) 30 
 
 Mackail (J. W.) - 9, ig 
 
 Mackenzie (C. G.) - 14 
 
 Mackinnon (J.) - 6 
 
 Macleod (H. D.) - 17 
 Macpherson (Rev. 
 
 H. A.) - - 12, 13 
 
 Madden (D. H.) - 14 
 
 Magnusson (E.) - 22 
 
 Maher (Rev. M.) - 16 
 
 Mal!eson(Col.G.B.) 5 
 
 Marchment (A. VV.) 23 
 
 Marshman (J. C.) - 8 
 
 Maryon (M.) - - 32 
 
 Mason (A. E. VV.) - 23 
 
 Maskelyne (J. N.) - 14 
 
 Matthews (B.) - 32 
 
 Maunder (S.) - - 25 
 Max Miiller (F.) 
 
 9, 16, 17, 18, 23, 32 
 
 Mav (Sir T. Erskine) 6 
 
 Meade (L. T.) - - 26 
 Melville (G. J. Whyte) 23 
 
 Merivale (Dean) - 6 
 
 Merriman (H. S.) - 23 
 
 Mill (John Stuart) - 16, 17 
 
 Millias (J. G.) - 
 Milner (G.) 
 Monck(VV. H. S.) - 
 Montague (F. C.) - 
 Moon (G. VV.) - 
 Moore (T.) 
 
 (Rev. Edward) - 
 
 Morgan (C. Lloyd) - 
 Morris (Mowbray) - 
 
 EDITORS 
 
 Page 
 14 
 32 
 
 ■continued. 
 
 Page 
 
 Sheppard (E.) - 
 Sinclair (A.) 
 Skrine (F. H.) - 
 Smith (C. Fell) 
 
 (R. Bos worth) - 
 
 (T. C.) - 
 
 (VV. P. Haskett) 
 
 Somerville (E.) 
 Sophocles 
 
 (VV.) ]g, 20, 23, 30, 32 Soulsby (Lucy H 
 
 Mulhall (M. G , 
 Murray (Hilda) 
 Myers (F. VV. H.) - 
 
 Nansen (F.) 
 Nash(V.)- 
 Nesbit (E.) 
 Nettleship (R. L.) - 
 Newman (Cardinal) - 
 Nichols (V. M.) 
 
 Ogilvie(K.) - 
 Oldfield (Hon. Mrs.) 
 Oliphant (N.) - 
 Onslow (Earl oO 
 Osbourne (L.) - 
 Paget (Sir J.) - 
 Park (VV.) 
 Parker (B.) 
 Passmore (T. H.) - 
 Payne-Gallwey (Sir 
 R.) - - - 
 Pearson (C. H.) 
 Peek (Hedley) - 
 Pemberton (VV. S. 
 
 Childe-) - - 8 
 
 Pembroke (Earl oO - 12 
 Pennant (C. D.) - 13 
 Penrose (Mrs.) - 26 
 
 Phillipps-\VolIey(C.) 11,23 
 Pitman (C. M.) - 12 
 
 Pleydell-Bouverie (E. O.) 12 
 Pole (VV.) - - . 14 
 Pollock (VV. H.) - 11,32 
 Poole (W.H. and Mrs.) 29 
 Poore (G. V.) - - 32 
 Pope (VV. H.) - - 13 
 Powell (E.) - - 7 
 
 Praeger (S. Rosamond) 26 
 Prevost (C.) - - 11 
 Pritchett (R. T.) - 12 
 Proctor (R. A.) 14, 25, 28, 29 
 
 8,31 
 
 19 
 8 
 6 
 12 
 24 
 
 9 
 14 
 32 
 32 
 
 12, 14 
 9 
 
 - 7 
 
 Southev (R.) 
 
 i Spahr("C. B.) - 
 Spedding(J.) - 
 Stanley (Bishop) 
 
 I Stebbing (VV.) - 
 
 I Steel (A. G.) - 
 
 Stephen (Leslie) - 10 
 
 Stephens (H. .Morse) 7 
 Sternberg (Count 
 
 .Adalbert) - - 7 
 
 Stevens (R. VV.) - 31 
 Stevenson (R. L.) 21,24,26 
 
 Storr (F.) - - . ,4 
 Stuart-VVortley (A. J.) 12, 13 
 
 Stubbs(J. VV.)- - 7 
 Suffolk & Berkshire 
 
 1 (Earl of) - - II, 12 
 
 j Sullivan (Sir E.) - la 
 
 ! Sully (James) - - 16 
 Sutherland (A. and G.) 7 
 (Alex.) - - 16, 32 
 
 I (G.) - - - 32 
 
 Suttner (B. von) - 24 
 
 Swan (M.) - - 24 
 
 Swinburne (A. J.) - 16 
 
 Symes (J. E.) - - 17 
 
 Tallentyre (S. G.) - 9 
 
 Tappan (E. M.) - 26 
 
 Tavlor (Col. Meadows) 7 
 
 Tebbutt (C. G.) - 12 
 
 Terry (C. S.) - - 8 
 
 Thomas (J. VV.) - 16 
 
 Thornhill (VV. J.) - 19 
 
 Thornton (T. H.) - 9 
 
 Todd (A.) - - 7 
 
 Toynbee (A.) - - 17 
 
 Trevelyan (Sir G. O.) 6, 7, 8 
 
 7 
 19 
 10 
 
 19 
 11,13 
 16 
 16 
 16 
 
 19 
 23 
 
 Raine (Rev. James) - 
 
 Randolph (C. F.) - 
 Rankin (R.) 
 Ransome (Cyril) 
 Raymond (VV.) 
 Reid(S. J.; 
 Rhoades(J.) - 
 Rice (S. P.) 
 Rich (A.) - 
 Richardson (C.) 
 
 Richmond (Ennis) - 
 Rickaby (Rev. John) 
 
 (Rev. Joseph) - 
 
 Ridley (Sir E.)- 
 
 (Lady Alice) 
 
 Riley (J. VV.) - - 21 
 
 Roget (Peter M.) - 17, 25 
 Romanes (G.J.) 9, 16, 18,21 
 
 (Mrs. G.J.) - 9 
 
 Ronalds (A.) - - 14 
 
 Roosevelt (T.) - - 5 
 
 Ross (Martin) - - 24 
 Rossetti (Maria Fran- 
 
 cesca) - - - 32 
 
 Rotheram (M. A.) - 29 
 
 Rowe (R. P. P.) - I- 
 
 Russell (Lady)- - 9 
 
 Saintsbury (G.) - 12 
 
 Sandars (T. C.) - 15 
 
 Sanders (E. K.) - 8 
 
 Savage- Armstrong(G.F.)2 1 
 
 Seebohm (F.) - - 7, 9 
 
 Selous (F. C.) - - II, 14 
 
 Senior (VV.) - - 12, 13 
 Sewell (Elizabeth M.) 23 
 
 Shakespeare - - 21 
 
 Shand(A I.) - - 13 
 
 Shaw (VV. A.) - - 7, 31 
 
 Shearman (M.) - 11 
 
 (G. M.) 
 Trollope (Anthony)- 
 Turner (ri. G.) 
 TyndalKJ.) 
 Tyrrell (R. V.) - 
 . , Unwin (R.) - - j_ 
 . 21 ; Upton(F.K.and Bertha) 27 
 3- 7 ; Van Dyke (J. C.) - 
 ^3 Virgil 
 
 Wagner (R.) - 
 Wakeman (H. O.) - 
 VValford (L. B.) 
 Wallas (Graham) 
 
 (Mrs. Ciraham)- 
 
 VValpole (Sir Spencer) 
 Walrond (Col. H.) - 11 
 Walsingham (Lord)- 12 
 Ward (Mrs. VV.) - 24 
 Warwick (Countess of) 32 
 
 7 
 24 
 32 
 8, 10 
 19 
 32 
 
 Watson (A. E. T.) 
 Weathers (J.) - - 32 
 Webb (Mr. and Mrs. 
 
 Sidney) - - 17 
 
 (T. E.) - - 16, 20 
 
 Weber (A.) - - 16 
 Weir (Capt. R.) - 12 
 Wellington (Duchess of) 30 
 West (B. H.) - - 24 
 VVeyman (Stanley) - 24 
 Whately(Archbishop) 14,16 
 
 Whitelaw (R 
 VVhittall(SirJ. VV. )- 
 Wilkins (G.) - 
 
 (VV. H.) - 
 
 VVillard (A. R.) 
 Willich (C. M.) 
 VVitham (T. M.) 
 Wood (Rev. J. G.) - 
 Wood-Martin (VV. G.) 
 VVyatt (A. J.) - 
 Wylie (J. H.) - 
 Zeller (E.) 
 
 19 
 32 
 19 
 
 3 
 30 
 25 
 12 
 25 
 
 7 
 20 
 
 7 
 16
 
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 THE BADMINTON LIBRARY. 
 
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 12 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 
 
 Sport and Pastime — continued. 
 
 THE BADMINTON LIBRARY— cv,;////;»t7/. 
 
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 13 
 
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 23. 
 
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 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 27 
 
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 28 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 
 
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 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 29 
 
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 30 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 
 
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 MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S STANDARD AND GENERAL WORKS. 
 
 31 
 
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