Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 31 



grossly idolatrous ; but they are made of most durable materials. These edifices are round, and 

 above thirty feet diameter, raised in height to a point near one hundred and twenty feet." 

 Ib. p. 137. 



" In the Histoire des descouvertes dans la Russe et la Perse, there is an account of many round 

 towers, said by the inhabitants to be the work of very remote times. At Bulgari, not nine worsts 

 distant from the Wolga, where our Aire-Coti first settled under Casair, the most remarkable of the 

 ancient buildings, says Pallas, is a round tower, called Misger, which appears to be a corruption of 



g-A^ muzgi, signifying, to make the holy fire burn bright (Richardson). 



' " In the midst of the ruins of Kasimof, on the Oha which falls into the Wolga, is a round and 

 elevated tower, a sort of temple of stone and bricks, called in their language Misquir (Guthrie). 



" In the country of the Kisti and Ingushti, very ancient nations of Caucasus, most of the vil- 

 lages have a round tower." Ib. p. 145. 



" Lord Valentia, in his late Travels in the East Indies, met with two round towers near to 

 each other, 1 mile N. W. of Bhaugulpour ; he was much pleased with the sight of them, as they 

 resembled those Towers in Ireland, which have puzzled the antiquaries of Ireland ' but they are 

 a little more ornamented the door about the same height from the ground. It is singular, says 

 he, that there is no tradition concerning them. The Rajah of Jyenegar considers them as holy, and 

 has erected a small building to shelter the great number of his subjects, who annually come to wor- 

 ship here. I have given an engraving of them, adds his lordship, as I think them curious.' " 

 Account of the Stone Amphitheatre, &>-c., p. 41. 



Of these extracts I may observe generally, that with the single exception 

 of that from Han way relative to the four towers of the Guebres, none of them 

 prove that the towers noticed may not have been what is far more probable- 

 ancient Mahometan minarets, or, belfries of the early Christians ; and, with re- 

 gard to Hanway's instance, on which so much stress has been laid, it may be 

 remarked, that even supposing these towers to have been erected for the purpose 

 stated a thing after all very doubtful yet no point of exact conformity 

 between them and the Irish Towers has been established, excepting that of 

 rotundity ; while, on the other hand, the Persian towers are proved to differ 

 essentially from the Irish, in being nearly three times their average diameter. 

 This want of established agreement was so strongly felt by Dr. Lanigan, that 

 notwithstanding his zeal in supporting Vallancey's hypothesis, he is obliged to 

 confess a wish that Hanway had been more particular in his description. On 

 this subject Dr. Ledwich has made the following judicious remarks : 



" Our author begins his career by affirming our towers to be the same as the Persian Pyrathei a, 

 and that merely from Mr. Hanway's saying there were round towers in the country of the Gaurs. 

 Now if the Gaurs came hither, their monuments would have been similar to those described by 



