72 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



to burn. Mr. Pennant, speaking of the Indian Pollygars, says, that they retained their old religion, 

 and that their Pagodas are very numerous, ' Their form, too,' he says, ' are different, being chiefly 

 buildings of a cylindrical or round tower shape, with their tops, either pointed or truncated.' Lord 

 Valencia describes two round towers, which he saw in India, near Baugulphore. He says, ' they 

 much resemble those buildings in Ireland ;' the door is elevated; they possess a stone roof and four 

 large windows near the summit. From India, we pass more to the westward, and in Babylonia, the 

 ancient cradle alike of the religion of India, Persia, and of Druidism, we find remains of the pillar 

 tower. Major Keppel, in his ' Personal narrative,' has given us a sketch of a portion of a pillar, as 

 he calls it, which he observed between Coot and Bagdad, near the Tigris. It was composed of sun- 

 burnt bricks, twenty feet two inches high, and 63 feet in circumference. It was evidently detached 

 from other ancient buildings near it. He concludes by stating, that 'the annexed sketch will shew 

 the resemblance this pillar bears to those ancient columns, so common in Ireland.' 



" Following in the track of the old Phenician navigators, we find Sardinia, an island once colo- 

 nized from Iberia and Phenicia, strewed with very singular buildings, of high antiquity, called 

 Ffiiroygis, a name deemed to be derived from Norax, the leader of the Iberian colony. These are 

 conical towers, constructed of large cubic stones, whose sides fit each other, without being con- 

 nected together by either lime or cement. The largest are from fifty to sixty feet high. The inte- 

 rior is divided into three dark chambers, one above the other. Under several of these structures, 

 burying places and subterranean passages have been discovered, leading to other Noraghs. Several 

 hundreds of these monuments, between large and small, are scattered about Sardinia. ' There are,' 

 says the writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review, ' we believe, structures of a similar description in 

 some parts of Ireland.' In some places, the Nuraggis are called, ' Domu de Orcu^ or house of death, 

 in the belief of their monuments of the dead. This would not be very inconsistent with the cha- 

 racter of the Irish towers ; human bones having been found interred within that at Ram-Island in 

 Antrim, and similar relics, but having undergone the ancient pagan process of Cremation, were 

 recently discovered in the tower of Timahoe. 



" From our still imperfect acquaintance with the literary remains of ancient Ireland, we are not 

 aware of many notices of our Round towers occurring in the early documents, yet preserved. In 

 our annals, the names of such places as Mtdghe Tuireth-na-bh Fomorach, the plain of the Fomorian 

 tower ; Moy-tura, the plain of the Towers, in Mayo ; Torinis, the island of the tower ; the tower of 

 Temor, and many others are mentioned with reference to the most remote periods of our history. 

 The Ulster Annals, at the year 448, speak of a terrible earthquake felt in various parts, in that 

 year, by which, seventy-five towers were destroyed or injured. The 'annals of the Four Masters' 

 mention, at the year 898, the Turoghan A ngcoire, or Fire- tower of the Anchorite, at Iniscailtre, in 

 the Shannon ; and the same annals, as well as those of Ulster, note at the year 995, the destruction, 

 by lightning, of Armagh, its hospital, cathedral, palace, and Fidhnemead, or celestial index, i. e. 

 Round tower. 



" These two last names ought to be decisive of the controversy. Turaghan literally signifies a 

 Fire-tower; the addition Angcoire refers to an appropriation for anchoretical uses, long posterior to 

 the erection of the edifice. This accords with the general practice of the early Christian clergy, 

 who placed their churches on the site of the Druid fanes. Ryland, (Hist. Waterford,) mentions a 



