APPENDIX. 605 



is very often the edge of the stone, but sometimes a line is cut. 

 In other cases, an imaginary line is supposed to run through the 

 inscription. Short lines, or notches, stand for the vowels, a, o, u, 

 e, i, one notch denoting a, two 0, three u, and so on. Lines on the 

 left of the base line stand for b, I, /, s, and n, according as they are 

 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 in number; lines on the right of the base line stand 

 in the same manner for h, d, t, c, and q ; while those crossing the 

 line denote m, g, ng, st, or z, and r. There are some few other 

 characters, which, however, seldom occur. 



Almost all the Ogham inscriptions which have yet been read are 

 mere patronymics, containing the name of the person in whose 

 honour the stone was erected. Thus the above figure (fig. 227) 

 of an Ogham stone found in Kerry reads thus : Nocati maqi maqi 

 ret(ti), i.e. (The Stone) of Nocat, the son of Macreith ; the inscrip- 

 tion on fig. 228 is, Maqi Mucoi Uddami, i.e. (The Stone) of Uddam 

 Mac Mucoi. 



Page 59. 



Staigue Fort, in the county of Kerry, is " an enclosure, nearly 

 circular, 114 feet in diameter, 88 feet from east to west, and 87 

 from north to south. The stones are put together without any 

 description of mortar or cement; the wall is 13 feet thick at the 

 bottom, and 5 feet 2 inches broad at top at the highest part, where 

 some of the old coping-stones still remain, and which is there 

 17 feet 6 inches high upon the inside. It has one square doorway 

 in the s.s.w. side, 5 feet 9 inches high, with sloping sides, 4 feet 

 2 inches wide at top, and 5 feet at bottom. In the substance of 

 this massive wall, and opening inwards, are two small chambers ; 

 the one on the west side is 12 feet long, 4 feet 7 inches wade, and 

 6 feet 6 inches high ; the northern chamber is 7 feet 4 inches long, 

 4 feet 9 inches wide, and 7 feet high. They formed a part of the 

 original plan, and were not, like other apertures in some similar 

 structures, filled-up gateways. Around the interior of the wall are 

 arranged ten sets of stairs, .... the highest reaching very nearly to 

 the full height of the wall, and the secondary flights being about 

 half that much ; each step is 2 feet wide ; and the lower flights 

 project within the circle of the higher. They lead to narrow plat- 

 forms, from 8 to 43 feet in length, on which its wardens or defenders 

 stood." (Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 120.) 



