126 



fruitman throws up in the orchard of his summer traffic, is distinctly 

 traced that species of dweUing, Avhich the ancient Irish hunters and 

 herdsmen occupied in their respective avocations ; while in the poor 

 oblong cabin, enclosed with the rude masonry of sods of turf and 

 earth, and thatched with the ready tribute of the heath, or subse- 

 quently of straw, without either chimneys or windows, and but one 

 door- way for the light and the smoke to struggle through, are still 

 retained the vestiges of the humblest habitations of primitive times, 

 the self-same Celtic edifices, that, in the days of Augustus, the peasant 

 of Mantua so pathetically laments, 



" Pauperis et tuguri congestum cespite culmen ! " 



Villages of such edifices were scattered round the rath of the 

 chief, and in these troubled times, were generally pitched in the glad^ 

 of some deep wood, and the approaches defended by rude ramparts 

 of earth thrown up, or of trees felled and laid across one another. 



Of the raths or duns, as they are indifferently called in the Irish 

 annals, several are seen dispersed through different parts of Ireland : 

 but as in outward appearance they have much in common with the 

 moats or funeral mounts, that shall be noticed hereafter,* care must 

 be taken to distinguish them. The latter are smaller and more pre- 

 cipitate, and consequently wear the appearance of greater height ; but 

 they are all artificial, while the former are a work of art, grafted as it 

 were on nature, exercised in commanding situations, cut out of the 

 hill, not raised from the plain, and in fosses, ramparts, and entrench- 

 ments, even still presenting the similitude of " grim visaged war." 

 In these raths the habitations of the chiefs of the district and his 

 family Avere constantly placed, consisting in general only of small 



* Vide post, in this section. 



