156 



Dermot, county Kildare,* are also very beautiful, and are remark- 

 able for inscriptions in the character called Ogham ; of these ex^ 

 planations have been attempted,-f- but none have hitherto proved 

 satisfactory. At Kells,]: and at Castle Kieran, both in Meath, and at 

 Kilfenora, county of Clare, are crosses richly sculptured ; while 

 both Kilcullen and Clonmacnoise possess stone shafts, now much 

 broken, but curiously carved in uncouth figures, which are appa- 

 rently hieroglyphical § The above mentioned may suffice as exam- 

 ples, but many crosses not enumerated here still remain. 



The multitude of tumuli of various sizes, so thickly scattered over 

 the whole island, must attract the attention of every observant tra- 

 veller : they differ in shape, in size, and in arrangement, but are 

 indiscriminately called Danish Raths or Forts — a title which seems 

 to have been lightly bestowed, since they prevail full as much in 

 those parts of the kingdom where the Danes never obtained any 

 footing, as in those districts where they established a permanent 

 sway. They abound elsewhere as much as in the neighbourhood 

 of Waterford, or Wexford, or Limerick, the three Danish cities ; 

 or rather, are more abundant in those counties which the longest 

 retained their forests, and continued to be the strong holds of the 

 " Irishry." Had they been derived from Denmark or Norway, they 

 would probably have been found as commonly in those kingdoms as 

 in Ireland. But though they do contain small sepulchral barrows, 

 there is in either country only one tumulus of any magnitude, which 

 is situated near Drontheim in Norway.ll 



* Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland. 



f Essay on Druidism, and Letters by W. Beaufort, CoJlect. Reb. Hib. vol. II. 



:j; Well figured in Cromwell's Excursions. 



§ Aestel inArcheologia IX. — Ledwich's Antiquities. 



II Archeologia, II. — It has been suggested that the sounds of Dane and Dun bear so strong a 



