Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tar a Hill. 181 



A similar legend is given by Nennius, in his tract entitled De Mirahilibus 

 Hibernice, but in which the monument is stated to have been on Crucmaur in 

 Cereticum ; and hence Sir James Ware considered, that it should properly have 

 been placed among the wonders of England as it is found in some copies. But, 

 however this may be, the absurdity of the superstition connected with the monu- 

 ment at Tara should not invalidate the fact of its former existence. The tomb 

 of St. Coemgene, or Kevin, the patron saint of Iris Hier, one of the South 

 Islands of Aran, is still universally believed by the people of the west of Ireland 

 to have a similar miraculous power, a belief which no demonstration of its fallacy 

 can shake. 



It was in the immediate vicinity of these monuments, namely, in a mound, 

 or bank, near the churchyard, that about the year 1810, the golden Torques 

 . were found, which are now happily saved from the usual fate of antiquities of the 

 kind discovered in Ireland, by the liberality of the Members of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, and other patriotic individuals. These Torques are of a spiral or screw 

 pattern, as will be seen from the subjoined wood-cuts ; and though the design is 

 simple, the workmanship is of great beauty. In both instances the twist is formed 

 of four equidistant radiations from a common centre, subsequently twisted into 

 this spiral form. The first is five feet seven inches from one extremity to the 

 other, and weighs 27 oz. 9dwts. 



The second Torque, though of equal diameter, is. of more delicate construc- 

 tion and greater lightness — the weight being only 12 oz. 6dwts. A great dif- 



