3i6 The hish Nahiralist, November, 1902. 



stone circles, &c. ; and of certain dwellings — caves, souterrains, raths, 

 and crannog-s. Nearly two pages are wasted on the Cave Hill caves, 

 though they are of no archaeological importance, and there is not a shred 

 of evidence to connect them with the pre-historic period. A Hibernian 

 touch is given to this paragraph by the reference to " natural caves . . . 

 which bear clear evidence of having being either artificially made or used 

 by man." The remaining 24 pages deal with Christian antiquities. This 

 section is more satisfactory, though its length as compared with that of 

 the pre-Christian section is altogether out of proportion to its relative im- 

 portance. Round towers, crosses, churches, and castles are briefly dealt 

 with ; two pages are devoted to Arboe cross, which is outside the district 

 with which the book deals. The archaeological section is very fully illus- 

 trated. Of the 36 blocks, one-half are taken (without any ackowledg- 

 ment, by the way) from Praeger's "Guide to County Down"; of the others 

 several are very coarse in texture, and cannot be said to improve the 

 appearance of the pages on which they occupy so much space. 



Three maps, done in the excellent style that characterises Messrs. 

 Bartholomew's work, enhance the value of the book. A general map of the 

 Belfast district (taking in only half of Down and half of Antrim) shows also 

 the orography and condition of the roads — first-class roads seem sadly rare, 

 by the way. A small but most useful geological map of the two counties and 

 adjoining country follows. The archaeological map strikes us as very 

 incomplete. Only certain classes of ancient monuments or dwellings are 

 included, and even as regards these some omissions occur. For instance, 

 although several monuments are marked for North Louth, the grand cromleac 

 of Ballymascanlan is omitted. The fine rath which overlooks Knock, and the 

 Interesting crosses of Donoughmore and Kilbroney, we fail to find ; and so 

 on. Neither were we aware that there is a cromleac near Helen's Tower. 

 No attempt is made to mark even the most important neolithic stations, 

 nor are the lake-dwellings marked, though the information lies ready to 

 hand in Col. Wood-Martin's well-known work. 



The Index which concludes the work is very limited in scope, and might 

 with advantage have been considerably amplified. The Index of the old 

 Guide is much better. 



Glancing back over the whole book, we must repeat what we have said 

 already, that it is the most concise, accurate, and attractive scientific guide 

 yet produced in Ireland* Most of the chapters bear the impress of care, 

 judgment, and unstinted work, and the book is singularly free from mis- 

 statements of fact and other faults of commission. If our notice has dealt 

 largely with its shortcomings, this is because of the high expectations we 

 had formed of it, and our feeling of disappointment that in certain subjects 

 a wider view has not been taken, and more proportionate treatment dealt 

 out to various sections according to their relative importance to the general 

 inquirer, the naturalist, ethnologist, or antiquary. 



