362 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



The Ogliam Monuments. — ' These monumental stones, princi- 

 pally confined to the counties of Cork, Waterford, and Clare, in 

 Ireland, are inscribed with the Ogham characters. Some of them 

 were of a sepulchral or a memorial character ; others were ter- 

 mini or boundary stones. Mr. R. B. Brash regards them as pre- 

 Christian in time, because the inscriptions allude to pagan rites 

 and ceremonies, and because no allusions can be found to any 

 Christian doctrines. He thinks that the people who raised these 

 monuments came originally from Spain, and the more so as there 

 are striking ethnological affinities between the inhabitants on the 

 coast of Ireland and the Spaniards. There are probably many of 

 these monuments in Ireland yet undiscovered. Col. Fox con- 

 siders the characters on these monuments as having been derived 

 from the primitive marks known to be made by savages upon 

 their arrow-heads. They bear no resemblance to the Runic alpha- 

 bet, which belongs to the common stock of languages ; the Ogham 

 alphabet was special and peculiar, and different from anything 

 else of the kind known. 



Khasias of Bengal. — These are a tribe of semi-savages, an 

 Indo-Chinese race, living in East Bengal, within 300 miles of the 

 British capital of India, who habitually erect dolmens, cysts, 

 cromlechs, etc., almost as gigantic as, and very similar in appear- 

 ance and construction to, the so-called Druidical remains of West- 

 ern Europe. They are hardly alluded to in the modern literature 

 of pre-historic monuments. They keep cattle, but drink no milk, 

 and estimate distances traversed by the mouthfuls of pawn chewed 

 en route. The undulating eminences of the country, 4,000 to 

 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, are dotted with groups of 

 huge unpolished squared pillars and tabular slabs, supported on 

 three or four rude piers. In one spot Dr. Hooker found a nearly 

 complete circle of menhies, the tallest of which was 30 feet out of 

 the ground, 6 feet broad, and 2| feet thick ; and in front of each 

 was a dolmen or cromlech of proj^ortionately gigantic pieces of 

 rock. It is said that some are put up every year. The method 

 of removing the blocks is by cutting grooves, along which fires are 

 lit, and into which, when heated, cold water is run, which causes 

 the rock to fissure along the groove; the lever and the rope are 

 the only mechanical aids used in transporting and erecting the 

 blocks. The objects of their erection are various, — sepulchral, 

 memorial, etc. 



Stone Age in Japan. — Mr. A. W. Franks stated, at the meeting 

 of the British Association in 18G8, that flint and stone implements 

 are found in various parts of Japan, chiefly in the northern part 

 of the great island of Niphon. They are much sought after by 

 the Japanese, who value them higlil}- as relics of their mythical 

 or spirit period. They consist of barbed arrow-heads, with or 

 without tangs, spindle-formed spear-heads, knives or scrapers, 

 and axes or celts ; the forms are similar to those of Europe and 

 America. The material of the arrow-heads is generally flint or 

 jasper, and occasionally obsidian ; the axes appear to be of basalt 

 andjadite. The belief in the sui^ernatural origin of these weap- 

 ons in Japan shows that they are pre-historic, and older than the 



