SINKERS. 



89 



ity." Yet, Sir W. Wilde, while admitting that these stones would form useful 

 sink-stones, thinks there is no direct authority bearing on the subject. Indeed, 

 the stone I'eiDresented by Fig. 115 has been regarded by some as one of the 

 "flail-stones " attached by a thong to a stick, used in early Irish warfare, and to 

 which some allusion is made in ancient records. As for the object shown in Fig. 

 116, he thinks it might have been used as a plummet, or the weight for a steel- 

 yard or ouncel, " an implement in much more frequent use than a beam and 

 scales in the western parts of Ireland up to a very recent period."* 



I have little doubt that Fig. 115, at least, represents a sinker. 



Fig. 117.— County of Down. (0021). 



Fia. 118.— County of Westmeath. (9027). 



Figs. 117 and 118.— Stone sinkers (?). 



I present in Figs. 117 and 118 delineations of two of the quoit-like discs 

 with a hole in the centre, to which Sir W. Wilde draws attention. They were 

 sent, in 1870, with other Irish antiquities, to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. 

 Robert Day, Jr., of Cork County. The material of these specimens, which cer- 

 tainly have the appearance of being very old, is fine-grained sandstone. They 

 were found, respectively, in the counties of Down and Westmeath. 



Passing over to Danish specimens, I give in Fig. 119 on the following page 

 a somewhat enlarged copy of one figured by Mr. Worsaae,f who classes it, 

 doubtless for good reason, among the relics of the stone age. He informs me that 

 it was dug up in a bog in the Island of Seeland. 



* Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 95. 

 f Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager ; Fig. 



p. 18. 



Rl2 



