z ik alia 
—— ; 
211 
Monaghan, very cursorily alluded to by Mr. Shirley i in his 
publication; but W. T. Mulvaney, Esq., Commissioner of Pub- 
lic Works, informs me he has heard of two others in lakes in 
Cavan and Leitrim, laid bare by drainage, and for the particu- 
lars of which he has very politely written. 
‘‘ It is remarkable, that the forms ofthe stockades at Dun- 
3 shaughlin and Cloonfinlough are perfectly similar, that both 
were situate in lakes, and exposed by drainage operations; that 
opposite Cloonfinlough on the main land is a ruined church; 
opposite Dunshaughlin, a ruined structure ; that near both ca- 
noes were found, and that the pins and other antiquarian re- 
mains, as wellas the heads of oxen found, are precisely identical. 
‘* It is thus, I think, quite manifest, that these islands are 
artificially constructed, and that originally they were inaccessi- 
ble, except by boats, whilst from the circumstances of these boats 
being hollowed out of single trees, and some of them of very 
considerable size, the conclusion follows that they were con- 
structed at avery remote period, when the art of boat-build- 
ing was comparatively unknown, and ere the primeval forests 
had vanished from our soil; and this supposition would be 
strengthened by many of the pins and bronze ornaments found, 
whilst the horns of the Irish elk, long extinct, would similarly 
point toa very remote date. But along with these are also found 
other matters of much more recent date, and which would lead 
to quite a different conclusion. 
«« Amongst these latter articles are knives, some of which 
have failed in the forging ; combs in an incomplete state of ma- 
nufacture ; deer-horns sawn in sunder, and shavings as if left 
after a turner. From these I am led to think, that whatever 
may have been its original occupants, in later times the little 
island resounded to the busy hum of industry, and that the 
smith, the brazier, the comb-maker, and the turner, theredrove a 
brisk trade, and sometimes solaced their leisure in the construc- 
tion of pretty toys, like the tiny plate-bucket in the possession of 
the post-mistress of Strokestown, and whose neatness of finish 
