58 PAPERS, ETC. 



Rhoald, and the dead are commonly said to have been 

 buried under these tumuli. Mr. Collinson states that 

 several cells composed of flat stones, and containing human 

 remains, have been discovered. He does not, however, 

 State when this was ascertained, and it is asserted that 

 these have never been opened. It would be well worth 

 ascertaining, if these barrows bore any relation in their 

 construction to those we have been considering. This 

 might be done by the Somersetshire Archasological Society 

 at small cost ; and it is one of those points which our 

 Society would do well to investigate. I should, however, 

 be inclined to suppose that if they contain stone Chambers 

 they will be found to be similar in their construction to 

 the tumulus at Lugbury, near Little Drew. 



In treating of chambered tumuli, it would be a great 

 Omission to pass over that giant tumulus in Ireland, which 

 has attracted such notice, and which still remains a won- 

 derful monument of a race coeval with those who formed 

 the tumuli in England. 



I cannot do better than describe it in the words of a 

 gentleman who lately visited it, and has thus recorded the 

 impression left upon his mind : 



"It is situated in the county of Meath, and on the 

 banks of the river Boyne, and consists of an enormous 

 cairn formed by immense quantities of small stones, water- 

 worn, and most probably boulder-stones collected from the 

 banks of the Boyne, which flows below the gentle slope on 

 which it Stands. Time has covered the mound with green 

 turf, and long after its construction it has been planted 

 with trees, which cover its summit, while underwood creeps 

 down its sloping sides. Four gigantic stones, hardly in- 

 ferior to those of Stonehenge, about a dozen yards apart, 

 sentinel the entrance, and form a portion of the circle 



