60 PAPERS, ETC. 



divided türther by the same rneans into three recesses, 

 giving to the whole area of the subterraneous temple a 

 cruciform shape. The shaft of the cross would be replaced 

 by the long corridor or entrance passage, and the three 

 cell3 or recesses would form the head and arms of the cross. 

 In each of these cells formerly stood a shallow oval basin 

 of granite, of which tvvo still remain. 



" The sides of these recesses are walled with immense 

 blocks of stone, many of which are covered with stränge 

 carvings, or rather scratchings, of the most uncouth form 

 and character, evidently done before the stones were in- 

 serted into their present position, as they exist on portions 

 now out of the reach of the band of the carver. 



" Some enthusiastic antiquaries have carried their zeal so 

 far as to trace letters, which they call ' Phoenician,' on these 

 stones, and others have styled them ' Ogham characters ;' 

 but the more modern and judicious race of antiquaries 

 consider them as mere marks, similar to those so frequently 

 found by Sir R. C. Hoare on the ancient British urns dis- 

 covered under the tumuli of the Wiltshire Downs. 



" And now it may be asked : What is the age of this Sin- 

 gular work of eider days ? and what the purpose for which 

 it was constructed ? 



" The best modern Irish antiquaries are agreed to refer it 

 to the most remote period of Celtic occupation, and far 

 beyond the time of the invasion of the Danes, to which 

 people, like so many other Irish antiquities, it has been 

 sometimes attributed. There exists in the Irish Annais a 

 record of its having been opened and rifled by those in- 

 vaders, when, even at that early date, it appears to have 

 been considered an ancient monument." 



As to the assertion, from its cruciform shape, that it may 

 be attributed to a period subsequent to the Christian asra, 



