( IIB ) 



Account of a Hainan Builij, in a singular Coitu in f, found in a 

 high state of preservation in a Bog on the Lands of Gallagh, 

 in the County of Galxoay. By Gkorge Petrik, Esq. 



In \k\^ summer of 1821, as stated in the Dublin Journal 

 of Science, the body of a man was found in a bog on the 

 lands of Galagh, now Newton-Bellew, the seat of C. D. Bel- 

 lew, Esq. in the county of Galway. The bog was about ten 

 feet and a half deep, and the body lay about nine feet below its 

 surface. It had all the appearance of recent death when first 

 discovered, excepting that the abdomen was quite collapsed, but 

 on exposure to the atmosphere it decayed rapidly. The face 

 was that of a young man of handsome features and foreign as- 

 pect, and his hair, which was long and black, hung loosely over 

 his shoulders. The head, legs, and feet, were without cover- 

 ing, but the body was clothed in a tight dress, covering also the 

 limbs as far as the knees and elbows^ This dress was composed 

 of the skin of some animal, laced in front with thongs of the 

 same material, and having the hairy side inwards ; and it is 

 not improbable that it might have been that of the Moose-deer. 

 He had no weapon ; but near him, at each side of the body, 

 was found a long staff or pole, which it was supposed he had 

 used for the purpose of bounding over streams ; and as the 

 bodv was found near a rivulet^ it was further conjectured by 

 the peasantry, that the man had met his death accidentally in 

 some such manner. 



The antiseptic power of bogs is well known, and the fre- 

 quent discovery of human bodies in a high state of preservation, 

 in those of Ireland, has been already recorded. (See Gough's 

 edition of Camden's Britannia.) The finding of this body would 

 not therefore deserve particular notice, nor would it probably 

 have excited much attention at the time, but for the singularity 

 of the costume. And this notice is the more necessary, as the 

 dress no longer exists, having been buried with the body — 

 an instance of ignorance and barbarism that could hardly have 

 occurred out of Ireland, and of which we may well feel 

 ashamed. 



The antiquity of these remains is shewn by the great depth 

 of bog under which they lay ; but as the growth of bog must 



