TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 753 



ghosts of such inspired magicians ; the o:iving in marriage of the son of such a gho&l 

 and the marriage procession — a cyclone ; the evolution of a local god from such a 

 ghost ; and concludes with an account of the cult of 'Toh Ni. 



4. Cornelius Magrath, the Irish Giant. 

 By Professor D. J. Cunningham, M.D., F.R.S. 



5. On a Skull modified by Acromegaly. By Professor A. F. Dixon, M.B. 



6. Exhibition of Specimens illustrating Physical Anthropology. 

 By Professor J. Symington, M.D., F.R.S.E. 



7. On some Ulster Souterrains. By William J. Fennell. 



The north-east corner of Ireland is peculiarly rich in evidences of prehistoric 

 man. Though no houses of any kind are known to exist which are attributable 



to the Stone Age, there is another class of built structure — the souterrain which 



may be claimed as the primaeval architecture of the country, for these souterrains 

 €xist in great numbers, and fresh ones are constantly coming to lifht. 



A souterrain may be defined as a subterranean place of refuge — and in that 

 sense only, a dwelling. The entrance to souterrains is either naturally difficult of 

 approach or cunningly hid, and its interior is generally long, low, narrow and 

 winding, and beset with frequent barriers, locally known as ' difficulties,' throuo-h 

 which only one person could pass at a time, and then only by creepino-. If these 

 ■were the abodes of peace this succession of barriers would have no meaning 

 although one at the entrance might be useful. 



That they were not burial-places is evident, as no relics of early cremation or 

 remains of human bones, or, in fact, of any kind, have been found in them. One 

 recently discovered at Stranocum, near Ballymoney, contained only a small frag- 

 ment of a cow bone. This latter souterrain is constructed inside &rath, and has a 



communication running under the ramparts to the outer escarpment either as an 



exit or as a vent. The built burying-places or sepulchral-chambers for cremated 

 remains, such as those at Douth and New Grange, are far in advance of the 

 souterrain from a building point of view, and also bear indications of a love of 

 decoration on strong, if undecided lines, which point to a more recent and 

 advancing people. 



The souterrains are not burrows, but vaulted chambers connected by passages 

 well defended, and bidlt of dry masonry walls and roofs, and afterwards covered 

 up by earth and eventually hidden by vegetation. The exterior covering is always 

 very thin, so that in many cases they are close to the surface. The construction 

 is invariably of rough unhewn stones from the neighbourhood — chiefly of smooth 

 ice-worn boulders, which are found in such profusion in these districts ; but in 

 some cases the stones are large and placed in upright positions, and the roof is 

 invariably formed by the overlapping of one stone on another, a system followed 

 into much more recent times. 



The barriers are formed of walls rising from the floor almost to the roof then a 

 5pace of 12 or more inches to the next wall, which descends from the'ceilino- 

 to within 15 inches of the floor, and leads in some cases to a long low tunnel 

 16 or 18 inches high, with a similar barrier at the other end. 



No two souterrains are alike in plan ; some are straight, or almost so with 



chambers branching ofi'; some like the letter F or W, and some slightly circular 



like that of Artole near Ardglass. Some are extremely short, while others are 

 considerably over 100 feet long. 



1902. 3 c 



