TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 153 
and the muscles of her neck stood out in bold relief. All her internal organs were 
in perfect health, lungs, heart, &c., and her pulse was as regular and soft as in a girl 
of 18. In fact the changes of old age, as met with in persons from 70 to 80, had 
not taken place in any of the tissues of the body, being thus similar to the nine 
other cases examined by the author. She was, of course, feeble ; but,taking all things 
together, that did not prevent her reaching to her present exceptionally great age. 
Her age, the author said, taught us two lessons—one was the absence of senile 
changes for the most part in centenarians, which was the chief reason of their 
attaining to such a great age; the other the occurrence now and then of instances 
wherein even six score years is reached, if not more. To ignore all past cases of 
extreme ultra-centenarian longevity because we cannot get at their proofs at the 
present day, he considered unphilosophical and unscientific ; for there existed as con- 
scientious and painstaking inquirers after truth then as exist now, whose statements 
= recorded facts must not be wholly ignored, as every honest investigator well 
nows. 
Notes on the rude Stone Monuments of the Khasi Hill Tribes. 
By Major H. H. Gopwin-Avsten, F.R.G.S. Se. 
In continuation of previous communications on these monuments, the author 
gave some further details derived from another visit to the Khasi Hills. He 
described the monoliths standing in the village of Nougshai, near Shillong. At- 
tention was also directed to the cairns in the Khasi Hills. These cairns are to be 
seen only on the north side of the Khasi plateau. Similar cairns were, however, 
observed by the author near North Munipur. 
On the Character and Distribution of rudely worked Flints in the Counties of 
Antrim and Down. By W. Gray, MBIA. 
Origin and Characteristics of the People in the Counties of Down and Antrim ; 
an Ethnological Sketch. By the Rev. Canon Hume, D.C.L., LL.D. 
Omitting all but a passing notice of the early inhabitants of the district, the 
writer started from the beginning of the seventeenth century. The resident Irish 
were then one assimilated, if not a homogeneous people; and the English and 
Scotch immigrants formed two other great constituents. The former were traced 
from the shore of the channel at Carrickfergus, past Lisburn, and along by the 
Lagan and Bann and the shores of Lough Neagh; while the latter passed inland, 
from the projecting points of Galloway and Cantyre, by Donaghadee and Carrick- 
fergus. These were known respectively, until within the last few years, as the 
English and Scotch districts, the native Irish occupying the mountains and bogs. 
In illustration of the general subject, the writer referred in detail to numerous 
topics, showing that the characteristics are preserved to this hour with more or less 
distinctness. ‘Thus the names of townlands are often translated, and their English 
equivalents used; but in a far greater number of instances a family surname is 
affixed to Bally, Dun, Rath, Fort, or Lisna. And the surnames themselves are 
curious, those of English, Irish, and Scotch origin occupying their respective 
localities, though some, like Moore, Smith, Thomson, Hamilton, Johnson, and 
Patterson, are widely diffused. In other instances, especially in the Irish districts, 
articular names are confined within narrow local limits, like the names of the 
Highland clans. In their case also epithets become surnames, especially those 
indicative of complexion, so that new surnames, such as Roe and Bawn, arise like 
Roy and Dhu in Scotland. Surnames are also translated, so that many persons 
have two distinct names, an Irish one and an English one, as M°Gurnaghan, 
Gordon ; Hamish, James; M*Elshender, Alexander; M¢Fetrich, Fitzpatrick. The 
evidence from manners and customs is very marked. There are the three types of 
houses and furniture, and even the food is different. The Englishman only is a 
gardener, regularly plants trees, or cultivates the apple; he occasionally drinks 
