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field at the road-side, and, after some labour, we lighted on one of the 
rows of graves. I say one of them, for it would appear that these dead, 
whenever buried, had been placed in regular layers, each grave being 
some feet distant from the other, with an interval between each row. 
The first grave we opened contained some human bones, but the princi- 
pal parts of the skeleton had decayed and disappeared. We proceeded 
to a second, and a third, in which last we found the complete skeleton, 
in an arranged and connected form, as it had been buried originally; 
and having thus satisfied ourselves of the fact that a great interment of 
human beings, regularly laid “‘ each in his narrow cell,’ had at some 
indefinitely distant period taken place in this spot, we desisted from fur- 
ther examination, which could only have gratified idle curiosity. There 
was no trace of any article of bronze, iron, or ornament of any kind in 
the graves we examined. They lie about midway between the two 
Gallauns, or Pillar-stones, already alluded to. One, which is standing, 
is without inscription, or any mark whatever; the other, being the 
Ogham stone under consideration, les in a half-fallen position, about 
a third of a mile further down the glen, to the north. It had long lain 
unnoticed, under brambles and rubbish, but when cleared of these, it 
shows as a Gallaun, of about ten feet in length, half prostrated by acci- 
dent or design, and having the Ogham inscription well cut on the natural 
edge of the stone, as its fleasgh, or guide-line. 
Upon this discovery of the graves being noticed in the local news- 
papers, the Rev. John Casey, an aged priest, and excellent antiquarian, 
immediately connected them with the Milesian conflict, as recorded by 
Keating. Upon the ground of some researches in the Roman Catacombs 
at which I had assisted a few years ago, and in which I had seen the 
skeleton of a body, buried within the Christian era, disappear into dust 
even as we looked upon it, within a few minutes after its first exposure to 
the atmosphere, I ventured to hint a doubt as to the possible durability of 
bone, during a period of three thousand years, without having undergone 
embalming, or any other preserving process ; but I was immediately met 
by confutations from more than one quarter, based upon antiquarian dis- 
coveries and physiological reasoning, assuring me that there was no im- 
possibility in the case, and that human bone was capable, under certain 
conditions, of an indefinitely long duration. I had to oppose to such 
arguments but the single fact alluded to, and have, therefore, since sub- 
mitted to the conviction that the assertion of these being remains of the 
first Milesians involves no physical impossibility. 
Immediately on the discovery of the Ogham stone in this same loca- 
lity, it was submitted to the notice of the aged, but enthusiastic antiqua- 
rian referred to, whose advanced years and impaired sight did not deter 
him from a journey of some thirty miles from Killarney, to inspect the 
stone with his own eyes. I also at once sent a carefully made transcript 
to Dr. Graves, and another to Mr. Windele of Cork, one of our most 
painstaking Southern antiquarians, and who has done much to work out 
the Ogham question to solution. 
The Rev. Mr. Casey has, with no hesitation, read off the inscription, 
