thought of or ferries used, formed not only the fords in time of 

 peace, but the contested passes of the country in time of war. In 

 the bars and shoals of our rivers and lakes are exposed, at dif- 

 ferent depths, the weapons and instruments of various ages and 

 conditions of society, from the most ancient to our own time. 



It was early anticipated, and indeed proved by experience in 

 the works carried on for the improvement of the Shannon, that the 

 arterial drainage works would afford opportunities rarely possessed 

 for obtaining antique remains from places under water, which re- 

 mains, if faithfully described, would be useful adjuncts to our local 

 history; and the attention of the engineers in charge was repeatedly 

 called to the system adopted by the Board of Works, and to the ne- 

 cessity of preserving and describing everything that should be found. 



Whilst many things have been saved for the Academy, I regret 

 to acknowledge the conviction, that a still larger portion has been 

 lost, the workmen having been frequently encouraged to break 

 through our rules by traders in antiquities, and by individuals de- 

 sirous of making private collections, who neglect, or are generally 

 unable, to describe correctly the place where the articles were ob- 

 tained. Were this done, the Academy might still hope, in time, 

 to recover many of the missing articles ; but it is to be feared now 

 that, owing to this neglect, we should only become possessed of nu- 

 merous duplicates, wanting in the essential matter of historic in- 

 terest — their identification with locality. 



In November last, owing to the recent discovery of antiquities 

 in the artificial islands found in several loughs laid dry or lowered by 

 the drainage operations, we felt strongly the necessity of getting to- 

 gether the articles that had been collected. On the part of our Board 

 I then wrote a circular to the several engineers in charge of the 

 drainage works ; the following extracts from that letter will briefly 

 show the principles by which we were influenced, and on which the 

 engineers have acted, in forwarding the collections then made : — 



" We are anxious to get up all the antiquities which have been 

 collected by the several drainage engineers, according to the ar- 

 rangements and instructions issued by us, in order that a collection, 

 to be called ' The Drainage of Ireland Collection,' may be deposited, 

 for security and public inspection, in the Royal Irish Academy, 

 where it will be added to the collection made by the Shannon 

 Commissioners." 



" An object of great importance is to have the antiquities iden- 

 tified with the locality where they were found, and we therefore 



