xlvii 



and which is precisely the same as one of the coins above men- 

 tioned. 



" If the coins be, as I presume, of the reign of Edward I., it 

 would lead to the conclusion, that the islands were in use at the 

 close of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. 

 The finding of a stray coin or two furnishes, certainly, but slender 

 grounds for arriving at a conclusion in a matter of this sort ; yet 

 there are circumstances connected with the history of the particular 

 period to which these coins refer us, which seem to render it not at 

 all improbable that these inclosed islands were constructed as places 

 of shelter, defence, and refuge. 



" There can be no doubt that, about the year 1330, when Donald 

 O'Neil, King of Ulster, wrote to Pope John XXII., as to the suf- 

 ferings of the Irish, the lands round the lakes where these islands 

 have been found, as well as the greater portion of the adjacent 

 country, were covered with wood, while many of the lakes them- 

 selves were little better than marshes. And supposing the natives 

 to have been driven to those woods and marshes for refuge, it is 

 very natural that they should form encampments of the nature of 

 these inclosed islands, to protect themselves from their enemies. 

 The woods also furnished them, probably, with abundance of deer, 

 hogs, and other animals, which served them for food, and the bones 

 of which are found in such quantities about these islands ; and the 

 querns would, of course, be in requisition for grinding any corn 

 they could convey to the islands. 



" In those cases where the islands are found at a considerable 

 distance from the shore of the lake, and surrounded by deep water, 

 the means of communication with the shore must have been by a 

 raft or boat. In Drumaleague Lake a canoe was found (of which 

 a drawing is given, No. 4), imbedded in the mud on the shore 

 opposite one of the islands, and about as deep below the level of 

 the surface of the lake as the island itself. It was eighteen feet 

 long, cut out of a solid oak tree, and was in tolerable preservation 

 when found, but fell to pieces after being some time exposed to the 

 air. In other cases, where the islands are in shallow water, and 

 near the verge of the lake, the communication may have been by 

 means of a gangway of timber, a portion of which may have been 

 moveable at the pleasure of the people within the inclosure. 



" The islands in Loughtowh Lake, Drumaleague Lough, and 

 Lough Ocur, were examined by Mr. Leonard; and that in Lees- 



'd 



