438 



d'argent, d'etain, de plomb, et de fers, ils avoient appris a les 

 fondre et a les fabriquer.' We have it also on the modern 

 authority of Sir Robert Kane,* that tin-stone, which 1 be- 

 lieve consists of 95 parts of oxide of tin, and 5 parts of oxide 

 of iron, is found disseminated through the auriferous soil of 

 the county of Wicklow in our own day. 



Why, then, should it be supposed, in opposition to the 

 authority of ancient writers, backed by tradition, that tin has 

 not been formerly found in Ireland ? Why suppose, contrary 

 to the result of modern observation, that tin-stone does not 

 exist in the county of Wicklow in this our own day ? 



" If it be admitted for argument sake that tin invariably 

 enters into the composition of Irish bronzes, and that no tin 

 mine was anciently known or worked in this island, surely 

 such an admission by no means involves a concession that 

 there was not plenty of that metal in this country in remote 

 times. What was there to prevent a people, accustomed from 

 such early times to making distant voyages, from visiting the 

 neighbouring coast of Cornwall, the site of the stannaries, 

 and importing plenty of tin from thence ? In fact, Corn- 

 wall, stretching, as it does, into the junction of the Irish and 

 British Channels, must have often interrupted their naval ex- 

 cursions, and attracted their attention, whether they would 

 or not. 



" It seems to me that there exists but little cause for hesi- 

 tating to conclude that the various bronze articles found at 

 Dowris were not left there by a Phoenician, or other itinerant 

 merchant. There are cogent reasons for believing that these 

 interesting antiques were manufactured on the spot by some 

 metallurgist who established his foundry there. Accordingly 

 we observe amongst the things discovered three vessels, some 

 of which bear the marks of having been used, old, worn, and 

 repeatedly repaired. We observe also some of the spherical- 



* Industrial Resources of Ireland. 



