1 1 6 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



O'Donovan, if his recollections are accurate, described what he saw 

 there in 1837 (Hy-Fiachrach, 25, n). 



The enclosing wall is the kind of structure called a Cahir, and 

 appears to have been known by that name at the time of the composi- 

 tion of the poem ascribed to Dorban, which has been published by 

 Petrie. This poem is the principal historical piece relied on as 

 evidencing the early use of Religna-ree for sepulchral purposes by 

 the Pagan Irish Kings and nobles. The diameter of the circular 

 enclosure is, according to Petrie, one hundred and sixteen, accord- 

 ing to my observation, one hundred and twenty paces. At thirty 

 inches to the pace, this gives an internal area of about two statute 

 acres. Judging from the irregular elevations of the surface, still trace- 

 able, it appears to have been divided into five portions, agreeably to the 

 statement that the kings and magnates of each of the five provinces 

 were accustomed to bury here. Referring to the statement in the 

 poem of Dorban (borrowed from the still earlier poem of Torna Eces), 

 that this " Relig" contained fifty mounds, each of which contained the 

 remains of royal or noble persons, and allowing for the space occupied 

 by the interments of the humbler classes, and by the internal partitions 

 of the area, it will be observed that the mounds in question must have 

 been of but small average dimensions. At present there does not appear 

 any indication of more than two or three mounds within the enclosure 

 having a diameter of more than 20 to 25 feet. The mounds and 

 separating embankments have generally so far disappeared, that the 

 surface is only slightly diversified by their traces. The interments 

 all appear to have been in pits or chambers, dug beneath the surface, 

 lined in most cases with rough walls of stone, and covered by 

 roofing-flags, over which the sepulchral tumuli were erected. Several 

 of these chambers lie open. The largest is about six feet by four. 

 None of the stones, so far as I could observe, exhibited tool-marks, or 

 the least sign of decorative or other sculpture. The general impression 

 on most minds would, I imagine, be one of disappointment, and of 

 surprise at the mean accessories of a place supposed to be a royal 

 cemetery, even amongst a rude people and in a primitive age of the 

 world. In its immediate application to the question respecting the 

 identification of the Slieve-na-Calliagh group, it tends strongly to 

 negative the idea of those great and highly-decorated sepulchral monu- 

 ments having had any community of origin with remains so insignifi- 

 cant. 



At about three hundred yards to the south-east of Relig-naree stands 

 the pillar-stone thought to indicate the grave of Dathi, the last Pagan 

 Monarch of Ireland, who is recorded to have been buried at Ratheroghan 

 a. d. 428. "When seen by O'Donovan in 1837 it was prostrate, lying 

 beside the little mound on which it has since been erected. It is 

 undoubtedly the eoirthe deary, or red pillar-stone, which tradition 

 affirmed to be the monument of Dathi, when Mac Ferbis wrote in a. d. 

 1666. Its weight is such as would make i unlikely that it should 



