128 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



would be the forrad, and the flat-topped fort itself the sepulchral 

 mound of Tailte. It is historically stated that Teuthal the Welcome, 

 about a. d. 160, erected regal mansions here and at Tara, Usnach, and 

 Tlacta. The traces of those buildings at Tara and Usnach have disap- 

 peared. Tlacta, the now Hill of Ward, near Athboy, remains. Its 

 character is quite different from that of the Rathduff of Teltown, but 

 corresponds in a striking manner with that of the great fort, in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood, at Donaghmore. This consideration lends 

 weight to the idea that Rathduff is the old central nucleus round 

 which the annual assemblies of the Lugh-nasa used to spread 

 themselves, and in the neighbourhood of which the now obliterated 

 tombs of the Pagan magnates, mentioned in the tracts on the Ceme- 

 teries as having been interred at Taltin, were situated. 



Whoever, therefore, accepting the Irish Annals as substantially true 

 from the commencement of the Christian era, would be convinced that 

 the Slieve-na-Calliagb tumuli can be identified with the Taltin of the 

 tracts, should first be satisfied either that the most diverse modes of 

 sepulture, from the meanest to the most magnificent, were simultaneously 

 in use for royal persons in Ireland (which is hard to credit) ; or else : — 



That what is now called Relig-na-ree is not the old royal Cemetery 

 of Rathcroghan ; 



That the mounds around the Claenferta are not the old royal Ceme- 

 tery of Tara ; and, 



That the New Grange group of tumuli are the Brugh-na-Boinne of 

 the poems cited by Petrie. 



A failure to establish any of these postulates involves the argu- 

 ment for identification in what would, at present, appear to be extreme 

 difficulty ; and the examination of the evidences with which this paper 

 has been conversant does not encourage the expectation that such 

 failure can be avoided. 



Such seems to be a fair statement of the present position of the 

 question. New lights may be thrown on it at any time. One 

 of the most promising sources from which we may expect such 

 helps to a satisfactory judgment is the chambered tumulus at Knock- 

 Many, in Tyrone, which is alleged, and seemingly on good grounds, 

 to have been identified by a learned member of the Academy with 

 sepulchral works historically ascribed to the second century. The 

 remains there have already been, to some extent, illustrated in the " Pro- 

 ceedings" of the Academy, and certainly associate themselves in their ge- 

 neral character with the groups of New Grange and Slieve-na-Calliagh. 

 A further exploration is now designed, which may assist us in explain- 

 ing the apparent inconsistencies arising on the comparisons instituted in 

 the present state of our knowledge. 



Postscript. — Since making the above communication, I have (12th 

 April, 1873,) examined the Knock-Many tumulus. It is entirely in 

 the character of the Slieve-na-Calliagh and New Grange groups, and 

 bears a remarkable resemblance to some of the Breton monuments. 



