20 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
Fig. 5 is a copy of the rubbing showing the principal marks 
cut on the surface of the south-east flag, c on sketch. One of these 
last inscriptions is peculiar, and of a different type from any of the 
others on the monument. 
Fig. 5. 
Besides the inscriptions figured, there were a few more scattered 
about on the rest of the surface of the south-east flag ec, and others on 
the slab north of the chair, d on sketch, and on the upright stone 
marked e on sketch. These are the principal carvings, but scattered 
cups and circles can be found on all the stones that look east, south, 
or west; while on those looking north none were observed. 
On examination ofthe Figures it will be seen that the inscriptions 
are essentially of two types, cups and circles, there being only one 
exception to the rule; that in no place are the circles and cups 
combined, or joined by straight, or nearly straight, lines, as is some- 
times the case in other examples of such sculpturings, and that the 
markings on ‘St. Patrick’s Chair” are very similar to the inscriptions 
on the upright terminal stone on the south side of the passage in the 
great carn of Lough-Crew, figured in Dr. Conwell’s Paper, ‘On the 
Cemetery of Taillten.”* To me it seems possible that these characters 
may be intended for rude maps of the stars, the cups and associated 
circles representing the different magnitudes of the stars. However, 
against such a supposition it must be pointed out that m none of 
the plates will be found a figure like the Great Bear, a group of stars 
that would scarcely have been omitted from a representation of the 
constellations. 
It would seem that the stones of which ‘‘St. Patrick’s Chair” is 
composed were not engraved, or carved, until after they were put 
together. It is impossible to say whether the structure was ever 
covered with earth, as the adjoining land is in cultivation, and has 
been so for many years, and it may possibly have been once in the 
centre of a carn or tuaim, the stones or earth of which have been 
removed; this, however, is quite conjectural. 
* Proceedings, vol. i., Ser. 11., Polite Literature and Antiquities, p. 96, Fig. 6. 
