FRazER—On a Great Sepulchral Mound. 41 
under their chieftains went to Carlingford Lough; and it is recorded 
that the Danes were defeated in a sea fight. A second battle followed, 
fought both on sea and land; in this the Danes were successful; then 
we have the following story : ‘‘ Now at this time Maelsechlainn, king 
of Teamhir, sent ambassadors to the Danes, and on their arrival the 
Danes were cooking, and the supports of their cauldrons were heaps 
of the bodies of the Lochlanns, and one end of the spit on which the 
meat was hung was stuck into the bodies of the Lochlanns, and the 
fire was burning the bodies, &c., &c. . . . The ambassadors of Mael- 
sechlina beheld these in this condition, and they reproached the Danes 
with this, and the Danes replied ‘ This is the way they would like to 
have us.’ ”’—WSee p. 125, Zhree Fragments of Irish Annals, &c. 
If the remains of the horse or ass which were also found lying 
scattered about had been eaten by these people, it would afford strong 
additional evidence for concluding they were Danish and pagan, for at 
an early period the Anglo-Saxons relinquished the use of horse-flesh, 
and there are abundant proofs that the Irish Christians would not 
partake of a food so repugnant to all the received ideas of Hastern 
Christianity. I can only say that the horse remains lay scattered 
about in the same way as those of the cow, pig, and sheep, and pre- 
sented similar appearance of having been used for food. 
At an early stage of the investigation, it became evident that the 
human remains found included those of persons of each sex and of 
every age, from infancy to advanced life. I thought it, however, worth 
calculating the average proportions of males and females present: 
therefore, out of a heap of bones disinterred towards the centre of 
the mound, not selected, but taken as they lay on the surface of the 
grouud after being dug up, I gathered all the sacral bones that 
remained unbroken and fit for measurement, rejecting about ten which 
were fragmentary and decayed, and retaining seventeen. ‘These were 
measured with accuracy, and the result gave of undoubted female 
remains nine, and of males eight. For this purpose Dr. Macalister 
compiled for me a Table of measurements of male and females acra ; 
and as the importance of this bone is admitted in distinguishing 
between skeletons of males and females, especially for objects of 
medical jurisprudence, and as the usual works of reference give only 
loose generalities instead of exact data, the following important mea- 
surements are subjoined :— 
MEASUREMENTS oF SacRkaL Bones. 
Males. 
Length, 44 to 54 inches. 
Breadth, 44 to 44 inches. 
Curve of the transverse diameter, 3; of inch. 
The vertical curve begins at the second vertebra. 
