162 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
less than half a mile to the north-east, surrounding the summit of 
Myshall Hill, is the site of either a liss or caher, 300 feet in diameter. 
Most of the old circular forts in the granite country were cahers— 
ae 8 had stone walls; usually they are locally called ‘‘ round O’s”’ 
and rahs. 
Accatn Cromtnac, County CaRLow. 
As the original use of many of the structures classed under the 
general name of cromleac is still obscure, I may be allowed to call 
attention to the structure in the County Carlow, commonly called the 
‘big stones of Accaun,’ and marked on the Ordnance Maps as a 
cromleac, because it has peculiarities from which its original use may 
possibly be conjectured. 
The structure is in the townland of Harristown, a little south-east 
of Accaun bridge, and the ancient sites of Accaun church and monas- 
tery. It consists of two covering-stones (A and B, fig. 2, Plate X., 
figs. 1 and 2, Plate XI.), the northern, or largest, overlapping the other, 
under both of which is a regular chamber (c) ; while to the east of the 
entrance, which is at the north end, is a covered-in recess, which, for 
want of a better name, may be called an alcove (d). The covering- 
stones slope due south, and the alcove looks due north, but the general 
bearing of the chamber is N. 20 W. 
Now, are we to suppose that this structure was intended to be 
either a sepulchre which was to remain exposed on the surface of the 
ground, or a sepulchral chamber buried in a tuaim, the covering earth 
of which has now been removed? Against such suppositions are the 
following :—The structure is such that, if exposed on the surface of 
the ground, foxes and other animals could have forced an entrance, 
and desecrated the dead; and if it has been buried in a mound of 
stones or earth, why should all traces of this have been so completely 
removed? In addition, we must observe that the entrance was evl- 
dently from the north; but in all the presumably sepulchral chambers 
that I have seen it is from the east or south-east. My suggestions in 
reference to this structure would be, that the covering-stones sloping 
due south, were used for some sort of sacrificial office. A few bundles 
of heather would make the chamber quite air-proof and comfortable, 
as may be seen in the shepherds’ or herds’ huts at the present day in 
the hills of West Munster and West Connaught. The alcove was 
evidently for some purpose—it might have been for the priest to sit 
in, or to address the people from, or as a place in which alms or other 
offerings were left. The improbability that the cover-stones were 
solely placed as a roof for the chamber and alcove appears to be dis- 
proved by their position and surface. These stones slope due south, 
and on their surfaces are irregular systems of cups and channels 
(fig. 1, Plate XI.). I am well aware that there are many who would say 
that these cups and channels are solely due to weathering, but how this 
could be I cannot understand. The channels are very like some of 
those that are not uncommon on the sloping surfaces of the Carbon- 
iferous limestone rocks, such as the crags of Limerick and Clare; but 
