Coffey — Prehistoric Cenotaphs. 29 



turned, applied his breath to them, and reduced them to dust and ashes, 

 so that nor blood, nor flesh, nor bone "n-as ever found of them. ' Theirs, 

 then, are the two mounds concerning which thou questionest me,' 

 ended Caeilte : ' but, mould and sand excepted, whosoever should 

 open them would not find them to contain the smallest thing.' " 



This remarkable passage, in addition to the evidence it furnishes 

 of the erection of cenotaphs in prehistoric times, is of interest as 

 showing that the tradition that some mounds were "blind mounds" 

 was handed down to a late period. At what time the practice of 

 erecting cenotaphs ceased in Ireland we cannot say, or whether or not 

 the people of the early Christian period had contemporary knowledge 

 of such monuments ; but the fact that the existence of cenotaphs has 

 been preserved in tradition seems to explain a circumstance in con- 

 nexion with them noted by several observers. 



bounds, which subsequently proved to be "blind," in several 

 instances showed no signs of previous disturbance. 



Dr. Naue speaks of blind mounds explored by him as "la plupart 

 tresbien construits" (note, p. 18). Canon Greenwell describes Willie 

 Howe as " well proportioned and symmetrically made." !N"o sign of 

 disturbance was noticed at the apparent entrance to Cairn "n" at 

 Loughcrew, the interment in which it was therefore thought would be 

 found intact. Can the explanation of a case such as Cairn " n," where 

 we find the other cairns of the cemetery have been systematically rifled, 

 be that the fact that it did not contain anything was well known in the 

 locality, and it was, therefore, passed over by the mound plunderers 

 of early times ; or did the knowledge of the treasure-seekers of the 

 practice of erecting cenotaphs enable them to detect such empty 

 mounds without the necessity of an exhaustive search ? 



