289 



self fully competent to the task ; but it is impossible to close this 

 Keport without endeavouring to give you some rough and general 

 view at least of the treasure which we have now obtained. 



" Among the gold ornaments are twenty-seven fibulae, one of 

 them of considerable size ; three perfect torques, and fragments of 

 some others ; two gorgets ; two singular hollow balls or beads of 

 gold, which were found with eleven others in the County of Eos - 

 common, and which the Dean saved from the crucible of the gold- 

 smith ; a most interesting collection of ancient finger rings, and 

 sixteen specimens of the small solid rings of gold, which are be- 

 lieved to have been the current money of the ancient inhabitants of 

 Ireland, 



" The collection of silver finger rings and of ancient seals, is of 

 great interest and value. Among them will be found the matrices 

 of the seals of the O'Neills and other Irish chiefs, with several ec- 

 clesiastical seals of various periods. 



" There is a remarkable collection of the ancient Irish bells, 

 whose uses and history our friend Mr. Petrie has so ably discussed ; 

 some of these are the large bells, which once, perhaps, were sus- 

 pended in the Round Towers ; others are the small altar bells, many 

 of them exhibiting proofs of great antiquity. One of the large bells 

 contains an Irish inscription, which proves it to be as old as the 

 ninth century. 



" The collection of military weapons and other antiques con- 

 nected with the warfare of our ancestors is of great extent and 

 value. It contains a great variety of specimens, in excellent preser- 

 vation, of the flint arrow heads and spear heads, which are supposed 

 to have been the most ancient weapons in use in Ireland ; a large 

 number of the peculiar weapon, in stone and bronze, called celts, of 

 all the sizes and forms in which they are found ; and a magnificent 

 collection of swords and spear heads, from many of the remarkable 

 fields of battle recorded in the history of Ireland. 



" It would be drawing too much on your patience to enter 

 more particularly into a description of particular objects of interest 

 in this Collection ; at some future time it might perhaps be an enter- 

 taining, as well as an instructive task (if some of our antiquaries 

 would undertake it), to exhibit to the Academy, from time to time, 



