22 



to accomplish this much-desired object, and private subscription 

 is too theoretical a basis to hope that from it such a substantial 

 superstructure as he meditates could be erected. 



The lecturer went on to say he hoped that the day is not very 

 distant when a patriotic spirit like that evinced in Scotland will 

 arise amongst us, and we shall have a society whose sole object 

 should be the elucidation of our pre-Tiistoric remains ; and he 

 believed there is a held for research in Ireland in this respect of 

 greater magnitude, richness, and importance than in any equal 

 area in the whole of Europe. 



Every facility was given to Mr. Conwell in his laborious re- 

 searches by the lord of the soil, James Lenox jSTaper, Esq., D.L., 

 of Loughcrew, who, acting on the advice of the agent, Charles 

 W. Hamilton, Esq. (a gentleman well known to science), placed 

 as much manual labour at Mr. Conwell' s disposal as he might 

 need, and the result was the exploration of a Celtic necropolis, in 

 which the antiquarian tourist may now study a series of sepul- 

 chral remains, which, in point of magnificence, number, and quaint 

 ornamentation, surpass anything of the kind as yet discovered in 

 Western Europe. 



When decorative carving, such as these sketches illustrate, is 

 attempted by any semi-civilised people, as the builders of these 

 sepulchral cairns must have been, we naturally expect to find 

 amongst it some representation of objects commonly known or 

 familiar to the builders, as well as indications of their particular 

 kind of worship, and if they had a written language, some of 

 its letters. With this view, if we allow some play to our ima- 

 gination, we may suppose that the circle surrounded by short 

 rays and enclosed in a circle represented the sun. The flower- 

 like ornamentation, also enclosed in a circle, portrayed the moon, 

 while the numerous dots and hollows indicated the stars. 



It is remarkable that one of the groups of small hollows very 

 closely resembled the constellation of the Plough or Ursa Major, 

 when viewed at evening, the similitude to which would be perfect 

 if we omit one dot in the centre of what would be the southern 

 side of the constellation, and suppose that the most westerly star 

 was placed much too far to the north. 



With regard to letters, I find what I believe is a short Oghamic 

 inscription ; and this is a point the determination of which is of 



