4 6 



with the urn, but of late the custom has ceased. The Khasi tribe 

 are, as a survival of the stone period, of great interest. 



" Man is a creature of instincts, and the same necessity would, in 

 different parts of the world, give rise to flint flakes and arrow- 

 heads ; but neither instinct nor necessity would lead diverse 

 savages, both in time and space, to construct identical stone 

 monuments. Rather does it prove a community of origin among 

 the builders, who, emigrating from a centre, left their lithic tracks 

 over Asia, North Africa, and Europe. But what is strange is, 

 that there is internal evidence in these structures of two races 

 having been concerned in their erection. One, a long-headed 

 savage, only using stone implements, and having, perhaps, a demon 

 religion like the Khasi tribe — the other, a tall, round-headed race, 

 with a knowledge of metals, who conquered the first : this latter 

 race, the Celts, who, under the influence of the Druids, may have 

 built many altars and circles, yet were modified and tainted by 

 that earlier substratum of humanity, who, possibly, in pre-adamite 

 times, spread from a common centre east and west. Men of the 

 stone period blended with the men of the bronze period, and 

 both have, by menhirs, cromlechs, circles, barrows, &c, litho- 

 graphed their primitive history on the lands through which they 

 travelled." 



An animated discussion followed the reading of Dr. Holden's 

 paper, in which Dr. James Moore, M.R.I.A. ; Messrs. W. Gray, 

 Robert Young, C.E., and W. H. Patterson joined. 



Mr. Gray referred to the great number of the so-called giants' 

 graves, cromlechs, &c, that occurred within easy access of Belfast. 

 Of cromlechs alone, he knew of about eighteen ; and as it was his 

 intention to publish in the Club's Annual Report a complete list 

 of all such structures in the counties of Down and Antrim, he 

 courted the co-operation of all who were interested in such 

 matters, and could furnish any information as to their occurrence, 

 history, &c. 



