132 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



which, be it remembered, is all Ireland — is particularly rich 

 in monuments of its early inhabitants — monuments, too, with 

 a character and richness almost impossible to delineate with 

 pencil or brush, but for which the camera seems specially 

 designed. It is to be regretted that many of these monuments 

 are slowly but surely passing to decay. Our Government, in 

 taking charge of many of our most remarkable and conspicuous 

 monuments, and preserving them from destruction at the public 

 cost, establishes thereby the principle that it is right to act 

 as conservators for future students. As a club we can, I fear ? 

 do little in this direction, but we can, at least, place on record 

 the state in which they exist in our time. Those remains 

 under the protecting care of the Government may safely be 

 left to those appointed to look after them, but it is only one 

 in a hundred of the many remains scattered over the country 

 that is thus protected. The wayside pillar stone, the stone 

 circle or the cromlech on the lone hillside, the raths and forts, 

 castles, and abbeys of the valleys and uplands, are in many 

 cases left to the tender mercies of the surrounding people. 

 Superstition has saved many ; the solidity of others has evid- 

 ently been their protection, while it is painfully evident that 

 many of our ruined castles, abbeys, and churches have suffered 

 much from the rapacity of those needing the material of 

 which they are built, and by the apathy of those who should 

 have interested themselves in their preservation. If one were 

 to judge by a review of our summer programmes, the con- 

 clusion might be arrived at that fashion governed our club as 

 well as our social life. Some seasons have the botanical, others 

 the geological feature strongly pronounced in them ; while 

 marine research at other times seized upon the fancy. Last 

 year's programme, like others that have preceded it. was 

 decidedly an archaeological one, four out of its six excursions 

 having been arranged to allow the members the opportunity 

 of examining the many antiquities within reach. Dromore, 

 with its rath, its cathedral, and its ancient cross ; Drogheda 

 and the Boyne alone offered a programme the richest in 



