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



Could we have stood on the summit of Little Collin, County 

 Antrim, on some favourable occasion in the long past, we might 

 have, perhaps, witnessed the chase of the wild boar, accompanied 

 by the boisterous uproar of our wild Irish forefathers, or, looking 

 northward towards Slemish, we might have seen in the hollow 

 of Glenwherry a pack of wolves panting on the run for the 

 woods of Crebilly, and we might have heard the yelp of 

 following wolf-dogs as they were urged forward in the chase by 

 the shouts of the warriors from Rathmore. 



No doubt many of the animals now extinct, or that have 

 migrated from the North, were common during that prolonged 

 period of Pre-historic time during which worked flints con- 

 stituted the principal weapons of the chase and of war. 



THE HISTORIC, OR MODERN STAGE. 



Notwithstanding the abundance and perfection of our ancient 

 flint arrow-heads, it is very strange that we have not more distinct 

 reference to them in the ancient annals. This, coupled with the 

 fact that the arrow or elf-stone is looked upon with very great 

 superstition by the country people, would go to show that they 

 are of extreme antiquity, the theory as to their reputed virtues 

 and healing properties having grown up long after they ceased 

 to be used for any practical purposes. 



In the pages of Irish history we have some references to the 

 use of what were probably worked flints. The Book of Lismore 

 records a battle with the Danes near Limerick, in the year A.D. 

 920, and, describing the persons engaged in the battle, says 

 that u their youths and their champions, and their proud, 

 haughty veterans came to the front of the battle to cast their 

 stones, and their small arrows, and their smooth spears, on all 

 sides." 



There are repeated references to the use of sling-stones, and 

 the Irish warrior was armed with the Lia Miledh to cast at his 

 adversary, and he did so with effect, even when his adversary 

 was a woman. An ancient Irish tract tells how one of the 

 Princes of Ulster threw a stone and struck a hag or druidess in 



