78 



[Proc. B.N.F.C, 



Down, and Cloughnabrick, near Ballycastle, there is no Rath. 

 Danes and Pechts are also connected with Raths and Souterrains. 

 Ballycairn fort, near Coleraine, is one of the so-called " Danes' 

 Forts," and it is said the builders, having no wheelbarrows, carried 

 the earth in their leather aprons. The Danes are sometimes 

 spoken of as short, sometimes as tall, people ; the latter are 

 probably the mediaeval sea rovers, and the short danes the Tuatha 

 de Danaan. The Danes made heather beer, and the tragical 

 ending of the father and son, the last of their race, who perished 

 rather than reveal the secret is a tale known throughout Ireland. 

 The same story is told in Scotland of the Picts. Both Danes and 

 Pechts are said to have had large feet, and according to one 

 account the Dane had such long arms he could pick anything off 

 the ground without stooping. Long arms are a characteristic of 

 the Lapp and of the traditional dwarf of Japan, probably an 

 ancestor of the Aino, and Sir Harry Johnston states that a 

 pygmy's feet are larger, and his arms proportionately longer than 

 in well-developed Negroes, Europeans, and Asiatics. The fairy 

 assumes a weird form in the Banshie, whose wailing is heard 

 before the death of members of certain families, but not 

 necessarily aristocratic families. In many respects, however, 

 fairies are akin to mortals; they are quick to revenge an injury, 

 and it is considered very unlucky to cultivate a rath. The Irish 

 fairy remains a pagan, differing in this respect from the Swiss 

 dwarf. After referring to the Sidh where, according to the 

 " Colloquy of the Ancients " the Tuatha de Danaan dwelt, the 

 conclusion was drawn that in the traditions of Fairies, Danes, and 

 Pechts the memory is preserved of an early race or races of short 

 stature, but of considerable strength, who built underground 

 dwellings, and had some skill in music and other arts. It is 

 possible that as larger races advanced these small people were 

 driven southwards to the mountains of Switzerland, westwards 

 towards the Atlantic, and northwards to Lapland, where their 

 descendants may still be found. No doubt there is a large 



