1908-1909.] 



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recognition of law and order. The evidence for ancient commerce 

 and intercourse was amazing. Ireland was not isolated from 

 Continental influence, though probably late in receiving it, and 

 the evidence of Irish intercourse with the Continent went back to 

 the stone age. One of these evidences of commerce was amber. 

 Being obtained only in a few definite localities, such as the Baltic 

 and the West Coast of England, its presence in the prehistoric 

 tombs of Ireland was direct evidence of commerce at a very early 

 date. The finding of rare stones, such as nephrite or jade, in 

 places remote from their sources was also proof of commerce. 

 Specimens of ancient amber and other foreign substances which 

 must have been imported have been found in Ireland. In the 

 bronze age Ireland was the Eldorada of the time. About 1,500 

 B.C., Ireland traded with Scandinavia, Brittany, and Portugal, 

 and ornaments of Irish gold of characteristic design had been 

 found in these countries. In this golden age Ireland advanced, 

 and developed a civilisation of her own. To this period probably 

 belonged the dolmens and the ancient coal mines at Ballycastle. 

 With regard to the evidences of cannibalism having been anciently 

 practised in Ireland, Miss Dobbs pointed out that there was 

 evidence of this custom having prevailed all over Europe at an 

 early age. Archaeologists explained this custom as arising, not 

 from mere greediness, but as due to deep religious feeling. The 

 variations of Irish civilisations were best explained by the history 

 of the Continent ; the two must be studied together. The great 

 Celtic Empire of 600 B.C. to 1 ad., which was only now being 

 properly understood, extended to Ireland. Its magnitude and 

 importance was recognised when it was realised that Julius Caesar 

 gained his name as a military genius by crushing the power of the 

 Celts. Of the Continental Celts there were no written Celtic 

 records, though they had rumours of them in Roman and Greek 

 history, and for their best knowledge of them they must go to 

 archaeology. The only written Celtic records preserved in Europe 

 were embodied in Irish history, which, though largely mythical, 



