usually met with in the course of his journeys. On several 

 occasions he examined some of them in detail. Do/ens of them 

 were to be found in the area referred to, and where any one had 

 been destroyed its site was still traceable : in no case had all the 

 evidence of its existence been lost. It was quite noticeable that 

 these raths were all much of the same type ; they varied in size 

 and in the number of ramparts, but not otherwise. They were 

 clearly not military strongholds, nor were they burial mounds. 

 None of them were high-centred or conical ; they were almost 

 invariably sunk in the centre. They occupied no high, com- 

 manding, impregnable sites. They were scattered fairly evenly 

 over the district, which was undulating and freely rivered, in 

 former days having much wood, with ample marshy ground, thus 

 affording strong natural protection from any invading force. The 

 land was rich and of old cultivation, with wide pastures for 

 countless cattle. It was certainly a rich agricultural and pastoral 

 country, sloping gently to the south, where it was bordered by the 

 lapping waves of Lough Neagh. Only one religious site of any 

 importance was included in the district, the old church and holy 

 well of Cranfield. Lying close to the mainland in the waters of 

 the lake to the south were the three Isles of Fenagh and the 

 Scawey Rock. The three islands were historic. One had the site 

 of an ancient cill, one had the ruins of an O'Neill cottage, and the 

 third was still natural. The islands were seldom visited, so remote 

 were they, but they were well worth a day spent on them, and so 

 was the Scawey Rock. In Daws Bay one of the most interesting 

 relics was an old penal altar on the edge of the lake. It appeared 

 to him that a numerous people lived long in this district, occupying 

 these old raths, tilling the fertile slopes, and raising cattle with 

 comparative security. These raths were every one homesteads 

 and farmsteads. Proceeding, Mr. Bigger discounted the allegation 

 that the raths were the work of the Normans. There were more 

 raths in Fermanagh than all the Normans who came to Ireland 

 could build in an hundred years. Mr. Bigger went on to give a 



