94 H. C. Laivlor on 



the Souterrain been less skilfully built, have been carried away 

 and lost, so that so far as my investigations have extended to 

 them no remains have been found in any Souterrain of this type. 

 Thus the crudeness of the building in the Co. Antrim type which 

 permitted the soil to permeate in between the stones served the 

 good purpose of covering up and preserving the remains of the 

 dwellers. 



It is interesting to study the geographical distribution of 

 Sou terrains. They are found in almost all parts of Ireland, so 

 far as I can gather, in increasing density as the localities containing 

 them become remote from the east coast between the Boyne and 

 the Suir ; the Counties of Antrim, Down, Cork and Kerry, 

 probably contain as many Souterrains as all the rest of Ireland, 

 tliough it is impossible to give accurate figures. This is a note- 

 worthy matter, and I think is quite capable of explanation. The 

 somewhat fragmentary historical traditions that have passed down 

 to us of the Irish iteoples of pre-Christian or early Christian 

 times, and deductions which can be arrived at from existing 

 remains, of known population migrations, display evidence 

 bearing on this fact. From the semi-darkness of traditional his- 

 tory obtrudes one authenticated historical instance of an extension 

 of one of these population waves in a period otherwise only 

 partially authenticated. I refer to the conquest of Ultonia by the 

 CoUas in the years 330 to 332 A.D. Of this we know that an 

 army of one of the expanding waves of the Celtic people spread 

 from their centre in the kingdom of Meath, and conquered the 

 greater part of Ultonia, pushing vast numbers of their predeces- 

 sors in possession North-East over the Bann and the Newry 

 Valley into the present Counties of Antrim and Down. 



Doubtless the earlier natives were similarly pressed South 

 and West, and I think this ever centrifugal movement of popu- 

 lation in Ireland from the immigration centre to the outlying 

 districts is displayed to-day by the evidence of the density of the 

 Souterrain in these more outlying fringes of the fan-shaped waves 

 of population. It would appear that the waves of Celtic con- 



