Recent Archceological Explorations in Co. SKgo. 41 



something further to say, having found five of them, or, more 

 strictly speaking, the remains of five Cashels, not previously 

 described. I will also refer to certain sepulchral structures, such as 

 giants' graves, of which I have found a few examples, and another 

 class of stone structures, scarcely if ever referred to by Irish 

 archaeologists, which will be rather a new feature to bring before 

 you. I refer to alignments, or lines of standing stones. All 

 these monuments are situated in the county of Sligo, within a 

 radius of five miles from the town of Sligo. Alignments have 

 been found in great numbers in the Department of the Mor- 

 bihan, in Brittany, particularly in the vicinity of the village of 

 Carnac, in the same district. They have been a puzzle to 

 archaeologists as to their use and the motives which led to their 

 erection. I have a hope that the study of Irish alignments will 

 tend to throw some light on these rude stone monuments of 

 ancient times. I have examined a series of photos of alignments 

 in Brittany, from which I have selected three that resemble 

 those in Sligo, which I will place before you on the screen for 

 comparison. The only structure I will refer to previously 

 described is the great megalithic monument in the Deer-park of 

 Hazlewood, concerning which I shall have some further addi- 

 tional facts to place before you. 



"County Sligo possesses many places of great interest and 

 beauty; bold cliffs, romantic dells, as at Glencar and Knock- 

 narea ; well-wooded demesnes, as at Hazlewood ; lakes of rare 

 beauty, which yet differ widely in feature, from the cultivated 

 and picturesque surroundings of Lough Gill to the gloomy, wild 

 tarns of Lough Easkey and Lough Talt. Mountain, sea, lake, 

 and wood combine to render the scenery attractive. It affords 

 a field of study to the botanist, the painter, and the antiquarian. 

 In the mountains are rare ferns and Alpine plants. It possesses 

 the most picturesque and varied landscapes, and abounds in 

 objects of striking interest to the antiquarian. Some of the 

 earliest seats of Christian learning are to be found within its 

 limits, as also several of the earliest known Pagan monuments, 

 contrasting in their hoar antiquity with the remains of castles 

 and fortified houses of the settlement which belongs to the 



