48 Recent Archaeological Explorations in Co. Sligo. 



and lying against the upright stones. At a further distance of 

 about half a mile up the eastern side of the Deer-park, is the 

 remains of another cashel, 180 feet in internal diameter, the 

 encircling wall of which was eight feet in thickness. Within 

 the outer circle are the remains of three interior forts lying from 

 north to south, whilst in the western side the remains of a 

 souterrain filled with debris is quite visible. This cashel pos- 

 sessed this advantage : that if a breach were made in any part 

 of the outer encircling wall the interior forts could be defended, 

 which added greatly to the strength of this ancient fort. The 

 stones from this cashel were removed within the memory of 

 people still living, for the purpose of building fences round the 

 Deer-park. 



A very peculiar-shaped stone, which the superstition of the 

 people has protected from being removed, is still lying on the 

 eastern side of this cashel. It is known as a Bullan Stone. It 

 is about three feet high and about two feet square ; — on its 

 top a basin-shaped cavity is cut to a depth of four and a 

 half inches, with a diameter of eleven inches. The water 

 which lies in these stones is considered by the people as 

 a certain cure for diseases of the eye. Bullan and other cup- 

 marked stones were worshipped in Ireland in Pagan times, and 

 are still held in peculiar veneration by the people, instances of 

 which were given. Earth-fast rocks and stones with cup and 

 ring markings have been observed in India quite similar to 

 those found in Ireland. In India they are still worshipped, 

 and their symbolic meaning understood, in connection with the 

 worship of Siva, who, under the name of Mahadeo, is worshipped 

 as the generator, the sun, etc., and whose type is the Linga. 

 Benares is the head-quarters of this Lingam worship ; in 

 temples devoted to it the richer people erect stone pillars over 

 the graves of the departed, whilst the poorer are satisfied with a 

 section of the ground plan of this in the form of two concentric 



Nott. — The lecturer since reading this paper examined another cashel in county 

 Sligo, the walls of which stand ten to twelve feet in height. It is built on a rock, 

 there it a chamber in the thickness of the wail, and a recess in the entrance passage, 

 together with an outwork not observed in any other cashel. 



