The Giant's Ring 21 



material of which the mound is made is chiefly small roundish 

 boulders covered with an outside layer of earth and sods. A 

 certain amount of earth has filtered down from the oatside among 

 these stones, and in places among boulders were pockets of earth. 

 The boulders were of the glacial deposit type characteristic of 

 the locality. It is, however, a remarkable fact that we found no 

 large stones ; all were small stones of which an ordinary man 

 could easily carry one or two in his hands from some distance. 

 Now, had this circular mound been made by removing the top of 

 a knoll in the centre, large stones would have been plenty, as we 

 found numerous large stones in course of our excavations, and 

 they are of frequent occurrence in all these glacial deposits in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. One is therefore forced to the con- 

 clusion that the material from which the mound was built was 

 carried by the hands of a large number of workers fi'om the 

 country round, and that the almost flat or slightly convex 

 enclosure is in its original shape. 



It would be futile to conjecture now who were the builders; 

 were they bands of slaves owned by the surviving relatives of the 

 great and important person buried in the cromlech? or were 

 they voluntary tribesmen who, out of respect to the memory of 

 the deceased, continued to carry stones to cast them on the 

 mound as they passed until it gradually assumed its vast propor- 

 tions 1 I rather think the latter is the more probable, as had 

 slaves been employed, they would not likely have heaped up only 

 small stones ; again, the ancient Irish custom of passers-by 

 throwing a stone on the cairn of some deceased chief or king is 

 well known. The division of the mound into seven distinct arcs 

 or sections may also suggest that the work was done by seven 

 separate tribes owing allegiance to the deceased. The measure- 

 mentsof these arcs might accordingly be anindication of therelative 

 sizes of such tribes, and it may be of interest to record the length 

 of the sections. The following are the measurements, com- 

 mencing with the section to the left of the entrance, and measurecj 



6 



