MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 



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Of the inscrip- 

 tions, a few are in 

 " Ogams" — charac- 

 ters forming an 

 artificial alphabet, 

 invented possibly 

 by Irish scholars, 

 who had become 

 acquainted with the 

 Roman inscriptions 

 in Wales. Two of 

 these have been 

 found at Bemaken 

 Friary, Arbory, and 

 two in the burial 

 ground of an early 

 keeil at Balla- 

 queeney, Rushen. 

 In language and 

 character they 

 exactly resemble 

 Irish inscriptions 

 of about the fifth 

 century (see fig. 27). 



One or two are 

 in debased Roman, 

 or Early British 

 characters and 

 Latin language of 

 the sixth, seventh, 

 or eighth centuries. 

 The most interest- 

 ing of these is a 

 small slab found at 



Fig. 28. Inscribed stone from Maughold. 



