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Proceedings of the Royal Irish Aaidmiy. 



the upper end was finished, we cannot say ; it is not complete, and no 

 fragment that would afford an indication remains. Some small frag- 

 ments, which do not fit in to the larger piece, seem like a turn over, or 

 thickening piece, but it is quite uncertain. We may, however, con- 

 clude that it had no sleeves, as they would have been noticed when 

 found ; but Mr. Elack consistently speaks of it as simply cloth. A 

 piece is illustrated full size to show the weaving (fig. 2), and a drawing 

 of the garment, as far as it can be put together, is given (fig. 1). It 

 seems probable that this garment consisted merely of a square, or rather 



Fig. 2. — Portion of Garment (natural size). 



an oblong, cloth, which was wrapped round the body below the arms. 

 Mr. Black said that there were some remains of leather-straps, and 

 some round objects "like beads or buttons, but these all crumbled 

 away at once." What these can have been, we cannot say. Beads are 

 likely to have been more durable ; and there is no trace of a buttonhole 

 on any of the fragments. Buttons made of pieces of the cloth, such as 

 occur in the case of much later garments in the Academy's collection, 

 would not have crumbled away as described. It may, perhaps, be 

 noticed that this garment bears some general resemblance to the 

 woollen, unshaped garments, held in place by a narrow band or belt 

 which were found in coffins made of the hollowed trunks of oak-trees 

 at Vamdrup and atBorum in Jutland, figured in Worsaa's " Industrial 

 Arts of Denmark" (figs. 44 and 65). They are ascribed to an early period 

 of the Bronze Age. In any case, this is, I believe, the first instance 

 of woollen cloth found in Ireland which can be definitely ascribed to 

 the pre-Christian period. 



The most remarkable object in the find is the horsehair, tassel -lik 



