371 



S 



Is only live yards to the west of T, and fifty-one yards from E 1 . Thirty- 

 three large stones standing on ends form a circle, 18J yards in diameter, 

 round the present remains. The apex of this cairn is completely gone, 

 leaving exposed the tops of the upright stones forming the chambers, 

 the arrangement of which here differs from the others in having the 

 passage or entrance from the west — exact bearing W. 10° N. The 

 entire length of the passage and chambers taken together is fifteen feet. 

 The passage itself, which varies in breadth from two feet three inches 

 to two feet seven inches, is divided by transverse upright stones into 

 two compartments, each about two feet square. Outside the entrance 

 of the passage, at the spot marked (c), was found a perfect specimen of 

 a white flint arrow head, an inch and a half long, and nearly three 

 quarters of an inch broad. Compartments (a and b) in the passage 

 were filled up to the height of eighteen inches with charred bones, 

 broken into small fragments, on the top of which, in chamber (a), was 

 found a rude bone dagger, seven inches long, and nearly an inch broad ; 

 and in a similar position, in chamber (b), a piece of bone, nine inches 

 long, tooled and rounded at one end, apparently a portion of a bow, 

 and dow silicified. Nearly covering the floor of each compartment 

 {a and b) rested a thin flag, underneath which were found splinters of 

 burned bones, intermixed with small stones and pieces of charcoal. 



Six of the chamber stones here are inscribed. 



T. 



In the distance this is the most conspicuous of all the cairns, crown- 

 ing the summit of the highest of all the peaks in the range, that one 

 especially known as Sliabh-na-Caillighe. The original shape of the 

 cairn is still very perfect, having an elevation of twenty-one paces in 

 slant height from base to summit. It is 38^ yards in diameter, and is 

 inclosed by a circle of thirty-seven stones laid on edge, and varying in 

 length from six to twelve feet. Exactly facing the north, and set about 

 four feet inwards from the circumference of the cairn, is a large stone, 

 popularly called " The Hag's Chair. "* It is about ten tons in weight, 

 measuring ten feet long, six feet high, and two feet thick, and has a 

 rude seat hollowed out of the centre. The ends are elevated nine 

 inches above the seat, and the back has fallen away by a natural 

 fracture of the stone. The cross carved upon the seat of this chair, as 

 well as others which will be found on the upright marginal stones here 

 and in cairn S, were cut for trigonometrical purposes by the men for- 

 merly engaged in the triangulation survey of the country. Underneath 

 the seat the stone appears to have been rounded off, or beaded, for or- 

 nament, for nearly its entire breadth, below which are a considerable 



* The ornamentation and inscriptions on this megalithic seat point to its having been 

 formerly used for some important purpose. Probably it has been a coronation or inau- 

 guration chair ; or, perhaps, a seat round which councils have been held, or from which 

 justice has been administered in far distant ages. 



