540 



lines cut into the south-east face of the stone, which overlooks u The 

 Croppies' Grave" (as it is familiarly called), each line being 1J inch long, 

 about an inch asunder, and cut or furrowed out, in V-shaped fashion, 

 to the depth of about three-eighths of an inch, On the top of the pillar, 

 which is rounded off, can still be traced the remains of four cup-like 

 hollows, in their present appearance rudely dug into the stone. Other 

 portions of the pillar also afford evidences of similar cup-like hollows. 



The stone itself, which is a pillar of very fine-grained granite — a 

 rock not belonging to the locality, and which consequently must 

 have been imported here — appears to me not to have been originally a 

 round pillar, as its present aspect might suggest, but a quadrilateral stone, 

 whose edges have been worn off by attrition and the action of the 

 weather. 



On Saturday last (June 9, 1 866), I paid another visit to Tara ; and 

 having dug round the base to the extremity of this stone, I found that 

 on the same face which contained the two inscribed lines before men- 

 tioned, for a foot in height, the surface was quite smooth and flat across 

 the entire face of the stone ; and on this portion of it were two lines, 

 cut, as seen in the rubbing, and a third line ending in a cup hollow. 

 The fact of this portion of the stone, now sunk in the earth, having been 

 found to be quite smooth, leads me to suppose that the entire surface of 

 the stone was originally the same, and contained characters engraved 

 upon it. On the opposite side of the stone, now its north-west face, 

 and near the bottom, are to be found three other lines, whether or not 

 owing to the action of time, assisted by a natural fracture in the rock, 

 is a point which I trust some one more competent may hereafter clear 



U P- .... 



From the fact of the principal cuttings which I have observed on 



this stone overlooking immediately " The Croppies' Grave," where it 

 has in recent times found a site, I infer that those who placed it there 

 must have observed, and acted on such evidence, that this face of the 

 stone contained something more of interest than any of the others. 



The stone itself, although it may have been originally covered with 

 hieroglyphics, from being of rather a soft and friable nature has in 

 course of time lost those inscribed records, which might have settled the 

 question of its identification as the real Lia Fail. 



vol. xviii., p/161 (1837), writing of the Lia Fail, has fallen into two mistakes regarding 

 this stone — one, as to its material being limestone ; and the other, as to its dimensions, 

 which are overstated. His description is : — 



" The material of which this monument is composed is a granular limestone, very pro- 

 bably from some primary district ; but whether it be Irish or foreign has not been ascer- 

 tained ; it may be remarked, however, that no granular limestone occurs in the vicinity. 

 The stone is at present but six feet above ground, but its real height is said to be twelve 

 feet." 



