20 



the lead poured in to affix all three, and give the requisite weight, just 

 as lead has been similarly employed in bringing modern weights to their 

 standard value. Xo, 2398 is similar to Xo. 2396, but smaller, and de- 

 corated at top. It weighs 3S0 grains. 



The personal ornaments found at Islandbridge, although not nume- 

 rous, are of great interest, and consist of mantle pins, brooches, and jew- 

 elled studs. Of the first class the most remarkable is that here figured, 

 the true size, and consisting of a miniature battle axe. of white metal, 



no doubt representing the precise form 

 of the weapon then in use. It is totally 

 different in shape from either the tuath, 

 or weapon-tool of the ancient Irish, or 

 the sharp broad-bladed hatchet of the 

 Gallowglass, of which there are several 

 specimens in the Museum, as well as 

 figured on our ancient monuments — for 

 example, on the tomb of 0' Conor, at 

 Roscommon, and that of Cooey na Gal, 

 in Donegal. The bronze shank or pin 

 portion is slightly imperfect, but proba- 

 bly measured originally seven inches. 



From time to time, in different loca- 

 lities in North-western Europe, in their 

 track through the Orkneys and Hebrides, 

 and wherever the Scandinavian race have 

 left their traces, pairs of oval bronze brooches, similar to 

 that figured on the opposite page, have been discovered in con- 

 nexion with human remains, arms, and implements. Oval in 

 girth, and shaped like the carapace of the small land tortoise, 

 with raised lines dividing the decorated external surface into 

 compartments, and where they intersect furnished with studs, fastened 

 on with fine iron pins, and the whole probably gilt originally, these 

 bosses must have been personal ornaments of great beauty. Probably the 

 shell of the tortoise itself was the original brooch from which the 

 idea of repeating it in metal was derived ; and its form bespeaks a 

 more southern origin for the makers than the cold regions of Scandi- 

 navia. 



They are formed out of pieces of bronze, hammered into curvatures, 

 and afterwards tooled, carved, and highly polished on the outer surface. 

 Within, each has an iron pin, hinged at one end, and looped into a catch 

 at the other. In the great majority of these shell- shaped brooches the 

 superadded studs have been lost ; but in some found at Islandbridge a 

 few are still in situ. The character of their decorations is almost pecu- 

 liar to themselves, and is scarcely to be defined by words. It differs 

 in all ; and, although each pair of breast clasps resemble each other in 

 general design, they often differ slightly in some particulars, but in this 

 instance thev are identical. 



Xo. 2399. 



