331 



tions of square and oblong buildings, with other less denned remains. 

 " Kitchen Middens" were opened some years ago, in which were found 

 bones, shells of the oyster, mussel, periwincle, &c, disclosing some 

 faint ideas of the habits and modes of life of the old Celtic inhabitants 

 of Ben Edair. 



No. II. 



In the month of May, 1 867, excavations were made on the East side of 

 the hill of Dunboe in the town of Howth, for cellars, &c, for a house 

 intended for the residence of the District Inspector of the Coastguards. 

 Some curious remains were turned up by the workmen. At a depth 

 of six feet below the surface, a kist-vaen was discovered ; its sides and 

 ends were formed of blocks of limestone, perforated by the action of 

 sea mussels. It measured seven feet in length by two feet wide ; the 

 covering stones were of a coarse clayey conglomerate. No traces of 

 human bones were discovered ; there was however some black unctuous 

 clay, apparently the only relics of its primaeval tenant. The sides of 

 the cuttings showed traces of ancient interments, as in horizontal lines 

 could be seen the same kind of clay which had the appearance of 

 ancient burials. Some time before these discoveries came to light, my 

 friend Mr. William M. Hennessy lent me a copy of the " Talland Etar" 

 which he had transcribed from the " Book of Leinster." I got it with a 

 view to annotate it, and identify localities there named, in which I had 

 some success. This very ancient tract, treating of events in the time 



I of Conchobar Mac Nassa, brings his intriguing poet and ambassador, 

 " Aitherna the Importunate," across the Liffey to the Tolka, when the 

 Leinster men attacked him, endeavouring to regain possession of the 

 150 women, the 700 cows, and other spoil -he had wrung from them 

 while in their territory. Worsted by his opponents, he flies to Ben Edair; 

 entrenches himself and his spoils on its Dun, and there awaits succour from 

 the heroes of the "Red Branch," under the guidance of their champion 

 Cuchullaind. On studying this interesting tale, it struck me that the 

 hill of Dunboe, i. e. the Cow-fort, was the scene of the siege recorded 

 there. To test the accuracy of this opinion, I watched the excavations 

 made in its neighbourhood. The archaic remains brought to light in 

 the digging of May, 1867 — a hollow place between the castle lawn 

 and Dunboe, called the "Boulia," i.e. a cow park, referring perhaps 

 to this old tale, gives some appearance of probability to this opinion. 

 This tale speaks of a hollow, or "gap" beside the Dun, called "Cu- 

 cullin's Gap," from the feats of bravery there performed by that 

 hero. 



To find out this precise place was for some time a difficult endea- 

 vour, as there were many places about the harbour called by that name. 

 An old man at last turned up whose grandfather lived under Dunboe 

 before modern innovations changed its appearance. He remembered a 

 hollow, through which in wet seasons some water flowed, leading up from 

 the sea where Mr. Crosbey's new store is erected. The depression of 

 the land behind Evora-house on Dunboe grew deeper as it reached the sea 



