442 



ing stones, several of which have also disappeared, as shown in the 

 ground plan (No. 1). 



I have been informed that there are some other monuments of a 

 similar description scattered over the district ; but I did not find it 

 convenient to visit or examine them ; neither could I ascertain that 

 there are any interesting local traditions or legends connected with them. 

 The peasantry of the district can give no account of them further than the 

 name handed down from one generation to another, and which is pro- 

 bably correct. They do not seem to take any interest in them; and only 

 it fortunately happens that they do not occupy any valuable ground, 

 being erected on rocky ground, wholly unfitted for the purposes of cul- 

 tivation, they would probably have been long since removed. As an 

 instance of the indifference and inattention that exists as to these anti- 

 quarian relics of the olden time, even amongst the more intelligent por- 

 tion of the people, I may refer to a circumstance that occurred to me 

 last summer. 



Having visited some schools in the county of Fermanagh, I drove to 

 the Kesh Railway station, on the shores of Lower Lough Erne, for the 

 purpose of proceeding to Ballyshannon. Being rather early for the 

 train, I inquired if there was anything worth seeing in the neighbour- 

 hood. The answer was, "Nothing, except the lake." Happening to 

 look down the line, I observed in a field, a little west of the station, and 

 on the northern side of the railway, one of those pillar-stones on which 

 Ogham inscriptions are frequently found. I went down to examine it, 

 and found my conjecture perfectly correct ; for near one of its edges, 

 though nearly obliterated by the action of the weather, I could plainly 

 observe the long vertical line, with the short horizontal lines at right 

 angles to it on each side ; but, not being an adept in deciphering such 

 inscriptions, I could make nothing of it. On my return, I asked the 

 station-master, the police, and some intelligent inhabitants of the village, 

 if they had ever heard anything particular in connexion with this stone. 

 They all answered, " Nothing whatever — only they supposed it was a 

 rubbing -stone set up for the accommodation of the cattle." If so, it was 

 rather a Cyclopean one ; but the fact that a much smaller and easier- 

 erected one would serve their supposed object equally well never 

 appeared to occur to their minds. 



This ignorance and indifference is liable to be attended by very 

 injurious effects, in the wanton destruction of those memorials of a 

 former age, and of a race now passed away, as the people cannot be sup- 

 posed to venerate and preserve things of which they do not understand 

 the origin or historic interest. I have often observed with the deepest 

 pain the total disregard, and even wanton destruction, to which things 

 that should be objects of national care are allowed to be subjected, and 

 the base uses to which their materials are applied. It is only a few 

 years since I observed a portion of the ancient stone cross of Dunna- 

 maggin, county of Kilkenny, lying in the dirt at the door of a labourer's 

 hovel. I trust that some one, with a due veneration for such relics, 



