Chap. XII. 



ANCIENT PORCELAIN SEALS. 



255 



are identical with those found in Ireland. That 

 the latter must have been brought over at a very 

 early period, and that they must have lain for 

 many ages in the bogs and rivers of that island 

 seems also quite certain. But when they came 

 there, how they came, and what were the circum- 

 stances connected with their introduction, are 

 questions which we cannot answer. To do this 

 satisfactorily we should probably have to consult 

 a book of history, written, studied, and lost long 

 before that of the present history of Ireland. 



The streets of the town were now crowded with 

 people ; and the whole scene reminded me of a 

 fair in a country-town in England. In addition 

 to the usual articles in the shops, and an unusual 

 supply of fruits and vegetables, there was a large 

 assortment of other things which seemed to be 

 exposed in quantity only on a fair-day. Native 

 cotton cloths, woven by handlooms in the country, 

 were abundant, — mats made from a species of J un- 

 cus, and generally used for sleeping upon, — clothes 

 of all kinds, both new and second-hand, — porcelain 

 and wooden vessels of various sorts, — toys, cakes, 

 sweetmeats, and all the common accompaniments 

 of an English fair. Various textile fibres of in- 

 terest were abundant, being produced in large 

 quantities in the district. Amongst these, and the 

 chief, were the following : — hemp, jute, China 

 grass (so called) — being the bark of Urtica nivea — 

 and the Juncus already noticed. A great number 

 of the wooden vessels were made of the wood of 



