"264 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
hulldn. I should mention that the basins are about one foot in dia- 
meter, and average four or five inches in depth. There is no sign of 
carving on the stones they contain, nor, as far as I am aware, has any 
device been noticed on similar objects which may be supposed to 
belong to pagan, or, perhaps, pre-historic times. 
Enough has, probably, on this occasion been said in illustration of 
the larger hullhi remains bearing in their cavities oval or rounded 
stones which, there is every reason to believe, were used by our 
ancient people for purposes not always clearly ascertained, but which 
would appear occasionally to have been connected with practices now 
considered eminently un-Christian. 
Bidlan rocks or boulders presenting basins in which supposed cere- 
monial stones are found occur in many parts of the country. But in- 
finitely more numerous are plain empty cavities, which appear singly, 
at other times in groups, upon the one monument. It is probable that 
during the accidents of ages anything movable which had belonged to 
these examples has long disappeared. (See Plate XYII., fig. 4.) As a 
specimen of a plain, and, it may be presumed, denuded, hulldn^ I refer 
to one which may be seen on the river's bank, close to the famous Abbey 
of St. Pechin at Cong, Co. Galway. It is remarkable for the shallow- 
ness of some of its hollows, which scarcely exceeds a couple of inches. 
These, at least, could never have served as mortars. 
An attempt to describe even one-third of the hulldns which remain 
in Ireland would necessarily require a considerable expenditure of time, 
nor could a single volume of moderate size contain all that might be 
brought forward in illustration of the several peculiarities which these 
antiquarian puzzles present. 
In this sketchy Paper I have essayed to do little more than point 
to typical examples; yet I am not without hope that each known 
variety has been more or less referred to. The rock -basin or hidldn 
is that confined to Ireland ; it is represented in most countries which 
had been occupied by a race either wholly or in part Celtic. Probably, 
the most celebrated monument of this class is the famous " Coronation 
Stone" (the history of which has been traced for many centuries), now 
preserved in "Westminster Abbey. I have not myself seen this won- 
derful relic ; but, judging from a photograph, I do not hesitate to pro- 
nounce it a well-marked hulldn of a type which is represented with us 
in more than one locality, and especially in Cleenish Island, Lough 
Erne, not far distant from Enniskillen. l^o suggestion like that which 
I now venture to make has hitherto, I believe, appeared ; but then 
very few antiquaries or writers on the subject of British history would 
seem to have known anything about the character of our Irish hulldns. 
