Knowles — On Prehistoric Remains. 
621 
neighbourliood of hut-sites. TJnderneatli hearths the black material is 
sometimes more than three feet in thickness. Sometimes several layers 
will be seen succeeding each other with layers of sand between. This 
occurs most frequently in the neighbourhood of hut-sites. I believe 
this succession of layers may have been occasioned by a few inches of 
sand that had accumulated on the surface in stormy weather, having 
been trampled down before it got time to blow off again. This new 
surface would become black in time like the one below it. At one 
part of Whitepark Bay, at Horn Head, and some other stations, the 
' old surface and hearths are full of sea-shells; but where the imple- 
I ments and other stone objects are plentiful, as at other parts of White- 
; park Bay, the shells are only sparingly distributed through the layer. 
At Dundriim sandhills, where sections forty to fifty feet in thickness 
may be seen, succeeding layers are sometimes several feet apart. In 
I such cases I have generally found the upper layer to be more or less 
■ barren as compared with the lower one. 
\ 
,j Bronze Pins and Objects of late Age. 
I The finding of bronze pins and other objects of late age on the 
I surface of some of the sandhills was referred to in my last Report. 
I We can account for their presence in some such way as we would 
'j explain that of various articles belonging to the present day, which we 
ii occasionally find among the sandhills. During my visits in the past 
jj summer I have noted, from Grangemore, pieces of common clay pipes 
1 and fragments of ordinary cups and saucers. From Dundrum several 
I piecesof a dinner plate; Bundoran, broken bottle glass; Horn Head, the 
1 iron shod of a labourer's shoe ; and from the centre of a hearth at Killala 
I a brass button. Some of these may have been carried and dropped by 
I children, or have been accidentally lost in some cases by the owner while 
I passing over the hills. In some such way I should say the bronze pins 
I and coins found their way among the sandhills. With reference to 
I the large quantity of pins, brooches, and other articles, which Mr. 
I Olphert procured from Ballyness, the writer in the Ulster Journal of 
I ArchcBology, seeing that the various articles which he enumerates are 
I widely different in point of age, tries to explain the matter by showing 
'\ that the place where they were found was near the pier at Ballyness 
ii Bay, which was the only safe landing-place for boats sailing between 
|| Tory Island and the mainland. He refers to the sacred character of 
I the ecclesiastical establishment on the Island, and has no doubt that all 
I visitors to it would embark at Ballyness Bay, and as at the present 
! 
i 
