394 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
passage leading to the chamber were found several human bones 
and skulls. The stones that formed the roof had the angles marked 
with inscriptions of the Ogham character. The discovery formed a 
new era in our knowledge of the prehistoric writing of the Irish, 
by whom. Ogham characters are stated to have been used long 
prior to the Christian era. 
The alphabet consists of four series of scores, each series embrac- 
ing five characters, and each letter being represented by one or 
more scores, but never more than five,—a circumstance. suggestive 
of their having originated in signs made by the fingers, the digits 
on either side representing the fingers of the right or left hand 
respectively. The characters are placed on a line, which line is 
generally formed out of the corner or angle of the stone on which 
they are cut. This line is called a fleasg, and it is the number 
and position relative to this line that constitutes their value. 

lye far as ni shi.d ot hen .Gimagmgehner! Ty (io Of aise he i 
This line represents the alphabet; but different authors some- 
what vary in their determination of the various letters; Dr. Fer- 
guson doubting the correctness of those marked ng and er, while 
O’Hallan omits the letter 4, and considers the doubtful ng to be the 
equivalent of the letter 7. The formula consisted in the first place 
of sixteen letters only, which is considered to be strong evidence of 
its great antiquity, as this was also the number of the Phcenician, 
Pelasgic, Etruscan, and Celtarabian alphabets. The earliest piece 
of Ogham writing at present known is an ancient vellum MS. 
of the eleventh century, now preserved in the British Museum. 

ea ol ui ia a0 p 
The vowels are represented by short lines or dots on the fleasg ; the 
dipthongs by crosses, circles, and squares along the central line. 
The letter p is represented by a line longitudinal to the fleasg. The 
latter characters, represented in the second diagram, are stated to 
be of a later date. The writing has been called craow, or branch 
