On the motion of Mr. R. Langrishe, Vice-President, the Right Hon. Lord ARDILAUN, M.A., was unanimously elected Honorary President of the Society for 1894. The Secretary announced that the four Senior, or longest elected, Vice-Presidents who now retired under Rule 16, as revised, were Connaught, . RICHARD LANGRISHE, F.R.I.A., elected in 1879. JOHN RIBTON GARSTIN, LL.B., M.R.I.A., F.S.A., &c., elected in 1885. THE RIGHT HON. LORD ARTHUR W. HILL, M.P., elected in 1888. Lord Walter Fitz Gerald, Fellow, and Mr. T. J. Westropp, Fellow, having been appointed Scrutineers of the Balloting Papers, the Society proceeded to ballot for a President, Four Vice-Presidents, and Six Members of Council, for which offices the following were nominated :— AS PRESIDENT :— THOMAS DREW, R.H.A., F.R.I.B.A., F.R.I.A.I., President. The REV. DENIS MURPHY, S.J., LL.D., M.R.I.A., Vice-President. AS VICE-PRESIDENTS (four to be elected) : Lord WALTER FITZ GERALD, M.R.I.A., Fellow, Hon. Secretary Co. Kildare. Colonel PHILIP D. VIGORS, Fellow, Hon. Secretary, Co. Carlow. AS MEMBERS OF COUNCIL (six to be elected): GEORGE COFFEY, B.E., M.R.I.A., Fellow. JOHN COOKE, M.A., Fellow, Hon. Secretary for the City of Dublin. GEORGE A. P. KELLY, M.A., Fellow, Hon. Secretary for Roscommon. RICHARD LANGRISHE, F.R.I.A.I., Fellow. The Rev. Canon COURTENAY MOORE, M.A., Hon. Secretary for N. Cork. The Rev. Canon STONEY, D.D., Fellow. THOMAS F. COOKE-TRENCH, J.P., D.L., Fellow. The following Papers were read, and referred to the Council : "Notes of an Ogham hunt in the North of Ireland," by Professor Rhys, M.A., Hon. Fellow. "Prehistoric Stone Forts of Northern Clare," by T. J. Westropp, M.A., Fellow, Hon. Secretary for North Clare. The Meeting then adjourned to 8 o'clock, p.m. EVENING MEETING. The Society again met in the Royal Dublin Society's House, at 8 o'clock, p.m. THOMAS DREW, R.H.A., F.R.I.B.A., P.R.I.A.I., President, in the Chair. The Scrutineers reported the result of the Ballot, and the following were declared duly elected : PRESIDENT (to hold office until January, 1897): THOMAS DREW, R.H.A., F.R.I.B.A., P.R.I.A.I. VICE-PRESIDENTS (to retire by rotation): LORD WALTER FITZ GERALD, M.R.I.A. COLONEL PHILIP DOYNE VIGORS. WILLIAM FRAZER, F.R.C.S.I., M.R.I.A., Hon. F.s.a. (Scot.). SEATON F. MILLIGAN, M.R.I.A. MEMBERS OF COUNCIL (to retire by rotation): JOHN RIBTON GARSTIN, LL.B., M.A., B.D., F.S.A., M.R.I.A., Fellow. THE REV. JOHN HEALY, LL.D. RICHARD LANGRISHE, F.R.I.A.I., Fellow. GEORGE COFFEY, B.E., M.R.I.A., Barrister-at-Law, Fellow. P. WESTON JOYCE, LL.D., M.R.I.A. AUDITORS OF THE TREASURER'S ACCOUNTS FOR 1894: JAMES G. ROBERTSON, Hon. Fellow. JOHN COOKE, M.A., Fellow. The following Papers were read, and referred to the Council:- "The Battle of Benburb," by the Rev. W. T. Latimer, B.A. "Notes on the Antiquities of Church Island, Co. Kerry," by the Rev. Denis O'Donoghue, P.P., Hon. Secretary for South Kerry. "Some further Cases of remarkable Longevity," by Seaton F. Milligan, M.R.I.A., Fellow, Hon. Provincial Secretary for Ulster. The remaining Papers on the list were referred to the Council, viz. : "A notable Fermanagh and Austrian Family," by the Very Rev. Canon O'Connor, P.P. "O'Connell's Ms. Metrical History of Ireland, written circa 1566," by Miss Rowan. "The Well of S. Declan, Ardmore," by William Frazer, F.R.C.S.I., M.K.I.A., Hon. F.S.A. (Scot.), Fellow. The Society then adjourned to Monday, the 6th of May, 1895. THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND, FOR THE YEAR 1895. PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS-PART II. SECOND QUARTER, 1895. Papers. NOTES OF AN OGAM HUNT IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND. BY PROFESSOR RHYS, M.A., PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD, Tow HON. FELLOW. OWARDS the end of the joint meeting of Cambrians and Royal Irish Antiquaries at Carnarvon in July last, I was prevailed upon by some of my Irish friends to cross with them to Dublin, and on Saturday, the 21st of July, I found myself, early in the day, on the way between Drogheda and Kells. At Kells I saw, of course, the well-known cross, and the building called St. Columba's House, together with sundry other things. From Kells I continued my journey to Oldcastle, and before reaching that place I had, with the help of some of my fellowpassengers, identified the spot which I wanted to visit, namely, Belrath Hill, a height distinguished by the cairn on the top of it from the rest of Slieve-na-Caillighe, or the Loughcrew Hills, as they are also sometimes designated. I made for Belrath, and on the way I met a young labourer named John Seary, whom I took to guide me. We got to the spot and entered the chamber in the chair cairn, but we could detect no ogams on the lintels. On examining the stones, however, forming the central chamber, and the smaller chambers connected with it, carefully, with a light, I identified the ogam given in Brash's book as reading Imbmfmassrd, p. 326, and plate XL. It required some imagination to read it so or any other way, as the marks are, in my opinion, JOUR. R.S.A.I., VOL. V., PT. II., 5TH SEK. I only a part of the ornamentation which may be detected on rather a rough stone. It is, however, not a lintel, but a stone on the left when one gets into the central chamber, if my memory does not play me false; and what has been taken for writing is approximately on the level of the nearest lintels. Many of the stones are covered with ancient ornamentation, which reminded me of what I had seen in the Morbihan some years ago. I believe I have identified the stone mentioned in Brash's papers, and also that I am right in regarding it as no ogam; but I should be very pleased if it were scrutinised by somebody else. The place is well worth a visit; besides the cairn on Belrath Hill there are two other cairns, the most northern of which has larger rooms with more ornamented stones than Belrath, while the number of circles enclosing smaller burial mounds is very considerable. Having regard to the primitiveness of the whole, I must say that I should have been much surprised to have found an ogam inscription there; but that may be a mere perversity of fancy on my part. The next ogam stone I went to see is of a very different kind, and is preserved in the public library at Armagh. The librarian, the Rev. Dr. Morgan, very kindly helped me in examining the stone, and sent to fetch Mr. Robert Pillow, who discovered it in the townland of Drumconnell, in the neighbourhood. Mr. Pillow related to me how he came to look for an inscription at the spot where he found it, and I see that his account of the discovery appeared in the Journal for 1885-7, pp. 163–5. An account has also been given of the inscription by no less a scholar than the late Bishop Reeves: see the Journal for 1883-4, pp. 314, 368. The reading given is Dinigl, and Maqui Quetai. But the last name is also given (in the drawing) as Quitai, and in point of fact it is difficult to decide which is right. My own reading is as follows: The first line seems to be complete, as it ends close to the cross or monogram, which comes in its way at the top of the stone. This is not the case with the second line, which probably afforded room for a short word after Quetai, but the stone is broken off there with a part of the circle of the cross, so that one could not say whether there was any more writing or not, though I am inclined to think that the legend is complete in point of length as it is now. To come back to details, there is a gap, I think, in the second vowel group of the first line, so I venture to read oa. If, however, the notches were originally equidistant, one would have, I think, to suppose them four, which would yield e. The name seems to end with o, but I am not sure of more than one notch; I do not think there can have been more than two. As to the other line, the second group of vowels is now imperfect, but I have no doubt of their consisting originally of five. The third group of notches has already been mentioned; whether it consisted of four or five, I have some difficulty in regarding them as regularly spaced. Where the, t, is cut the stone bulges a little, and the scores are not brought up quite to the angle, and opposite the third score there is what seems a notch in the angle. If this is to be regarded as an independent part of the writing, and not as a continuation of the third score of the t, it goes with the notch following to make an o, which I have given as an alternative reading. On the whole, however, I am strongly inclined to reject the o, partly because we have a related name in Maqqui Quetti on one of the Ballinrannig stones in the county of Kerry. If one might venture, however, to consider the spelling with one t as more correct than that with two, one might say that we have here the early form of the mediæval Cet, later Ceat, as in the name of the Connaught warrior Cet mac Magach, who wounded Conchobar mac Nessa. As to the other name in the inscription, Dinoaglo, I have nothing to compare with it. Lastly, let me remark that the +, m, and the f, g, are drawn perpendicular to the angle, in a way which reminded me at once of the Silchester ogam in the South of England. My next ogam hunt was in the townland of Cavancarragh, in the neighbourhood of Enniskillen, where I had an introduction to Mr. Thomas Plunkett, who directed me to Mr. Bernard Bannon of Cavancarragh, an old man of 84, who knew all about the burial-ground which has been levelled there. He showed the remains of it, but neither he nor I could find the stone which is mentioned in Brash's book, p. 326. I am inclined to regard the stone as one which had been ornamented in somewhat the same way as the Slieve na Caillighe stones, and not as bearing an inscription. From his house at Cavancarragh, Mr. Bannon accompanied me to the summit of Topped Mountain, whence we had a lovely view of Lough Erne, with its innumerable isles, on one of which lies the town of Enniskillen, like a sort of western Venice. It was, however, not the view that had drawn me there, but the wish to see the spot where Mr. Bannon, years ago, had found an ogam, long since lodged in the Museum at Kilkenny, where I saw it in 1883. It is a fragment reading Nettacu, and it was found among some other pieces of red sandstone, near the cairn of earth and stones forming the top which gives its name to Topped Mountain. Most likely it was broken off a larger stone by cattle rubbing on it, and it is a pity the rest of it cannot be found. Possibly it was the only inscribed stone there at any rate local legend speaks of only one burial in the cairn, namely, that of a princess of the Tuatha |