the former existence of another circle, surrounding the whole, but most of its stones have disappeared. Upon removing the sod from the centre,

the men almost immediately came upon a great quantity of bones, most of them being burnt and broken into small fragments. In some parts of

the excavation which reached the yellow clay, the layer of bones was about 8 inches deep. Having carefully examined all the contents of this cairn, I found various objects of interest.

A number of fragments of urns, from 1 to 1 inch thick, are blackened by fire on the inside. Nearly all are ornamented with lines or dots, probably made with a piece of wood more or less pointed, and from these patterns I have been able to divide the fragments into five groups, each of which represents a different urn. One is ornamented with the herring-bone pattern, another with parallel lines, and the remaining three with rows of dots, variously applied. By far the greater part of each urn is missing, but I was fortunate in obtaining portions of the rims of five, of different designs, which leave no doubt as to there being at least that number of urns in the cairn.

That there were stone slabs in this cairn, with the style of ornamentation common on those in many cairns on the range, is, I think, made clear by the discovery of a small, rather poor specimen, measuring 2 feet 1 inch by 1 foot 5 inches, by 4 inches, which was probably not thought worth taking away. On one side of it is a kind of chevron or zigzag design, badly executed, and on the other a very indefinite curved line or scroll, in some degree suggestive of an elongated spiral, containing a wavy line. Along one side of the thickness of this flag is a serpentine line, designed and cut with much greater precision than are the lines on either of the sides.

Among the objects found were the fragments of about a dozen pegs made from the tines of antlers. Not one was perfect, but their general appearance probably resembled that of large nails. The heads of some are nearly hemispherical in shape, and of others more the shape of a dish-cover. The largest specimen, which has been broken in half, and of which the pointed end is missing, is 5 inches long, and its head ths of an inch in greatest diameter, that of the shank being ths, where it joins the head. The diameter of the head of the smallest is half an inch. There are also a number of points of tines, which I suppose were broken off from the head above described. Besides these there are two or three gouge-shaped, pointed, bone objects, from 1 to 2 inches long, and from to an inch wide. These are only the pointed ends, and have been broken off from what probably served as handles to them. Three stone pendants were found near each other in the western part of the excavation. The largest of them is ths of an inch long, byths of an inch in diameter, the smallest ths of an inch by ths of an inch. The latter is worn rather flat, probably from friction against others during wear. A fourth was afterwards found in some of the débris that had been thrown out of the cairn. Thirteen beads were recovered. these, two are made of stone or composition, and are ornamental in shape; seven of the same material approach, more or less, nearly to a sphere, slightly flattened and drilled through its least diameter. Three

Of

others, of bone, are more egg-shaped, their perforations being through the greatest thickness of material, and one, also of bone, is cylindrical, ths of an inch long, by ths of an inch in diameter. The largest of the spheroidal variety is ths of an inch in its greatest diameter, and ths of an inch in its least. The smallest is 3rd of an inch byths of an inch diameter. Half a rock crystal, which has been drilled, and used as a bead, was also found, as were the fragments of two bone beads.1 A black flake of flinty stone suggests an arrow-head, but it is only worked a little on one side, and its curvature would seem to render it unsuitable for such a purpose. A flat, oval, bone object, which, if perfect, would be 1 inches long, by ths of an inch wide, has a hole bored through it near one end. It is similar to a number of bone flakes found in Cairn н, when it was opened in 1865. A piece of bone, formerly cylindrical, and about 1 inches long, by 4th of an inch, is ornamented by well-cut spiral lines round it. A bone object, of uncertain use, is 14 inches long, and has a knob, ths of an inch in diameter at one end. It has been broken off at its thinnest part, where a hole had been drilled through it. Part of some curved object, perforated at one end, is made of dark-grey material, the nature of which I am unable to determine. A rounded cone-shaped object, slightly concave underneath, might have been the end of the handle of some weapon or implement. Besides the above articles, I came upon a very small black celt, polished, but unfortunately chipped. This, I think, may have been a toy, as some of the bones in the cairn being those of a child, give a certain degree of probability to the idea. A few fragments of flint flakes, more or less injured by fire, and six white sea pebbles, complete the list of finds.

From some stones apparently in situ, I conclude that the floor of this cairn was paved, but there were no large flagstones, nor any sign of a stone basin. When the excavation was completed its shape seemed to be cruciform, the arms facing the cardinal points. It would appear that the cremation of the remains was not carried out in this cairn, the earth or clay in contact with the burnt bones showing no signs of fire. Although no traces of metal were found, it would, I think, be a mistake to conclude that metal was unknown in this country when the cairn was made, as metal objects (pins, rings, &c.) have been found in cairns on the Slievena-Caillighe range.

1 Since writing the above, I have found part of an arrow-head of white flint among the débris. If perfect it would be about ths of an inch long, by ths of an inch. It belongs to the stemmed variety, the barbs being shorter than the stem.