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side-loops one, probably a laineach sealgach, or hunting spear, exhumed near Drimna castle, county Dublin, measures three inches and a quarter in length, and is much like in form to the specimen ploughed up at Heage, in Derbyshire (see Journal, ii, 280). Another has such a prominent ridge running along both sides of the socket, that it reminds us of the four-winged spears found in the tombs of Etruria, and those still used by the natives of Zanzibar, in Africa. The present length of this specimen is fiye inches and three-quarters, but it has lost both its point and base of socket. The fourth specimen is undoubtedly a type of the laineach-catha, or war-spear. The blade is pierced or eyed, and the socket perforated for nails; it is ten inches and a quarter in length, and said to have been found at Athenry, county Galway. Besides the laineach sealgach, or hunting-spear, and the laineach-catha, or war-spear, the Irish had a kind of lance called lagean; and it is related in the ancient chronicle, the Leabha Gabala, that it was brought to Ireland, about two centuries and a half before Christ, by Labra Lonseach, on his return from exile in Gaul, and that the people of Leinster received their name of Lagenians, and their country that of Coigea-Lagean, from the use of this weapon.1

With the spears we may associate a specimen of what has been termed the pot, or socketed celt, which a few months back I endeavoured to show was in reality the ferrule of a spear." Since that time I have reconsidered the subject, and have now nothing to retract from, but rather to augment, the statements I then put forward; for I have learned that the ferrules found on the African spears, and which so closely resemble our socketed celts, are employed by the hunter in skinning his prey, after he has slain it with his lance. This example is three inches in length, and has a moulding surrounding the upper part.

The collection contains a good example of the flat blade of a tuagh-catha, or war-axe, measuring four inches in length, and three inches across its cdge.

Our next group includes the implements called by the antiquaries of northern Europe, paalstabs. The first specimen has the lateral and transverse ridges but slightly raised above the surface; it is three inches and three-quarters long. 1 See O'Flaherty's Ogygia Domest., p. 269.

VOL. X.

2 See Journal, ix, 185.

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The other two paalstabs have their ridges fully developed ; one measures four inches and a quarter, and the other about four inches and a half long. The last was found in county Dublin. All these specimens were cast without lateral loops.

Few remains of defensive armour of the bronze period have reached our time. There have, however, been discovered what are considered to be the golden pontlets of helmets, and a few brazen bosses, which would appear to have once served as ornaments of shields. One of these bosses is now before us, which in general form is much like the specimen found at Oxford (see Journal, vi, 56). It consists of a mound of four tiers, rising from a flat base, nearly one inch and seven-eighths diameter, having a projecting piece on its two opposite sides, which are pierced to admit rivets. This boss is most likely one of a pair which was placed over the part of the target where the handle was attached, a fashion still observable in the shields of several Asiatic nations. As the object is of rather rare occurrence, we have given a representation of it in plate 20, fig. 1.

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We learn from Cæsar,1 Strabo, Tacitus, and other ancient writers, that the armies of the Britannic islands were composed of infantry, cavalry, and charioteers, and it is therefore not surprising that great attention was bestowed on the construction of the bridle-bits, and head gear of the war steeds of the Hiberno-Celts. Many examples of admirably made bits of bronze have been exhumed from the bogs of Ireland; they are generally snaffle-bits, consisting of two stout, curved branches, jointed in the centre, and having large, strong rings passing through each end, to which the bridle-rein was attached. A remarkably fine and perfect half of such a bridle-bit is now before us, which was found in county Dublin.

There have occasionally been found in Ireland bronze rings having three prominent balls or pellets projecting from one side. This number has given rise to the notion that these were Trinity rings, worn by early ecclesiastics; but it is evident, from the way in which the metal is worn away on the inner side of the rings, opposite to the line of

1 De Bell. Gall., lib. iv and v.

3 Vita Agric., c. 12 and 36, and Annales, xiv, 11.

2 Lib. iv, 200.

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balls, that they were employed as pendent ornaments in horse furniture. If a mystic and religious meaning must be attached to the three balls, it might be found in the respect and veneration for that number among the Druids. We have here an exceedingly fine example of one of these rings, which was discovered at Drimna castle, the same locality where the hunting-spear was met with. A representation of this ring is given in plate 20, fig. 2.

We can scarcely imagine that a people possessed of such rich and costly trinkets, and well made arms, implements, and utensils, as were the Hiberno-Celts, could have been destitute of a recognized metallic currency. Barter and exchange are characteristic of a rude and barbarous state of society, which could not have existed among such a cultivated people. The circulating medium of this ancient race seems to have consisted of rings of gold, silver, and bronze, formed according to a certain fixed standard, which closely approximated to what is now known as Troy weight. Three specimens of what are presumed to be ring-money are now before you; they weigh respectively 5 dwts. 12 gr., 4 dwts. 2 gr., and 2 dwts. 14 gr. They are all of bronze. The thin, inscribed coins of the Chinese are nothing more or less than an improved ring-currency, the central aperture being square instead of round; and the monetary transactions of Guinea, at the present day, are actually carried on with iron and copper pieces of a certain weight, which in form exactly resemble many of the golden pieces found in Ireland. These rings, which are called manillas by the natives, are now manufactured at Birmingham for exportation; and a ship containing several boxes of them was wrecked in Ballycotten bay, near Cork, in the summer of 1836. Through this event many specimens of AngloAfrican ring-money have found their way into Ireland, and the example in the present collection probably formed part of the cargo of this unfortunate vessel.

It is a remarkable circumstance that, although we find chevron, circular, and other patterns, introduced as decorations upon the implements and vessels of the bronze period, no attempt seems to have been made to represent the forms of either men, animals, or plants. Whether it were a part of the religious creed of this period to abstain from such representations, or whether such representations

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