in the plain of Cannæ and in Egypt, and which are considered as Carthaginian. This, she adds, seems strongly to corroborate the idea that the Carthaginians, the most adventurous navigators of ancient days, actually traded to Ireland.

Cotemporary with these are many of the

CAVES,

evidently artificial, which served as habitations to the rude colonists. Many of these remain, in the north, on the sides of hills almost inaccessible, and are vulgarly called "Picts Caves" at the present day. Neat in chronological order to those are the

ROUND TOWERS,

Conical erections, tall and slender, so frequently found adjoining to, or nearly in contact with, the ancient churches. Those antiquaries who give them a very recent date, suppose them to be the work of native builders, whilst the Castles and Churches are by English or French architects: but Vallancey claims for them a very ancient date, asserting that they were erected by the Phœnicians to contain the sacred fire, and copied from the pyramidal stones so frequent with that people and with the Druids. Ledwich, however, merely considers them as common appendages to the wooden churches; some at a distance of 8 feet, others 124; and one, at St. Kevins, actually joined to it. This latter writer assumes that they are Ostmanic, or Danish productions, "and from uninterrupted tradition, probably to have been belfries from the beginning." Of these about sixty-six remain. Except as to rotundity, every architect seems to have followed his own fancy both in height and in internal arrangement: the one at Antrim is 80 feet high, tapers about 18 feet from the top in form of a sugar-loaf, where it is about 36 feet in girth, and 52 near the base; some have their door 24 feet from the ground, but in general not more than 10 or 12. The Tower at Drumiskin is supposed to have been the highest in the island, upwards of 130 feet, and nearly equalled by those at Kildare and Kilkenny. That at Kilmacduagh in Galway is 110 feet, with the door 24 feet from the ground.

Much controversy has existed respecting the origin of these round edifices. The first writer who mentions them is Giraldus Cambrensis, who certainly calls them "Ecclesiastical Towers;" and some writers go so far as to assert, from the grammatical construction of the sentence in which he describes them, that he saw the builders in the very act of raising them, in 1185. This at least is certain, that they were so early in existence; but Lynch, who wrote in 1662, asserts that they were erected by the Danes, as early as 838; in which he is followed by Peter Walsh, also by Molyneux in 1727, who ascribes them to the Ostmen or Danes, but supposes them to be of later date than the Raths and other earthen works, and erected solely as Bell Towers for calling the people of large districts to join in religious ordinances. But there are some circumstances which militate against that opinion, whilst others seem to confirm it. At the Giant's Ring in the County of Down, we have an instance of a Round Tower on a spot manifestly of Druidical superstition, without any Church in its vicinity; as if the churches were built near to the Towers, instead of these being built near to the churches, the early preachers of Christianity choosing to erect their new religious edifices on spots already consecrated in the eyes of the people. It must be acknowledged, however, that when the Round Tower at Downpatrick was pulled down in 1790, whilst repairing the cathedral, its foundation being cleared away, another foundation was discovered under it, and running directly across the site of the tower, which appeared to be a continuation of the church wall, and which, at some period prior to the building of that tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it. Further, that these towers, sometimes at least, had a connexion with Christianity, is evident from the fact of some of them being built upon vaults belonging to the churches; and on more than one, in the north of Ireland, may be traced the figure of the cross. One instance of this may be seen on the keystone of the door of the tower at Donoghmore. On the other hand, in regard to the tower at Drumbo, it is evident that at some former time, very strong fires have been burned within that building, and the inside surface, towards the bottom, has the appearance of vitrification. Indeed it is a fact recorded in the Down Survey, p. 290, that the ground floors of many towers have been opened, where the ashes of burnt wood have been found, supposed by some antiquaries to be the remains of the perpetual fire once kept burning there in honour of the Sun. It is also recorded by Pennant, in his View of Hindostan, that the Pagodas, in the Circars, resembled the Round Towers, with tops pointed or truncated, and ornamented with a round ball to represent the Sun as an emblem of the deity of that temple. The idea of their being Christian penitentiaries seems at first sight to be whimsical; yet it is said that there are manuscripts in existence which prove it with respect to some of them. One of these manuscripts records the building of a tower at Kinath, in Cork County, in the year 1015; whilst the tower at Ardmore in Waterford has evidently been used as a belfry.

An idea is started in the Kilkenny Survey, p. 632, that they are connected with pilgrimages; a pilgrimage being called Turrish in Irish, as if in allusion to their Latin appellation of Turris.

Of other facts connected with them, it may be recorded that at Tulloher in Kilkenny, where the tower is only 8 feet from the church, yet that edifice is of limestone, whilst the tower itself is of siliceous breccia.

That some of them are comparatively of recent erection is evident from the fact that at Roscrea in Tipperary, the tower has a pointed or Gothic arch, 38 feet from the ground. Now the 12th century is generally allowed to be the era of the introduction of the Gothic architecture into this country; and from this a curious question arises. It is moreover a curious fact, not hitherto noticed by any writer upon this subject, that the isolated tower, probably of Moorish origin, which stands on the neutral ground at Gibraltar, bears a very striking resemblance, in all points, to the Irish round towers in general. This tower has been seen and examined by the editor, who was much struck by the similarity at the time, and has since endeavoured to procure all possible information upon the subject. It is well known that Gibraltar was not inhabited by the Phœnicians, Carthaginians, nor Romans, nor even by the Visigoths, but was first taken possession of by the Saracens in 711; fourteen years after which the Moorish castle was built, followed by other edifices, with the pointed Saracenic arch, until the rock returned to the dominion of Spain in 1462. It may be added here, that the Irish towers have a strong resemblance to the Oriental minarets, especially in their supposed use as places for calling the people to worship. Where there are so many and so discordant opinions it is difficult to decide; but the tourist may avail himself of these hints in his further researches.

Of the precise antiquity of the

RATHS,

or Danish Mounts, few doubts exist. These are circular mounts of earth, from 40 to 150 feet in diameter at the base, and conically diminishing towards the top. Common tradition gives them to the Danes; and no doubt a great proportion of them are not older than the occupation of the northern and eastern coasts by the Ostmen. But some must be of the earliest Scandinavian date; particularly the Giant's Ring near Belfast, and the Rough Fort near Templepatrick, which have Druidical remains incorporated with them, and in their very