IRELAND 355 nue and expenditure of Ireland lias been given in the finance accounts since 1870 ; the gross amount of customs collected at the Irish ports in 1871 was 1,942,721, and the net amount of excise duties received in 1872 was 4,050,019. The antiquities of Ireland are of various kinds : cromlechs, cairns (either simple mounds or to mark burial places), pillar stones, bar- rows, duns or defences of stone, lis or fortifi- cations of earth, raths or villages, ancient stone-roofed buildings, round towers (of which there are 118, in height from 35 to 120 ft. with an internal diameter of 10 to 16 ft.), ecclesias- tical architecture of all ages, with a vast num- ber of castles and fortalices. The origin and use of the round towers have been much dis- cussed. Of recent archceologists, Dr. Petrie believes them to be Christian ecclesiastical structures dating for the most part from the 9th and 10th centuries; Dr. O'Brien thinks they are phallic monuments of remote pagan antiquity; and the Rev. R. Smiddy in 1873 claims them as Christian baptisteries. Ancient weapons of bronze and ornaments of gold are frequently found in turning up the soil, the jewelry especially showing a high degree of artistic skill. The mediaeval architecture of Ireland has been largely illustrated by the la- bors of Dr. Petrie and his school. The round or oval structures of rough stone and earth, popularly called beehive houses, which are still found in great numbers on the islands off the coast of Connemara, county Galway, are prob- ably of the 6th or 7th century. Of Cyclopean architecture, the most remarkable examples are the Dun Aengus, on a high cliff on the great Isle of Arran ; Knockfennell in Limerick, 360 ft. in circumference, with walls 10 ft. thick ; and the Staigue fort near Kenmare bay, circu- lar, 90 ft. in diameter, with walls 18 ft. high and 13 ft. thick. Several ancient oratories built of unceuiented stones admirably fitted, and their side walls and to some extent also the end walls converging from the base to the summit in curved lines, exist in county Kerry. The most beautifully constructed and best preserved of these ancient relics is the oratory of Gallerus. A building unique in Ireland is Cormac's chapel, on the rock of Cashel, constructed in the 12th century, covered with ornaments of the richest Norman character, of the period and probably the work of Anglo-Norman ma- sons and sculptors. The church or chapel of St. Doulough's, near Dublin, dating from the 14th century, presents a singular combination of church, house, and castle, all comprised in the space of 40 ft. long by 16 wide. Many parts of Ireland abound with ruins, especially i of old manor houses, built in the form of tow- ers for defence, and hence called castles, or the Irish towers. They are of all periods from the 12th to the 16th century. Besides these there are numerous real fortified castles, some of which furnish admirable specimens of the military architecture of the middle ages. Many smaller castles combining the military and do- mestic character are provided with keeps and exterior walls like the baronial castles of Brit- ain. Conspicuous among these is Bullock castle, at Dalkey, near Dublin, which protected the port of Dalkey, where the commerce of Dublin was carried on for centuries. Among the principal tower houses are Loughmore castle, county Tipperary, Athenry castle, Gal- way, Blarney castle, near Cork, and Augna- nure castle, county Galway, on the borders of Connernara. Many buildings of the Elizabeth- an period exist in Galway ; the finest are the Lynch castle and Castle Banks. Few countries offer so fine a field for the archfflologist. Ac- cording to the map of Ptolemy, the central portion of Ireland was inhabited in his day by the Scoti ; the north by the Robogdii ; the east by the Darnii, Voluntii, Eblani, Cauci, Mena- pii, and Coriundi ; the south by the Brigantes, Vodii, and Ibernii; the west by the Luceni, Velaborii, Cangani, Auteri, Magnates, and llaudinii. In the Argoncmtica of Orpheus of Crotona (500 B. C.), the island is called lernis. In the De Mundo, attributed to Aristotle, " Albion " and " lerne " are mentioned. Dio- dorus Siculus alludes to the latter as Iris or Irisi, and Strabo names the island Itpvr/ (lerne) ; Ceesar, Tacitus, and Pliny call it Hibernia; Mela and others, Juverna. The native name is Ir, Eri, and Erin. The name of Ogygia, " most ancient land," was also applied to it by Plutarch. A very remote antiquity is claimed and supported with much display of erudition by Irish writers. The researches of the last 50 years have exposed the fallacies and fictions of previous writers on Irish history and anti- quities. "The Annals of the Four Masters," as translated by John O'Donovan and Owen Connellan, with the remarkable collections of erudition forming the notes to these volumes, together with the researches of the former and Eugene O'Curry into Gaelic annals, rare works, and unpublished records, appear to authenti- cate the following statements in reference to ancient Ireland. During the reign of Ollav Fola, about 900 B. C., it is said, a species of parliament was organized by a triennial as- semblage at Teainor or Tara, of the chiefs, priests, and bards, who digested the laws into a record called the psalter of Tara. Ollav Fola also founded schools of philosophy, astronomy, poetry, medicine, and history, which were protected by his successors. Kimbath, who reigned about 460 B. C., like Ollav Fola, pro- moted the civil interests of his kingdom. Three reigns afterward Hugony the Great (300 B. 0.) married a daughter of the king of Gaul, obliged the Picts to pay tribute, conquered the Western isles, and divided Ireland into 25 ad- ministrative provinces. The crown was de- clared hereditary in his family, in order to avoid the disorders caused by elections. To this pe- riod also is traced the division of Ireland into four provinces ; and in the 1st century of the Christian era a portion was cut off from each to form a national district surrounding the cap-
