especially with flint for our only tool; and how those we call barbarians conquered the difficulty, must remain as yet matter of conjecture. We are rather comforted by supposing that they failed sometimes, for we find a large collection of rude and shapeless objects, evidently the production of "prentice hands,' and thrown aside as useless.

Next, we have flint sling-stones, carefully shaped and polished, looking at which, all, even the youngest of our party, is reminded of the smooth stones out of the brook which the ruddy shepherd-boy chose for his weapons, although the heavy sword and armourof-proof of Israel's king were ready for his use. Very fatal these sling-stones were in the hands of skill, even when these were feminine hands; a fair Kathleen, in dim distant times, having thus killed Balor, a one-eyed chieftain. A less fortunate Amazon, Meane, Queen of Connaught, fell victim to a stone, slung across the Shannon by a cowardly Ulster prince, who took dishonourable advantage of an unsuspecting hour when she was bathing in that beautiful river. Equally fatal was a sling-stone to the poetess Dubh -a warlike muse, no doubt-who fell down into the Linn, a dark pool of the Liffey; whence comes the name of her country's capital, Dubhlinn, or, as we write it, Dublin.

From sling-stones, we pass to arrow-heads of every variety; from the simple triangle to the more convenient stemmed arrow, the true barbed arrow and the delicate leaf-shaped-the connecting-link between the arrow and the most perfect manufacture of the weapon class, that of the spear. But before we leave the arrows, we must allude to the ancient superstitions that among the northern peasantry attributed to them certain malignant influences. This fact gives us some idea of their remote antiquity, since we find that at a very early date these stone-weapons were looked on as relics of a fardistant period, and wondered at as now. The Norwegians called them thunder-stones; the Gaels, elfdarts; nay, the popular mind still pronounces them as uncanny, connects them with the falling away of that family-prop, the cow; and the cattle-doctor, by some legerdemain, is sure to verify the theory by producing a fairy missile or two-found, he avers, in its skin-which being, upon some homeopathic principle, placed in the water the animal drinks, is known to effect a cure. Curious this popular poetising of what was once matter-of-fact everyday implements, appealing no more to the fancy of those who aimed them, than the Minié-balls our soldiers ram down into their rifles do to theirs. Time has ever some gradual growth of legend to green over the dryest fact. The line of demarcation between large arrow and small spear-heads is, we are told, difficult to draw; and we are led to suppose that such specimens may have been turned to either use as the case required. But we proceed to flint-tools, invariably made of the best and hardest flints, which are generally of a yellow or orange hue. Here we have the picks, punches, points, piercers, and chisels, or, as we generally find them called, celts, with which the early inhabitants of Ireland wrought in wood, horn, leather, and stone alike; for all these flints-unmentioned in the earliest existing records-belong to the premetallic period.

materials, so they differ in workmanship, some of them being blunt and clumsy, others elegant in form and elaborate in polish-marvellous to behold indeed, when we reflect that all this symmetry and precision was the result of no better tool than another stone afforded. An immense amount of skill and toil must have gone to the turning out of a 'first-rate article,' in those days of honest and unpuffed manufacture. These celts were formidable weapons, no doubt, in the hands of their namesakes. It is generally believed that they were first used as a mere hand-tool, and subsequently fixed in a cleft stick. It is thus that some South-sea Islanders use them at the present time. Some late researches tend to shew that the French celt, as might be expected, was more elegantly fitted into the hollow portions of a stag's horn. But perforated celts are very rare in Ireland. Whether celts were exclusively weapons or exclusively tools, is a nice little open question for the scientific to differ upon. The chances are that a celt was turned to many purposes, and hacked down a tree as well as a foe. It has come to peaceful uses in its later days. The weavers in the north of Ireland rejoice to find a smooth celt to rub on their cloth, thus giving it the desired gloss. There is one in the Museum of 'green felstone, stained bluish,' and marked with mysterious lines and scratches much like Ogham characters. Before, however, any imaginative archæologist had translated them into a meaning, the Rev. Dr Graves discovered their recent origin. The blue turned out to be caught from the indigo dye of a linsey-woolsey petticoat, the tracery thereon being perhaps the work of the weaver's child, who no more dreamed of perplexing the erudite than did Aiken Drum of misleading the worthy Monkbarns into his splendid day-dream of Agricola's Prætorium.

From the five hundred and twelve specimens the Irish Academy Museum possesses, we pass on to what implies a decided advance in art-the stonehammers, of which we have here several varieties, one resembling a good deal in its form the hammer of our own day. In Scotland, so we are told by Dr D. Wilson, these hammers were often found in old cists; and superstition explained the fact by supposing that the owner had wanted them to knock with at the gate of purgatory.

We glance next at objects the use of which involves the acquaintance with metals, such as whetstones, burnishers, touchstones, and moulds for casting. We look with peculiar interest at primitive stone ploughshares and grain-rubbers for triturating corn-the latter an implement of incalculable antiquity, since the rotatory querns we come to next have been in use since the earliest historic period; we notice one specimen of a stone drinking-bowl, very few of which have come down to our time; we give a passing glance at the stone buttons, beads, and armlets, that once gratified the innate love of decoration man in all ages exhibits; we are glad to find what we assume to be traces of his amusements in fourteen decorated, domino-like pieces of sandstone; and now our eye rests with interest on the sheen of two crystal balls, one of which, of two inches and an eighth in diameter, is reported to have belonged to the regalia of Scotland, globes of crystal having been commonly set in sceptres; the other was found in the county of Kilkenny, and has no known history attached to it. Crystal balls and ovals are frequent in British collections of antiquities, the smaller kind having evidently belonged to shrines, whence, no doubt, their supposed healing powers arose. This Kilkenny ball we look at here was it like that celebrated globe, now in the possession of the

We pass next to the weapons of softer stone, and tools which were hard enough to work with in wood. Under this head we have swords, knives, cleavers, and, above all, we have celts-so called from the Latin word celtis, a chisel—the most widely distributed of stone-implements. Ireland and Scotland alike abound with them, and they are to be found of every species of native rock, from the brittle sandstone and the soft micaceous schist, to the sharp-edged silex and compact porphyry. As in * See Dr D. Wilson's valuable work on Scotch archeology.

Marquis of Waterford, brought from the Holy Land by string before the pearl; and the savages, whether in some returning crusader-has it, too, been placed in arctic or tropic regions-grown children as they are running streams, through which sick cattle have been-like nothing so well. Blue and white appear to driven to and fro; or has it served as a magic-mirror, have been the favourite colours in porcellaneous gazing into which the omnipotent fancy of a yearn- enamel, that link between pottery and glass. We ing heart has seen in weird procession pass the are told that it is impossible to decide when glass changed, the loved, the lost,' the absent and the was first introduced into or manufactured in Ireland. dead? Nay, if we held it in our own hands, might We return to order one, class two, to contemplate, we possibly contrive to see something within its under species nine, a number of Irish cinerary urns. globe? Modern superstition has of late years taken These Dr Wilde has, he tells us, found difficult to the occult properties of crystal balls into grave con- classify, since, in the absence of metallic weapons, or sideration; and no further back than the year of the other relics that define date, chronological arrangeGreat Exhibition, more than one grave professional ment becomes impossible-the skill they display and mind-to say nothing of more facile and fanciful the varieties they exhibit being probably indexes of believers-did positively hold that wonders were to their relative value, or characteristic of peculiar races, be seen in them by the clear eye of childhood. rather than data to fix their epoch. There is every reason to suppose that urn-burial was not the earliest form of sepulture adopted in Ireland, but that the bodies of their chiefs were interred entire within their cromlech-chambers, in ghastly splendour, with their favourite animals to bear them company. Hundreds of these cromlechs are still to be seen with chambers capable of containing one or more human bodies in whatever attitude placed.

causeways, but they were generally insulated. These beaver-like habitations afford several indications of the changes that have taken place in the face of the country between their day and ours: their submerged condition shewing us how great the spread of water has been; while from additions made to the height of the stockades, and from traces of fire at different elevations, it may be inferred that this spread had, owing to the decrease of timber and increase of bog, begun during their period of occupation.

The first craunoge ever examined was one at Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. Looking into the authorities, we find this craunoge to be the first alluded to. Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst forth in Ireland, 3581 A. M.* Its discovery in 1839 was accidental-as we phrase it-in looking for one thing, another was found. The lake around had been drained within the memory of man, and the craunoge bore the appearance of a circular mound of about 520 feet in circumference. Some labourers having met with several large bones while clearing the came, and so the craunoge, with its vast collection of antiquities, was revealed. Structures very similar in character have been discovered in the lakes of Switzerland in the year 1853-4, where, the winter having been unusually dry and cold, the lake-level was depressed in proportion; and one or two have also been described as existing in Scotland.

attention is peculiarly attracted by some ancient boats, of which there were two kinds in use in very early times: the curragh, composed of wicker-work, and covered with hide; and the single-piece canoe. Ancient curraghs of course no longer exist; but we have two specimens of the canoe in this museum, the first measuring twenty-two feet in length, and about two in breadth, flat-bottomed, round-prowed, and square-sterned. In this boat-discovered below the surface of a marsh on the Wexford coast-were two rollers, apparently for the purpose of getting it out to sea, and a small bowl for baling. The second specimen is sharp at both ends, lighter, narrower, and thinner. Its width is but twelve inches; its length, twenty-one feet three inches, and it is perfectly flat at the bottom. Passing on rather quickly, for our visit to the Museum has been a long one, we notice a rope made of 'three strands of heath,' and are informed that heath-ropes, though becoming very rare, are not absolutely unknown in Ireland in modern times. Next, we observe spades and forks, one of the latter, a colossal implement indeed-seven feet and five inches in length, with prongs of more than a yard. The Academy possesses an extensive col-stream-way, the fact became known; bone-collectors lection of kneading-troughs, dishes, bowls, and tables, all made of one single piece of wood. The small portable table to which our attention is called, is supported by legs of only four inches and a half high; and the natural inference drawn is, that those who used it, sat round it on the ground. It is also probable that, when wanted, it served as a kneading-trough. Next come milk-pails and butterprints, one of which looks as if it would still turn out neat, flower-patterned pats. Of methers-drinking-vessels so called because mead or metheglin was quaffed out of them-this museum boasts twenty -some very ancient indeed. The mether and its handles was always formed of a single piece of wood, but the bottom was separate, and inserted into a groove. In methers of the simplest make, this bottom piece was probably pressed into its place after the vessel had been soaked in water, and secured there by its contraction in drying.

Species four includes several wooden articles of domestic use, all of considerable antiquity, such as candlesticks, beetles, bodkins, stamps, &c.; many of them found in craunoges. It is with some of the information Mr Wilde supplies on this head that we shall conclude our present article; but first we must notice, under the head of domestic use, an ancient waxed tablet-book of pine, found in one of the bogs of Derry, on the four sheets of which the letters are traced with a sharp point, and still very legible in places. The character is Irish, but the language Latin.' After all the trouble of deciphering it, it appears to have been 'little better than mere scribbling '-'Exercises in grammar and dialectics.' Possibly the scholar of the eleventh century, to whom these tablets may have belonged, did dream of immortality for some work of his, but he could never have supposed that these memoranda would, after six centuries, excite the interest of posterity!

To return to craunoges. These were stockaded or little wooden islands, many of which have come to light during the general drainage of late years; the agriculturist, without in the least intending it, having proved himself a most valuable labourer in the field of archæology. These craunoges, though alluded to as early as in records of the ninth century, and as late as in those of the seventeenth, were never examined till about twenty years ago. Craunoges are chiefly found in the clusters of small lakes in Roscommon, Leitrim, and Monaghan, and are not, strictly speaking, artificial islands, but clay islets enlarged and fortified by timber piles, and in some cases by stone-work. A few were approached by

With the vegetable materials, the first volume of Mr Wilde's invaluable catalogue ends, and rejoicing to hear that the remainder of it is in progress, we close our present survey of the Irish Academy Museum.

JOHN BULL'S DINNER AT NING-PO. We are all familiar with the story of the Englishman who interrogated his Chinese host as to the character of a relishing dish on which he was feeding, by a significant repetition of the words, 'Quack, quack, quack?' and how the mandarin replied by simply pronouncing, with a gesture of negation as to the hypothesis, the expressive monosyllables, 'Bow, wow, wow!'-thus tracing the agreeable viand to a canine instead of an anserine origin.

Again, our ordinary idea of a Celestial breakfast, dinner, or supper, is expressed by the formula, boiled rice, and hunger for sauce.' Looking at it in a general way, this may not be so far wrong; but there is more than this to be told about the culinary arrangements of our tea-producers on the other side of the globe.

If we are to judge in this matter from a report in a recent number of the Times, the Chinese 'cooking animal,' man, has often something better to do than merely boiling rice and stewing dog's meat. According to the shewing of 'Our Special Correspondent,' Paris itself must yield the palm to Ning-po, and Very hide his diminished head before the superior merit of mine host of the Gallery of the Imperial Academicians' in that famous city. Acknowledging, then, our deep obligations to the ingenious writer alluded to, and tendering him our best thanks for the information conveyed in his letter, we shall proceed to give our own report on his report, with a few observations thereupon.

Our author begins with some severe strictures on our English methods of cookery, and by so doing raises the whole question as to the salubrity of baking and stewing as compared with roasting and boiling in general.

* Annals of the Four Masters.

Our space will not allow us to take up formally the gauntlet thus thrown down, or to enter the arena to fight out à l'outrance this battle of the spit and gridiron against the stew-pan and baking-dish. We would only observe that, in all such cases, climate, early habit, the age and state of health of the party -we had almost said the patient-and, last not least, the quality of the provisions supplied, must enter into and greatly modify the consideration of such questions as this.

No man will say that it is wise, in a culinary point of view, to roast a sirloin cut from the back of a tenyear-old ox, well accustomed to the yoke; or that a pickled round of such beef will be juicy and tender; or that a goat's haunch, with turnips, will be as satisfactory as one which our own South Downs or Black Faces can supply. If you have a certain sort of meat to dress, you must dress it so that it shall be eatable; and the soup and bouilli, or the disintegrated stew, enriched with a strong and spicy gravy, is, in a great many instances, far preferable to what could be produced were the same meat to be sent to table à PAnglaise.

preserved in wine, and the excellence of which was supposed to be in proportion to their antiquity; berries and other vegetable substances, preserved in vinegar; a curious pile of some unknown shell-fish, taken from the shell, and cut in thin slices; prawns in their natural, or rather in their artificial red state; ground nuts, ginger, and candied fruits.' 'Everything,' we are informed, was excellent in its kind'-the unknown shell-fish especially so. 'I am afraid to say,' adds the writer, that the tripe was a creditable piece of cookery. It was boiled to almost a gelatinous consistence;' but 'many Englishmen known to the author, would, he doubts not, have devoured the whole small heap, as it stood, with avidity.' For our part, we should quite think so.

A certain doubtfulness was observable in the approaches of the strangers at first; but this soon gave way to complete confidence before the more serious attack commenced.

selves. A folded towel, just saturated with hot water, was placed beside each saucer, and two tiny metal cups, not so large as egg-cups, were allotted to each person.

The 'trifles' above enumerated being despatched, we are informed that the real business of the day was fairly begun. Each guest was furnished with a porcelain spoon and saucer; knives were altogether We believe that the objection made by this in-needless, and their chop-sticks they brought themgenious writer against English cookery would apply much more to the excessive quantity which the excellence and succulency of the national food induces our countrymen to eat, than to any particular mode of preparation. He speaks of 'a slice of red flesh from a joint,' as if the eating of such a thing were an act only one degree removed from cannibalism; but we can inform him that raw flesh, when sent to table, must always look purple or blue, and that the very fact of redness shews that it is cooked enough; and we can bring at least one set of digestive organs to testify that it is much lighter and more easy of assimilation in that state, than when it has passed into that of being what is called 'well done.'

We attach, however, no especial importance to any particular mode of cookery. If one method is found to be more conducive to health and comfort than another, by all means let it be adopted; and we will go so far as to add, that if men must cram when they dine, we should think it a less injurious process, on the whole, for them to do so with a variety of dishes, and many of them what we should call over-cooked, than with meat from one simple joint; while, at the same time, we cannot agree that to eat a moderate share of our own 'rare' and juicy mutton or beef, is equivalent to bringing the civilised man down to something like the level of the savage or the wild beast, both of whom, it must be confessed, have a fancy for joint-meat,' and prefer it, if anything, a little under-done.

We shall not enter further here into this culinary controversy, but return at once to our notice of the dinner at the Gallery of the Imperial Academicians' at Ning-po.

Our Correspondent,' it seems, had learned that matters gastronomic were managed in a superior manner at the above-named hostelry; and he accordingly resolved to bring the report to the test, in a sensible, practical sort of way, as a true Englishman should. So he issued invitations to a select circle of friends, English and Chinese, for a banquet to be there provided. With each invitation, a chop-stick— | to be used, we presume, as a fork-was sent to each guest. In due time the day arrived; the party assembled ; and now, to dinner with what appetite we may !'

The first course was merely a prelude-a sort of light fencing with chop-sticks, intended to excite rather than to gratify the cravings of hunger. It consisted of a small square tower, built of slices from the breast of the goose; a tumulus of thin square pieces of tripe; hard-boiled eggs, which had been

The first dish, according to all precedent, was of course birds-nest soup. To our surprise, our friend professes not to know what these nests are. We believe they consist of the dwellings of a particular species of swallow, and are composed of a gelatinous sea-weed, which is recommended by its viscous quality to these ingenious constructers, as an excellent building material. Unluckily for the peace and security of their domestic arrangements, John Chinaman has found out that it is more convenient to plunder the poor swallows than to collect and prepare the seaweed with his own hands, just as we do by taking the honey from our bees instead of seeking it 'from flower to flower' for ourselves.

Our author does not write enthusiastically about this celebrated dish. The presence of the birdsnests, it seems, is apparent from a glutinous substance which floats upon the top of the soup. Below this is a white liquid, and lower still is chickens' flesh, altogether an insipid affair enough, we have no doubt; but as a variety of prepared sauces and spices were at hand, by following the example of the Chinese, who excel in the use of such condiments, this insipidity was in great measure removed, and the swallows' nests are got rid of with tolerable ease.

The next course is, a stew of sea-slugs. At Macao, these are white; at Ning-po, they are green: at both places they are excellent eating. They are difficult, we are told, to catch with the chop-stick, as they slip about with much alacrity on the china saucer. When caught, however, they are well worth the trouble; for it is said they resemble, and are quite equal to, the 'green fat' of the turtle. Here is a hint for our own aldermanic banquets; and after this, let no man, while devouring oysters, cockles, and mussels, venture to sneer at a mess of sea-slugs.

But now the plot thickens. Our next dish is a grand affair: it consists of sturgeons' skull-caps. This is a rare and expensive dainty, as of course the sturgeon has to be killed, like an Indian warrior, for his scalp; or as fowls sometimes are in France, for the sake of their combs and gills, to fill up a vol au vent; or again, as the poor unhappy Strasbourg goose is for her liver. It may, however, be hoped that all the refuse portions of these animals are turned to some account, and may be applied to the sustentation of the ordinary sort of men, although a contrary impression, so far as it relates to the sturgeon, seems to