_Loughannaderriga._--There are, doubtless, many persons who, if asked to point out the exact position of Achill, would be unable to do so, yet it contains an area of about thirty-six thousand acres, and a population which may be reckoned by thousands. Here, two miles from the village of Doogort, is an “imperium in imperio,” an island within an island, and this is believed to be, at present, the only authenticated crannog in Mayo, to which county Achill Island belongs. Loughannaderriga (_the lakelet of the oaks_) is about two hundred yards in diameter, and in shape somewhat inclined to an oval; it is environed by abrupt banks of peat, which, in recent years, have considerably encroached on the water-area. The bottom consists of deep, treacherous mud, so that an exploration could only be attempted by aid of planks, and even then a cursory examination was alone found practicable, the water not having been withdrawn by drainage. Of the crannog, the diameter is about sixty feet; its exterior face so worn away by wave action, that the traces of the outer row of piling are now some feet distant. The Irish-speaking natives still call it the [Gaelic: Crannogh], and in English designate it “the island”; its surface is covered with a luxuriant growth of bilberry and _Osmunda regalis_. An excavation showed-- 1. A natural growth of peat, about three and a-half feet thick. 2. A layer of branches. 3. Small stones. [Illustration: Fig. 227.--Miscellaneous wooden Objects. 2, 3, 5 one-eighth real size; 6 one-fourteenth real size; 1, 4 one-sixteenth real size.] Some feet from the exterior face of the crannog, on the side shown in fig. 226, numerous pointed ends of stakes, evidently dressed with a sharp metallic tool, were extracted from the mud (fig. 227, No. 1), and a large portion of another (No. 4) lay on the beach. A fragment of a beam, mortised at one extremity, was found in close proximity (No. 6); its quadrangular incision, which did not quite penetrate the plank, was saucer-shaped at bottom, and an unique arrangement of a peg-hole in each corner shows the firm manner in which it had been originally secured: it probably belonged to the framework of the crannog hut. Not far from this was part of the blade of a canoe paddle (No. 5), the bottom of a wooden vessel, one side bearing traces of fire (No. 2), and a stave (most likely of the same utensil), pierced for reception of the handle (No. 3). There were also several nondescript portions of worked timber, numerous chips, pieces of charred wood, and a couple of white sling-stones, consisting of water-worn sea-beach pebbles. Deeply imbedded in the mud was a large whetstone (fig. 228), much worn on three sides by the friction of whetting, and bearing deep and sharp indentations produced by the edges of metallic tools; the fourth side presents the natural surface of the stone. [Illustration: Fig. 228.--Whetstone. One-ninth real size.] [Illustration: Fig. 229. Golden-bronze Pin. Full size.]