_Palisades and Dwellings._--Palisaded fortifications are unquestionably very primitive. Around the cyclopean wall of Dun Ængus and other prehistoric forts in the Isles of Arran, county Galway, are found palisades, or _chevaux-de-frise_, of sharp-pointed stones, and such defences have in all ages proved effective under skilful management. Even in the present advanced state of military science, the various wars in New Zealand have demonstrated the formidable nature of the Maori pah or fort. The outer range of piles around crannogs rose considerably above the water, and thus formed a stockade or breastwork for repelling an attack from enemies. The Lord Deputy Sidney, describing to Elizabeth a repulse of her troops from one of these retreats, says that at a distance it did not appear formidable, as it was simply encircled with a stout palisade bristling with rows of sharpened stakes; but when assaulted, the soldiers found it impossible either to scale or undermine it. This style of defensive work was of ancient origin in Ireland, for the Annals state that, in the year 990, the island as well as “the dreach and rampart of Lough Cimbe” (now Lough Hackett, county Galway) were swept away by a violent storm. Within the area enclosed stood the hut or huts in which the families lived; the stockade served equally for shelter and defence, fulfilling the same purpose as did the circumvallation of the rath or _doon_ on terra firma. Edifices constructed of logs, of wattling, and hurdles daubed over with clay, and thatched with reeds, were in early times considered characteristic of the Irish; even public buildings were constructed of these materials. Bede states that an Irish monk, who had been elected Bishop of Lindisfarn, built a church for his see “altogether of sawn oak, and covered it with reeds, after the manner of the Scots” (_i. e._ the Irish). We need not, however, refer to history, or depend upon conjecture, in order to reconstruct these island dwellings; for the foundations, and even some of the log walls, have been exposed to view. Good examples are presented by the flooring of an oblong house at Drumaleague, county Leitrim, and at Cargaghoge, county Monaghan; remains of a wooden hut at Kilnock, county Antrim; and the following in county Fermanagh--mortised beams at Loughavilly, a house at Gortalough, angle posts at “The Miracles,” and lower framework of a house at Ballydoolough. At Kilnamaddo, in the same county, log huts were found buried under seventeen feet of peat; these were practically almost perfect, wanting nothing save the roof; they were very low, the side walls scarcely four feet in height, and they might be looked upon rather as lairs for sleeping in, than dwellings in the modern sense of the word; indeed, the primitive races of Ireland, whether building in stone or wood, made use of low roofs and consequently low doors. The openings left for egress and ingress were probably closed by hurdles