It has often occurred to the writer of these sheets, from actual observation of some hundreds of these _mounds_, that the term "Rath," as generally applied, is often erroneous. Wolff in his Dictionary positively states the word "Raad" in the Danish language to signify a council; of course, by a common figure of rhetoric, putting the thing for the place, or the place for the thing, this term is properly applied to the larger eminences, some of which are as extensive as old Sarum, and therefore well adapted for assemblies of the people. But Lloyd, in his Dictionary of the Irish-English Language, considers the word even more figuratively, saying that it means a village, a prince's seat, also an artificial mount, or barrow. Now the fact is, that many of the smaller mounts, where placed singly, may be, and some of them by opening have been proved to be, _Tumuli_, or sepulchral monuments; but others, placed in lines of communication for miles together, for they are never found in groups as upon Salisbury plain, were evidently for exploratory purposes or chains of military posts, a most remarkable instance of which may be seen on the road from Belfast towards Templepatrick, where there is a line of them within sight of each other for several miles, leading through the valley of communication from Belfast Lough towards Lough Neagh, between the Cave Hill and Carnmoney mountain, and connected with the very curious mount at the Rough Fort, which looks down upon a bog called King's Moss at the foot of the Carrantoll mountains, in the centre of which is a most extensive Rath, about 10 yards high, and at least 60 in diameter, with a raised bank round its summit faced with rough stones towards the area. Part of one side having been broken into, it seemed as if the whole had been raised upon rough stone-work, the materials for which must have been brought from a considerable distance. These, both large and small, are sometimes called moats; and some, of the largest size, are designated by the appellation of Dun or Doon. We now come to monuments of more recent date, of which the RELIGIOUS ANTIQUITIES deserve the first consideration; and of these some CHURCHES may perhaps be as old as the 11th or 12th century, and not earlier; for although many were built immediately after the conversion by St. Patrick, about five centuries after CHRIST, yet all these were simply of wood or wattled, and therefore long extinct. Along with these we may class the CELLS and HERMITAGES, rude and composed of upright stones with an impost, where saints led an eremitic life, perhaps sometimes adapting the older Druidical cromlechs to their more modern purposes, just in the same manner as several of the