they are like similar memorials found throughout Ireland, popularly called "giants' graves," and whose frequent occurrence in Denmark, with the same conjecture as to their object, Saxo-Grammaticus notices in his History (f. iii.) Indeed the name of the townland, Bally-fer-moyle, i. e. " town of the man-heap," seems to suggest the immemorial tradition of their existence and use. The two large, horizontal stones, which are now all remaining of this memorial, are of red sandstone, and measure each seven feet in length, by four feet two in breadth, while the face of the surrounding ground presents many large stones adjacent. On a recent raising of the slabs, they were found to lie quite flat and even, on a pavement apparently artificial, bedded in very fine sand, and extending commensurate with the incumbent slabs. Under this pavement were two strata of black and red earth, of the respective depths of from 6 to 8 inches. These strata have been reported as apparently the same with the surrounding soil, and as resting on the solid rock. The zig-zag characters are cut on each stone, to the proportion of a space of 4 feet by 3. On Ballyfermoyle is also a fort, and several others are scattered through the parish; three on the townland of Ardcarne, two on Carrowmore, two at Farnagalliagh, two at Lismalheare, three on Derrygra, and one on each of the townlands of Carrownagashel, Lisgreaghan, Glooria, and Derreenannagh.

THE PARISH OF TUMNA.

This parish contains, according to the recent Trigonometrical Survey, 9,188A. 3R. 13P., of which 971A. 1R. 34P. are covered with water. The land was valued for assessment at £3,811 11s. 8d. per annum. Ecclesiastically considered, the rectory is impropriate in Viscount Lorton, without patronage, while the vicarage is comprised, with six others, in the Union of Ardclare, alias Clonygormacan, from all of which, however, this is remote; the Diocesan presents to the union. The rent-charge, now £105, is payable in equal moieties to the impropriator and the incumbent. In the Roman Catholic division this parish is partly in the Union of Croghan and Ballinameen, and partly in that of Ardcarne and Crosna. The principal proprietor of this is Mr. Hugh Barton. Its population was returned in 1821 as 3,614 persons; increased, on the return of 1831, to 4,433, of whom it was calculated only 233 were members of the Established Church. The late Census states the total, including the inhabitants of Battle-bridge, as but 4,180. There is no church in this parish, but, on the townland of Tumna are some massy old walls of the ancient parochial edifice, measuring in area about 16 yards by 10, having near it a little chantry, 7 yards by 5; these ruins lie close to the junction of the Boyle water with the Shannon, on a swelling slope, and are surrounded by a grave-yard. The Boyle, at west of this point, expands into a fine sheet of water,

encircled by which is an island of 19 acres, called Inchatyra, to which projects, from the Roscommon side, the beautifully wooded promontory of Drumharlogh, part of the Hughstown estate. On the opposite side of the river, westward, are the ruins of Killeen church, around which, extending from the eastern side of Upper Oakport Lough to Battlebridge, lies the Cootehall property, deriving its name from Colonel Chidley Coote, to whom it was granted soon after the Restoration. Some years since it was purchased by the present proprietor, Mr. Barton. The face of this tract consists of hills, chiefly of limestone gravel, with good parcels of soil interspersed among reclaimed bog. When Mr. Weld published his "Survey of the County of Roscommon" (1832), he stated, that, in several of the then newly erected cottages on this estate, he found the wool-spinning assiduously practised, and looms crowded to excess, for the manufacture of coarse flannels, striped woollens, and cotton stuffs; there is, however, no manufacture or trade here now, and the place presents a mixture of wretched cabins, with a Roman Catholic chapel wholly unworthy of religious appropriation. There are two fairs held annually, on the 18th of May and 14th of November. The old hall is situated on the summit of a gentle eminence, and originally presented a large, quadrangular enclosure, or bawn, of about 100 yards square, bounded by lofty walls, with spacious, but low, round towers, at each angle. The habitable