The Democratic advocate., 1894-06-30

most ingenious antlquarles have not yet
shown who dug these extraordinary caves
nor what was their purpose. But it is eyi-
dent that they might serve either as grana-
ries, or dwellings, or places of refuge in time
Of trouble; all these theories have been ar
gued. Therefore the Denes and other such
unexplained but not inexplicable mysteries
may be put aside-the Martello Towers,
for example. Things downright unac-
cOuntable remain. The most speculative
only venture to suggest that such or such
may have been the object in building the
Raths of Kerry. Hundreds of these Raths
are still untouched, hundreds have been
explored, and hundreds, at least, DESTROYED.
They are apparently mounds of earth over
grown with grass, perhaps twenty feet high
and sixty feet in diameter. When the turf
is removed, we see an outer wall of stone
enelrcling the space, supporting generally
roof of large slabs; but sometimes the
substructure is sunk iu the ground, when
the slabs do not appear to form roof, but
pavement.
Somewhere in this wall is the entrance.
narrow hole upon the level of the earth.
Crawling through it-but mindful of the
poisonous gases which accumulate under
such conditions-we find that the enclosed
space is intersected by walls which split it
up into chambers-not less than six-ten
TO twelve feet long, and four and half to
five feet high. They all communicate with
one another by holes just large enough for
a man to crawl through; but the archway is
hewn stone excellently fashioned. Each
chamber has an outlet for ventilation in the
surrounding wall. Sometimes there is a
rude fireplace in that most distant from the
entrance, though it remains to be discover
ed-a minor puzzle-how the occupants es-
capped suffocation when the fire was lit.
The floor of Rath is always dry-for
spot with natural drainage was chosen.
There is nothing more to be said about
them. No tool nor bone has ever been
found, excepting objects evidently intro
duced at a modern date What can be the
purpose of these buildings? They were
not meant as hiding places, for the Rath
always stands conspicuous. They were not
in the way of forts, since an enemy had
but to close the ventilators and all within
must stihe. If they were dwellings the
people who used them must surely have
been dwarfs, for the shortest men of Euro
pean race could not stand upright therein
1t has been suggested that they were the
cellars of a small village or communal house,
built upon the roof, of perishabIe materials;
but in that stage of civilization, cellars are
quite unnecessary. We must give it up
for the present, at any rate
Let US turn to Japan. Cave dwellings
of elaborate construction have been famili-
arly known and used in many districts from
time immemorial. OF late much attention
has been paid to them. Mr.. Shogoro
Tsuboi published striking account Of his
discoveries in the Asiatic Quarterly Review
some years ago. He removed the earth
from hillside, near Tokyo, where few
caverns were visible, and found it actually
honey combed with them No less than
237 were explored. They are followed in
tufaceous sandstone after style of archi-
lecture always the same. Mr.. Tsuboi does
not give the height or width of the entrance,
but since he mentions that it was necessary
to walk with our bodies bent" the aper-
ture must be low. 1t is carefully shaped.
A few feet within, the passage widens,
forming a chamber one metre square;
grooves in the walls, the roof, and some
times the pavement suggest that slab of
stone here or some sort of door shut off
communication. But how could this be?
The living-room beyond had neither light
nor air, for it is cut in the solid rock.
This living room, so to call it, is alway
square and domed It has an area gener-
ally Of six to nine feet, and the top of the
dome ''is little less than six feet from the
floor" Here again race Of dwarfs is
suggested We do not learn at what
height the domed roof springs from the
walls, but it would be very awkward if the
males of the family could stand upright
only in the middle of their parlor. More
over, there are holes, sometimes four to
four and half feet above the pavement,
which look as if they were designed to re-
ceive joists for ceiling. Shelves and cav
tiles are followed in the walls Every
chamber has a bed place-the larger, two
or three; that is, divan, six inches high
or so, and six feet long which is so describ-
ed Channels in the pavement served for
drainage. Many of these caves are SO close
together that the partition walls are barely
a foot thick, but in only three instances
has any communication been observed; and
one of them was clearly accidental, though
the smoothness of the sides display that
advantage was taken of the accident. We
have here the dim suggestion of a romance,
for the builders evidently did not desire
that their families should hold intercourse
with one another inside the cave As for
the contents, very many objects were dis
covered, some of vast antiquity; but all of
the historic time, left doubtless by people
who used these dwellings before they were
buried Mr.. Tsuboi found even a series
of marks, which we must believe are in
scriptious; but they have no resemblance
to the Japanese or the Chinese alphabet.
All is mystery.