“Though there is no single wound which must have proved fatal _ex necessitate rei_, death might have ensued from the accumulation of injuries, from concussion, erysipelas, or secondary inflammation of the brain or its membranes.”[259]
Twenty crannogs were discovered in this county during the working of the Commission for the arterial drainage of Ireland: these sites have all been identified.
_Drumaleague_ may be cited as a good example of a lacustrine dwelling: the form circular, and, with the exception of the hearth-stones, it was composed wholly of wood, principally alder. Drumaleague lake, situated in the vicinity of Lough Scur, was originally about a mile in length. The level of the water having been lowered thirteen feet, two crannogs became visible, as also a canoe--hollowed out of a single trunk of oak--eighteen feet long, twenty-two inches broad, square at stem and stern, and having apertures or row-locks cut in the sides.
[Illustration: Fig. 234.--Plan of Crannog in Drumaleague Lake. Scale, twenty feet to one inch.]
The annexed plan of one of the islands conveys a good idea of the general arrangement of this class of structure. The outer line of stakes enclosed a circle sixty feet in diameter, and within the enclosure there were groups of stakes--in some parts two or three deep--driven into the ground, seemingly for purposes connected with some internal arrangement. A, the central oblong portion, consists of a platform of round logs cut in lengths of from four to six feet, possibly the floor of the hut; B, a collection of stones with marks of fire on them; C, a heap of stiff clay; D, the root of a large tree nearly buried in the peat, the surface of the wood bevelled off, so as to form a sort of table, under which was found a considerable quantity of bones, apparently those of deer and swine.
[Illustration: Fig. 235.--Section of second Crannog in Drumaleague Lake.]
Fig. 235 is a section of the second crannog, which was surrounded by a tolerably regular circular enclosure formed of a single row of oak stakes F, F; it was seventy-two feet in diameter. The upper stratum B, consisted of horizontal logs of alder, reposing upon a black peaty surface; the logs were from three to eight inches in diameter, completely water soaked and rotten: this stratum of timber was three feet six inches deep. A, a heap of stones with marks of fire on them. Other hearths were found in different parts of the island. C, the lower stratum of decayed and blackened sticks and branches of all descriptions lying in every direction: this layer extended as far as it was pierced in the examination, viz., about four feet, but was evidently of greater depth. D, D, two heaps of stones found in the lower stratum. E, the kitchen midden, in which was a large quantity of bones of deer, swine, oxen, &c., that lay four feet below the surface. There was here found also the thin topstone of a quern, formed of micaceous quartzite, smooth upon the grinding surface, but otherwise rude and unfinished: the hole for the handle passes quite through; the grain-hole, two and a-half inches in diameter, is not directly in the centre.[260]