g the last half century have gone also their
Banshees, until in only a few retired districts of the west coast is the
dreaded spirit still found, while in most parts of the island she has
become only a superstition, and from the majesty of a death-boding angel,
is rapidly sinking to a level with the Fairy, the Leprechawn and the
Pooka; the subject for tales to amuse the idle and terrify the young.

THE ROUND TOWERS.

[Illustration: Initial: "The Round Towers"]

Among the ruins spread everywhere over the island, relics of prehistoric
Ireland are common, but wonderful as are many of these monumental remains
of a people as mysterious as their own structures, none are more
remarkable than the round towers, found in almost every locality of note
either for its history or antiquities. The number of these towers was
formerly very great, but from the ravages of time, the convenience of the
structures as quarries of ready hewn stone, and intentional destruction by
intolerant or thoughtless persons, they have gradually disappeared, until,
at present, only eighty-three remain, of which seventeen are nearly
perfect, the remainder being in a more or less advanced stage of
dilapidation.

The round towers vary in height, those remaining perfect or nearly so
being from seventy to two hundred feet, and from eighty to thirty feet in
diameter at the base. The entrance is twelve to eighteen feet from the
ground, the tower being divided into stories about ten feet high, each
story lighted by a single window, the highest compartment having
invariably four lancet windows opening to the cardinal points of the
compass. The roof is conical, made of overlapping stone slabs, and a
circle of grotesquely carved heads and zigzag ornamentation is found
beneath the projecting cornice. The masonry is of hewn stone, but not the
least regularity is observable in the size or shape of the blocks, some
being very large, others small, and every figure known to the geometrician
can be found in the stones of a single tower.

All towers still standing occupy sites noted as historical, and evidence,
sufficient to warrant the belief, can be adduced to show that almost every
historic spot on Irish soil once boasted one or more of these interesting
structures. The existing towers are generally found close by the ruins of
churches, abbeys, or other ecclesiastical buildings, and the effect on the
landscape of the masses of ruins, surmounted