THE WORLD'S DEBT TO THE IRISH 
metals far beyond what is to be found anywhere 
else in Europe not alone at that time but at any 
time. 
P. W. Joyce the Irish historian has reminded us 
that there are in the National Museum of Dublin 
a dozen times the weight of all the ancient gold 
objects from England, Scotland and Wales that are 
to be seen in the British Museum. All this of Irish 
gold remains in spite of the fact that Ireland was 
invaded many times by the Northmen who sought 
particularly after gold objects because they were so 
precious in proportion to their weight that they 
made the carrying off of valuable booty compara- 
tively easy.’ 
Ireland obtained this gold from her own territory 
and seems to have had some very definite veins of 
both gold and silver. These were probably limited 
in quantity yet represented much more than was to 
be found in the sister islands. It seems not at all 
unlikely however that some of the ancient sources 
of gold may be found again and may prove a valu- 
able resource for modern Ireland. 
A very curious custom that sprang up among the 
early Irish Christians procured for us a number of 
very strikingly artistic examples of their skill in 
metal work. This was their habit of enshrining the 
bells which the missionaries had used in the early 
days to summon their flock, the books of the Gospels 
which they brought with them or had made under 
their direction, and the pastoral staffs of the early 
apostolic missionaries in ornate metal work deco- 
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