On Non-Sepulchral Rude Stone Monuments. Author(S): M

On Non-Sepulchral Rude Stone Monuments. Author(s): M. J. Walhouse Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 7 (1878), pp. 21-43 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2840932 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 22:06

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This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MI.J. WALIIOUSE.-Non-Sepulchral StoneMonauments. 21

FOR THE LIBRARY. From the SOCIETY. -Jahrbuch der K. 1K.Geologischen Reichsanstalt. Vol. XXVI, No. 3; Verhandlungen,do. Nos. 11-13. From the SOCIETY.-Mittheilungen der AnthropologischenGesell- schaftin Wien. Vol. VI, No. 6. From the AssOCIATION-Reportof the Geologists Association for 1876. From the ACADEMY.-Atti della R. Accacdemia dei Lincei Atino. CCLXXIV. Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2. From the ACADEMY.-Bulletinde l'AcadenmieImperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg. Vol. XXII, No. 4; Vol. XXIII, No. 1. From the EDITOR -Mate6riaux pour l'Histoire de l'Eomme. From the SOCIETY.-Annuaire de la Societe d'Ethnographie,1877. From the EDITOR.-Revue Scientifique,Nos. 34 and 35. 1877. From the EDITOR.-Nature (to date).

Miss Buckland presenteda diggingstone fiom the Cape of Good Hope, forwhich thanks were returned. Mr. M. J. Walhouse thenread a paper entitled-

On NON-SEPULCHRAL RUDE STONE MONUMENTS. By M. J. Wal- house,F.R.A.S. EVEN in the earlierpart of the presentcentury, many fanciful theorieswere currentrespecting the nature and intentionof megalithicmonuments, cromlechs, stone circles,and the like; and much ingeniousspeculation was wastedin tracingthe coils and windingsof serpent-templesin the scatteredstones of Wilt- shireand Somersetshire,or, as somewould have it, in identifying themwith Temples of the Sun or Bardic Circles. The Druids were seen everywhere;"rock gnomons"indicated their knowledge of astronomy," rock basons" and " rockingstones," often natural,were ascribedto theirskill in mechanics,and cromlechs were held to be the "altars" on which they celebratedtheir bloody rites; while any chance marks on their surfaceswere channels to drainoff the blood of victims,and holes or chinks in the slabs were magical openings,through which auguries were drawli fromtheir dyinggroans and cries. When search succeededtheory, the spade proved the revealerof the secrets of such monuments,and the incontrovertibledispeller of Druidical and Dracontian dreams; and their intention was shownto be sepulchralin suchain immense majority of instances that theoryswung perhaps too absolutelyto the otherextreme, and refusedto see in them any othernature or purpose. It is desiredin thispaper to offera fewremarks upon some megalithic remainsthat have come uncdermy observation in India and else-

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 22 M. J. WALHOUSE.-On where,which may be ascribedto purposesother than sepulchral, and in manyinstances are connectedwith existingworship and observances. To begin with the simplest of monuments,the heap of stones or cairn-though usually sepulchral and piled over a tomb-it is occasionallyrather memorial or ceremonial. Twice in India in wild mountain-passesI have seen cairns raised on spots where men had been carriedaway by tigers. Passers-byadded stonesto theheap, with the idea of propitiating the angryghost of the unlucky man, which was believed to hauntthe spot,and guide the tigerin its attacks on wayfarers. Such heaps are sometimesalso raised at spots on the plains where travellershave died suddenly,from sickness, or in ainy uinusualway, and where stonesare scarce or have failed,bits of rag are tied to a neighbouringthorn-bush, after a customthat appears to prevailfrom China to Ireland,prompted possibly by an idea of propitiation. Though the Old Testamentrecords threeinstances of cairn-burial,when Absalom,and Achan, and the King of Ai werelaid under" a verygreat heap of stones,"the earliestmention of cairnsis as boundary-marks.*In theagree- mentbetween Jacob and Laban recordedin the 31st chapterof Genesis,they gathered stones and made a heap expresslycalled a " heap of witness,"on which theysat and did eat, as a ceremonial compact,and declaredthe heap to be a witness between them,that ncitherwould pass over it into the territoryof the other. The late ProfessorH. H. Wilson has translateda hymn fromthe Rig Veda, addressedin the earlierverses to Mrityuor Death, and in the last to the Pitris or Manes, the 4th verse of which is remarkableas containingthe earliest,and, so faras I know, the only Saniskritallusion to rude stone monuments, and also as seemingto intimatea purpose not sepulchral,butt propitiatory,and, as in Genesis,boundary-marking. " I place this circle of stones for the living; on this account,that no othermay go beyondit. May theylive a hundredyears, keeping death at a distanceby this heap." In Livingstone'sExpedition to the Zambesi,at page 229, thereis an accountrather curiously recalliingthe transactionbetween Laban and Jacob. On passing a large stone cairn in the countryof the Batoka, the guide relatedthat once upon a time a tribewas going to fightwith anothertribe, but sittingdown there consultedand agreed that it would be more like men to raise this heap of stonesas their protestagainst the wrongthe othertribe had done them,which,

* In old Greece heaps of stones,called Hermaia,were commonlyraised at crosswaysand oniboundaries. They were sacredto Hermes,and each passer-by threwa stoneon as an offeringto the god. Homer (' Odyssey,"xvi, 471) mel- tions snbcha lheap iear Ithaca. Strabo saw similarheaps on the roads in Egypt (xvii,p. 818)

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Non-Se.pulchrcalRude StoneMonuments. 23 having accomplished,they returned quietly home. And again in his Last Journals,page 90, "we passed two cairns this morningat the beginningof the verysensible descent to the lake. They are verycommon in all this SouthernAfrica in the passes of the mountains,and are meant to mark divisions of countries,perhaps burial-places,but the Waiyan who accom- panied us thoughtthat theywere merelyheaps of stone col- lected by some one making a garden. The cairnswere placed just about the spot wherethe blue watersof Nyassa firstcame fairly inito view." This recalls the cairn piled by the Ten Thousand where the Euxine burst into sight,and the army raised the memorablecry. Closely akin to unsepulchralcairns must be the Mani, or long heaps of stones that excite the surpriseof travellersin Thibet and Tartary. The late Mr. C. Horne, of the Bengal Civil Service,F.L.S., F.R.A.S., &c., who some yearsago travelled over some of the highestHimalayan passes,wrote to me re- specting them: "The Lama Tartars build long walls of loose stones,usually about 6 feet thickand 5 high; sometimesas at Nako, half a mile long. Every nativepasses themto his right; none seem to know why: hence there is a path wornon that side, and everyone adds a stone; theymust be the growthof centuries,every generationadding some yards. The heaps oftenhave flagsstuck on themand scraps of paper,with somie sacredwriting, as also hornsof ibex, wild sheep,goats, &c., and round boulder-stones,inscribed with the Buddhistprayer in a circle,are oftenlaid on the top. A great'mystery attaches to them; none can explain theiruses certainly;some say theyare devotional,others that they were built on returnfrom long journeys. The farthestobject I saw in Tartarywas a long double range.of these walls." Mr. Wilson recentlyin his "Abode of Snow" mentionshaving passed hundredsof these Mani on his journey,sometimes in the mostdesolate situations, and remarksthat the prodigiousnumber of them in so thinly peopled a countryindicates an extraordinarywaste of human energy. Mr. Horne also mentionedthat singleheaps of stones aboundedeverywhere, " existing on everyhill-top and pass; some evidentlyof great antiquity; in some places they are called Thor.* At the entranceof the provinceof Kurnawufrthere is a large field of them,all set up by gratefulhill-men returning safe fromthe plains. Another cause of themis the settingof bouildarymarks by pettychiefs in old times. Presents too

* The missionaries,Huc and Gabet, encounteredsimilar large heaps on the greatplateau in ChineseTartary, there called Oboes, and stuckover witli boughs oln which strips of inscribedpaper are hung. MM. Huc and Gahet say the Tartars uorslhipthe Spiritof the MouL11tainat tlhem.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 24 M. J.WALHOUSE.- On are sometimesgiven by wealthypeople to erectstone heaps on apparently inaccessible peaks to commemoratetheir names. The highest I saw was on the Shatul peak (17,000 feet),near KurnawOr. The cliluberwas paid 100 rupees by a rich merchant,but disappointedhis employer,as the 'Thor' is called by his, and not the merchant's,name. I never heard of people beingburied under theseheaps." The foregoingexamples will sufficeto show how cairns,both in ancientand moderntimes, may have had other than sepulchralpurposes. The legend of Izdubar or Nimrod,between 2,000 and 3,000 B.C., in the Baby- lonian tablets,says of him," He collectedgreat stones; he piled up the greatstones." A brief referencewill be sufficientto perlhapsthe mostex- traordinaryand enigmaticalgroups of megalithicremains, the great assemblages of stones disposed in rows, avenues, and alignmentsin the neighbourhoodof Carnac,in Britanny,and in England at Ashdown,in Berkshire,and in manyplaces on the Dartmoor. Somewhatanalogous remains in the East have been described by the late Col. Meadows Taylor in Sh6rapfur,a province of Hydrabad,in the lDeccan. The secretof these monumentshas not yet been certainlyread. Mr. Fergusson'sconjecture that theyare the meimorialsof battle-fieldsseems as good as anythat has been proposed,with referenceat least to most; at any rate, therehas been nothingdiscovered proving them to markburial- places. I findit, however,difficult to accept Mr. Fergusson's view that the long parallellines of stones on the Dartmoorre- presentsan army,or two armies,drawn up in battle-array. I have personallyexamined a considerablenumber of thesestrange narrowpaths and foundthem in all sorts of places, in hollows on hill-sides,and runningover the browsof hills. Many exist unnoticedamongst the fern and bushes of the roughertracts, and hardlycould denotebattle-arrays. The avenuesunder Kes Tor,near Chagford,in particular,referred to by Mr. Fergusson (' Rude Stone Monuments,"p. 56), as possiblyrepresenting a battle-array,which I carefullywalked overlast summer,did not appear to me to carryout the idea. The long double lines of stonesstarting from the " Long-stone,"a tall menhir,bend round the sides of an eminenceunder the somewhataltar-shaped rocks of the Kes Tor, on the top of which a verylarge and regular rock-bason,till lately filled with and concealed by peat, has been discovered,and seem to stretch on, till disappearing, toward the great stone circle,indistinctly visible a long way below in a hollow on the otherside of the Teign. These myste- rious lines of stoneswould oftenrecall plocessionialpaths were they not so narrow,beginning and ending so abruptly,ap-

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Non-SepmlchralBRtde Stone Monutmentts. 25 parentlywithout purpose or direction,and at times in situations hard to reconcilewith the idea: their meaning has not been penetrated,but they suggest nothing sepulchral.* In India the remains,apparently of this class, at Shahp'ur,in the Sh8rapurprincipality, were consideredby Col. Meadows Taylor more remarkableand interestingeven than the cromlechsand stone circleswhich also abound in the neighbourhoodand with which theyare sometimesassociated. Huge masses of granite are disposed in an exact parallelogram400 feet by 260, or sometimesin squares,enclosing similar figures of smallerrocks, and in the centre of some rises a tumulus,which excava- tion has shownto be sepulchralor possiblysacrificial. These squares are grouped togetherover large areas; the rocks com- posing the outer lines are from7 to 10 feet long, nearlyas broad, and from4 to 7 feethigh, and must have been brought fromhills nearlytwo imiilesdistant over a difficultsurface; an undertakingimpossible in that countryat present. All the squares do not enlose tumuli; in one large group there are but two,but as cairnsdo accompanythem in several instances, it would not be safeto assert that theycould be otherthan ap- purtenancesat least to sepulchres. As to the multitudinous groups of uprightstones that so remarkablycharacterise the Kasia Hills borderingon Assam, Major Godwin-Austen,in a paper read beforethe lnstitute,has shown that theyhave no connectionwith funeral obsequies, but are memorialsraised to propitiatethe spirits of the deceased and to perpetuatetheir memories. Regular trilithonsoften occur amongstthem, and it is remarkablethat amongstanother aboriginaltribe, the Santhals,in Bengal, a trilithonthat must be a very striking monumentis at this day an altogetherdevotional object. It is described at page 192 of Dr. Hunter's "Annals of Royal Bengal" as "three huge monolithsof gneiss of great beauty, two upright,the thirdlaid acrossthem. The stonesare upwards of 12 feetin length,each weighingupwards of 7 tons, quadri- lateral,10 feetround, the horizontalstone kept in its place by a mortiseor tenon. Originunknown: worshippedby the San- thals at the West Gate of theirHoly City in Bheerbloom." Trilithonsthat must be not dissimilarto this have been describedby Dr. Barth in the regionsabout Tripoli,in northern Africa. Two are figuredat pages 411-12 of Fergusson's" Rude Stone Monuments."There is no reasonto regardthem as sepul-

* Since writingthe above,I findthat in the Appendixto vol. i of the Journal of this Institute,at page cxi, et seq.,Mr. Spence Hlardyhas describedthese Dart- mooravenues, and thinksthey may be " burial places for the honoureddead," whilstDr. A. Campbell consideredthem to be "indisputable signs of cultivF- tion." All theseso differentopinions show that thesertmains are still enign.as.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 26 M. J. WALHOUSE.-On chral,and Dr. Barth,a competentobserver, thinks them " evi- dentlyconnected with the religiousrites of the ancientinhabi- tants of these regions." And so it may be inferredwas " the giganticcircle with huge uprightstones, 15 feethigh, and some withlong blockslaid across,"seen by Mr. Palgrave in the pre- viouslyunknown wastes of centralArabia, of which,it is to be hoped,more may be heardsome day.* ProfessorMax Muller remarks," ChildrenaLl. over the world, if buildinghouses with cards,will build cromlechs;and people all overthe world,if the neighbourhoodsupplies large slabs of stone,will put three stonestogether to keep out the sun or the wind,and put a fourthstone on the top to keep out the rain;" and whenevera people becomieled to forma rude image and reverenceit, or regarda rough stonewith superstitiousideas, it was in such a structurethey may be supposedto have been im- pelled to place it. This was stronglyborne in upon themind on firstseeing the small cromlech-templesused to-day by the people in somneparts of SouthernIndia. I had become fixed in the belief that all cromlech-likestructures were sepulchral, till once on emergingfrom a wild mountain-passon to the table-landof Mysore I saw by the waysidea primitivetemple consistingof back and side slabs set on edge,with a covering slab laid over,the frontopen, a rude imageof Hanuman within, and a fewflowers strewn before it. The appropriatenessof such a construction,and thereadiness with which it couldbe imagined and raised by a rude people in a wild locality,were at once obvious. I afterwardssaw some moresimilar rude-stone temples always in unfrequentedtracts. Of course these rustic shrines were not prehistoric,but theiruse and traditionmay have come down fromprehistoric times.t Subsequentlyon the Shiarai Hills. a fine mountain-rangewith a table-landof about 4,000 feetgeneral elevation, in the districtof Salem, midwaybetween Madras and the Malabar coast,I found these temple-cromlechs in commonuse by the Malayalies = hill people,a harmlessagri- cultural tribe,speaking Tamil, and not apparentlymaterially differentfrom the Tamil inhabitantsof the plains, fromwhence theydoubtless came. They have severalvillages and a consider- able amountof cultivationon theplateau and its lowerslopes. In everyvillage thereis at least one temple-cromlech,constructed of slabs with one side open, usually undera tree,containing a crowdof lingam-stones,splinters of rock or long pebbles,mostly * In Tongataboothe officersof H.M.S. " Calliope" met with a monument "resemblingthe largergateway stones of Stonehenge." t Close to :}angalorethere is an ancient temple approachedby a magniificent avenueof trees,beneath wbich tlhere is a niumberof small hut-temples,so primitive as to cousistonly of tbreeuppright stonies with a sutperincumbent,slab on the top,and iuside a rude effigyof a deitycari ed on the stoneforming the lacl.

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FIVE-CELLED -OPEN-FRONTED DOLMEN FORMER LY EXISTING NEARNIDi MAND,NILGIRIS. (FROMA ROUGMSKETCH MADE ON TH E SPOT).

CFKaeILalondcaEC.

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A CROMLECH-TEMPLE,ON THE SHIVARAI HILLS. MADRAS. (BURIED IN COFFEE BUSHES)

CFKeitLith1L o on E.C.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Nlon-SepulchrXalRude StoneMonumnents. 27 tippedwith red paint, and occasionallya small iinage. In two places 1 saw a collectionof eight or nine of these primitive templesarranged in a semicircleunder a huge tree. The crowd of stones in them has a curious appearance,for the people appear especiallyto choose any of unusual description:splinters of milk-whitequartz or black serpentine,water-worn pebbles of variouscolours, any long piece of stone or pebble that particu- larly catches the eye, seems to have been picked up and added to the collection. Pieces of petrifiedwood, and what is most interesting,often quite a numberof regularcelts, examplesof whichmay be seen in Col. Lane Fox's collectionin the Bethnal GreenMuseum. I regretnot havingascertained whether there was any particularname or idea associatedwith the celts. A roughsketch of one of these rude stonetemples is annexed: in the centrethere was a largesplinter of black stonesurrounded by some dozens of small pebbles,all tippedwith paint,which is renewed on particular occasions; flowers,boiled rice tinged yellowwith turmeric,and fruitsare laid beforethem. Much furtherto the north,amongst the aboriginalhill tribesof IRAj- mahal,like structuresand worshipappear to be used. The Rev. Mr. Christianreports that "a large black stone in an enclosure li/kea Aogsty(which must mean one of these cromlech-shrines),is a principalobject of theirworship." Experience indeed seems to show that open-sidedstructures of the above class were mostlyfree-standing and non-sepulchral, whilstcromlechs closed on all sides are tombs invariablycon- taining signs of interment,and appear to have been always originallycovered by a tumulus. Open-sideddolmens of the formerclass, thoughfrequent in Wales and Cornwall,are rare elsewherein England.. Of the half-dozenor so recordedI have seen that by the Roll-rightstones on the Warwickshireand Oxfordshireboundary, that at Drewsteigntonin Devonshire, called locally the Spinster'sRocks, and Kit's Cotyhouse, near Aylesford,known probably to many present. None of these seem to me to have been-sepulchral or ever covered by a tumulus,and I have lneverheard of anythinghaving been foundin thembetokening interments. The differencebetween themand the greatchambered graves at Uley, StoneyLittleton, in Somersetshire,and in Guernsey,which I have also inspected, is veryobvious. ThoughKit's Coty House is commonlycalled Horsa's Grave, and that chieftainwas doubtlessburied in the neighbourhood,Professor Stephens, of Copenhagen,considers that Bede's descriptionof his monument," Monumentumsub nomine insigne,"rather suggests a standingstone carvedwith his namne. On the Nilgiri Hills, in Madras,there is a large numberof

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open-sideddolmens of this class, several of which present the special peculiarityof being sculptured inside with hunting scenes,processional groups, and figurescommemorative of Satis or widow immolation. Usually a lartgedolmen so sculpturedis surroundedby smallerplain ones,and consistsof a singlecell, or sometimesof two,three, four, or even five in a row. In the " Journal of Anthropology,No. I, p. 43, Major Ross King describesa two-celledsculptured dolmen, found by him on the southernedge ofthe Nilgiriplateau, as havingthe whole interior, that is to say, the innerface of each slab, coveredover with car- ving; and this is a rough sketch of one discoveredby myself; which has, however,been subsequentlythrown down and de- stroyedto make way for coffeeplanting. It consistedof three large centralcells witha smallerat each end; the middlecells were roofedwith large coveringstones overlappingone another at the edges,and the supportingslabs were covered within by rudely sculpturedhunting and processionalgroups. Nothing denotingan intermenthas been foundin any of thesedolmens, whethercarved or plain, though burial cairns of anothertype are abundanton the hills. The variousNilgiri tribes, who have been sufficientlyoften described before this Institute,lay no claim to them,and regardthem with diverse feelingsof super- stition. Thus the Tlodaswill not toucha sculptureddolmen, and the Badagas, the most numerousand recent of the hill tribes, have turnedthem into deities,not looking on themas temples, but as actual gods; and when it was attenmptedto removesome of the carved slabs for a museum they petitioned strongly against the proceeding,saying, " It is our God." Nevertheless it is certainthat they who are known to have migratedto the Nilgirifrom Mysore, three centuries ago, neitherraised the dol- inens nor sculpturedthe stones,any more than the Todas, who will not touchthem; and whetherthe buildersof the dolmens also wroughtthe carvingsis a debatablepoint. The latter are distinctlyHindu, and bear allusions to the Basava creed,which originatedabout nine centuriesago. It may be thatfugitives fromthe plains below,in thoseages of whichnothing is known but that theywere-filled with wars and turmoil,may have made thosecarvings on the stones of the temple-likestructures they foundstanding, but the whole point is doubtful. At any rate thereis niothingto connectthem with burial purposes; no vestige of urnor intermentwas discoveredin the five-celleddolmen foundby me,but in one of the large compartments,in which a man could easily sit,there lay along piece of polishedleg bone, which,thepeople with me said had been put there by the Ku- rumbarsto denotea deity. That dwarfishhalf wild jungle race, which with their near relatives the Irulas (= " childrenof

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ATon-SepulchralRude StoneMonuments. 29 darkness") inhabitthe mostsecluded denselywooded fastnesses of the mountainslopes, are to my mind not the least probably connectedwith the aboriginal builders of these monuments. Somethreads of connectionstill exist. The Kurumbarsof Mulli, one of the wildest Nilgirideclivities, come up annuallyto worship at one of the dolmenson the table-landabove, in whichthey say one of theirold gods resides. Regardedwith fear and hatred as sorcerersby the agriculturalBadagas ofthe table-land,one of themmust neverthelessat sowingtime be called to guide the firstplough for two or threeyards, and go througha mysticpan- tomiineof propitiationto theearth deity, without which the crop would certainlyfail. When so summonedthe Kurumbarmust pass the nightby the dolmensalone, and I have seen one who had been called fromhis forest-dwellingfor the morningcere- mony,sitting after dark on the capstoneof a dolmenwith heels and hams drawntogether and chin on knees,looking like some huge ghostlyfowl perched on the mysteriousstones. Boththe Kurumbars and Irulas,when one of themdies, have a custom of depositinga long water-wornpebble (devva kotta kWllN)taken from the bed of a stream,as a memorial,in some of the sculptureddolmens. One large dolmen at Melkundah,in particular,was found filled up to the capstone with these pebbles, which must have been the accumuilationof genera- tions.* Still pursuingthe subject of open-sided dolmens, Colonel Meadows Taylor reportsthat they abound fi Sorapur in the Deccan, " open at one side, and formedof threelarge slabs for walls, and one fora roof. All such cromlechsI have seen are empty." Intermixed with them, however, are numbers of "kistvaens smallerthan the cromlechs,constructed on the same * In Brahman funeralceremonies there is a usage curiouslyrecalling this customof a primitiveoutcast tribe, and perhaps retainingsome vestige of stoneworship. Aftera Brahman'sbody has been burnt,there are ten days' mourning; on the third day the relationsand friendsre-assemble at the burning- groundand, afterthe bonesand ashes have been gathered,a smallbank of earth is thrownup, on which three stones are set, one called by the name of the deceased, anotherby that of Yama, the Lord of Hell, and the last is called Rudra, the causerof tears. The three stones are decoratedwith flowers,and a sacrifleeoffered them amid much lamentation. The leader of the funeralthen takesthe threestones home with him, and on the tenth day,after other cere- monies have been gone throughand the stones again worshipped,the leader takesthem, and going into water up to the neck, turns towardsthe sun and addressesit thus: " Up to this day these stones have representedthe deceased; henceforthlet him cease to be a corpse; be he now receivedinto Swarga: there let himbe happy as long as Ganges shall flow." Sayingthese words, he casts the stonesbehind him, and returnsto tle bank; so themourning ends. Another allied primitivepractice is that of the Xharrias,a very wild jungle tribe of Singhbumin Bengal. I'his people,after a death, set up a tall rough slab of stoneclose to the house,to which,as representingthe deceased,they make (daily oblations.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 30 M. J. WALHOUSE.-Olt principle,but closed on all sides. Generally a circularhole exists in one of the sides." These closed and holed dolmens always containinterments. Here the same principleobtains of open-sideddolmens showingno sepulchralcharacter, and never havingbeen coveredwith a mound; but it is peculiarthat in this instancethe closed and holed sepulchraldolmens elsewhere, originallyat least,subterranean, stand mixed withthe open class, and cannot have everbeen underground. This is accountedfor probablyby Colonel Meadows Taylor's remarkthat " the whole of the groundcovered by the erectionsis rock, into which the slabs have been fixed,resting upon the rock." Some unknown cause may have influencedthe choiceof such a spot,the nature of whichmade it imipossibleto constructthe sepulchralcham- bers underground.In the mountainousprovince of Coorgclosed and holed kistvaens,sunk underground and filledwith sepulchral deposits,are also abundant; but there is one remarkablegroup whichshows no sepulchralcharacter. Near Somawarpettah,on the rockysummit of a hill commandinga fineprospect all round, thereare fourlarge cromlechs,not closed,but consistingof huge overlyingslabs supportedby masses of stone. The largestslab is 11 feet 8 inches long by 8 feet wide. Each cromlechis surroundedby a circleof stones,stands out in high reliefon the hill top,and has never been covered with earth. They were quite empty; nothingconnected with interments could be found in or about them,and theirappearance is certainlysuggestive of altars. Somewhatsimilar to these is a cromlechat Pallicondah, 12 miles fromVellore, in the Madras Presidency,the one single free-standingdolmen, with no kistvaenor subterraneancharacter about it that I have seen or heard of on theplains. A figurein- adequatelyrepresenting its massiveness and actual appearance will be foundat page 491 of "Rude Stone Monuments." The capstoneis 12 feetlong by 8 wide,and about 2- thick,and sup- ported,not by slabs,but by six large roundedboulder-like masses of granite,two at the northend, two at the south,two smaller, not touchingthe capstone,on the west side, and the east side open. The capstone is elevatedabout 5 feet fromthe ground, and on its upper centrewere four round depressions,placed 0 thus, o o, thatto the rightbeing smallest. Mr. Fergusson 0 speaks of it as "a sepulchralmound," but it gave me no such idea, forit standsupon a graniteplatform that rises above the soil,with no means forinterment beneath. Open-sideddolmens perfectlycorresponding with the Indian and Europeanexamples are also abundantin Palestineupon the east side of the Jordan. Mr. D. RobertsonBlaine describesthem in the " Athenoeum" as

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all formedon the sameplan. " Threeslabs of unhewngranite are fixed perpendicularlyin the ground,closely and at a rightangle to each other,thus formingthree sides of a square. Upon these a fourthslab is laid, overlappingits supports,the south-eastside always leftopen; the supportingslabs about 6 feethigh, the top slab an irregularsquare of about 12 feet." No excavations appear to have been made, but judging from analogy theyare not sepulchral. The Arabs call them-Beit el GhQfl= House of the Ghoul,and are terriblyafraid of the spot. The peculiar class of megaliths called "cdemi-dolmens,"in which one end of the capstone always rests on the ground, also has no discoverable connectionwith interments.* The only example I have ever seen is one on the north coast of Jersey. Captain S. P. Oliver (" Journalof the EthnologicaJ Societyof London,"vol. ii, p. 66, New Series),speaks of it as " a doubtfuldemi-dolmen in the northernpart of Trinityparish, called the Roche a la Fee," whichhe was unable to visit. It is on a rockypoint of the highcliff between Petit Fort and Vicard Harbour,a beautifuland commandingspot overhangingthe sea. The stoneis of irregularshape, enorinously large and ponderous, 5 yardslong, 4A broad, and about 2- in greatestthickness, and whereasall the other prehistoricremains in the island are of granite,this only is of a pudding-stoneformation prevalent in the north-eastpart of the island,and it has no conceivablese- pulchralconnection. AnotherJersey antiquity is spokenof by Captain Oliverin the same page, thus: " There is some rumour of a trilithon,called the Pr6 des Trois Roches, having existed close to the sea at St. Ouen, but I could find no trace of it." Indeed it,is no easy matterto discoverit. I was huntingfor it more than half a summer'sday in 1860, and found it at last in a field called Pr6 des Trois Roches, about 500 yards S.E. of the piece of watercalled St. Ouen's Fishpond. The two standingstones are thick and stumpy,nearly 5 feet high; a third stone, of the same apparent size, lies close by, on the north,flat, embedded in the ground. This megalithalso seemed to me non-sepulchral. I would venture to say little upon stone circles. The far largerproportioli of themis undoubtedlysepulchral. Of course all that enclose tumuli or tomb-chambersare. Mr. Fergusson holds that all circlesup to 100 feet are sepuilchral;when they becomelarger, consisting of stonesrising severalfeet above the surface,and enclosingno formof grave,they may possiblyhave been devotional. Of examplesknown to me, I cannotbut agree * It is now asserted,apparently with reason, that these megalithsare only dilapidateddolmens that have lost some of their supports,and have no claim to be regardedas a separateclass.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 32 M. J. WALHOUSE.-OTh with the late Rev. C. H. Hartshorne,F.S.A., in consideringthe large circleson Corndon,on the Shropshireand Welsh border,as havingrather a religious application: nothing,I believe, has been discoveredin them denoting burials (see " Salopia An- tiqua "). The fine circle,too, on the borderof the Dartmoor, on the bank of the Teign, above Chagford,seems to me non- sepulchral. On the Nilgiri hills,on the northdeclivity of the highest sumnmit,on a spot of exceedingpicturesque beauty, whereseveral wooded slopes converge,there is a double circle, 35 feet in diameter,of stonesof rathersmall size, none exceed- ing 3 feetabove theground, except two, which form an entrance on the southside. The stonesare placed ratherclose together, and the inner and outerrings are a yard apart. No traceof an intermenthas been discoveredin this circle,the only one of the kind known to me on those hills. The Irulas previouslyre- ferredto have, however,two templeson the top of Rangaswanii Peak, the highesteasterni Nilgiri summit,where they twice a year worshipVishnu under the name of Rangaswami,with much ceremony. The templesare circlesof roughstones, each enclosing an uprightstone that representsthe deity. One of the circles is of recent date. The Rev. Henry Baker,of the Tra- vancoreMission, informed me that thoughtumuli and kistvaens abound on the TravancoreHills, in the extremesouth of India, he had only seen one stone circle,much dilapidated,and thatit containedno marksof interment. The nativescalled it a Rashi hill of Parasurama,from a traditionthat when Parasurama (Rama of the Axe) createdKerala (the long strip of seaboard between the Western Ghauts and the Indian Ocean), rolling back the waters, he sowed the new land with rashies (the small spangle-likegold Hindu coins frequentlyfound all over the country),and buriedthe surplus in thiscircle. The " Athenaeum" of 31st May, 1851, reportedthat Sir Robert Schomburgkhad discoveredin St. Domingo"a granitering, 2,270 feetin circum- ference. In the middleof this circlelies an idol, nearly6 feet in length,formed likewise out of granite. In all his travelsin Guiana or the continentSir Robert never met with such a monument." This too appears an instance of a devotional circle. It may not be out of place to conclude this paper with some instancesof worshipand observances,unconnected with funeral rites,paid to rough stones ancientlyand at the present day. Pansanias expressly affirms(Lib. vii, 22) that in the most ancient times, universally amongst the Greeks, rough stones receiveddivine honours instead of images*(a'PI- aeyaXdX,uadr * Lucian (de Dea Syria) affirmsthat the Egyptians firstattained knowledge of divinethings and built temples,whiclh the Assyrianslearnt from them,but

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Jt%ov dpryoX?d3Oot OecWv Ttpa), and in differentpassages he speaks of Hercules (Lib. ix, 24), Juno (id.), and even Cupid (Lib. ix, 27) and the Graces (Lib. ix, 33), being representedby roughstones " accordingto ancientusage." ApolloniusRhodius II, 1172, speaks of a greatsacred stone in the temple of Mars at Orchomenos,worshipped by the Amazons. The pre-Mahome- tan Arabianswere especiallystone-worshippers, Maximus Tyrius, who says he saw it, affirmstheir idol was only a square stone, whetherhewn orrough is not clear. Suidas saysthey worshipped the planet Mars at Petra underthat figure. The ancient Lap- landersworshipped rough stones called Seiteh. The Israelites are warnedaoainst " settingup any imageof stonein theirland to bow down to it" (Levit.xxvi). The " image of stone" (Heb. Eben maskit; Septuagint,X(Oov o-K07-ovS;Vulgate, lapis insig- nis) may have been a rough stone pillar, perhaps a phallic emblem. Up to the 9th centuryA.D., therewere several decrees of Councilsand kings against popular stone-worship,evidently not of images,but of rude stones(saxa-lapides.) I think it not impossibleone such stonemay still be seen. In Devonshire,in the ChagfordValley, underthe Kestor and the mysteriousstone avenues,and not farbelow the meetingof the Northand South Teign,there is a greatstone, famous locally as the Puggie stone. It standsin a fairy-hauntedspot above the woodedhollow down which the Teign rushes fromthe Dartmoor heights,and is a largerock-boulder 12 or 15 feethigh, and littleless in breadth. The outerside is plain,but on the inner side facing the river, thereare naturalrifts and hollows,so disposed as to give some idea of a gigantichuman face, and grotesquelyindicate eyebrows, nose,and mouth. On the top of the stonethere is a large and regularrock-basin. Many storiescluster about the spot,and the name,Puggie Stone,is evidentlyderived fromPouke, the old termfor a demonor evil spirit,whence too Puck. Cromlechs in the ChannelIslands are still called " poukelays." Possibly in prehistoricages when the hut-dwellings,stone-circles and avenues on the Dartmoorabove wereinhabited and the scenes of unknownrites, this strange-lookingstone may also have been worshipped,and reg,ardedwith an awe that reached far into Christiantimes, and is hardlyyet extinct. The names of many places may also contain traces of stone-worship.In France that at firstthe Egyptiantemples were withoutimages-&e60Coi. The Tipperah hill-tribesin Bengal,who now worshipthe Hindu gods,say that beforethe reign of the legendaryking Trilochun, they worshipped no idols,but objectsof nature, such as stonesand trees; and amongstthe Oraons,another Bengal forest-tribe, Chandais the god of the chase always invokedbefore hunting. Any piece of rock,or stone,or excrescenceon a rock, serves to representthis deity; forthe Oraonsmust have somethingmaterial to worship,and theirmost popular demon, Darha, is representedby a ploughshareset up on an altar.-(Col. Dalton). VOL. VII. D

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 34 M. J. WALHOUSE.-On severaltowns bear the name of Pierre Fiche, which means an unwroughttall stone-a mienhir. One sourceof the venerationpaid to stones may have arisen from their use as land-marksor memorials of agreements- " stonesof witness"-such as the pillar set up in witnessof the compactmade betweenJacob and Laban, along withthe heaps, in the passage Qf Genesis already quoted. Such, too,was the " Great stone" set up by Joshua under an oak before the Sanctuaryof the Lord, " to be as witness unto us," and the Ebenezer stone set up by Samuel betweenMizpeh and Shen. Herodotusrelates that when twoArabians made a compact,they cut the inside of theirhands with a sharpstone and rubbedthe blood upon seven stonesranged betweenthem. Amongstthe Khasia hill-tribesof India, " when there was war between Cherraand Mausmai,they made peace, sworeto it, and erected a stone as a witness."-Mausmai = Oath-stone. A promise made on tlhe Odin-stone in the Orkneys was within living memorythe most inviolable of engagements. On passing the Jordan12 stoneswere set up in the midstof the river and 12 in Gilgal,as a memorial,by commandof Joshua,and it is possible that " theyare thereunto this day." In Ramnad,Southern India, thereare nine stones on the sea-shore,said to have been plantedby Rama on his expeditionto Ceylon to representthe planets,and worshippedby him; theyare emblemsof prosperity to thecountry; any ofthem breaking off or crumblingat the top is an omen of disaster. It is not difficultto conceivehow stones placed for any of the purposesjust enumeratedwould attract sentimentsof awe and veneration.* Oil would be poureduponl them,and theywould becomeanointed stones,such as may be seen to-dayby everyroad-side in India.t Jacob both afterhis dream,and afterhe had talked with God, set up a stone and pouredoil thereon. Theophrastusin his " Characteristicsof a SuperstitiousMan," says, " if at crossingshe should see an anointedstone, he falls upon his knees,pours oil upon it, and worshipsit." Lucian, too,in his " Pseudomantis,"says of Ruti- * Such sentimentswould be increased when, as would not unfrequently happen,magical or healing virtuesbecame attributedto the stones. Geoffrey of Monmouth,in a well-knownpassage, tells a legend thatwhen Aurelius con- sulted Merlin as to what monumentshould be raised to the Britonstreacher- ouslymassacred by Hengist,the enchanterreplied, " You wouldhave the giant's dance broughtfrom Ireland! Do not, Lord king,vainly excitelaughter; those stonesare magical,and virtuousin healing in manyways; giantsbrought them of old fromfurthest Africa; they heal sicknessand cure wounds; everystone therehas its own healingpower." In France, even to-day,women are said to sit on dolmensto cure sterility. In the West of England, almost up to recent times,children were passed throughholed stones for variousdiseases; and the Welsh Triads affirmthat "1on the stonesof Gwiddon-Ganhebonone could read the artsand sciencesof the world." t This consecrationby oil is in India termedNivedyam.

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lianus,that he was an excellentman and of notedvalour in war, but very superstitiousin religiousmatters, so that if he saw an anointedstone anywherehe would fall down and adore and offerpetitions to it. These passages show that rough stones were commonlyvenerated in classic times. In France to this day the inhabitantsof the Haute-Loireare said to anointwith oil the " peyromartino " ofLivernon (a dolmenfigured in lRnde Stone Monuments,"p. 347), as in ancient times. Anointing rocksand stoneswith oil turnsthem black, and this may be one reasonfor the particularveneration paid to blackstones, as well as thatbeing the usual colourof aerolites,the fall of whichon a large scale is a startlingphenomenon, certain to excite strong superstitiousawe amongstall primitiveand ignorantpeoples.* Captain R. J. Burton,after kissing and handlingthe famous Black Stone of Mecca, was convinced it is an aerolite,and so probablywas the Phcenician Image of the Sun, called Elaga- balom,which Herodian says was worshippedby all the neigh- bouringkings, and was a large black cone-shapedstone said to have fallenfrom the sky. It is curiousthat the Ayeen Akbari (Life and Deeds of the EmperorAkbar) mentionsa pillar of black stone,80 cubitshigh, as the mostsacred object beforethe Temple of the Sun at Jaganath,and the idol is describedthere by Captain Hamiltoinas a huge black pyramidalstone.t The anciontscalled aerolites Bcetylia,and held them mythicallyto be thiestones palmed upon Saturn by Rhea for his children, and vomitedup by him. Hesiod in his Theogonymentions a famoussacred stone in Pytho under the heights of Parnassus, said to have been the stonepalmed upon Saturnfor Jupiter, and to have been plantedin Pythoby the latterfor a wonder to all men,probably some legendof a greatmeteorite. Other instances of black stoneworship are the idol of the mysteriousSiaposh in CentralAsia, whichMr. Masson describes as " an erect image of black or dark colouredstone the size of a man." The Her- mansauleof the Germansseems to have been in its earliestform a tall black stone. Captain J. Cope, who travelledthrough Western India in 1758, describesa ceremonyhe saw in " a certaingrove on the coast of Canara,when several thousanidsof * In February,1857, at noon, two aerolitesfell in the districtof Madura, Madras Presidency; theyfell about three miles apart,with a tremendousrever- berationlike prolongedthunder, but much louder thatwas heard at a distance of 40 miles; one weighed37 lbs., the other was four timeslarger; theystruck cultivatedground and buried themselvesmore than two feetin the earth: one of them is now in the British Museum. The natives in the neighbourhood, whenthey fell, dropped on theirfaces and remainedlong prostratewith fear; afterwardsgreat crowdscame and worshiLppedthem. In some templesin Bengal the lingam-idolis said to be a meteoricstone. t Antoniode Solis relatesthat a large black stone was placed beforethe idol on the pyramidof the greatMexican Sun-temple. D 2

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 36 M. J. WALHOUSE.-ON people assembled,and in the middleof the grovewas placed a black stoneof 300 or 400 lbs.weight, without any designedshape, but bedaubedwith red lead mixed with oil. A little earthen pot of firewas placed beforethe stone,and a girl about ten yearsof age to attendit." This was probablyVetal, an aboriginal Bhuta or Demon; his usual image is a rough pyramidal stone from2 to 4 feet high,generally under a treeon the east side, and sometimessurrounded by a circle of stones which typifyhis retinueof attendantdemons. It has been previously stated that the Rajmahal hill-tribesworship Raxi under the formof a black stone,and Col. Dalton (Ethnologyof Bengal) reportsthat when a man-eatingtiger infests the village, or a bad epidemicbreaks out, Raxi has to be soughtout, and with the aid of a priestor diviner,a black stone,which represents the god,is found,and set up undera large tree. Chal or Chalnad is sim- larly soughtwhen any calamitybefalls a village,and he also is foundas a black stone,and set up undera Mukmuintree. At the presentday the mostsacred amulets among the Hindus are the Salagrams,black, smooth, water-worn ammonites brought fromthe Gandak river in the Himalaya, and carriedall over India; theyare held to typifyVishnu and all the gods. The shepherdsof Languedocare said to carryblack stones pierced withholes as an amuletto preservetheir flocks from the rot. Indeed, rude stoneworship exists to-day perhaps to an unsus- pected extent. Mr. Masson relatesthat in the tenmplededicated to the goddessat the foot of the Koh Assa Mahi (Hill of the Great Mother)near Cabul, " a huge stoneis the object of ado- ration." Major Macphersonstates that " a special deity of the Khonds is a stone withoutshape, and weighing about 75 lbs." Nadzu Pennu,the village god,and Koda Pennu, the horse god, are representedalso simplyby stonesplaced undera large tree. Southwards,in the Peninsula,a large proportionof the agricul- tural and forestcastes representtheir deities by rough stones. One instanceis noteworthyas showing on what occasions,and how easily,a new god maybe set up amiongsta primitivepeople. The late Mr. Breeks in his "Wild Tribesof the Nilagiri Hills," relatesthat a few years ago the Kotas, one of the tribesof the NilagiriHills, were visited by a virulentdisease which carried off so manyof themthat the village was abandoned. As theyare the ironsmithsof that region,their neighbours,the Badagas, probablyfound their absence inconvenient, and a Badaga passing one eveningby the desertedvillage, received a mysteriouscom- municationfrom something in the shape of a tiger,that unless the Kotas returnedthe disease would spread; so theyreturned. Now their only previous deities were Kamataraya and his wife,each representedby a thin silver plate, but now they set

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Non-Sepulch,alRude StoneMonuments. 37 up a new god, an uprightstone, and called it Magaili,whose special officewas to protectthem fromthe disease,which did not appear again; and everyyear since goats and fowlsare sacri- ficedto Magali. It has been already mentionedhow another tribe,the Irulas, worshipRangaswami under the figureof an uprightstone in a circleon the easternmostNilgiri peak; they too of late yearshave added anothercircle and stone to the old temple,and call the latterGreat, and the formerLittle, Ranga- swami. Lower on the mountainslopes the still wilderKurum- bas worshipa roughround stone under the name of Hiria Deva, = Old God, settingit up either in a cave or irregularcircle. I will add a fewmore instancesof existing stone-worshipin those provincesmost familiar to me. In Mysore when a new village is founded,the principalGowda, or head-man,places a large stone in or near the site,called Kiur'uvuKallu, or Calf- stone, this representsthe tutelaryvillage god, and receives annualworship and offerings.In the same provincethe Goalar, or herdsmen,have a small temple containingtwo shapeless stones termedJinjappa and iRamappa. The Beidaru,who are cultivators,worship a rude shapelessstone placed on a cairn,or sometimesin a cavityof a rock. The iron-minershave a deity named Muti Raya, - Pearl King, a shapeless stone placed in an open-sideddolmen about 6 feet square. Anothercaste thatcultivates betel-leaf gardens has two deities,Sidday devaru, a stone set up in a betel-vinegarden, and Urukati,a stone placed in a wood. In Malabar the goddess of the salt-makersis Nidamah Bhagavati, a stone placed in a cocoa-leaf hut; that of the Poliars, a degraded slave-caste,is Paradevata, a rough stone placed on a moundin the open air. The goddessof the Pariahs is a stone placed in a small hut,called Mariti; and of the Ku- rumbalar,a stone named Madya devam,planted on a heap of pebbles. In Coimbatorethe Pallies, a numerous caste, have two special deities,Manar Swami and Pachamma,both large stones; the Maleiarasar,= Hill-kings, commonlycalled Mul- sers, of the Anamalay and Paulghaut jungles, have a god named Mallang,who is a stone surroundedby a low wall, and the Kaders, = forest men, who live in the depths of the forests,have a male god Mudeviran,and two female deities, Pey-kotiAmma and Kall Amma,all representedby rude stones placed in small huts. All these obscuredeities receive bloody sacrifices,i.e., offerings of fowls,goats, or sheep,*but it must not

* Mr. Horne,however, informed me that in Himalaya,nvillages a stoneis set up as a pillar in the centre,the top smeared with whitewash,and fivefinger. marksof red ochrelaid on, and on this flowersare offeredfor the prosperityof the field.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 38 M. J. WALHOUSE.-On be supposedthat theyabsorb the worshipof the severalcastes and tribesenumerated; many worship the ordinaryHindu gods as well. The instances just given are but froma verysmall part of India, and the list might doubtless be immenselyin- creased,proving the wide prevalenceof stone-worshipthere to- day. Mr. Hunter in his work " Orissa," vol. i, p. 95, observes of this two-foldworship, " At the presenthour in everyhamlet of Orissa the commonpeople have theirshapeless stone or block, whichthey adore withsimple rites in the open air; while side by side withit is a templeto one of the Aryan gods,with its carved image and elaborate rites." So in the early ages in Europe,the rude stoneso.f popular worship doubtless stood long by the firstChristian ohurches. In our stage of intellectual advancementit is difficultto put ourselves in that mental posturewhich could directlyand literallyworship " stocks and stones." One may conceivehow prayersand adorationmight be offeredto the statues that embodied the ideals of majesty, intellect,and beautyin old Greece,and imaginethe sternunim- pressionableRoman Consul shrinkingabashed beforethe Zeus of Phidias,in Elis, exclaimingthat he beheld God! We know how widely over Europe images are regardedwith feelings approachingadoration, and can conceive how the hideous idols of the South Seas inspire a worship promptedby superstitious dread,but it does not seem so easy to comprehend-how mere rude stones-shapeless masses and splintersof rock-could be taken to symbolise,or to be, a deity. Animals,terrible, useful or beautiful,trees, flowers, striking natural features,might suggest ideas of awe or veneration,and indeed vestiges thereof survive amongst civilised peoples, as well as amongst those tribesthat mostnearly represent the prehistoricraces, who were presumablyalive to the same influences. Still it is hard to thinkwhy dull lumps of stoneand rock should be chosen as emblemsof any supernaturalpower, yet the fact remainsthat a collectionof lumps and splintersof stone by the wayside sufficesfor Hindu worshipto-day, and might have sufficedfor the men of the stoneages.* * Anothercause of stone-worshipmay be theinfluence of old legends.Amongst the featsof the god Siva, it is recordedthat being angrywith the six nursesof his son,Kartikeya, because they were careless in learningthe eight formsof prayer,he laid on them a malediction"that they should become large stones underthe B3anyantree near Madura, for 1,000 years." Whilst undergoingthis penance,they were worshipped as evidencesof the powerof the god. Mcgaliths in Europe are oftenpopularly held to be transformedmen; e.g.,the Rollright- stonesand the Cornishhurlers. Again,at the footof a mountainin Travancore therestood a magnificentand gigantictimber tree: fourmen with outstretched armscould not compassits trunk. Severalrude stonesof no greatsize placed at its base had been worshippedfrom time immemorialand supposedto represent forest-godswho dweltin its branches. It was the blood ancdashes and other

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There could be nothingin this of that nature-worshipso largelydeveloped in modernpoetry and philosophy,of which Wordsworthhas been the great hierophant. Neither living savages nor men of the flintdays can be thoughtof as finding sermonsin stones,or tlloughtsthat lie too deep for tears in a floweror tree; and Kingsley'sapostrophe- I cannottell whatye say,red rocks! I cannottell whatye say, But I k-nowthat in you too a spiritdoth dwell, And a wordin you this day! would be takenby them in a verydifferent sense. Such ideas indeed are the latest resultof culture; and to a higherplane of mentalperception and reflectionalso would seem to belongthat idea of generation,symbolised in so many ancientmyths and religionsby the pillar, spire,lingam, circle, cave, &c., of which rough stones might be the readiest emblems,and so become sacred. Were any clue possible to the dark labyrinthof prehistoric thought,it might be looked for amongst the most secluded, uncultivatedraces, such as are describedby the Rev. W. W. Gill (" Myths and Songs fromthe South Pacific"),in Mangaia,the mostsecluded of the SocietyIslands. One idea pervadingMan- gaian mythologyis that earthlyobjects are but the material bodies of spiritualpowers or originals,so that if an axe cleaves or a club kills, it is because demons are invisiblypresent in them; and the idea extendsto supposingthat all ordinaryinert objectshave spiritualdoubles, or ghosts.* Thus when Indians burya warriorwith all his weapons,it is with the idea that the ghostsof the weaponsmay go withhis to the Spirit-land. This helps us to conceivehow tribesin India to-daycan see deities in shapeless stones; so may it have been with men in the unknownprehistoric past, in whose graves,too, weapons are so frequentlyfound, deposited perhaps with thesame idea. Another manuredeposited there on sacrificialand festivaloccasions that had nourished and so wonderfullyenlarged this colossaltree. The missionarieswished to pur- chase it forthe erectionof a large chapel at Neyur,and afterobtaining permis- sion,were obliged to call Christianworkmen from a long distanceto cut it down, all the mountaineersrefusing to assist,arid viewing its fellingwith great alarm froma distance. All the woodworkof the newchapel was made fromthis single tree,and the forest-peopleafterwards listened more readilyto the preachingof the missionaries. An occurrencelike this in recentyears probablyrepresents manysimilar passages in the earlycenturies of Christianityin Europe. * The Idea underlyingthe plimitiveVedic religionis that materialobjects have a spiritualas well as a physicalpotency, and may thencebe addressedwith prayerand hymns. So, too, Swedenborg'sfamous Doctrine of Correspondencies declares that all physical things are but the types of tbings existingin the spiritualworld. Eveniso rude a people as the Karens of Chittagong,have ain analogouisidea; everyobject amongst them has its kelaA, or genius; if the rice cropis unpromising,its kelah has to be invoked.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 40 M. J.WALHOUSE.-On aspect of the same primevalway of thinkingseems to exist in the Gauri, the most popular and universallyobserved festival, except one,in India. It is held in the beginningof September, when people of all castes and classes,from the Brahman to the Pariah,offer prayers and sacrificesto the tools and implements used in theirseveral professions and crafts. LearnedBrahmans and well educatedclerks and officialsput togethertheir writing materials,paper or palm-leaves,pens, stylus,and ink; the mer- chantand bazaar man theiraccount books and scales; the culti- vatorhis plough,hoe, and harrow;the carpenterand smiththeir tools; the weaverhis loom and shuttles; the tailorhis needles, &c.; the barber his razorsand hone; the women theirbaskets, rice-pounders,pots, and household implements,and placing flowersand incense,prostrate themselves at length beforethe objectsof theirdaily use, with thanksfor having affordedthe meansof living,and prayersthat they will continueto do so. This worshipis offereddirectly to the thingsthemnselves, and not to any deitiessymbolised,* and seems to containthe germsof the South Sea theory,and suogest how worship can be paid to "stocks and stones,"whetZer in prehistoricor presenttimes. Morethan the men of Athens,the Hindoos are 8etao-ta&toveoTe'- pot (Actsxvii, 22) in the truesense of greatlyprone to recognise the presenceof supernaturalpowers; and menversed in English literature,in law, and moralphilosophy can rollup littleballs of cow dung and clay,give themdivine namies, worship them, and toss themaside. This dispositionmay have begunfar back in prehistorictimes. Some have held that religioussentiment was then a blank,arguing from certain tribes among whom travellers have reportedno appearanceof religionexisted, but it is always questionable whetherthey had penetrated all the modes of thoughtabout them. That sentimentmust have originated some time,perhaps not verylong afterpassing fromDarwin's tailed arboreal stage, and rough stones mighthave been, and continuedto be, as now amongstso manyprimitive tribes, the readiestsymbols of beingsimagined out of themselves.Sir John Lubbock (" Origin of Civilisation,"p. 205) thinks that stone- worshipis " merelya formof that indiscriminateworship which characterisesthe humanmind in a particularphase of develop- ment." This,however, hardly explains why rough stones should be so generallyselected amongst all naturalobjects for adora- tion,but all Sir JohnLubbock's pages on the worshipof stones demandthe highestconsideration. Beforequitting this subject,a word mayin conclusionbe said upon thatoldest of historicrough stones now in our midst-that * There are also two ceremoniesconducted by women,in which metaland earthenvessels are convertedinto gods,and worshippedas such.

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Stone of Destiny broughtin days beyond the keniof history fromSpain to Ireland as a talismanof nationalwelfare. On it the ancientIrish Kings werecrowned, when, if on being smitten it sent fortha clear ringingsound, the ceremonywas auspicious. Carried to Scotland, it was long the palladium with which national independencewas bound up, and broughtthence in triumph,as themost certaintoken of victoryit has forsix hun- dred years restedbeneath the Coronationchair at Westminster. The considerationand sacrednessattaching to this famousstone in its variousshrines and changesare almost a measure of the survivalof stone-worshipin the West. Were it lost or dragged fromits presentsanctuary, there would not be the same wide populardismay that followedits last removals,but I thinkfew here presentwould not experieneea feelingdeeper than simple antiquarianregret.

DIscusSION. The PRESIDENT observed that researchessuch as those of Mr. Walhouseon megalithicstructures and stoneworship of modern timeswere well calculatedto throwlight on themonuments and religiouspractices of far earliertimes. He was inclinedto think thatsome of the stoneswhich were the subjectof venerationat a remotedate might have been of meteoricorigin. The so-called " image" whichfell down from Jupiter and jointly with Diana, was the subjectof worshipat Ephesus,might well have beena meteo- rite. He thoughtthat the sitesof manyChristian churches had been determinedby the spotwhere they were erected being already deemedsacred; and thelarge blocks of stonewhich were built into the wall of the churchas at Le Mans,or layjust outsideit as at Treves,or were still erect in the closevicinity as at Rudstonein Yorkshire,might perhaps be the originalrude stone idols which had hallowedthe sites. Mr. HYDE CLARKE said Mr. Walhouse had made a reference which was perhaps connected with a prehistoricbelief which must have been widely distributed. In the Guarani language of Brazil and Paraguay therewere separate words for what had life or soul, and what was dead. Thus a distinctionwas made betweenthe head of a living and of a dead man or animal,and so throughout. Stones would receive worship on two grounds: first, divine stones or meteoritesfalling fromheaven; second, stones as being representa. tives of natural organs. Mr. Walhouise had well illustrated the parallels between the stone gods of Greece and India. On examin- ing Mr. Ferguson'sstone monuments, he had beensurprised to find the small evidence of astronomicalor symbolicalnumbers, and this he consideredwas consequent on the paucity of our recorded in- formationon the subject. Mr. LEWIS thought a distinctionshould be drawn between such allignmentsof stonesas those of Carnacand AshdownPark, and

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 42 Discutssion. mere double lines or avenues, such as exist on Dartmoor and else. where. Sacrificeswere offeredbefore lines of stones in Southern India, and similarlines were erectedas memorialsin NorthernIndia, and they might thereforesuppose that the European allignments were erected foreither purpose, as therewas everyreason to believe that they were not sepulchral. The two slabs with one across forminga shrineor canopy for an image appeared to resembleKit's Coty House without the central stone, which occupied the place of the image, and it had often struck him that that stone being rougher than those which surrounded and covered it, might have been held in greaterrespect. The directionto the Jews not to hew the stones used for their altar was well known, and the same idea might have prevailed elsewhere. There were several instances of non-sepulchral dolmens in England besides those mentioned by Mr. Walhouse, and three upright stones, arranged like those of Kit's Coty House, but without a capstone,were foundin connection with some of the larger circles. Referring to the black stones pierced with holes mentioned by 1MIr.Walhouse, Mr. Lewis said some people in England still preservedstones with naturallyformed holes, and called them lucky stones; and referringto some remarks by Colonel Lane Fox, he thoughthe had recentlyseen it stated that the custom of attaching pieces of rag to certain objects prevailed in Russia. He thoughtMr. Walhouse's paper a most useful one, and that the informationabout the dolmens used as repositoriesfor sacred objects was particularlyvaluable. Mr. MOGGRIDGEsaid, I could have wished to have gone more fully into the subjects treated of in the very able paper which has just been read, and the remarks that have been made thereon; but will confine myself to two points-Ist, the hanging of rags on bushes near to some spring or shrine supposed to be of potent power. These I believe to be votive offerings,testifying gratitude for cures wherebythose rags were tio longer required for dressing the parts affected. This custom prevails extensively,not only in England and Wales, but also on the continent,even down to the shores of the Mediterranean.-2ndly, upright stones. These, whether monumentalor not, frequentlybecame objects of worship. On some of them may be seen Ihe figureof a cross, cut by the early Christians, in order that the heathens, while paying their accustomedadoration to the maenhir,might, in fact,be worshipping the symbolof our faith: a pious fraud--but manifestinga kindly feeling. Mr. WALHOUSEin answer to the Presidentexpressed his opinion that the red maarksoften placed in India on sacred stones were analogous to the caste marks on the foreheadsof Hindus. Every onieamongst them must have some mark on his forehead. To have it bare is a sign of being in mourning or unclean, and it is dis- respectful to appear so in company. Hence all images of the gods have the forehead carefully adorned with caste-marks, and the custom is extended to daubing stones,or anythingsacred, with red. Colonel Forbes Leslie, however (Early Races of Scotland, ii, 464),

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 22:06:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions List of Presents. 43 thinksthe red marksare intendedto representblood. The author, with respectto tyingrags to a bush at a spotwhere a man had been killed by wild beasts,said he had onlymet with two or three instances,and believedthat therags weretied to a bushin lieu of stonesadded to the stone-heapraised at first,after loose stones had becomescarce around. In answerto Mr. Lewis,he said thathe rememberedno outlyingstone near the circledescribed by himon theNilgiri Hills, but thereis a smallercircle at a shortdistance on the easternside. Col. Lane Fox, Mr.Jeremiah and othersoffered some remarks.

Major Wisden exhibited some bronze antiquities lately discovered in the neighbourhoodof Worthing,consisting of palstaves,socket-celts, and pieces of metal. The palstaves,29 in number,were looped,and those exhibitedwere without orna- mentationon the blades, and in formmuch like Evans's Petit Album,P1. IV, No. 3. The socket-celts,12 in number,were of the type PI. V, No. 2, and the metal had been cast in cakes, whichhad subsequentlybeen brokeninto pieces. The wholehad been buried in an urn of burnt clay intermixedwith coarse sand, or possibly flint, which had been pounded into small angularfragments. The urn was too much brokenfor its shape to be recognisable. The Presidentremarked that the objects probablybelonged to the close of the bronzeperiod in this country. The meetingthen separated.

MARCH13TH, 1877. JOHNEVANS, Esq., F.R.S.,President, in aheChair. The minutes of the previous meetingwere read and con- firmed. The followingpresents were announced, and thanks were orderedto be returedto the respectivedoners for the same:

FOR THE LIBRARY. Fromthe SOC1ETY.-Proceedingsof the Royal Society. Vol. XXV, No. 177. Fromthe SociETY.-Jahrbuchder K. K. GeologischenReichsan. stalt. Vol. XXVI, No. No. 4; Verhandlungender K. K. Geo- logischenReichsanstalt. Nos. 14-16. Fromthe SOCIETY.-Mittheilungender AnthropologischenGesell- schaftin Wien. Vol. VI, Nos. 6-10.

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