in reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Bray ley, jun. 109 



cut in the surface of the rock ; the other, with lips, or com- 

 munications between the different basins, in some instances 

 one of them being lower than the other, and the communica- 

 tion between the two sometimes extending to the bottom of 

 the upper basin. Borlase*, who was the first writer, I be- 

 lieve, that made any attempt to account for the origin and de- 

 sign of these cavities, rejects the notion that they were used 

 for libations of blood, wine, honey, or oil, and thinks they 

 were intended to collect water from the rains or dews, in the 

 greatest purity, for the purpose of ablutions, which were very 

 common among the priests of all ancient superstitions, and 

 probably therefore among the Druids. But he proposes this 

 of course only as conjecture. 



That the ancient Britons were capable of forming them, 

 there can be little doubt. We know that they had made at 

 least some progress in the mechanical arts. We learn, for 

 instance, from Caesar, who could not be mistaken, that they 

 had chariots of war, armed with scythes, and there is other 

 evidence of their possessing skill equal to the task in question. 

 The Phoenicians, moreover, had made much greater progress 

 in mechanical skill ; nor is it disputed that with the West of 

 England especially they had much commercial intercourse, 

 and there is some evidence of their having formed settlements 

 here as they had done elsewhere. This being the case, they 

 could scarcely have failed to communicate some portion of 

 their own improvements to the Britons. What is there ex- 

 traordinary in the supposition that these rock- basins might 

 possibly be formed by these ancient inhabitants of the island? 

 And if conjectures are to be hazarded, the most probable seems 

 to connect them with Druidical superstitions. 



I cannot conclude without taking notice of one observation 

 more of Mr.B/s ( " Devon," p. 289) : he has found, he say s, " other 

 antiquarian friends are not willing to resign altogether that 

 notion of these excavations, which in the hands of Dr. Borlase 

 and his compeers has given rise to so imposing a pageant of 

 the ceremonies of Druidism." I at least have not met with 

 any writers who are at all disposed to rest their opinions 

 on so slight a foundation. Their notions of Druidical cere- 

 monies are usually derived from ancient writers, who were 

 best acquainted with these matters, and are most worthy of 

 credit. In the account which I have given of these super- 

 stitions in the early part of the work on Devonshire, I have 

 made very little use of Borlase's work; for I am aware 

 that this writer appears to have been in the habit of bringing 

 together statements favourable to his own notions, from va- 



* p. 230 of his work on the antiquities of Cornwall. 



rious 



