118 STONE CIRCLES. 



each been formed of nineteen stones."* Stonehenge is the 

 most celebrated example of a stone circle, but it differs from 

 the usual type in several respects; for instance, in having 

 the principal stones roughly hewn, and in the presence of 

 capstones. 



Stone circles are by no means confined to Europe. The 

 Todas of the Neilgherry Hills have stone circles within which 

 burial ceremonies are performed, the ashes being placed under 

 one of the stones.^ Throughout the Deccan are numerous 

 stone circles sacred to Vetal, whose worship still holds its 

 own against the Brahmanical innovations ;J while Sir Bartle 

 Frere, in his Introductions to Miss Frere's charming; "Old 



o c? 



Deccan Days," tells us that in that part of India outside 

 almost every village there is a circle of large stones sacred to 

 Vetal. Stanley saw, a few miles to the north of Tyre, a circle 

 of rough upright stones; Mr. Palmer, in his "Desert of the 

 Exodus," mentions the existence of " huge stone circles in the 

 neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, some of them measuring 100 

 feet in diameter, having a cist in the centre covered with a 

 heap of large boulders ;" and Kohen, a Jesuit missionary, has 

 recently discovered in Arabia, near Khabb, in the district of 

 Kasim, three large stone circles described as being extremely 

 like Stonehenge, and consisting of very lofty trilithons.|| Earth 

 also describes and figures similar trilithons as occurring!; in 



o o 



Tripoli. H In this case the pillars are 10 feet high, and stand 

 on a raised foundation. 



Arctic travellers, also, mention stone circles and stone rows 

 among the Esquimaux. These are, however, of a different 

 character, being quite small, and merely the lower part of 

 the habitations. 



* Thurnam. Crania Britannica, 1. c. p. x. 



Decade iv. || Bonstetten. Sur les Dolmens, 



t Breeks. Primitive Tribes of p. 27. 



the Neilglierries, pp. 24, 72. IT Travels in Central Africa, 



I Old Deccan Days, p. x. vol. i. pp. 58, 74. 



