iir 



Of the ancient monuments the Crom-leac may be placed the first, 

 since if not the very oldest, it appears coeval veith the cairn, the 

 circle of stones, and the pillar-stone. From the direction given by 

 Moses* to the Israelites, before they entered the land of Canaan, 

 not to use hewn stone, or employ a tool in preparing the stones for 

 building an altar to the Lord, the Crom-leac might reasonably be 

 considered as a transcript of the ancient patriarchal altar, as re- 

 corded in holy writ, and therefore the earliest description of reli- 

 gious structure ; from that Mosaic injunction, given very possibly 

 in consequence of the Egyptian practice of ornamenting their 

 temples and altars with idolatrous carvings, the custom of using 

 rough stones undefiled by the work of man, may also be deduced. 

 And this idea of their patriarchal origin is strengthened by the 

 circumstance of the Rock-altar or Crom-leac being found through- 

 out Asia, where it is universally sacred to Budh. It is often em- 

 phatically styled the altar of blood. -f- 



The name Crom-leac, is compounded of Crom, which signifies 

 God, Fate, or Providence ; and leac, a stone, literally the stone or 

 altar of God : what god they were dedicated to sujfficiently ap- 

 pears from the local names retained by so many of these altars. 

 CromadhJ means bowing, or bending, or crooked, whence it has 

 been supposed by some that the name was derived, because the 

 devotee was supposed to bow or bend in devotion, or because it 

 was the bowing sloping stone, the Crom-leac being invariably 

 constructed with a steep inclination, most usually from north to 

 south, but also not unfrequently from east to west. Other anti- 



* Exod. XX. 25. 



f Maurice, Ancient Hist. Kindest. II. p. 481. 



% O'Reilly and O'Brien, Diets. 



