123 



This temple of Grian is composed of several covering stones of 

 great size, one of them being seventeen feet long, by nine broad ; 

 these are supported by two ranges of upright stones, and under- 

 neath the whole is a vault, the entrance to which is closed by a 

 very large stone. Here again may be observed in connexion with 

 the Rock-altar, the small vault or cave, from whence responses 

 might be given, as at Delphos, at Eleusis, at the Grotto of Tropho- 

 nius, at the little Cella of the Cumean Sybil in Italy, and it is 

 probable in other countries also.* 



Isaiah -f seems to allude to this practice in a verse, which in our 

 translation is rendered seeking to " Wizards that mutter," but in 

 that of the Septuagint, " Seeking to Wizards speaking out of the 

 earth." And again, in our own version, •' Thy voice shall be as 

 one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy speeclt 

 shall whisper out of the dust."J The following verse seems also to 

 refer to oracles of this nature : " Thus saith the Lord that created 

 the Heavens, I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place in the 

 earth."§ 



This altar, or tomb, or shrine, is surrounded at about fourteen 

 feet distance from its centre by a circle of upright stones ; and un- 

 derneath it, as under many other Crom-leacs, have been found 

 bones. In many instances, small earthen urns containing ashes 

 have been dug up ; thus uniting a sacred and a funereal character, 

 a union which has been found to prevail throughout the ancient 

 mysteries, as far as the initiated have ventured to reveal.^ Where 



* Archeologia, II. 361. 

 f Isaiah viii. 19. 

 X Isaiah, xxix. 4. 

 § Ibid. xlv. 18, 19. 

 If Faber on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry ; as shewn at large in the third volume. 



r2 



