126 



and rises even to sixty or seventy feet in height, having on the top 

 sometimes a Crom-leac, sometimes a flat stone of large size, upon 

 which the fire was Ughted, and sometimes a pillar-stone. 



Such artificial high places are generally situated upon an emi- 

 nence, frequently upon the tops of hills and mountains ; and these 

 stations were so chosen as to form a chain of connexion with each 

 other in such a manner, that on the festival days, the first of May 

 and the first of November most especially, the fires of Bel, were 

 seen from one to the other over the whole country. At these times 

 all household fires were extinguished, to be relighted by a brand 

 from the sacred fire.* 



The Cairn was the Pyramid-f- of these countries, and was used 

 for the same purpose as it appears to be still applied in HindostanJ — 

 as a lofty altar of sacrifice visible to a surrounding multitude. The 

 reverence still felt by the lower classes towards these sacred eleva- 

 tions is so great that they even now carry stones to add to the 

 heap.§ To the remains of this ancient superstition may be ascribed 

 the modern Taimh-leacta ("or rather leac-da, which is a small cairn, 

 raised in memory of the dead, by passengers throwing a stone of 



• Transactions K. I. A. XIV. p. 122,— Collect, de Reb. Hib. II. p. 275. et seq.— The inci- 

 dental mention in the Book of Armagh, of the anger of King Loigaire and his Magi, at the 

 lighting of a fire by St. Patrick, on a day of idolatrous solemnity, and before that in the king's 

 palace had been kindled, not only bears testimony to the existence of the custom, but proves 

 the antiquity of the MS. A more modern writer would not have been satisfied with such an 

 indirect allusion to it. — Betham Antiq. Res. p. 31 4. 



f Collect. Reb. Hib. III. 146. Preface to Essay on Hallow-Eve, and Kircher there quoted. 



J Origin of Pagan Idolatry, III. 237 Asiat. Res. X. p. 134-, et seq. 



§ The western Highlanders of Scotland, whose descent, language, and customs are derived from 

 the same origin as the Irish, when they wish to engage a person's particular good will, declare that 

 they will add a stone to his cairn ; meaning that they will do all in their power to honour his 

 memory. — Pennant's Tour to West. Highlands, 299. — Macpherson's Antiquities of Scotland, 

 p. 291. 



