150 



pointed out as the place where the sacred flame was nourished. 

 There is now no trace of fire, but it could hardly have existed 

 after exposure to the weather for ages. Besides, the flame and its 

 supplying fuel may not have come in contact with the stone, but 

 have been placed in a metal vase, as is customary with the modern 

 Persees, who fill to the brim a brazen vessel called the Atish-dun, 

 with ashes, upon which they put the sacred fire. This vessel is set 

 on a low stone pillar about eighteen inches high, the humble repre- 

 sentative of the ancient lofty pillar-stone altar.* 



Vast numbers of pillar-stones still remain in this kingdom, and 

 may very frequently be observed near Cairns, where they may have 

 been either the idol pillar to be worshipped, or perhaps simply the 

 memorial of some departed chief or hero who had been buried in 

 this sacred place, possibly with many pagan rites, and the sacrifice 

 of numerous victims : bones, urns, and ornaments being often dis- 

 covered under them.-f- In many instances the pillar occupies the 

 centre of the stone circle, as at Temple Brian, county of Cork, 

 where a cone-shaped while stone is so placed ; while outside of 

 the circle, at some yards distance, stands a taller pillar-stone, of a 

 much coarser species : the ruins of a very ancient small church are 

 situated very near this circle, and within the earthen mound which 

 formerly enclosed the whole. It may be observed, that this monu- 

 ment at Temple Brian is, in the situation of its components parts, 

 the exact counterpart of the circle at Darab-gird in ancient Iran. 



The village of New Mills,J in the same county, possesses a 

 circle now imperfect — only five of the twelve tall stones which 



* Ouseley's Travels in the East, II. pp. 80 — 81. 



f Beside every cairn, described by Pennant in his Western Tour, stands a pillar-stone, and 

 sometimes a second one, on tlie top of the cairn. 



X Smith's History of Cork, II. p. 418. — Townsend's Survey, p. 107. 



