152 



cells, and one in the very tumulus itself; these chapels are built of 

 lime and stone, but in a very rude manner. 



In Malabar the deity of the tribe Malesir* is precisely such a 

 stone, which stands in the middle of a small spot enclosed by a low 

 wall; here every spring the people assemble, sacrifice goats, and 

 present offerings. Another tribe in Mysore preserve the stone in a 

 dark shrine, composed of stones and flags, forming a small chamber, 

 about six feet square. -f- These existing customs afford a strong 

 illustration of what had been the purposes of our remains of anti- 

 quity, also proving, either the universality of the same idolatrous 

 practices, or that the stream of Irish superstition had flowed to us 

 from the east. 



Many pillar-stones are of such great height and weight as would 

 lead to the inference that our forefathers were possessed of greater 

 mechanical powers, than perhaps the moderns are willing to give 

 them credit for. In the county of Kerry, near Ardferl, on the 

 summit of a large cairn, stands a GuUan-stone, or rude obelisk, 

 twenty feet high ; it is still perfectly erect.J Near Naas, in Kil- 

 dare, is a pillar twenty feet high, by thirteen at the base ; it tapers 

 to a narrow apex, and now inclines a little to the east ; there is no 

 quarry of that sort of stone within several miles of the spot where 

 it is erected ; and it is estimated that fewer than forty oxen could 

 not move it.§ How, in those ancient days, was it carried so great a 

 distance ? 



' • Might not the coincidence between the name of this Indian tribe and the saint of Innis- 

 •Murray, St. Molaise, lead to a presumption of connexion and confusion of names now lost in 

 the " mist of antiquity." 



f Buchanan's Journey, II. pp. 42 — 385. 



X Transactions B. I. A. XIV. p. 112. 



J Survey of Kildare, p. *. 



