ANTIQUARIAN INVESTIGATIONS ON DARTMOOR. 27 



end, its motion is just perceptible. But it is impossible to traverse 

 the moor in any direction, without observing many a block, which 

 once might have been a logan stone, or even now might be easily 

 made to logg ; — so fantastical and singular are the positions in 

 which those masses are continually found. Similar observations 

 will apply to the Rock idol. 



Some authors have attributed the formation of the Rock Basin 

 to nature, by the action of water, and from the decomposition of 

 some parts of the rock more than others. It seems extraordinary 

 however, that any one who has examined these singular relics of 

 antiquity, should advocate an opinion so devoid of the confirmation 

 of facts. Were the rock basins natural productions, why are they 

 found so uniform in size ? Why are they so frequently seen on 

 those parts of granite masses less favourable than other parts to 

 their natural formation. Their situation is commonly on the 

 highest spot of the loftiest pile on the tor, very often near the edge 

 of the block upon which they are formed, — in many instances 

 with a lip or channel to convey the water over the edge of the 

 mass, and generally varying in diameter from twelve inches to 

 thirty-six. 



A very fine example, illustrating this general description of the 

 Dartmoor rock basins, occurs on the north end of the topmost 

 Great Mistor, one of the loftiest hills of the moor. The basin is 

 in a most perfect state, in form a circle, three feet in diameter and 

 eight inches deep. Its sides are perpendicular, its bottom flat ; 

 having a lip cut in the rock in its northern edge. It would be 

 most characteristically described as a pan excavated in granite, 

 and bears such evident marks of artificial preparation as could not 

 fail to convince an unprejudiced inquirer. 



The Rock Pillar, monumental column, maen or men, is 

 also found on Dartmoor. A striking specimen appears at the 

 ancient Merivale village ; an unwrought granite shaft, of a taper- 

 ing form, presenting a rude type of the obelisk, twelve feet high, 

 and eight feet in girth at the base. On Bair down is another of 

 these primitive obelisks, twelve feet high ; its general character 

 and dimensions being similar to the former. 



To he continued. 



