6 W. J. Perry — Cultural Significance of the use of Stone 



In India, Colonel Meadows Taylor mentions certain stones 

 forming- part of a tumulus at Shahpur, 13 miles north of 

 Shorapur : — 



" These rocks, which are granite, were evidently brought 

 from the Shahpur hills, a distance of three miles. There is 

 no granite nearer — the geological formation changing from 

 gneiss and laminar limestone nearly from the foot of those 

 hills ; and there are two deep nullas or rivulets, with scarped 

 banks, between, which must have proved a great obstacle 

 in rolling these masses, which is the only means by which 

 I can conceive that they were moved " (7,347, 35 1)- 



The late Mr. Walhouse makes the following comments 

 upon transportation of stones in India and elsewhere : — 



'" The Coimbatore monuments are formed from the gneiss 

 or granitic rock everywhere cropping out on the surface. 

 I observed no instances of masses having been brought from 

 a distance ; but in the laterite district of Malabar, the cover- 

 ing stones of the sepulchral vaults (invariably granite) must 

 frequently have been brought from lesser or greater 

 distances. In the Central Provinces Col. Meadows Taylor 

 describes masses exceeding 200 tons in weight that must 

 have been moved from hills three miles distant." 



After mentioning transportation in England, he goes on to say 

 that " Smooth stones were observed by Mr. Atkinson to have 

 been brought from distant rivers to tumuli on the steppes " 

 (13, 30), and RadlofT states that many monuments on the 

 banks of the Abakan have been transported many miles. 



The vast region running eastwards from India to the other 

 side of the Pacific was colonised by people from India, who 

 have left monuments in certain places to testify to their 

 presence. Ample evidence exists to show^ that these people 

 habitually transported stone. In fact, their path across the 

 Pacific can be traced in such a manner. A tale from 

 Minahassa, in north-east Celebes, states that the colonisers of 

 the country, who brought with them the use of stone and the 

 practice of making rock-cut tombs, carried stones about with 

 them. A man named Makarende took a piece of the holy 

 stone of a place called Kema, and planted it in the ground at 

 another place called Kakas. Later on he disappeared into a 

 tree, and while there he told his son to come and cultivate the 

 land at Kakas. The latter did so, but was not successful until 

 he obeyed the injunctions of his parent : '' You, my son, must 



