BUDDHIST OPINIONS AND MONUMENTS OF ASIA. 269 
‘It is probable that soon after the erection of this obelisk the heathen emblems 
disappeared from the stones as no longer respected, and may have given place to 
the simple cross, one of which is built into the wall of the churchyard of Meigle, 
with no pagan symbols or grotesque additions (fig. z). These sculptured crosses 
were erected on the side of highways, and in central and convenient situations. 
As Christianity extended we find St Columba erected them, at a later period, both 
in stone and wood, in the Christianized part of the island, where the priest afforded 
instruction to the people, and offered up prayers, before there were churches.* 
This explains the old Gaelic word “clachan,” which signified then the stone, 
and not, as now, the church. 
The great Pictish kingdom north of the Firth of Forth, in which these ancient 
obelisks are found in such numbers, remained independent till the middle of the 
ninth century; but from there not being a succession of missionaries, and no pro- 
vision made to enlighten the Caledonians, they declined in religious knowledge ; 
so that when Cotumsa visited that country in the sixth century in order to con- 
vert them, he found their dialect so peculiar that he was obliged to employ an 
interpreter.} This explains why the names of so many old places in that part 
of the country, and of the Pictish kings, are neither Irish nor Gaelic. It also ex- 
plains certain peculiarities in the forms of the cross they used as compared with 
those of Ireland and Iona. 
Were it considered necessary, other facts might be added in proof that in an- 
cient times the same pagan opinions existed in this country as in India, and were 
‘ supplanted by the Christian faith from the east, to which religion and civilization 
are again flowing back from the west. 
These ancient “standing stones” and beautiful crosses of Scotland have, until 
lately, been totally neglected, and many owe their preservation to their having been 
buried by accident or design. In other cases I found they had been, from ignorance, 
designedly mutilated, or, through carelessness, had been allowed to be destroyed ; 
and a still larger proportion had been removed from their original position, and 
placed in exposed situations, without any protection. The consequence is that the 
wet insinuates itself into the interstices, especially of the red sandstone, and in the 
process of freezing and thawing, the fissures are increased, and the surface of the 
stone crumbles away. I may instance the large and beautiful cross of Meigle, 
and that at Golspie, as examples; and, unless measures are speedily taken, they 
_ will soon be destroyed by the influence of the weather. Were the cracks filled up 
_ with Roman cement, and the whole stone, when dry, saturated with boiled oil, 
it would arrest the destruction of these most interesting monuments of antiquity. 
* Innes’ Eccl. Hist. of Scotland, p. 212. 
+ This is expressly stated in more than one place by his biographer Apomnay. 
