234 ^eslntck ^fettict 



— let the god be as wrathful as he pleased, — not to con- 

 tribute so much as a twig to the burning of his beloved. 

 She was seen to enter the door, which was next to the circle ; 

 and then the priest closed it up, and heaped dry leaves and 

 sticks that were brought all round the hut. The arch-druid 

 meantime was procuring fire from two pieces of wood. He 

 succeeded, and set the pile in a blaze. In this moment of 

 desperation, the lover saw every mountain round give forth 

 a great cataract ; and all the floods gushed to the temple as 

 to a centre, and made an island of the little hut, — returning 

 when they had extinguished the fire. The victim came 

 forth, with not a hair singed, and not a leaf of her garland 

 withered. The arch-druid, skilled to interpret thunder, seems 

 to have understood in this case the voice of the waters ; for 

 he announced that, henceforth, the god would have no more 

 human sacrifices. 



Any resident who is sufficiently familiar with the country 

 people to get them to speak their minds fully, will find that 

 they still hold to the notion that nobody can count the 

 Druid stones correctly ; and also that a treasure is buried 

 under the large stone. As to the first,— there are in such 

 circles, some smaller stones cropping out of the ground 

 which some visitors will, and others will not, include among 

 those of the circle. We ourselves counted Long Meg and 

 her daughters, near Penrith, many times before making out 

 the prescribed sixty-seven, with any certainty. As for the 

 treasure, can any one prove that it is not there ? Nobody 

 wants to undermine the stone, to get rid of the tradition : so 

 our neighbours are like the Arabs at Petra, who have been 

 shooting with sling, bow, and matchlock, for a thousand 

 years, at the urn where they are sure Pharaoh's treasure is, — 

 in the rock temple. For a thousand years they have failed 

 to bring it down, and they are determined that no European 



