UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 229 



" The Druids and the Baal worshippers of Asia 

 formed sacred heaps of stones on the tops of the 

 hills. Many of these are to be found in Corn- 

 wall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and the 

 name which they bear of Cairn, is derived from 

 a Hebrew word descriptive of buildings like the 

 pyramids of Egypt, or the cone-shaped pagodas 

 of India, which are supposed to have been em- 

 blematical of the rays of the sun." 



I reminded my uncle of the singular temple 

 which cousin Hertford saw in the Isle of Lewis. 



" Yes," he said, " it is evidently the remains 

 of a great Druidical work ; and Maurice, in his 

 6 Indian Antiquities,' observes that Stonehenge, 

 a model of which I once shewed you, Bertha, 

 plainly alludes in situation, number of stones, 

 and other circumstances, to the Asiatic Astro- 

 nomy, and resembles in every respect the ancient 

 style of temple used by the Persians before the 

 time of Zoroaster. It was he who first covered 

 in the Persian temples to preserve the sacred 

 fire ; and therefore the arrival of the colony 

 here, who introduced the fire-worshippers, must 

 have been in a very early age. But," he con- 

 tinued, " I must not lead you into this maze of 

 antiquarian difficulty ; it has been a very inter- 

 esting object of research to a few learned people, 

 though it can only perplex the half-informed." 



" But tell me, uncle, is this idea of an eastern 

 colony a very new one ?" 



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