1 5 Of the Fetrified City, 



m Somerfet/hire, and the Hurler s in Cornwall, were once ima- 

 gined to be fo many Men converted into Stone. A Tradition 

 of the fame Kind feems to have attended other remarkable 

 Stones, of the fame Nature ', near Salkeld, in Cumherland. 

 fieJcam^^ltThe petrified Camp' 2XHamam Meskouteen, in Numidm, is 

 "o7teen ^ii' another Inftance of the Fallacy and erroneous Reports of com- 

 Nimidil. jjionFame. HerethQ^rahs (who, like the Cretans^ are al- 

 ii/aysLiarSyOr, to ufe a more favourable Expreflion, great Ma- 

 ilers of Invention) have frequently aflured me, with the moft fo- 

 lemn Afleverations, that they had feen, not only a Number 

 of Tents, but Cattle alfo of different Kinds, converted into 

 Stone. This encouraged me, whilft I was Chaplain ^t^^lgiers, 

 to undertake a very tedious and dangerous Journey ; but when 

 I arrived at the Place, I found thefe Reports were all of them 

 gr^M^sidle and fidlitious, without the leafl: Foundation; unlefs in 

 of Invention, ^j^^ wild and extravagant Brains of the ^rahs. For, with thefe 

 and fuch like credulous Perfons, the fmalleft Similitude or Re- 

 femblance will fometimes occafion, in their fertile Imagina- 

 tions, fuch Indulgence and Liberty of Invention, ^s to give 

 immediate Birth to fome ftrange Report and marvellous Nar- 

 ration. 

 The Feru- Little nced be faid of the Teruvian Groupe, neither doth it 

 isaCoiiefti-j-equij-e any critical Examination, ror, as all tnepigures con- 

 cerned therein, are of the human Species, we may very reafona- 



bly conclude them to have been artificial ; and therefore in- 

 tended, like the more numerous Ones, at Elora, in Terfia \ for 

 fo many Tagods. The many Stru6lures, that are defcribed 

 to be hard by them, were, no doubt, the Temples, or fome 

 way or other defigned for the Worlliip, or Shelter of thefe 

 Tagods. 

 No Animals Neither will the Reports, concerning the petrified Bodies 



petrified at /->>jm'i- 



Rassm. at Ros Sem, deferve any greater Regard, or Credibility; as 

 will appear from the following Relation. About forty Years 

 ago, when Mr. Le Maire was Conful at Tripofy, he made great 

 Inquiries, by order of the French Court, into the Truth of 



1 Thefe are placed in a Circle, 77 in Number, ten foot high; with a fingle one, be- 

 fore them. If foot high. This the common People call Long Meg, and the rert, her 

 Daughters. Magn. Britan. Vol. I. p. 381. 



2 Vid. Trav. p. 231. 



3 Vid. Thennot'i Travels. 1. 3. chap. 44. 



this 



