THE LOOAN STONE. 221 



in which the ancient Cortes held their sittings ; convents and the 

 cathedral: this was begun in the thirteenth century, but is not yet 

 completed. There are also thirty-four fountains in Barcelona, in the 

 various squares and public places. Barcelonetta is a suburb of Barcelona, 

 inhabited principally by sailors. 



THE LOGAN STONE CORNWALL. 



This extraordinary stone is situated at Castle Treryn, about two miles 

 distant from the Land's End. The name of Castle Treryn is derived 

 from the supposition of its having been the site of an ancient British 

 fortress, of which there are still some obscure traces, although the wild 

 and rugged appearance of the rocks indicate nothing like art. 



The foundation of the whole is a stupendous group of gigantic rocks, 

 which rise in pyramidal clusters to a prodigious altitude, and overhang 

 the sea. On one of these pyramids is situated the celebrated Logan 

 Stone, which is an immense block of granite, weighing above sixty tons. 

 The surface in contact with under rock is of very small extent, and the 

 whole mass is so nicely balanced, that, notwithstanding its magnitude, 

 the strength of a single man applied to its under edge is sufficient to 

 change its centre of gravity, and though at first, in a degree, scarcely 

 perceptible, yet the repetition of such impulses at each return of the stone 

 produces at length a very sensible oscillation ! As soon as the astonish- 

 ment, which this phenomenon excites, has in some measure subsided, 

 the stranger anxiously enquires how and whence the stone originated? 

 was it elevated by human means, or was it produced by the agency of 

 natural causes '? Those who are in the habit of viewing mountain masses 

 with geological eyes, will readily discover that the only chisel ever 

 employed has been the tooth of time; the only artists engaged, the 

 elements. Granite usually disintegrates into rhomboidal and tabular 

 masses, which by the farther operation of air and moisture gradually 

 loose their solid angles, and approach the spheroidal form. De Luc 

 observed in the giant mountains of Silesia, spheroids of this description 

 so piled upon each other, as to resemble Dutch cheeses. Although the 

 Druidical origin of the stone, for which so many zealous antiquarians 

 have contended, may fairly be denied, still we by no means intend to 

 deny that the Druids employed it as an engine of superstition; it is, 

 indeed, very probable, that having observed so uncommon a property, 

 they dexterously contrived to make it answer the purpose of an ordeal, 



