38 CUP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDARIAN SCULPTURES. 



ditions connected with these monoHths, and have actually retained some 

 traces of what I will call Siva-worship* With this evidence, added to tlie 

 points noticed in my papers on the Junapani barrows and the Kumaon 

 markings, the connection between the marks in India and Europe may then, 

 I hope, be considered tolerably complete."t 



■ It should be mentioned that cupped boulders of gneissoid porphyry 

 were discovered by Dr. Verchere on the banks of the Indus, in Cashmere, 

 prior to Mr. Rivett-Carnac's explorations. Yet the first-named traveler, 

 not knowing the character of cup- cuttings, was inclined to ascribe the 

 artificial cavities to the action of glaciers. "This supposition," says Pro- 

 fessor Desor, " appears to us totaliy inadmissible. The action of glaciers 

 doubtless tends to modify the rocks upon which they move Tliey polish 

 them and leave upon them characteristic furrows and striae. Though we 

 have ourselves devoted long years to the study of glaciei's, we have never 

 noticed that they produce cavities like basins or cups. It must therefore 

 be conceded that these latter are the work of man. M. Verchere doubtless 

 would have felt less scruple in admitting this origin, if he had been acquainted 

 with the frequent occurrence of cups on erratic blocks in Europe" (page oG). 

 At the close of his essay Pi'ofessor Desor, availing himself of the 

 remarkable results obtained by Mr. Rivett-Carnac, sets forth the inferences 

 he draws from the occurrence of cups and other archaic figures upon stones 

 and rocks in countries as far distant from each other as India and Ireland. 

 He ascribes the practice of executing such sculptures to people of the Aryan 

 stock, who, he thinks, transferred this peculiar custom from their Asiatic 

 homes to the countries of Europe. He connects with this immigration the 



* The author refers to certalu suiierstitious practices in connection ■with sacred stones, but lately or 

 even still iu vogue among the ^leople in the Pyrenees, as stated by Messrs. Piette and Sacaze in the 

 article quoted iu my account of cup-stoncs iu France. Speaking of a boulder, called Le Cailhaou 

 d' Arriba- Pardin, they say: — 



"Autrefois, il y a trente ansil peine, les jouues gens do Poubeau allaiout en procession, le soir du 

 mardi-gras, faire sur cette pierro un grand feu do paillo pour lequel chaque chef de maison fournissait 

 une bottc. Us marchaient un il un, chacun tenant par deirifcre celui qui le prdc^dait, et s'avanjaient 

 d.ans une attitude et avec des gestes a la fois burlesques et obscenes." 



With reference to a menhir iu the same district the following statement is made : — 



"Encore aiijourd'hui, lorsque les habitants de Bourg-d'Oueil vont de ce c6t4, jdus d'une joune 

 fennuo va baiscr le me:ihir cu eachotte." — Piette et Sacaze : Les Monuments de la Montague d'Espianp (Pi/rd- 

 nies) ; Mat^riaux, 1878, p. STjT-SS. 



tKivett-Carnac: Rough Notes on the Snake Symbol in India, etc. ; reprinted from the Journal of 

 the Asiatic Society of Bengal; Calcutta, 187'.>, p. 14. 



