White Quartz Pebbles. • 127 



that the gods cannot resist the spell of the influence of crystal 

 or ag-ate which is closely allied to it. Only let a man go into 

 a temple with a crystal in his hand, and none of the immortals 

 will refuse to hear his prayers.* Many rock crystals have 

 been found in the cists of the Ancient Britons of Caithness. 

 Some think they are similar to the Bateyli offerings to the 

 Sun, but these were invariably white stones. It may not be 

 amiss to remind readers of this paper of the exact meaning 

 of the terms Quartz and Quartzite. Quartz is Silica in its 

 crystalline condition and a mineral. When quite clear and 

 colourless it is rock crystal. Quartzite is a rock, not a 

 mineral, made up of fragments of quartz, which, by meta- 

 morphism, have become welded or bound together so that 

 their individual boundaries are no longer visible unless 

 examined by polarised light. 



In Penmynydd Churchyard, Anglesea, numerous skele- 

 tons were found with a white pebble of the size of a hen's 

 egg near each. The bodies were close to the surface, with 

 here and there a thin layer of lime over the body. No trace 

 of a coffin could be seen. At the south end of the Chancel 

 Arch a heap of the same white pebbles was discovered, each 

 about the size of a moderate potato. The symbolism of a 

 white pebble as representing happiness or a happy day, was 

 widely known. The "Calculi Candore laudatus dies" was not 

 'Confined to the Romans, but known among the Thracians.f 

 The black balls used at ballots of the present day carry us 

 back to the times when it was the ancient custom to acquit 

 or condemn accused persons by means of white and black 

 stones — by the white ones they were absolved from guilt, by 

 the black ones they were condemned. To return to the find- 

 ing of white quartz pebbles in cists or urns in these islands, 

 we may mention that in Sligo, where in pre-historic times 



* Cornhill Magazine. " Myths of the precious stones." N.S., 

 Tol. I. (1883), 



+ It is interesting to note here, that "according to their 

 earliest records, the Picts of the British Isles claim a Thracian 

 origin. Herodotus tells that the nobles of the Agatliyrsi tattooed 

 themselves, and the claim of the Picts to be Agathyrsi is on record 

 und shows their acquaintance with Thracian tradition." Dr R. C. 

 Maclagan, Our Ancestors, 1913. p. 371. 



