6o JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



Miracle of the Greek Church in the crypt of the Holy Sepulchre. 



Amongst the Peruvians a feast was held at the Summer 

 Solstice, for three days previous to which a solemn fast was held, 

 the fire on the great Altar of the Sun was allowed to go out and no 

 private fire was kindled. On the fourth day, after various rites of 

 adoration, the sun's rays were collected by a priest into a focus by 

 means of a concave mirror, by which a heap of dried cotton was 

 ignited and the Sacred Fire again rekindled direct from the sun. 

 Only when the sky was overcast was friction resorted to by them, 

 but such an event was looked upon to be almost as calamitous as 

 the extinction of the Sacred Fire, which it was the duty of the 

 Virgins of the Sun to guard. Here again can be traced a link 

 connecting with the Vestal Virgins of early Rome. 



Amongst some of the Indian tribes traces of the Annual 

 Festival of Fire are discernible in their New Year's Dog Feast, 

 extending over six days, during which two " Keepers of the 

 Faith " visit each Lodge and perform the ceremony of stirring 

 the ashes on the hearth, accompanied with thanksgiving to the 

 Great Spirit. On the fifth day a fire is solemnly kindled by friction, 

 and on it at sunrise is sacrificed a white dog as a propitiation to 

 Manitou. Traces of Fire and Sun worship still linger in Europe, 

 in the Beltan fires of Ireland and the Channel Islands on St. John's 

 Eve, the Summer Solstice, in the Easter Bonfires of Germany, the 

 Yule Log of Xmas, the Winter Solstice, and in the peasant of 

 Saxony and Brandenburg climbing the hill-tops on Easter morning 

 to see the sun rise, whilst it is also thought that the hymn or carol 

 sung by chorister boys in the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, 

 at sunrise on May-day, is but a remnant of the adoration of the sun 

 handed down by the Druids, 



The monumental records of antiquity, in the form of cromlechs, 

 pillars of stone, obelisks and sculptured stones, are a link that 

 enables the Archaeologist to trace the connection of early nations 

 and point to Asia as the cradle of the human race. 



Dr. Wise, in a paper read before the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, in 1855, ^bly demonstrates the general identity of the ancient 

 monuments of S. and W. Europe with those of Hindostan, proving 

 it by the physical conformation of the races who inhabit those widely 

 distant countries, by the similarity of many of their manners, cus- 

 toms and observances, and by the decided and extensive affinities 



