RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN CORNWALL. 193 



(3). They were hollowed out, others allege, by smugglers, 

 for the steadying of kegs on the sloping rocks when 

 running a cargo of contraband spirits for concealment 

 in the neighbouring cave. They seem however to be 

 too much tilted for such a purpose. 



(4). They are hollows from which, it is said, stone caps 

 may have been cut out for placing on upright supports 

 of corn-ricks as a safeguard against the approach of 

 rats and mice. Such caps, however, could have been 

 formed more easily from flat stones. 



(5). They mark a portion of coast at which there is a deep 

 channel close to the shore, a whirlpool, dangerous quick- 

 sands, and a cave. They may therefore have been cut 

 as a direction or warning to boat-men and bathers. 



(6). Being circular, like the orb of day, and facing towards 

 the west or south-west, they may have been connected 

 with sun-worship : compare this surmise with the follow- 

 ing words written by Mr. Borlase in his account of 

 some archaeological discoveries in West Cornwall : — 



" The question suggests itself, was there any meaning 

 attached to the persistent preference for the western 

 and south-western sides, and for a western aspect ? 

 Was there any reason why those portions of our 

 Cornish coast which face in this direction should be 

 crowned with tumuli, while far fewer, if any, are found 

 on those which have an eastern or north-eastern 

 aspect ? I do not think it is the result of mere accident. 

 I think we may fairly regard this grouping along our 

 western cliffs as relics of, if not a solar worship, 

 a superstition connected with, or inherited from, 



such a worship Mr. Greenwell after his great 



experience among the tumuli of northern and central 

 England has noticed that the dead are generally placed 



in the grave facing the sun " " The west " [the 



region of the setting sun] — "has been 'the death- 

 quarter ' of very many ages, and of nearly all our 

 mythology and folk lore."* 



* E. I. C. Journal, Vol. 6, p. 200. 



