ABORIGINAL SACRED ENCLOSURES. 149 



which seems to have been closely alhed to that of Phcenicia, if not, indeed, mainly 

 derived from the East. 



" The sacred places of the Druids were enclosed sometimes with a fence of 

 palisades, and sometimes with a mound of earth, or with stones, to keep off the 

 profane, and prevent all irreverent intrusion upon their mysteries.* Tacitus relates 

 that the early Germans considered their groves and woods as sacred : these spots 

 were consecrated to pious uses, and the holy recess took the name of the divinity 

 who filled the place, and whose sanctuary was never permitted to be seen but with 

 reverence and awe. Agreeable to this was the early practice of the Britains, who, 

 according to the same authority, used similar customs with the Germans." — (Ger- 

 mania, C. ix. and C. xl.) In the form of their temples, the Druids, for the most 

 part, adopted the circle; and the generally received opinion is, that all circular 

 monuments were originally intended for devotional purposes. 



There are some earth-works in the British Islands, which were clearly not defen- 

 sive, but yet are rectangular. To these, authors have hesitated in ascribing a 

 date. One of the most singular of these, which corresponds very nearly with that 

 discovered near Tarlton, Pickaway county, Ohio (^Ancient Monuments of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, Plate XXXVI., No. 1), occurs upon Banwell Hill, county of Wilts, 

 England. The accompanying engraving (Fig. 42) is reduced from the plan given 



by Sir R. C. Hoare, who notices it briefly as follows : "Before quitting this interest- 

 ing eminence, I must not omit to take notice of a very singular little earth-work, 

 situated towards the village of Banwell. Its form proclaims it to be Roman ; but I 

 cannot conceive to what use it was destined. The embankment enclosing the cross 

 is two hundred and thirty yards in extent, and encloses nearly three-quarters of an 

 acre." — {Ancient Wiltshire, Vol. II. ; Romaii Era, p. 43.) There is certainly a 

 most striking coincidence ; yet it is one which it would be unsafe to regard as any 

 other than accidental. 



It may not be wholly inappropriate to mention that some of the most ancient 

 temples of India are built in the form of a cross ; such is the shape of the great 



* Salopia Antiqua, p. 10. Hermoldus, in his Chronicon de Rebus Salivce, says that the Sclavonians 

 prevented all access to their groves and fountains, which they considered would become desecrated by the 

 enti-ance of Christians. They had their sacred oaks, which they siuTOunded by a fence of wicker-work. 

 The tabooed palms and other trees of the Marquesas and South Sea Islanders are protected from profane 

 contact in a like manner. 



