STONE-HEAPS— STONES OF MEMORIAL, ETC. 161 



(^Chronicles of Eri, Introduction, Vol. I., p. 297), " is a heap of stones, upon which 

 an inferior order of priesthood, called Carneach, used to officiate ; they are also 

 found on the summits of hills, whereon Breo — that is, fire — blazed for beacons as 

 signals ; but they were also the only heaps raised over those who came to a 

 sudden or violent death ; and in Ireland, the custom is practised to this day, of 

 throwing a small stone on passing the place where one has been accidentally 

 killed, which was considered so great an evil, that a more bitter malediction could 

 not be uttered than, ' Bi an Car?i do leact,'' May the Cairn be thy bed." 



We may infer from the following passage, ascribed to Virgil, on a noted robber 

 named Batista, that stones were sometimes heaped over the graves of criminals, 

 amongst the Romans, in token of obloquy : 



" Monte sub hoc lapidum tegitur Balista sepultus : 

 Nocte, die, tutura carpe viator iter." 



At the death of Absalom, we are informed, in execration of his memory, his 

 body was cast into a pit, and a heap of stones raised over him. " And they took 

 Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of 

 stones upon him; and all Israel tied, every one to his tent." — (2 Samuel, xviii. 17.) 

 A similar expression of popular hatred was visited upou the avaricious Achan : 

 " And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they raised over him a great heap 

 of stones." — (Joshua vii. 25, 26.) 



Nothing can be more certain than that the erection of stones, like the elevation 

 of tumuli over the dead as sepulchral monuments, was the first and simplest means 

 of commemorating events. And it is not unlikely that worship was often paid 

 to such as were of ancient date, not so much on the score of symbolical signifi- 

 cance, as in consequence of long association with interesting or important cir- 

 cumstances. Monuments of this kind were perpetuated at so late a date, upon 

 the old continent, as to become charged with inscriptions declaring to us the 

 objects for which they were erected. Olaus Magnus observes of Scandinavia, 

 " There are also high stones : by the aspect and signature thereof the ancient pos- 

 sessions of provinces, governments, forts, communities of men, are to continue to 

 every man in peace, without laws, suits, or arbitration ; giving an example that 

 among these nations there is more right to be found in these stones, that are 

 boundaries, than elsewhere in the large volumes of laws, where men think them- 

 selves more learned and civil." 



The first instance, recorded in the Bible, of the erection of such stones, is 

 that of Jacob, who raised a stone at Bethel, to commemorate the vision which he 

 saw, and attest the engagement which he formed in consequence. In fixing their 

 respective boundaries, Laban said to Jacob, " Behold this heap, and behold this 

 pillar, which I have cast up betwixt thee and me. This heap be witness, and this 

 pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and thou shalt not 

 pass over this heap and this pillar to me for harm." — (Gen. xxxi. 51, 52.) In 

 reading this account, it is impossible to resist the conviction that the parties were 



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