308 



Lingayat, ''Castes and Tribes of Southern India/' vol. iv.). 

 The whole account of the origin and spread of the cult is to 

 be found in Rolle, Kecherohes sur le ''Culte de Bacchus," 

 Paris, 1824, vol. i., p. 2. Now, in the light of this it is not 

 improbable that the people of the second Nilotic exodus 

 brought this rite with them, not necessarily associated with 

 the ceremonial of circumcision, for in the area whe^re the 

 cylindro-conical stones are commonest circumcision was not 

 practised by the aborigines in modem times. What may 

 have been the condition in ancient times we shall never 

 know, but I suggest that it is by following up this clue that 

 our efforts of gaining further knowledge of the matter are 

 most likely to be rewarded. The whole subject is bound by 

 the difficulty of visualizing the enormous antiquity of man 

 and his wanderings in prehistoric times. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. Upper third of cylindro-conical, made of kopi, showing 

 ''praeputial rings" of Etlieridge. Nat. size. 



Fig. 2. Phallus or priapus, from Schliemann, Ilios, p. 452, No. 

 682, for oomparison with fig. 1. 



Fig. 3. Portion of cylindro-conical of slate, showing ' 'tally-marks." 



