Discovery of Horse-heads. By Dr. E. C. Robertson. 521 



^Lryan traditions and preserved them. The Celtic prehistoric 

 stone remains of "Britain are similar to those found in Northern 

 and Western India,*' and the language of the Gael is not less 

 strikingly similar to the tongues of Eastern peoples. Our hills 

 and rivers have maintained their Celtic names — many being simi- 

 lar to the Persian, for instance Chat-moss, Chat in Persian signi- 

 fying water. 



The Britons are described by Strabo, B.C. 50, as being indi- 

 genous tribes, retaining traces of ancient customs. Csesar, B.C. 

 55, tells us that the Britons had customs of their own, different from 

 others ; that the Druids, their priests, were learned in the magic 

 and learning of the East ; and that Britain, not Gaul, being the 

 proper and high seat of Druidism, those who wished to be per- 

 fect in the system travelled to Britain for instruction. Pliny 

 writes, ''Why should I speak thus of magic art, which has spread 

 even beyond the sea, and to the extremities of nature. Britain 

 cultivates it with so much enthusiasm and with so many cere- 

 monies, that we fancy it was from thence that the art was com- 

 municated to the Persians." It will be remembered that the 

 *' Magi," were the Parsis, priests of the Persians. The Druids 

 are considered to be distinctly Brahminical in aspect. They were 

 mono-theists, believing in transmigration and in another life. 

 According to Pomponius Mela A.D. 45., they were Astronomers 

 and Philosophers. " The Druids profess to know the form and 

 size of the earth and universe, the motions of the heavens and 

 stars, and the intentions of the immortal gods." By Csesar they 

 are mentioned as measuring time by nights and not by days, the 

 days being reckoned as parts of the preceding nights. f In other 

 customs, they differ from the rest of the world." Lucan, who 

 wrote about 100 years after Caesar's invasion, thus describes the 

 Druids, 



" And you ye Druids, free from noise and arms, 



" Kenewed your barbarous rites and fearful charms, 



" What God, what Powers in happy mansions dwell, 



" Or only you, or all but you can tell. 



" To secret shades and unfrequented groves, 



* See Captain Congreve's paper on Druidical remains in the Nilghirry 

 hills, Madras, and Captain Meadows Taylor's book " Cairns, Cromlechs, 

 Kistvaens, and other Celtic, Druidical, or Scythian monuments near the 

 village of EaynkoUa." 



t This practice is of eastern origin, as shewn in the Hebrew Scriptures, 

 " And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis). 



