264 DR THOMAS A. WISE ON SOME OF THE 



western name, Druid.* In the East several trees were considered sacred by differ- 

 ent Buddhists, according as their particular saint was supposed to have been born, 

 done penance, preached, and died, under the sacred shade of a particular tree : 

 Such are the Ficus indica, F. glomerata, F. religiosa, Mimosa serisha, &c. This 

 explains the variety of trees which appear on the Buddhist coins, according as the 

 dynasty or family who struck the coin were followers or disciples of the Buddha 

 or saint whose emblem they adopted. The secluded spots, and the size of the 

 tree, seemed to have decided the selection ; while in Europe the oak was chosen for 

 the same obvious reasons ; and the secrecy of the forests of these fine trees was 

 well adapted for the performance of their mysterious rites. Figure 12 is an en- 

 larged copy of a tree on a coin springing out of a Buddhist pot or rail ; and figure q 

 is a similar tree copied from the Eassie stone. The Farnell stone (fig. r) has the 

 representation of a sacred tree, with two priests, probably performing religious 

 worship, standing on the rail, and between two serpents shedding their divine 

 influence over the holy place ; very much in the same manner as devotees are 

 seen worshipping at a holy tree (fig. 4) springing out of the sacred rail, and each 

 branch surrounded by a spiritual halo.f 



Besides lions (fig. u), camels (fig. v), serpents, and marked sacrificial bulls 

 (fig. s), centaurs appear several times upon the erect stones of Scotland ; and they 

 cannot be supposed to be an original idea of the artists of these stones, but point 

 to Greece, their supposed original country ; and perhaps they were derived from 

 the mysterious Pelasgians, the druidical worshippers of the oak. The centaur was 

 typical of a barbarous devastator ; and he is represented at the side of the cross 

 with other monsters, as on the Glammis stone. On the Meigle and Aberlenmo 

 stones, the centaurs hold a battle-axe in each hand (fig. t),'[ and are represented 

 as dragging trees after them, being typical, probably, of the destruction of the 

 druidical groves by the Roman troops. These sacred trees appear to have been 

 respected by the Caledonians after the introduction of Christianity, which ex- 

 plains their appearing in honourable positions on the same stones with the cross, 

 as in the Eassie stone ; while the centaur is represented, in the lower and most 

 degraded part of the stone ; and in the Aberlenmo stone, a bar separates him 

 from the chiefs above. 



These observations would be imperfect without a few words on the nature, pro- 

 bable age, and uses of these interesting monuments ; which are so numerous in the 

 eastern coast of Scotland, so remarkable for the peculiar symbols they bear, and 

 the elegant manner in which these are often executed, in an age when the inhabi- 

 tants of the country, from all we know of them, were in a state of ignorance and 



* The name in the Sanscrit language is dru, in the Greek drus, Welsh deru, Erse dair, a tree, 

 or oak-tree. 



f From a bas-relief in the Museum of the Hon. East India Company, London. 



| The artist of Mr Chalmers's beautiful drawings has erroneously represented these as crosses. 



