172 



Silbury. 



Irtisch are " many large tumuli, covering up the ashes of ancient 

 heroes, who have passed over these scenes ages ago ; but whether 

 they indicate battle-fields, or simply the burial places of a tribe or 

 nation, it is impossible to say : " they are almost invariably placed 

 on high land, near the great rivers, and command views over the 

 whole country. 1 But to come to particulars : on the N.W. side of 

 the river Bouchtarma there is a conical mount quite peculiar in its 

 form and exceedingly picturesque, and in the neighbourhood are 

 many ancient tumuli, some of which have been opened, and warlike 

 implements found in them. 2 In China, several versts to the North 

 of Tchin-si, stands a very large tumulus, surrounded by many 

 others of smaller dimensions : 3 and again, near the Chinese town 

 of Tchoubachach, in a rocky valley, is another barrow of vast size, 

 150 feet in height, and regular in its form. 4 " All these " (says 

 Mr. Atkinson in his admirable work on Siberia) " have been thrown 

 up by a people of whom we have no trace, and in this part of Asia 

 such ancient works are extremely numerous : on the Kirghis 

 Steppe too, there are many and some very large tumuli scattered 

 over the Steppe, thrown up at different periods, and by different 

 races : but the larger tumuli are the most ancient : one of these, 

 composed of stones, is a circle of 364 feet in diameter, forming a 

 dome-like mound 37 feet high. To whom this tomb belongs the 

 Kirghis have not even a tradition, but they attribute all such works 

 to demons, and say their master Shaitan has been the chief director." 5 

 Similar testimony to the existence of vast tumuli at the foot of the 

 Altai, and also on the banks of the Irtisch among the Calmucs and 

 Kirghises, and to their sepulchral character, is borne by the 

 Russian exploring mission in Siberia in 1733, and by Pallas in 1759. 6 

 Nor is the island of Ceylon without its gigantic tumuli ; they 

 are for the most part cased in brick, which is an advance upon the 

 more primitive mound, and are called " Dagobahs " 7 or shrines, and 



1 Oriental and Western Siberia, by T. W. Atkinson: Hurst and Blackett, 1858, 

 p. 168. 



2 Idem, p. 235. 3 Idem, p. 537. 4 Idem, p. 558. 



5 Atkinson's Oriental and Western Siberia, p. 566. 

 6 Lost Solar System of the Ancients discovered, vol. ii., p. 249. 

 7 " Dagoba " either from datu a relic and gabbhan a shrine, (Tennent's Ceylon, 



