94 



The Antiquities of the 



[No. ^2, 



probably as ancient as certain ceremonies, customs, and superstitions 

 common to all religions, having their origin in that part of Scythia 

 where Noah settled after the deluge. 



The perfect coincidence subsisting between the Thautawar dairy 

 and the ancient Celtic Scythian houses, contributes to strengthen my 

 conjecture respecting the affinity of the ancient Scythians with these 

 mountaineers ; and I might again emphaticise the striking resem- 

 blance of the temples of these hills, w^ith those of the Druids in our 

 own country. 



At a distance of two hundred yards to the north of the dairy, I dis- 

 covered, overgrown by jungle, two cairns on the slope of the seven- 

 £airns-hill, forming a link in the chain connecting the seven cairns on 

 the summit of the eminence, with the open temple on the lawn. 



Concealed under a thick shroud of brambles and underwood, these 

 cairns had escaped the observation of those antiquaries who had ran- 

 sacked the cairns on the summit ; and they consequently yielded a va- 

 luable addition to my collection, comprehending female warriors on 

 horseback, in pottery, urn covers of the same material ornamented 

 with human figures, and curious animals ; a stone pestle, a chased 

 brass vessel, and other relics similar to those previously described. 

 At a subsequent period I opened a smaller cairn in the neighbour- 

 hood, which however contained nothing more than an iron arrow- 

 head, and some fragments of pottery embedded under a slab in the 

 centre. 



From the middle of many of the cairns, rise trees of prodigious 

 growth, planted by the founders of the sepulchres with a view to 

 protect them in after ages from spoliation. The axe of the " cairn- 

 hunter" has defeated this precaution, and laid prostrate many of these 

 giant protectors ; nevertheless, in some instances, from their enor- 

 mous growth, the trees have realized all the wishes of their planters, 

 and still continue to wave their branches over the undisturbed urns 

 beneath. 



The custom of planting trees over graves is of the highest anti- 

 quity, and was observed by the Celtic Scythians in Britain ; the yew 

 still standing in many of the Church-yards being the tree usually 

 chosen for the purpose. 



About two miles from my house in Ootacamund, lies a cairn from 

 the area of which grows a tree of enormous bulk, measuring nine 

 yards in circumference. ^Myself and three lascars, with our out- 



