104 



The Antiquities of the 



[No. 3^, 



Chapter 6th. 



In many places on the Neilgherries I have observed single up- 

 right stones, of the form usually found in the Church-yards of Eu- 

 rope, marking burial places and used for the same purpose here. 



Upright stones of large dimensions from 5 to 10 feet high, some 

 shaped to a point at their summit, others flat, are occasionally found 

 on the Neilgherries on the summits of hills perhaps once consecrat- 

 ed. These single stones are of common occurrence in England and 

 by antiquaries are pronounced to be Druidical relics. The one I 

 • have the best recollection of, called the Longstone by the country 



^ people, is situated near the village of Mottestone in the Isle of 



' Wight. The name of the village is derived from the stone. The 

 word " Mot" is Saxon, and the same with " Gemot," signifying " a 

 meeting together." The stone was probably the sacred mount or 

 rostrum from which the priests addressed the people, or was one of 

 the mystic stones of their religion. 



Were other evidence wanting the numerous ruined Todawar vil- 

 lages on the Neilgherries sufficiently attest, that the ancestors of 

 this race were a great people. And Lieut. Ouchterlony of the En- 

 gineers has recently discovered traces of a large road conducting 

 from the Neilgherries to the Coimbatoor country along the valley of 

 the Bowany. 



I have already said that numerous figures in pottery of the buffa- 

 loe always occur in opening the cairns and the buff'aloe is an object 

 of superstition amongst the Thautawars. Gildas an English monk 

 who flourished about the year 511 and whose account of the religi- 

 ous usages of our Celtic ancestors is, I believe, the only one handed 

 down to us by a countryman, for I purposely omit the meagre ac- 

 counts aflTorded by foreign authors. Csesar, Tacitus, &.C., says, the 

 idols of the ancient Britons had the countenances of bulls ; whence 

 Hearne derives many of the names of the towns in the neighbour- 

 hood of Stonehenge such as Bullansdown that is, the down of the 

 bull's temple ; Bulford, &c. It is a curious fact that numerous 

 cows horns and heads have been dug up in the neighbourhood of 

 Stonehenge, our most celebrated Druidical temple. 



Half way between the Avalanche and Ootacamund lies a round 

 low hill uncommanded by any other eminence, having remarkable 

 excavations around its base. Some who have seen this place have 



