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Dniidic Antiquities. [No. 12, new series. 



three stones, supporting a fourth which on one side slopes towards 

 the ground, (the case likewise with many in India.) The side 

 stones within are inscribed with a number of strange characters 

 scratched with the point of some sharp instrument. It should be 

 observed that the Cromlech at Palicondah is raised on an artificial 

 mound at the base of which are the two circles of stones i in a 

 similar manner to those described by Mallet. 



The conical shape of the pedestal overlaid by the flat stone, in 

 the Cromlechs in South Malabar, reminds us of some of the Cairns 

 in Wales and Cornwall, placed on the summits of mountains, and 

 consisting of immense conical piles of stones having a large flat 

 stone placed on the apex, and upon which the sacred fires were 

 kindled. 



Tolmen. 



In my account of the antiquities of the Neilgherries I described 

 a Tolmen or " Hole of stone," and stated that a vulgar supersti- 

 tion attached, in England, to these apertures, to the effect that if 

 children afflicted with weakness in their limbs were passed through 

 the Holes they would be cured. A nearly similar superstition 

 cleaves to these apertures in India. Mr. Grose in his voyage to 

 the East Indies writes, " that on the extreme point of Malabar 

 hill inHhe island of Bombay, is a rock flat on the top, in which 

 there is a natural crevice, communicating with a hollow that ter- 

 minates towards the sea." w The Gentoos," he adds, " use this 

 place as a purification of their sins, by going in at the opening, 

 and forcing their way (a difficult task as it appears for a corpulent 

 person) through the crevice." 



The Tolmen or Petra Ambrosice may be the " holes of the 

 rocks" referred to by Isaiah. 



The Tolmen was either a natural aperture formed by one rock 

 resting upon the ends of two others, or it was an artificial and 

 circular boring in the rock. The bodies of men were even passed 

 through these apertures in ancient times in England, as it was 

 believed that great effects were thereby produced. 



Upeight Stones. 



Since I wrote my account of the Antiquities of the Neilgherries 

 in which I mentioned the existence of upright stones on those 



