Dec. 1861.] 



Druidic Antiquities. 



209 



mountains, I have enjoyed opportunities of examining some in the 

 low country. At Pallipollium in the Salem district is an upright 

 stone or slab eighteen feet high planted in the ground, a sketch 

 of which is annexed. This stone has more of the Druidical 

 character than any I have yet seen. Not far from it I discovered 

 five Cairns, and a Cromlech. Near Peri Soondrum in Mysore I 

 found two upright stones with some Cairns, and a Cromlech in the 

 neighbourhood. This association of the Upright stone with the 

 Cromlech and the Cairn, in India, occurs likewise in England, and 

 Wales ; and it is another striking proof that these curious anti- 

 quities are vestiges of the same religion. 



Sir Richard Hoare says, in his Annotations to Chapter the se- 

 cond, of the Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin, by Giraldus Cam- 

 brensis, when describing the Cromlech, near Llanamllech : 



" A rude upright stone, as was common near Cromlechs, stood 

 formerly on one side of it, and was called by the country people 

 Maen Illtyd, or Illtyd's stone, but was removed about a century 

 since by Mr. Walbeof, the lord of the manor, vvho made use of it 

 in building." 



At no great distance from the Druidical temple at Stonehenge, 

 a huge stone sixteen feet in height used to stand ; while within 

 the entrance to the outer court stood another twenty feet high. 

 These and other similar upright stones have been supposed to re- 

 present statues of a British deity called Ceridwen. Such stones 

 were generally erected in sequestered spots favorable for the 

 exercise of the ceremonies of the Druidical religion. Mr. Oliver 

 pronounces these upright stones in England to be vestiges of the 

 ancient Buddhic religion. "We know that the Saxons, descendants 

 of the Goths, or Asce, also set up upright stones, and logs of wood, 

 in the midst of circles of stones. A square upright stone called 

 Herma represented Mercury both in Asia and Europe, he was a 

 deity of the Druids, and by some supposed to be the same as 

 Buddha, 



The idol Manah of some of the tribes of the ancient Arabs, was 

 nothing more than a large stone, in front of which, human sacri- 

 fices were made. 



The upright stones, now our present subject, must not be con- 



