388 
THE, GEOLOGIST. 
vliich bears most towards tlic north, measures twcniy-fivc feet five incites, tlie 
second nicivsures seventeen feet tln-ee inches, the third, or that stone M'hicb 
stands mo»t towards the south, has a measiu'cment of fifteen feet eight inches 
in eircinufereuce. The measurements were made witli a tape four feet from 
tlie surface, taken as accurately as possible. Their sides ))artakc rather of a 
convex form. The sides of the first monolith jncasured seven and a-half feet 
by four feet three inches, the second four feet three inches by four feet five 
inches, and the third four feet eight inches by four feet ; but these side measure- 
meuts are only approximate, their sides being so uneven and LiTegnlar it is diffi- 
cult to obtain measurements with any degree of accuracy, hence, to take the 
whole girt at once is the best means. Their altitudes I had not the requisites 
with me for ascertaining ; however, according to Gough, as quoted by Professor 
Phillips, in his " Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshii'c" (page 67, 
second edition), " The northern stone is sixteen and a-half feet by eighty-four 
inches, the middle one twenty-one and a-half feet by fifty-tive and a-quai'ter 
inches, and the southern one twenty-two and a-half by four at four and a-half 
feet above the ground." The distance of the exterior monoliths is respectively 
sixty-two yards, and one hundred and twelve yards from that which is in the 
interior, The middle autiquital rehc, as I may justly term it, stands four yards 
to the west out of a straight line with the other two. The first which we took 
dimensions of has the greatest gii-t, but is lowest in stature, due, no doubt, to 
having had a portion of its top broken off at an early period. The second and 
third monoliths, as may be perceived by the figures of Gough, are much taller, 
and lean in a southerly direction nearly a foot from the peniendicular ; hence it 
is we come to the conclusion that it wiU not at all be unpuilosophieal to attri- 
bute their leaning attitudes to the effect of tempestuous winds, which may 
have blown athwart the island from the contrary direction during the last two 
thousand years, during which time they may have stood. The lowest monolith 
does not lean, but occupies a perpendicular position, although, as its side mea- 
siu'es seven and a-half feet, or three and a-half feet more in breadth than either 
of the otherSj consequently it must be confessed the winds must have had a 
broader face to infringe against. AVe might, however, explain why this mono- 
lith stands erect, and why the other two partake of a leaning appearance, by 
taking into consideration the possibility of the top to have been broken olf 
either at the time of its erection or at a very early period. Professor Phillips, 
in speaking of these great wonders in the work referred to, says, " They have 
doubtless been extracted from the great rocks of Brunham or Plumpton." 
They are not made or budt up out of many stones cemented together, but each 
monolith consists of one entire mass of the same stone as the nullstone-grit 
of geologists. These pyramids are fluted or groined do^miwards, not by the 
hand of art, but by the pelting rains which have fallen upon their apices for 
centuries, Leland, an antiquary of the time of Henry VIII., makes mention 
of four. Cambden, immediately following, speaks of three, the other having 
been thro-\ni down by "the accursed love of gain" (Phillips, page 66). Some 
writers imagine the stones to be trophies of victory. Others affirm that each 
■was erected in honour and commemoration of one of the lloman emperors ; 
others to the Druids. From what wc are able to gather from histoiy, the 
Brigantes who lived in Yorksliire and the northern part of England, when 
Druidism was in great glory, were a wUd people, and lived in habitations made 
from trees, and interwoven with branches, w earing for their clothing the skins 
of animals, and lived chiefly by hunting. Their religion was chiefly Druidical, 
as then prevalent in all parts of the island. They, too, studied medicine, 
considered the mistletoe as their chief specific, and held the mistletoe of the 
oak with great solemnity, which, being very scarce, they gathered with great 
pomp and ceremony on a certain day appointed for the great festival. They 
