G33 
have existed in the very remotest ages, so remote, that their 
origin is lost in antiquity. It was so even in the clays of 
Josephus, Avho states that two pillars were erected by the 
children of Seth, before the flood, to record their knowledge 
of astronomy. Though this statement is improbable, it 
proves, at the very least, how very ancient they were, and 
how distant was their origin. 
So also in Scotland, Armorica, the Dekhan, and Africa, 
the origin of these stones is lost in antiquity. They are 
mostly referred, in the legends of the people, to human 
beings or other living creatures metamorphosed into stone : 
even as among the Greeks, everything that was beyond 
history and reliable legend, was referred to the "gods." 
Some slight guess at the age of some of them may be formed, 
from the fact that at Classernish, in the Isle of Lewis, only 
the tops of some stones' were visible, but the bases were 
found 20 or 23 feet below the surface, when the moss was 
removed. 
The original form of these menhirs was a plain unhewn 
stone, upon which " no tool had passed," but often made into 
a pyramidal or conical shape. In some situations, especially 
on the east coast of Scotland, they are found with sculptures, 
such as the "double disc," the " crescent and sceptre," the 
" serpent," &c, &c., and gradually passing into that wonderful 
interlaced pattern, with Christian sculptures, of which so 
many beautiful specimens are found in nearly every part of 
Scotland and the North of England, and the Isle of Man. 
The same thing may be said of cairns and tumuli, i.e., 
heaps of stones or earth. They seem to have been equally 
universal ; in fact, as from their nature they are less liable to 
destruction, their remains seem even more widely distributed 
than the menhirs. There can be little doubt that cairns 
were chiefly sepulchral — sometimes for honour, sometimes 
for disgrace — but they were used for other purposes, as e.g., 
