holmes: pre-historic remains of rombalds moor. 297 
prior to 1000 B.C. to seven or eight hundred of our era we find no 
remains of idol worship of any kind, or of carved temples. But 
ample traces in the way of symbols may be collected of an undoubted 
nature worship, in which, necessarily, the sun and moon form the 
principal features. Nature worship in the primitive form, to the 
great Giver of Light, Heat, and Life, has ever been in the open air, 
although the places of meeting may at times have been marked by 
upright stones." To which we may add, as before, that the stones 
themselves would become marked by the symbols expressive of their 
use. Upon Rombalds Moor we have met many such pillar stone 
erections, but some of them exhibit unmistakeable symbols of this 
type of marking. Of the second class or type of incised stones upon 
rude monuments, Rombalds Moor is rich, indeed contains more per- 
haps than any other place within the same limits, say three miles 
E. and W. by one mile N. and S. On the first recognisers of these cup 
and ring stones in Northumberland, viz. Canon Greenwell and Mr. 
Geo. Tate, both at first sight thought that they could trace the idea 
of a ground plan of forts or dwellings, or a chart of a district with 
roads. Sir Gardener Wilkinson, Dr. Graves and others held the same 
idea, and the former states that such markings were made upon the 
sand by the Arabs in times of danger to guide the forces in their routes. 
This plan or chart idea was for a time given up, but upon the Cow 
and Calf rocks Mr. Wardell says, 1869: " I can form no idea of their 
import, but they bear a strong resemblance to lines of earthworks 
and mounds of the earliest periods," and that " such markings in 
Northumberland and other northern counties are of frequent occur- 
rence," p. 33. In the April number of Chambers' Journal, 1883, 
under the usual monthly glance at the arts or discoveries of the 
month, a paragraph states that these incised stones are very nume- 
rous and well known in Switzerland, and that in one canton Professor 
Rudriger has found so many that by placing them in connection 
he has found the whole to be a chart of the pre-historic condition of that 
canton, as to roads, stations, settlements, etc., of times very remote 
and prior to all history. In order to trace this remarkable feature 
further, I have applied to the Messrs. Chambers, but failed to 
