J. F. Campbell Collection > Prophecies of the Brahan seer (Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche)

DRUIDISM. 101
dragged to the altar, and sacrificed to the powers
above.
Many Druidical relics still exist. By far the most
extraordinary of these remains are those at Stonehenge,
on Salisbury plain, in Wiltshire. They are numerous
in the Western Isles, and some are near Inverness,
such as the relics at Clava, on Nairnside, and the cir-
cles at Strathnairn and at Oulduthel. Mona, or Angle-
sea, as it is now called, was their chief settlement ; but
it is in North Britain that the Druidical monuments
are most abundant. As a specimen of a Druidical
cairn, we may mention that on the Moor of Strathardle,
in Perthshire— a stony mound, ninety yards in circum-
ference and twenty-five feet high. Such monuments
are numerous along the Grampian range. There are
also curious stones, called rocking-stones, supposed to
be of Druidical origin. In the parish of Kells, in the
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, there is a rocking-stone
called the "Logan-stone," about ten tons in weight;
and it is so nicely balanced upon another stone that the
'pressure of a child's hand can set it in motion. A
similar stone may be seen on the glebe of the parish of
Strath, in Skye. The artifices of the Druids to de-
ceive the ignorant were numerous. For example, among
the ancient Britons a meteor was supposed to be a
vehicle for carrying to paradise the soul of some de-
parted Druid. So well did they engraft their absurd
ideas on the minds of the ignorant, that, even at this
distant day, the appearance of a ball of fire, meteor, or
of what are called " falling stars," creates, among the
more credulous Highlanders, a belief that some illustri-
ous spirit has taken its flight to eternity. From this