Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/269

 Croffes, and Crucifixes. 211 Scottim weftern riles even by the chriftians. They call them Bow- ing Stones ; the Even-Mafchith which the Jews were forbad to wor- fliip [d] {ignifies literally a bowing ftone, and was doubtlefs fo call- ed becaufe worfliipped by the Canaanites. In the ifle of Barray there is a {tone about feven feet high, and when the inhabitants come near it, they take a religious turn round it, according to the ancient Druid cuftomjV]. Stones were alfo creeled as memorials of civil contracts ; thus when Jacob entered into a folemn contract with Laban, the former creeled a pillar of {lone [f ; and thofe who attended upon L/aban took ftones and made an heap to perpetuate their aflent to the treaty. The conic, pyramidal, and cylindric ftones perpendiculary raifed, which are to be feen in the Britifli iflands, were, in pagan times, generally to afcertain the boundaries of diftricts. In many coun- tries they were dedicated to the worlhip of Priapus, the fabled fon of Venus and Bacchus. This worfliip fpread itfelf over India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and moft other countries [g]. Some remains of it exifted at Ifurnia in the kingdom of Naples in the year 1780, where this deity was addreffed by his votaries under the names of S ts. Cofmo and Damiano ; but they were entirely ignorant of the origin of their devotions. See two letters giving accounts of the ceremonies ufed in this worfhip, the one from fir William Ha- milton to {ir Jofeph Banks, bart. and the other from a perfon refid- ing at Ifurnia, to which are added a difcourfe thereon by 11. P. Knight, Efq. Lond. 1786". 4to. I will not decide whether the cylindric ftones which were erect- ly] Leviticus, ch. xxvi. v. i. {>] Martin's Hift. of the Weftern Ifles, p. 88. [y] Genefis, ch. xxxi. v. 45. [g] Sir George Staunton obferves that he cloth not find any traces of this worfliip amongft the Chinefe. V. Enibafly to China, p. Eea ed