THE facts contained in the preceding chapters have suggested, at all events, that whatever else went on some four thousand years ago in the British circles there was much astronomical observation and a great deal of preparation for it. In a colony of the astronomer-priests who built and used the ancient temples we had of necessity:— (1) Observatories, i.e., circles in the first place; next something to mark the sight-lines to the clock-star for night work, to the rising or setting of the warning stars, and to the places of sunrise and sunset at the chief festivals. This something, we have learned, might be another circle, a standing stone, a dolmen, a cove, or a holed stone. A study of the sight-lines shows us that these collimation marks, as we may call them, were of set purpose, generally placed some distance away from the circles, so far that they would require to be illuminated in some way for the night and dawn observations. When there was no wind, one or more hollows in a stone, whether a menhir or a quoit, might have held (3) A water supply for drinking and bathing, which might be a spring, river or lake, according to the locality. Given a supply of food we have now provided for
Simultaneously with the non-use of the ancient stones, we may imagine that the priests—of ever-increasing importance—no longer dwelt in their cromlechs, but, rather, occupied such buildings as those which remain at Chysoister, and from this date it is possible that burials may have taken place in some of the mounds then given up as dwelling places. As sacred places they were subsequently used for burials, as Westminster Abbey has been; but burials were not the object of their erection. 2 This new habit may have started the practice of cist burial by later people in barrows thrown up for that special purpose. I cannot close this Chapter without expressing my admiration of the learning and acumen displayed by Dr. Borlase in his treatment of the subject of the Druids in his History of Cornwall, published in 1769; I find he has anticipated me in suggesting that the hollowed
317:1 The Testimony of Tradition. 319:1 History of Human Marriage, Chapter II. 319:2 Celtic Folklore, ii., 654. 322:1 Pomp. Mela, Lib. II. c. 2. I have already (p. 52) quoted Cæsar's testimony to the same effect. 323:1 'Disciplina in Britannia reperta, atque in Galliam translata esse eixistimatur."—C. Bell. Gall. lib. vi. c. 13. This "discipline" also included magic according to Pliny. "Britannia hodie eam (i.e. Magiam) attonite celebrat tantis ceremoniis, ut eam Persis dedisse videri possit" (lib. xxx. c. 1.) 323:2 Bertrand and Reinach, Les Celtes et les Gaulois dans les Vallées du Pó et du Danube, p. 82. Tregellis, "Stone Circles in Cornwall." Trans. Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1893-4.THE LIFE OF THE ASTRONOMER-PRIESTS
