There are a number of other monuments in the British islands, less imposing it is true than that of Abury, but of a similar character. Borlase describes one of these situated in Cornwall, as follows: "It may be conjectured, from a variety of circumstances, that the Druids had some veneration for the Serpent. There is a mound thrown up on one side of Karnbrê Hill (a place remarkable for Druidical monuments) in a serpentine form, and in the centre of its volute there stand two tall stones; by which work one would imagine that if the Druids intended it not as a symbol of something divine (which is not unlikely), yet that a work of so uncommon an appearance must have been, in some way or another, subservient to their superstitions." "The parallelitha of Dartmoor," of which FIG. 63, Nos. 1 and 2 are plans, says a writer in the Archæologia, "furnish us with an interesting variety of Dracontia. Their peculiarity is, that the avenues are straight, and the temples in pairs. At Merivale bridge, four miles from Tavistock, on Moreton-hampstead road, is a remarkable group. It consists, or rather consisted, of four temples, two parallelitha and two circles. The Dracontia form a pair of parallel avenues, running east and west, and one hundred and five feet apart. They are narrow, and the longest 1143 feet. The longer one had an oval in the centre and a circle at each end. The shortest avenue is 792 feet, and terminates in a circle. There are other temples at Dartmoor, of the same description, but not so extensive. On the brook-side are two avenues parallel to each other, running east and west, which may be traced for 300 and 180 feet respectively. They are forty feet apart, and each is terminated at the east end by a circle, thirty feet in diameter, enclosing a cairn or mound."* Egyptians and other ancient nations, the circle and the snake. The whole figure is the serpent, circle, and wings. By this they meant to picture out, as well as they could, the nature of the Divinity. The circle meant the supreme fountain of all being, the Father; the Serpent that divine emanation from him which was called the Son: the wings that other divine emanation from thence, which was called Spirit, the Anima Mundi."—(Stukeley's Abury, p. 32.) * British Archæologia, vol. xxv. p. 198. Mr. Deane describes a number of other serpentine temples found in various parts of Great Britain. Drew (FIG. 64) he notices as follows. That of Stanton "The plan of Stanton Drew is that of the Ophite hierogram, where the serpents emerge from the circle. The central circle, or rather oval, is Fig. 64. SERPENTINE STONE TEMPLE, Stanton Drew, England. three hundred and seventy-eight feet by three hundred and forty-five feet in diameter. It originally consisted of thirty stones. About forty yards to the east of the great oval is a small circle, ninety-six feet in diameter, with which it is connected by an avenue of considerable curvation. The average width of the avenue is about thirty feet. The third curvilinear area is four hundred and fifty feet to the south-west of the central oval, and is one hundred and twenty-nine feet in diameter."* The same author mentions several other monuments of this kind, and amongst them the extensive remains of Shap in Westmoreland. This is supposed to have been a serpent temple, and to have extended upwards of seven miles. The extremity which is supposed to represent the head, corresponds in shape with that of the great serpent of Ohio. It is described as a "wedge-shaped area, having the angles of the base rounded off, and the base itself bounded by a slightly curved line, its vortex opening into the parallelithon." A similar feature is to be observed at the end of one of the avenues connected with the great work in Kentucky, opposite * British Archæologia, vol. xxv. p. 198. the mouth of the Scioto River. (See "Ancient Monuments of Mississippi Valley," Plate XXVIII.) But the most wonderful structure of the kind yet discovered is the gigantic temple of KARNAC in Brittany. The serpentine character of this great work is now well established. It consists of seven parallel rows of huge upright stones, which, following the sinuous course of the structure, can yet be traced for upwards of eleven miles, and it is believed it formerly extented thirteen miles in length. The stones are placed from twelve to fifteen feet apart laterally, and from thirty to thirtythree feet apart longitudinally. Some of these are of vast size, measuring from twenty to twenty-five feet in length above the ground, by twelve feet in breadth and six in thickness; and are estimated to weigh from one hundred to one hundred and fifty tons each. The number of stones originally comprised in the work is estimated by Mr. Deane, who made a careful survey of the ruins, at upwards of ten thousand. The line of this vast parallelithon is designedly crooked or serpentine, although maintaining a general direction from east to west; and the height of the stones is so graduated as to convey (in the opinion of Mr. Deane) the idea of undulation, thereby rendering the resemblance to a vast serpent more complete and obvious. In connection with this structure is an eminence, partly natural and in part artificial (corresponding to Silbury Hill at Abury) called Mount St. Michael, from which a general view of the great serpentine temple is commanded. "It is not improbable," observes our author, " that upon this eminence was kindled the sacred fire which represented the participation of the solar deity in the rites of the Ophite god." The worship to which this rude but stupendous temple was appropriated, in common with the others above noticed, is generally believed to have been that of the Sun, of which the serpent was a common or correlative symbol. The evidences upon which this belief is founded are numerous and conclusive; but it is impossible to enter into them here. The God Hu of the Ancient Britons, whose worship is traditionally connected with the sacred structures of Abury and Stonehenge, and who is styled by the bards, "the glancing Hu," "the gliding King,” and “the dragon ruler of the world," is no other than Bel, Belinus, or THE SUN.* It has already been suggested that the Portsmouth Works, at the mouth of the Scioto River, in Ohio, had an analogous design with the serpentine structures just described. A recurrence to plate XXVIII. of the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," will now better enable the reader to estimate the value of the suggestion. As in the great temple of Abury, the principal group has in this instance a central circle, within and in connection with which are various minor works of a mysterious character. Instead of the two inner circles of * This deity, says Davies, in his "Mythology of the Druids," (p. 122), was represented in a car drawn by serpents, and his priests were called Adders (p. 210). This is supported by a poem of Taliessin, translated by Davies in his Appendix No. 6, in which is the following enumeration of the Druid's titles: "I am a Druid; I am an Architect; I am a Prophet; I am a SERPENT." One of the Bardic poems quoted by Mr. Deane, identifies the God Hu and BELI, or the Sun : "The gliding king, before the fair one, Retreats upon the veil that covers the huge stones; Whilst the Dragon moves round over The places which contain vessels Of drink offerings; Whilst the drink offering is in the golden horns; Whilst the golden horns are in the hand; Whilst the knife is upon the chief victim; Davies observes that there appears to have been a living serpent introduced in these ceremonies as a symbol of the God.-(Appendix No. 11.) The superstition of the Britons, in respect to the Anguinum or Serpent Egg, was observed as long ago as Pliny, and will recur at once to the mind of the well informed reader. It has been conjectured that the belief of the lower orders of the Irish population, that St. Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland by his prayers, had its origin in the circumstance that this worthy evangelized the country, and overturned the superstition of the serpent worshippers. It is perhaps worthy of remark that, as the priests of the "gliding Hu" were called Adders or Serpents, so too the Priestess of Delphi was called the Pythia from her deity Python. stones, we have two embankments of earth, of a horseshoe form. Instead of a Silbury Hill, as at Abury, or a Mount St. Michael, as at Karnac, we have a natural eminence modified by art, from the top of which the eye commands a complete view of the central group and the avenues leading from it on either hand. The avenues have very nearly the same relative position as at Abury, although they do not connect directly with the circle. They have similar undulations (if the term is admissible), and one of them, which is, however, interrupted in its course by the Ohio River, terminates in a circular work, composed of concentric embankments of earth, much larger, it is true, but generally corresponding with that which forms the head of the Abury serpent on Hakpen Hill. These coin 2100 FT. 15 ACRES 800 FT. 2100 FT. FIG. 65. ANCIENT WORK, IN KENTUCKY, OPPOSITE PORTSMOUTH, OHIO. cidences are remarkable, but it is not claimed that they establish an identity of design: that is to say, it is not clearly apparent that the Portsmouth work was intended to represent a serpent. It nevertheless bears a close resemblance to that class of serpentine structures above described, and was undoubtedly devoted to analogous purposes. The work indicated by the letter A in Plate XXVIII. of "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," an enlarged plan of which is given above, FIG. 65, seems also to partake of this character. It is situated upon the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, opposite the old mouth of the Scioto River, about two miles below the town of Portsmouth, Ohio. The terrace on which it is situated is elevated some fifty feet above the first bottom, and extends back to the hills, which, at this point, are some distance from the river. The main body of the work occupies a very beautiful level, somewhat ascending from the east. The wings are on equally beautiful levels, |