to man's existence, whilst the peepul and spreading banian only afford delight to the eye and shelter from the rays of the sun.

The Duw-Celi of Celtic bards has been translated by Welsh scholars the "Hidden God." As the word Celi or Celli, with little variation, signifies a place of shade, a thicket, a grove, in Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, and Cornish-may not the Duw-Celi be the god worshipped in the groves ?2-the god for which “the groves" is sometimes used in the Bible. Kelli, the Cornish for thicket or grove, nearly resembles the Cingalese word, which has the same meaning-viz. Kelai. This word is sometimes in Scotland the name of a place, and is also used in combination with other Celtic expressions in the names of many places.

4

Like the grove, the connection of the word used for tree in Sanscrit and Celtic is easily traced-in Sanscrit Druh, in

1 Welsh, Celli; Irish and Gaelic, Coille; Cornish, Kelli.

2 The Abudho Deyio, the nameless or unknown God of the Cingalese was, I have little doubt, akin to the " unknown God" mentioned in the Acts. The Abudho Deyio was the god of secrecy, the patron of thieves; and it was in following the traces of stolen property that his temple in the recesses of a forest was accidentally discovered by messengers of the judicial court of Matalai in Ceylon. Portions of property, the produce of various robberies, were discovered which had been offered to this god, the perpetrators believing that through his influence they would avoid detection.

The real name of the god, if he has one, I could not discover; but my impression was that the witnesses were afraid to pronounce it, and therefore denied any knowledge of his being called otherwise than the "unknown God."

3 Ashera, which our translators render grove (1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxiii. 7), has been supposed to be an abbreviated form of Ashtoreth, but is a different deity, whose images were of wood, not fashioned in a human form.-Kenrick's Phænicia, p. 302, quoting Movers, vol. i. p. 566.

168.

Polwhele's Cornwall, vol. i. p.

Persian Dirakht, in Gaelic Darrah (an oak), in Welsh Derw, in Irish Dair.

Amongst trees probably held sacred by our pagan ancestors, and certainly regarded by all later generations in Scotland as affording some mysterious protection to men and their herds from evil powers, the rowan or mountain-ash is the most generally appreciated. The elder or bourtree is also esteemed, but in a less degree, as a preservative from the occult accidents and influences which, by the superstitious, are believed to proceed from the malignant and supernatural powers. The rowan, it has been remarked,2 grows more frequently than any other tree in the neighbourhood of the columnar stone circles; but this might be accounted for by these stones being used by the birds to perch on, and the seed having thus been brought to these localities. The connection of this tree with ancient superstition and modern practices is shown by many customs. On the first day of May (Beltane-day) in Strathspey the sheep and lambs were made in the morning and evening to pass through a hoop made of the rowan-tree. The cattle are driven to the hill-pastures with a rod of the same. A piece of this tree is deposited over doors where either human beings or inferior animals are to be protected against malign influences. This is practised in England3 as well as in Scotland; and in Wales, says Evelyn, "this tree is reputed so sacred that there

1 Old Statistical Account of Scotland, "Parish of Tongland, in Kirkcudbrightshire," vol. ix. p. 328.

2 Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, article "Rowan-tree."

3 Sir J. Graham Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of Scotland, p. 402, quoting Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire, vi. p. 52.

is not a churchyard without one of them planted in it. So on a certain day of the year everybody religiously wears a cross made of this wood."1

The Brakenfern is believed to have been esteemed by the Druids; no insect attacks its leaves; it fades and withers while its foliage is still perfect; and in Brittany there is a belief that if the root be cut across it shows the likeness of an oak. Under the great dolmen on the heights above LocMaria-Ker there is, among the sculptures, a figure of doubtful signification called a fern-leaf. Fern-leaves gathered on Hallowe'en were particularly used for Beltane fires.

As we know that the Celts were addicted to divination, it is not improbable that their sacred oaks, or the spirit they represented, were believed to possess fate-foretelling power like the ancient sylvan oracle of Hellas, the oak of Dodona.

Amongst the figures represented in a mosaic pavement lately discovered by Dr. Davis under the ruins of Carthage. there is a plant in a flower-pot depicted on the ornamental border, and placed at each of the four corners. It seems to be disputed whether this mosaic be Phoenician or not; but even if it were executed after the conquest of Carthage, the ornamental design may be of local origin. By whatever race

1 Evelyn's Silva, p. 219. Branches of the rowan-tree, decorated with heath and flowers which had been thrice carried around the fires lighted at Beltane, were placed in the dwellings of the Irish and Scots to protect the inmates from all malignant

influences. There these branches remained until replaced by a similar protection the next season.—M'Pherson's Introduction to History of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 164-166; Sir J. Graham Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of Scotland, p. 9.