designated in later times by the name of Jupiter Trophonius, yet he was unknown utterly in the Grecian pantheon, neither can it be ascertained that he ever belonged to any.

Practices similar to these required at the cave of Trophonius, appear to have been of common observance at the sacred caves of Celticism; nor are they altogether obsolete in countries where, though that religion is no longer known, or at least acknowledged, yet Celtic usages are still practised occasionally, as may be seen in the following extraordinary fact. On the coast of Malabar, about two miles from the city of Bombay, rises a considerable hill, called Malabar hill, which stretches out into the ocean and forms a kind of promontory, similar, it should seem, to the promontory of Tænarus. At the extreme point of this hill, on the descent towards the shore, is a rock, in which there is a natural crevice communicating with a natural cavity opening below and terminating toward the sea. This place is used by the Hindus as affording the means of purification and obtaining pardon for sin. The rite required of penitents consists in creeping into the opening below, and issuing out of the cavity above. The process is of some difficulty, for the passage is narrow, and too small for persons of any corpulence. The place is of high repute in all the neighbouring countries. The pirate Conajì Angria, of great celebrity about the middle of the last century, is said to have landed one night at the foot of the hill with no little danger to himself, being, as he was, an enemy proscribed by the English, and he performed the rite by creeping through the cavity.e

The character of this votary, whose rapine and cruelties outraged all laws human and divine, suggests the idea that he was in all probability indifferent as to the wickedness of his actions, but was anxious to know what might be the immediate consequences; and that he rather performed the rite, in expectation of acquiring some oracular information con

Higgins, chap. vi. s. 14.

cerning threatening events, than to obtain pardon for offences. This idea is suggested by the near resemblance between the oracular cave of Trophonius and the Malabar cavern. When pardon for past crimes, or knowledge of future events, were sought, the passage in both cases would be regarded by the votaries as a new birth, as a passage into a new life after an existence passed in the cave and in the presence of the god, supposed, like Trophonius, to be present in the cave, and therefore likely to afford new ideas and new knowledge, as well as a new birth and an exemption from the consequences of former actions.

Acts of mortification thus voluntarily endured by the votaries of Trophonius, and the danger incurred and labour undertaken by the Indian pirate, were done with the expectation that they might appease the anger and conciliate the favour of the gods. This notion, which seems to be inseparable from idolatry, rests upon a perversion of the doctrine, that the deity chastises in anger; that suffering, voluntarily endured, pacifies the angry deity, and affords the same, or even greater delight than acts of piety and virtue. It is upon this persuasion that the Hindu Yogi subjects himself to torture and misery; and the Romanist piously performs, sometimes, it is said, vicariously, the pains of penance. These observations invite attention, because they will shew the import not only of some religious rites, but also of several parts of sacred structures, whether idolatrous or Christian: they also prove the inveteracy of superstition; it holds its place with equal pertinacity in the pious and the impious mind; it retains even in distant ages and countries its strange and irresistible influence, and is not effectually extirpated even when idolatry assumes the Christian garb.

On a mountain called Helæum in the vicinity of Phigalia, in Arcadia, is a cave called the cave of the Black Ceres, whither she retired in anger at the rape by Dis of Despoina, or Proserpine, whom she bore to Poseidon or Neptune, but more

properly Phorcys, a personification of the waters of Ocean, and mentioned by Homer in his account of the cave of the nymphs. In this Phigalian cave the angry goddess remained long in concealment, inflicting famine throughout the adjacent countries. The goddess is represented by an image of wood, sitting on a rock within the cave, clad in black, and of the following form. Her garments reach to her feet; the head is that of a horse, having a mane composed of dragons and other fierce and deathful animals. In one hand she holds a dolphin, in the other a dove. This image, thus described by the antiquary from report, had been destroyed by a fall of the earth of the roof; but still sacrifices were performed occasionally by private persons, and annually by the whole people, on an altar situate at the entrance into the cave. The cave was surrounded by a grove of oaks, and a spring of very cool water flowed out of it.

All the personages named in this paragraph belonging to the pantheon of ancient or early Greece were, as is shewn by the Welch Triads, poems of the sixth century of the Christian era, personages well known to have belonged to the Celtic pantheon of ancient Britain. Pluto, or Dis, was known to the Celts by the name of Gwyn ab Nudd, or Mor-ien, the king of Annwn, that is, of the deep, or parts of the earth far beneath the surface. Despoina, the Lady, or Proserpine, was the Celtic goddess Creirwy, a word signifying the token or symbol of the egg. She was the daughter of Ket, Ked, or Ceridwen, the wife of Hu, the god supreme, the same in all respects as the Grecian Ceres. This personage was represented by several symbols. She was a mare, a hen, and a boat; all which were represented by the head of the horse given to the Phigalian idol, and by the dove in one hand, and the dolphin, aptly corresponding with

Pausan. lib. viii. chap. 42.

g Davies' Rites of Druids, sec. 3, p. 206, 207.

h Ibid. sec. 2, p. 184. Appendix, p. 549.

the boat, in the other. While in the cave this Celtic Ceres was a malignant character; she dealt famine and death around. In this respect the Phigalian goddess resembles Durga or Black Cali, the personification, according to the Sastra, of the destructive power in Nature. The Indian Black Cali is exhibited in that country with complexion completely black, having terrible teeth, long nails, serpents instead of hair, and a zenaar, or necklace of heads, hanging long and low before her. Bishop Heber saw on one of the hills in the vicinity of the ruins of Gour, in the province of Bengala, a cave dedicated to this goddess, which he thus describes:

"The way up the hill was by a ladder, partly natural, of roots of trees, and partly artificial, where the stone had been cut away into rude steps. It led to a small rocky platform, half way up the cliff, facing the river. There were other small caves, evidently the works of art, with low entrances, like ovens, and some rude carving over and round them. I crept into one of them, and found it a little hermitage, about twelve feet wide by eight, having at each end a low stone couch, and opposite the entrance a sort of bracket, either for a lamp or an idol.” i

On another and higher platform the Bishop saw two little temples attended by a Gossain, or Hindù hermit, and two of his disciples, living in small caves near the temples. The Gossain was aged, with long white hair, and was sitting naked, with hands joined and eyes half shut. "He shewed me," writes the Bishop, "not only Siva's symbol, but an image of Cali, with her black face, chaplet of skulls, and many hands. There were several other images carved on the rock, but which had been broken by the Mussulman conquerors."

The temples of Sivà and Cali seem to have been constructed by the disciples of the Sastra, after the suppression of Celticism in the Indian provinces, and in opposition, evidently, to the Celtic Cali, as may be inferred from the following instance of a cave sacred to that goddess.

i Heber, Trav. chap. ix. p. 266.

About a mile from Leicester, on the west of the town, are low eminences called the Dane hills; properly the dunes, for there is no reason to suppose that they were ever occupied by Danes. The country in that quarter had been in the state of a wild forest till within a few past centuries. On the side of one of the knolls of this formerly wild district, was a round cave, of diameter of ten or twelve feet, and height about five, excavated from the sandstone strata there extant. This cave was known by the name of Black Annis's Bower, said in the country to have been a savage woman with great teeth, and long nails, and that she devoured human victims. Such were the tales told formerly, but now almost lost in the darkness of ignorance. The cave, it seems, is now nearly filled up by soil carried into it by rains; but was, about seventy years ago, quite open, like a large oven. The resemblance of this cave to that seen by Bishop Heber, in Bengal, is very close and exact. Were it laid open, it is believed that it would be found similar to it in every respectsimilar also to the cave of the Black Ceres at Phigalia.

The name of Annis, to whom this cave is said to have belonged, is known to the Celtic mythologist by the name of Anu or Nannu, names signifying the mother goddess, according to the authority of Vallancey, an author well learned in the Celtic language of the Irish.1 He states that she was the same as the British Ked or Ket, and the Grecian Ceres. That she was the same as the Black Cali of India, and the Black Ceres, or Damater, of Greece, is certain. The ancient Britons did, no doubt, eat the flesh of the human victims offered on their altars, as did the Mexicans of later ages; consequently, the tales of the cannibal practices of Black Annis of the Bower cannot be with reason doubted, and that

* It may be proper to observe, that in this recital the Author speaks from personal experience. He saw it, and was actually in the cave about seventy years ago.

1 Vallancey de Reb. Hibern. c. i. s. 5, p. 490.