of the ruder Hindostan tribes actually worship upright stones; but Colonel Forbes Leslie regards the sacred stones represented in Pl. III. as a place of worship, rather than as actual deities; and this is at any rate the case with another group similarly painted, which he observed near Andlee, also in the Dekhan, and which is peculiarly interesting from its resemblance to those stone circles of our own country; of which Stonehenge is (see Frontispiece) the grandest representative. Fig. 18, p. 248, represents a religious dance as practised by the Redskins of Virginia. Here, also, as already mentioned, we see a sacred circle of stones, differing from those of our own country, and of India, only in having a human head rudely carved on each stone.

The lower races of men have no Priests, properly so called. Many passages, indeed, may be quoted which, at first sight, appear to negative this assertion. If, however, we examine more closely the true functions of these so-called 'priests,' we shall easily satisfy ourselves that the term is a misnomer, and that wizards

only are intended. Without temples and sacrifices there cannot be priests.

According to Drury, there were no priests in Madagascar; more recently, however, the guardians of the idols had usurped priestly functions, and even claimed for themselves immunities from legal consequences, akin to the custom of privilege of clergy, which survived until so recently among ourselves.2

Even the New Zealanders had no regular priest

1 Mœurs des Sauv. Amér., vol.

ii. p. 136.

2 Sibree, Madagascar and its

People, p. 400.

3 Yate, p. 146.