we lost no time in setting forth in search of the monster. Half-an-hour's drive brought us to the shores of Loch Nell, beyond which Ben Cruachan proudly rears her triple crest, standing in dark relief against the delicate white vapours which cling to her so lovingly, sometimes veiling, sometimes crowning, the stately queen, as they float around her with ceaseless motion. "The carriage road winds along the shore and through broken, hummocky ground, in some places clothed with grass, in others with heather and bracken; and but for the presence of one of the few initiated who had fortunately accompanied us, we should assuredly have passed close below the heathery mound which forms the serpent's tail (in fact, the road has been cut right across the tip of it) without ever suspecting that it differed from the surrounding moorland. This vast serpent-mound rises very conspicuously from the flat grassy plain, which stretches for some distance on either side, with scarcely an undulation save two artificial circular mounds, in one of which lie several large stones forming a cromlech. These circles are situated a short distance to the south, to the right of the serpent. Finding ourselves thus unconsciously in the very presence of the Great Dragon, we hastened to improve our acquaintance, and in a couple of minutes had scrambled on to the ridge which forms his backbone, and thence perceived that we were standing on an artificial mound three hundred feet in length, forming a double curve, a huge letter S, and wonderfully perfect in anatomical outline. This we perceived the more perfectly on reaching the head, which lies at the western end, whence diverge small ridges, which may have represented the paws of the reptile. On the head rests a circle of stones, supposed to be emblematic of the solar disk, and exactly corresponding with the solar circle as represented on the head of the mystic serpents of Egypt and Phoenicia, and in the Great American Serpent Mound. At the time of Mr. Phené's first visit to this spot there still remained in the centre of this circle some traces of an altar, which, VOL. I. 3 thanks to the depredations of cattle and herd-boys, have since wholly disappeared. The people of the neighbourhood have an old tradition that in remote ages this was a place of public execution, and, from various analogies in the customs of other nations, it seems likely enough that this was the case, and that this wild glen may have been to many the Valley of the Shadow of Death, whether their lives were taken judicially or offered in sacrifice. "The circle was excavated on the 12th October, 1871, and within it were found three large stones, forming a chamber, which contained burnt human bones, charcoal, and charred hazel nuts. Surely the spirits of our pagan ancestors must rejoice to see how faithfully we, their descendants, continue to burn our hazel nuts on Hallow E'en, their old Autumnal Fire Festival, though our modern divination is practised only with reference to such a trivial matter as the faith of sweethearts. A flint implement was also found, beautifully and minutely serrated at the edge; nevertheless, it was at once evident, on opening the cairn, that the place had already been ransacked, probably in secret, by treasure-seekers, as there is no tradition of any excavation for scientific purposes having ever been made here. "On the removal of the peat-moss and heather from the ridge of the serpent's back, it was found that the whole length of the spine was carefully constructed with regularly and symmetrically placed stones, at such an angle as to throw off rain, an adjustment to which we doubtless owe the preservation, or, at least, the perfection of this most remarkable relic. To those who know how slow is the growth of peat-moss, even in damp and undrained places, the depth to which it has here attained, though in a dry and thoroughly exposed situation, and raised from seventeen to twenty feet above the level of the surrounding moss, tells of many a long century of silent, undisturbed growth since the days when the serpent's spine was the well-worn path daily trodden by reverend feet. The spine is, in fact, a long, narrow causeway, made of large stones, set like the vertebræ of some huge animal. They form a ridge, sloping off in an angle at each side, which is continued downwards with an arrangement of smaller stones, suggestive of ribs. The mound has been formed in such a position that the worshipper standing at the altar would naturally look eastward, directly along the whole length of the great reptile, and across the dark lake, to the triple peaks of Ben Cruachan. This position must have been carefully selected, as from no other point are the three peaks visible. This reverence for some triune object, whether a triple-pointed hill, the junction of three rivers, or the neighbourhood of three lakes, seems to have been a marked characteristic of almost every ancient faith." The Persians of old were wont to reverence the threefold leaves of the shamrock as symbolic of a Divine Triad, to whom this plant was consecrated by the sons of Iran, for many long centuries ere St. Patrick made use of the same green leaf to exemplify the same mystery to the sons of Erin, a leaf, moreover, to which they already attached some mysterious meaning, regarding it as a certain charm against serpents and all venomous reptiles. The virtue of the shamrock as a charm against the stings of snakes and scorpions has also been recorded by Pliny, who declares that the serpent is never seen on trefoil. One of the serpent-mounds discovered in North America, described by the Messrs. Squier and Davis, represents a serpent 700 feet long as he lies with his tail curled up into a spiral form, and his mouth gaping to swallow an egg 160 feet long by 60 feet across. (Fergusson Rude Stone Monuments, 515.) At the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, in 1871, Mr. Phené gave an account of his discovery in Argyleshire of a similar mound several hundred feet long, and about 15 feet high by 30 feet broad, tapering gradually to the tail, the head being surrounded by a circular cairn, which he supposes to answer to the solar disc above the head of the Egyptian Uræus or Araius, the position of which, with head-crest, answers to the form of the Oban serpent |