A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

;116 THE HISTORYThose writers, however, are not to be blam'd, asbeing strangers to the origin or use of such heapsand not able to distinguisli them from certainother heaps, under which robbers and traitorsAvere bury'd. These last are calFd in general bythe Welsh Carn-Vrachiyr and Carn-Lhadrofi^; orparticularly after the proper names of the underlyingcriminals, as Carneclh-Leuelyn, Carnedh-Da'vid, and such like. As far from Auvergne as theiland of Saint Kilda, in the 58th degree of northernlatitude, there is another hill denominated fromBelenus (which more consonant to the Celtic idiomHerodianf writes Belin) corruptly calFd Otter-^VeaulX, or Belens heigth; on Avhich is a vast heap,whereof Doctor Martin, in his account of thatiland, did not know the use, as I said before §:but the earn being on the hill just above the landingplace, he thinks it soorder d by providence;that by rouling down these stones, the inhabitantsmight prevent any body's coming ashore againsttheir Vv ill. In the church of Birsa (near whichstands a very remarkable obelise) at the west endof the iland call'd Pomona, or the mainland, inOrkney, there is an erect stone, with the wordBeius inscribed on it in antient characters. Yetwhether this be any remembrance of Belemis (betteraccording to the Irish idiom Bclus) or be the* Traitor and thiefs cam: in Irish Carn-lhrafeoir ^' Cam anX^adroin.i J^ib. 8. cap. 7. % Uachdar Bheil. § Pago 1 12,