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NOTES. 355the sound of / stands Claodh-nati'Druineach, i, e. *' The grave©f the Druids.'' Mr. Pennant, (see his Tom; ,) found here theDruidical temple, and the Cairn, as also an imitation of therocking.stone. The relics of Christianity are still more conspi.cuous and venerable. It is, however, St. Columba's entry intothis island, and his subsequent conduct, which claim our attention,as even under all the palliatives which have been purposelythrown over them, they are strongly expressive of the formidableopposition he met with from the Druids. I shall thenstate the case as briefly and impartially as I can. ''The saint,on his arrival, began to build a chapel or church, but was alwaysinterrupted by the intervention of evil spirits. When itwas found impossible to proceed, a consultation was held, auditwas found necessary to appease these evil spirits by the sacrificeof a man. Oran, one of the saint's twelve attendants, voluntarilydevoted himself, and was buried alive below the foundation.The evil spirits were appeased, and/io farther interruption wasoffered. The chapel was finished, and dedicated to iS^^. Oran^and still retains his name." This pitiful story cannot imposeeven on the most credulous or ignorant. The intervention oficvil spirits, though firmly credited in the dark and superstitiousages, is now deservedly treated with contempt. The only oppositionSt. Columba could meet with was from the Druids, andbefore they would allow him to build this chapel, they compelledhim to comply with the Druidical custom of burying a man underthe foundations. An instance of the same kind occurs in thesacred records. Hiel, the Bethelite, (1 Kings 16. v. 34.) laidthe foundations of Jericho on his oldest son Abiram, and found.ed the gates on his youngest son Segub. The ridiculous storythat Oian was put to death for blasphemy, is one of the mostwretched of all fabrications to shelter the saint from the infamyof having offered a human sacrifice. But falsehood never is{ab omni parte beatnm) in all respects consistent, and the saint'sbiographers would have done well not to have retailed impossibilitiesfor facts. Could Gran blaspheme after being threedays and three nights buried under the foundation'bf this chapel