A Book of Dartmoor: Second EditionBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A Book of Dartmoor: Second Edition
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England)
The Samoyeds were wont to make circles of stones of rude blocks set
up, and these are still to be seen in the districts they inhabit; and
although these people are nominally Christians, yet they are secretly
addicted to their old paganism. Mr. Jackson, in his _Great Frozen Land_
(London, 1895), says:--
"The rings of stones which I frequently met with in Waigatz are the
sites of their midnight services, and are made, of course, by the
Samoyeds. They are called yon-pa-ha-pai. It is possible that within
these circles the human sacrifices with which Samoyeds used to
propitiate Chaddi were offered up; and, although these are things
of the past now, it is only a few years ago that a Samoyed, living
in Novaia Zemlia, sacrificed a young girl" (p. 89).
A tradition or fancy relative to more than one of these circles is that
the stones represent maidens who insisted on dancing on a Sunday, and
were, for their profanity, turned into stone when the church bells rang
for divine service. It is further said that on May Day or Midsummer Day
they dance in a ring.
There are several of these circles on the moor. The finest are those
of Scaur Hill, near Chagford, of the Grey Wethers--two side by side,
but most of the stones of one are fallen--the circle on Langstone
Moor above Peter Tavy, Trowlesworthy, Sherberton, and Fernworthy. The
diameters vary from thirty-six feet to three hundred and sixty. One
that must have been very fine was near Huccaby, but most of the stones
constituting it have been removed for the construction of a wall hard
by.
The number of stones employed varies according to the area inclosed.
4. The _stone row_ is almost invariably associated with cairns and
kistvaens, and clearly had some relation to funeral rites. The stone
settings are often single, sometimes double, or are as many as eight.
They do not always run parallel; they start from a cairn, and end with
a blocking-stone set across the line. In Scotland they are confined to
Caithness. The finest known are at Carnac, in Brittany. It is probable
that just as a Bedouin now erects a stone near a fakir's tomb as a
token of respect, so each of these rude blocks was set up by a member
of a tribe, or by a household, in honour of the chief buried in the
cairn at the head of the row.
It is remarkable how greatly the set stones vary in size. Some are
quite insignificant, and could be planted by a boy, while others
require the united efforts of three, four, or even many men, with
modern appliances of three legs and block, to lift and place them
in position. This seems to show that the rows are not the result of
concerted design, but of individual execution as the ability of the
man or family permitted to set up a stone large or small. Usually the
largest stones are planted near the cairn, and they dwindle to the
blocking-stone, which is of respectable size.
[Illustration: STONE-ROWS, DRIZZLECOMBE]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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