In ancient times this mode of burial was considered a most honourable one, and in passing the tomb of a warrior or some great man, it was customary for every passer by to throw a stone to the cairn, out of reverence to his memory. There was a similar custom among the Indians of Patagonia, which was still observed a few years ago. A Patagonian Chief in passing the grave of an eminent chief or a great warrior, would dismount from his horse, and search for a stone to throw on the cairn. Monumental Cairns were also common in Scotland, for in Ossian's Poems, Shibric, in Carricthura says: "If fall I must in the field, raise high my grave, Vinvela. Grey stones, and heaped earth, shall mark me to future times." To erect mounds seems to have been a very ancient custom, for Herodotus, in giving a full and most interesting account of the strange practices of the Ancient Scythians, in connection with the burial of their Kings, observes amongst other things, "Having done this, they all heap up a large mound, striving and vieing with each other to make it as large as possible." When the custom of burying in churchyards became general in Wales, in course of time, to bury in cairns and mounds, which formerly had been an honourable practice, was discontinued, and even condemned, as fit only for the great criminals; and, as Dr. Owen Pugh, observes: "when this heap became to be disgraced, by being the mark where the guilty was laid, the custom for every one that passed, to fling his stone, still continued, but now as a token of detestation"; hence originated the old Welsh sayings "Carn lleidr (a thief's Cairn), "Carn ar dy wyneb." (Cairn on thy face). Even at the present day throughout Wales, when any one is guilty of robbery or swindle, it is customary to call such a man a "Carn leidr" (A cairn thief). In the parish of Llanwenog, six miles from Lampeter, there is a spot called "Carn Philip Wyddyl." an old farmer, named "Tomos, Ty-cam," informed me that according to the traditions of the district, this Philip was a "Carn leidr," or the ringleader of a gang of thieves, who, in an attempt to escape, jumped down from Llanwenog Steeple, and broke his leg. His pursuers stoned him to death, and buried him beneath a carn. CHAPTER IV. VARIOUS OTHER CUSTOMS. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S DAY CUSTOMS.