The stone implements of various forms found in the shell-heaps of Brazil are called by the natives _Curiscos_ or “lightning-stones.” The Guaranis name them “stars fallen from heaven”; the Cajuas, “stones hurled by the thunder”; and the Coarados, “axe-stones.” A high price is paid for these by the gold-seekers in Brazil, who believe that, by attraction, they show the presence of gold beneath the surface, just as the divining-rod is supposed to be affected by the presence of water or by hidden treasures.[205] The peasants of Slavonic descent in Moravia have great faith in the virtues of the “thunder-stone.” During Passion Week the stone has the power to reveal the location of hidden treasures, and it is also believed that warts on man and horse will disappear if they be rubbed with such a stone before sunset. However, not only healing virtues are attributed, for if the stone be hurled at anyone and strikes him, it inflicts a mortal wound.[206] A poetic and appropriate name has been applied to the earliest of the chipped stone artefacts of primitive man by archæologists. They are called “Dawn Stones” (eoliths), and the name characterizes these interesting relics, the first steps in the development of sculptural art, as products of the dawn of human civilization. A curious survival of the adoration of stones is reported by the Earl of Roden in his “Progress of the Reformation in Ireland.”[207] A correspondent informed Lord Roden that in Inniskea, an island off the coast of Mayo, there was, in 1851, a stone idol called in the Irish tongue Neevougi. This was said to have been preserved and worshipped from time immemorial. The stone is described as having been wrapped in so many folds of homespun flannel that it looked like a mass of that material. This is explained by the custom of dedicating a dress of this flannel to the stone whenever its aid was sought, the garment being sewed on by an old woman who officiated as the priestess of the stone. Prayers were offered to this strange idol for the cure of diseases, as it was supposed to be endowed with extraordinary powers. A stranger petition sometimes made was that a storm might arise and wreck a ship upon the coast so that the thrifty islanders might profit by its misfortune; on the other hand, with charming inconsistency, when they wished to go a-fishing or pay a visit to the mainland, the trusty stone was expected to assure them fair weather and a calm sea. In Tavernier’s time (about 1650) many poor families living in the woods and on the hillsides in India, far from any village where there was a temple, would take a stone, probably one of a peculiar shape, and would roughly paint on it a nose and eyes in red or green color. This being done, the whole family would gather about this stone and reverently adore it as their idol.[208]