Small cairns marking the place of a death, or a halting-place in a funeral procession, are still raised in some parts of Ireland--a practice also common among primitive people in other lands. Examples of cairns raised by devotees at some sacred spot are occasionally to be met with. The most remarkable instance we know of is that raised by pilgrims, who add stones to the heap after performing their stations, at Glencolumbkille, Co. Donegal. It stands high upon the side of the hill, close to the ruins of the old church, and measures about 30 paces long, 4 wide, and 5 feet high. * * * * * [Illustration: Stones of the Circle at Newgrange.] _Stone Circles._--Stone circles of great magnitude are to be seen in many parts of Ireland. Of the lesser kind numerous examples occur in various counties, and particularly in the north and north-west. They are invariably composed of rough unhewn blocks, varying in height from 2 to 11 feet, or more, above the level of the adjoining land; and in some instances they are encompassed with a low earthen mound or ditch. Their area, though often apparently unoccupied, is generally found to contain one or other of the remains already described--a cromlech, a tumulus or cairn, a smaller circle, a pillar-stone, cists. Human bones, cinerary urns, ashes, weapons, implements or ornaments of bone or flint, or other objects, are invariably discovered within these enclosures upon the earth being disturbed. The remains of a cremated body were sometimes deposited in a cist, with or without an urn to contain them, and the site marked with a circle of standing stones or a single pillar. It is difficult now to determine the exact significance of the stone circle round the mound or burial-place. Aristotle makes an interesting allusion to the erection of stone circles round burial sites: ‘Among the Iberians, who are a military people, it is the custom to set round the tomb of a deceased warrior a number of obelisks corresponding to the number of enemies he has killed.’[54] The last resting-place of the dead has, however, at all times been looked upon as more or less sacred; and Christian burial-places are especially consecrated for the purpose, and protected from intrusion. The custom of raising a stone circle round a dolmen or cist containing burial remains has been a general one; and examples are found as far off as Syria and Arabia similar to the megalithic structures of the British Isles. The desire to protect and honour the remains of the illustrious dead has existed in all lands, and has shown itself in the production of the most remarkable monuments that the world has known. The megalithic structures of western Europe, the elaborately decorated tombs of the Mycenæan Age, the rock-tombs of Etruria, the Egyptian pyramids, and the magnificent monuments of India abundantly testify to the respect for the dead in the mind of man everywhere throughout past ages.