CHAPTER VIII

HOLED STONES AND MARTYR WEIGHTS

Bocca della Verita--Primitive Worship of Clefts in Rocks and Holes in Stones--Cromlechs--Passing through beneath Cromlechs and Gates--Tigillum Sororium--Pillars in Aksa Mosque at Jerusalem--"Threading the Needle" in Ripon Cathedral--Standing Stones of Stennis and Oath of Odin--Cremave--Jewish Covenant--Martyr Stones--Originally Roman Measures of Weight--Made of Jade or Nephrite--Remarkable History of Jade--Prehistoric Glimpses--Relics of Stone Age in Rome--Conservation of things connected with Religion