It must be kept in mind that churinga, "witch stones," "charm stones," or
whatever the smaller stones may be styled, are not necessarily marked
with any pattern. In Australia, in Portugal, in Russia, in France, in
North America, in Scotland, as we shall see, such stones may be unmarked,
may bear no inscription or pattern. {81} These are plain magic stones,
such as survive in English peasant superstition.
In Dr. Munro's _Ancient Lake Dwellings of Europe_, plain stone discs,
perforated, do occur, but rarely, and there are few examples of pendants
with cupped marks. Of these two, as being cupped pendants, might look
like analogues of the disputed Clyde stones, but Dr. Munro, owing to the
subsequent exposure of the "Horn Age" forgeries, now has "a strong
suspicion that he was taken in" by the things. {82a}
To return to Scottish stones.
In Mr. Graham Callander's essay on perforated stones, {82b} he publishes
an uninscribed triangular stone, with a perforation, apparently for
suspension. This is one of several such Scottish stones, and though we
cannot prove it, may have had a superstitious purpose. Happily Sir
Walter Scott discovered and describes the magical use to which this kind
of charm stone was put in 1814. When a person was unwell, in the Orkney
Isles, the people, like many savages, supposed that a wizard had stolen
his heart. "The parties' friends resort to a cunning man or woman, who
hangs about the [patient's] neck a triangular stone in the shape of a
heart." {82c} This is a thoroughly well-known savage superstition, the
stealing of the heart, or vital spirit, and its restoration by magic.
This use of triangular or heart-shaped perforated stones was not
inconsistent with the civilisation of the nineteenth century, and, of
course, was not inconsistent with the civilisation of the Picts. A stone
may have magical purpose, though it bears no markings. Meanwhile most
churinga, and many of the disputed objects, have archaic markings, which
also occur on rock faces.