Forlong - Rivers of Life

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Fig 177.—ST. MICHAEL’S MOUNT, LAND’S END
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
thus described by “a Physician” in his Guide to Land’s End, 1 and to that strange mystic
spot, with its curious and once “most sacred conical granite and temple-crowned
mound” of ancient memories; 2 it probably stood amid lands once crowded by the habitations
of men, but it is now as I show here engulphed by Neptune. On Midsummer’s
Eve, which good Christians prefer to call the Eve of
St. John the Baptist, when “the tardy sun sinks into the
western ocean, the young and old of both sexes, animated
by the genius of the night, assemble in the town and
different villages of the bay (of Penzance) with lighted
torches; three tar barrels erected on tall poles in the
market-place, on the pier, and in other conspicuous
spots, are then urged into a state of vivid combustion,
shedding an appalling glare on every surrounding object, which, when multiplied by
numerous reflections on the waves, produce, at a distant view, a spectacle so singular
and novel, as to defy the powers of description . . . . one may imagine himself suddenly
transported to the regions of the fairies and infernal gods, or . . . . that he is
witnessing the awful celebration of the fifth day of the Eleusinian Feast; while the
shrieks of the female spectators, and yells of the torch-bearers, with their hair streaming in
the wind, and their flambeaux rapidly whirling, are realities not calculated to dispel the
illusion. No sooner are the torches burned out (there is evident significance here)
than the inhabitants pour forth from the quay and its neighbourhood, form a long
string, and hand in hand run furiously through every street vociferating, An Eye—An
Eye—An Eye! (Ishtar, Ishtar), and at length suddenly stop, when the two last of the
string (a mighty serpent) elevating their clasped hands, form an eye to this enormous
needle (Siva) through which the thread of populace runs, and thus they continue to
repeat the game, until weariness dissolves the union” ! !
The Physician saw Ceres and her torches here; 3 but still the old meaning was
quite dark to him, simply because he had not seen the living faith which would have
told him at once of the Eye—Siva, Bode, and Bodkin.
JULY AND EARLY AUGUST.
Of July and the early part of August there is not much to be said, for man was
commanded to rest when the sun rose to midsummcr heats. Egypt and Southern
Europe quailed a little before the eastern winds, but all thought themgelves safe in
the hands of great Jove, to whom July was sacred. Early Kooths and Kelts used to
wax wanton; and Rome worshipped Castor and Pollux. Then the Christian Church
dedicated a day to the erring Magdalene, and the careful and “worldly” Martha;
but August came in with assured “Hope and Mars,” and Ceres was now generally
1 Guide to LAnd’s End and St. Michael’s. London: Philips & Co. 1824.
2 Ptolmey called is Ocrium.
3 [Whereas the General, as always, sees solar-phallic serpents. — T.S.]