Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/197

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THE LIZARD— LOGAN STONES make the visitor forget those beauties that he has ostensibly come to see. That evil day is not yet ; those who would know old Cornwall truly should try to get to it while it yet remains unspoiled. Loe Pool, (See Helston.) Logan Stones are a familiar feature of all granite districts. The word simply means " logging " or rolling ; and this logging is pro- duced naturally by the weathering of the stone. Between blocks of solid rock have been layers of softer substance, which have been washed away by the rain and storms of centuries, leaving the rocks poised. They were freely explained in the past as Druidic monuments, while the un- educated regarded them as the result of magic. Many of these natural formations, as well as artificially raised monuments, have been care- lessly destroyed ; the massive blocks proved too tempting to builders and agriculturists to be left untampered with. The best surviving specimen of logan stone is that at TrerynDinas or Treen, in the parish of St. Levan. It weighs about 65 tons, and Dr. Borlase asserted that it was morally impossible for any force to move it. The foolish statement was as foolishly disproved, in 1824, by a nephew of the poet Goldsmith, who overthrew the logan with the help of the crew from the vessel on which he was lieutenant. Goldsmith did not realise the folly of his action till too late. He was compelled by the Ad- miralty to replace the rock ; but though the cost is said to have ruined him, the stone has 165