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MODERN INDIAN DOLMENS. 



that a large number of men could get a firm hand-hold. In 

 this manner Mr. Greey saw a stone about 30 feet long, 10 

 feet broad, and weighing about 24 tons, easily moved by 

 about 600 men.* 



The single pillars are sometimes tombstones, sometimes 

 memorials of important events. Colonel Yule once asked a 

 native if there were any tradition about one of these pillars, 

 which is known as Mausmai, i.e. "the stone of the oath." 

 " There was war," said the man, " between two villages, and 

 when they made peace, and swore to it, they erected this stone 



for a witness""^ 



FIG. 139. 



r 



,-s ''.^fc**^&-- * . 





\NW 



Indian Dolmens. 



Sir Joseph Hooker J has called attention to the fact that 

 the Khasian word for a stone, "Mau," as commonly occurs 

 in the names of their villages and places, as that of Man, 

 Maen and Men, does in those of Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, 

 etc. ; thus Mausmai signifies in Khasia the Stone of Oath, 

 Mamloo, the Stone of Salt, Mouflong, the Grassy Stone,- 



* Proceedings Lit, and Soc. of Liverpool, vol. xxx. p. 108. 

 t Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, vol. i. p. 93. 



I Address to the British Association, 1808, p. 7. 



