MODERN INDIAN DOLMENS. 131 



Eochebrune, that the supports were probably carved at a 

 period long subsequent to the erection of the monument.* 

 At Stonehenge the stones are roughly hewn, but at this stage 

 the Megalithic architecture in Western Europe seems to have 

 been replaced by a totally different style. In Algeria,-)- on 

 the contrary, it advanced further ; we there find tumuli of 

 regular masonry and stone circles, in which the floors are 

 paved. On the principal stones in one of the stone circles 

 are letters, the meaning of which, however, is unknown. In 

 India it reached a still higher stage of development, so that 

 it requires an observant eye to detect in the rude cromlechs, 

 stone circles, and tumuli, the prototypes of the highly deco- 

 rated architecture of the Buddhists. 



It is a very remarkable fact, that even to the present day, 

 some of the hill tribes in India continue to erect menhirs, 

 cromlechs, and other combinations of gigantic stones, some- 

 times singly, sometimes in rows, sometimes in circles, in 

 either case very closely resembling those found in Western 

 Europe. Among the Khasias,| " the funeral ceremonies are 

 the only ones of any importance, and are often conducted 

 with barbaric pomp and expense ; and rude stones of gigantic 

 proportions are erected as monuments, singly or in rows, 

 circles, or supporting one another like those of Stonehenge, 

 which they rival in dimensions and appearance." 



An interesting account is given by Dr. Inman, on the 

 authority of Mr. Greey, of the mode in which these large 

 blocks of stone are moved. Two long horizontal poles are 

 placed under the stone pillar, and firmly lashed to it, one at 

 each end. At intervals of about three feet other poles were 

 then fastened to the two first, parallel to the stone pillar, so 



* Mem. sur les Restes d'mdustrie Province de Constantine, 1863, p. 



appartenantaux temps primordiaux 214. See also Letourneux, Ar. f. 



dans le Dep. de la Charente. 1866. Anthropolgie, 1868, p. 307. 



t Reeueildes Notices etMcmoires J Dr. Hooker's Himalayan Jour. 



de la Societe Arclieologi^ue de la vol. ii. p. 276. See also p. 320. 



K 2 



