4 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Some human bones lay in the midst of these memorials of human wealth. 

 Unfortunately, they have been scattered. 



We can not leave the antas of Portugal without mentioning the 

 bowls which M. Cartailhac observed on some of the megaliths of Alem- 

 tejo. Such vessels have long been known in prehistoric archaeology. 

 They are found in Switzerland, in the Pyrenees, in Brittany, in Scot- 

 land, in Scandinavia, and on the rocks of Hindostan. The bowls, en- 

 graved on the walls of some of the crypts, recently disengaged from 

 their earthy envelope, have doubtless, as M. Cartailhac observes in 

 relating his discovery, an indisputable antiquity, value, and meaning ; 

 but we can not determine the age, and the value and meaning are 

 unknown to us. Megaliths are especially abundant in Estremadura, 

 the richest province in Roman Spain, now the most wretched and 



least populous. They are 

 called garitas by the peas- 

 ants of the province, but 

 farther north, in theAstu- 

 rias and the Basque prov- 

 ... .* inces, thev are known as 

 areas. A most remark- 

 able example of these 

 works is situated at 

 Equilaz, on the road 

 from Vittoria to Pampe- 

 The chamber is of a horseshoe-shape, 5 # T0 metres long and 4*50 



Pig. 3. Anta of Paeedes, near Evcra. 



luna. 



metres wide. It was crowned by a single stone, which had been broken 

 recently. Another, nearly similar,'with an approach covered with three 

 large flat stones, and a narrow entrance-way, is still to be seen at Caugas 

 de Onu, GO kilometres from Oviedo. We also mention the megalithic 

 sepulchres in the prov- 

 ince of Barcelona, at Pla- 

 Marshall, and the one near 

 Villalba - Saserra, known 

 as the Peclra area. Both 

 of these are placed in 

 the center of a cromlech 

 formed of stones planted 

 in a standing position. 

 The ruins of the covered 

 ways giving access to the 

 crypt are still visible. 

 Thirteen megalithic crypts are descrihed as remaining in Andalusia 

 and the ancient kingdom of Granada. The structures were formerly 

 much more numerous ; but they have been destroyed in the processes 

 of agriculture or in the search for minerals. Such a fate has overtaken 

 the important monument of Dilar, two leagues south of Granada. 



Fig. 4. Lapa dos Moisos. 



