CHRISTIANIZED MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS. 671 



statue of tlie Virgin reposing, attended by three other less modern 

 statues representing a man and two saints, l^umerous chapels have 

 been built at menhirs to receive the offerings of pilgrims visiting 

 them. 



The most remarkable of all the menhirs on which the Roman 

 Catholic religion has placed its seal, and at the same time one of the 

 least kno'v^m of them, is that of Pleumeur-Bodou, department of 

 Cotes-du-JSTord — a handsome granite block, solidly planted in the 

 ground, roughly rectangular, about twenty feet high, and topping 

 in an obtuse point. It is rendered particularly interesting by the re- 

 ligious imagery that covers its southern face. The whole upper 

 third of this face is occupied by quaint sculptures in relief, colored in 

 red, yellow, white, and black, representing a complete series of the 

 attributes of the passion of Jesus Christ. There are the purse, red, 

 containing the thirty pieces of silver which Judas received for his 

 treason, and eight of the pieces shown ; the cup, yellow, which Jesus 

 handed round to his apostles at the last supper; the sword, white with 

 a yellow hilt, indicating the arms borne by the persons who came to 

 arrest him; the lantern carried by Judas at the betrayal; the sword 

 with which Peter cut off the ear of Malchus; the cock that crowed 

 three times; the post at which Jesus was scourged, with the scourge 

 and rods; the reed which the soldiers derisively put in Jesus' hand 

 as a scepter; the vessel in which Pontius Pilate washed his hands 

 before giving Jesus up to the mob; St. Veronica's handkerchief; 

 the hammer and three of the nails with which Jesus was 

 nailed to the cross; the dice which the soldiers cast for 

 his robe, and the robe; Mary Magdalene praying; the 

 sun and the moon, which were obscured; the sponge 

 with which Jesus 

 was given vinegar, 

 and the lance that 

 was thrust into his 

 side; a skull and 

 bones symbolizing 

 the opening of the 

 tombs when Jesus 

 expired; the pincers 

 and the ladder by 

 the aid of which 

 Joseph of Arima- 

 thea took him down from the cross; and the glove in which Nico- 

 demus caught a few drops of Jesus' blood while burying him. Be- 

 neath these figures was depicted a large Christ fixed on a red cross, 

 with a dark background standing for a cloth, five feet by eight. The 



Fig. 3. 



-Transversal Section of the Dolmen of tue Seven 

 Saints. Scale, 1 to 100. 



