1873.] H. F. Blanford— On 'Rude Stone Monuments. 131 



On the other hand, certain important differences must not be overlook- 

 ed. First in the number of the Menhirs. Col. Dalton's sketches exhibit a 

 single menhir to each dolmen. This the speaker believed is never the case 

 on the Khasi Hills. The number is never less than three, and the greatest 

 number noticed by Major-G-odwin Austen is eleven, the number being, however 

 always odd. Again, it appears from Col. Dalton's account, that the Munda 

 stones are sepulchral monuments. This is not the case on the Khasi Hills, 

 at all events now. They are there of a votive character and have no connec- 

 tion with funeral customs. A person who is ill or who desires the assist- 

 ance or protection of an ancestor, vows a certain number of stones, if he re- 

 covers from his illness, or if the ancestor proves propitious. The ancestor 

 who is supposed to have power in the case in question, is discovered by the 

 breaking of eggs or other means of divination, and sometimes when the 

 favours are prolonged and repeated, additional stones are set up, in acknow- 

 ledgement of the benefits received. 



Col. Dalton does not refer to Major Godwin-Austen's account and may 

 not have seen the original, but he is probably acquainted with it as it is quot- 

 ed in Fergusson's ' Stone Monuments' of which he speaks in his paper. The 

 original, published in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute is the 

 most complete description the speaker had seen of the stone monuments of 

 the Khasi Hills. If Col. Dalton should have any further opportunity of 

 examining the Munda monuments, it would be of interest to ascertain 

 whether there is no instance of a multiple arrangement of the menhirs, and 

 whether they are ever set up as votive memorials. His account seems to 

 leave no doubt as to the sepulchral character of those he describes. 



Mr. H. Rivett-Carnac submitted that the paper, with its illustrations, 

 contributed by Colonel Dalton was of the greatest interest, as giving 

 another case of a tribe, living in an unfrequented hill-country, which 

 appeared to have practised from time immemorial, and still to continue 

 to practise, a system of erecting monuments over their dead, similar to 

 the pre -historic remains observed in the hill-country, and comparatively 

 inaccessible tracts of other parts of India. In the basalt, or trap country, 

 where boulders of trap only could be obtained, the tumuli took the form of 

 barrows, or circular mounds surrounded with boulders. When the sandstone 

 formation was reached, where it was not difficult to split the block of stone 

 into slabs, burying places somewhat similar to these shewn by Colonel 

 Dalton, took the place of the barrows. These had been figured, and 

 described by Colonel Meadows Taylor, C. S. I. and other members of the 

 Society, and he (Mr. Rivett-Carnac) had had the honor of bringing the 

 subject of some of the tumuli in Central India to the notice of the Society. 



His chief interest in these tumuli and their contents was their striking 

 resemblance (pointed out by Colonel Taylor) to those that existed in many 



