By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 87 
ground for adopting his view. I have likewise found fragments of 
similar vessels and flint implements in the disturbed earth of the 
avenues ; but there is no proof of careful interments, such as we observe 
in the Dolmens or sepulchral stone chambers. The soil in most parts 
is not more than six inches thick, and rests upon a bed of granite. 
With regard to isolated menhirs, there may be less difficulty in 
arriving at a safe conclusion. They are very frequently found 
associated with structures whose destination was strictly sepulchral. 
_ They may have been raised, therefore, to commemorate the death of 
those whose bodies rest in the tombs at their feet; or they may be 
symbols of presiding divinities watching over and sanctifying spots 
which the spirits of the dead may be supposed to haunt. At Loc- 
mariaker, the tombs are of such colossal proportions as to induce the 
belief that heroes of no common order died and were interred there. 
Accordingly we find menhirs of much larger dimensions than at 
Carnac, close to the sepulchres, and one menhir, in particular, of 
astonishing size, measuring 67 feet 6 inches in length. " Circles also 
sometimes form part of sepulchral monuments. It is possible, there- 
fore, that groups of pillars arranged in lines and in circles and 
associated together, may have served a purpose iu some way connected 
with the funeral rites or solemnities that preceded interment. 
There is a feature which is common both to groups of rows of 
stones and to the sepulchres, which may help to throw some light on 
the subject, viz., their orientation. By far the larger number of the 
sepulchral monuments—those, I mean which are usually termed 
Dolmens—have their opening or entrances between the east and 
south points of the compass, 7.e. nearly ninety per cent. are so turned, 
which it must be admitted cannot be an accidental circumstance. 
So, too, the avenues are similarly orientated. If, therefore, the 
builders of the tombs had a religious reason for this arrangement, the 
same motive must have been dominant in the minds of the construc- 
tors of the avenues; and the inference is not without force that the 
same people erected both. This arrangement may be a token of their 
religious reverence for the deified orbs of heaven, the sun and the moon. 
It would not be right on such an occasion as the present, and in 
a paper treating exclusively of lines of stones and circles to omit all 
