116 Stonehenge and its Barrows. 



But enough, if not more than enough, upon the transport of stones 

 and colossi in early times with scanty and simple means. Those 

 who would go farther iuto this interesting subject should turn to the 

 tenth volume of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society's Magazine, 

 where they will find a paper by Mr. A. C. Smith, in which the 

 method of moving colossal stones as practised by some of the more 

 advanced nations of antiquity, is much more fully discussed than can 

 be done here. 



And now having, at last, brought our huge block to the place 

 where it is to be set up, the next thing to be done is to " dress ■" it. 

 With what instrument is this very hard stone to be worked ? Our 

 masons have stone hammers and stone chisels, and, it may be, bronze 

 tools besides. But bronze is a rather soft metal for such tough work. 

 Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in a note to ch. 86 of the second book of 

 Herodotus (Rawlinson's translation), says that in metallurgy the 

 Egyjitians possessed some secrets scarcely known to us, for they had 

 the means of enabling copper to cut stone without hardening it by 

 an alloy, and of giving to bronze blades the elasticity of steel with 

 great hardness and sharjmess of edge. With the possession of such 

 a secret, we can easily understand how this wonderful people were 

 able to chisel out their great granite statues and obelisks — but it is 

 not likely that our Celtic ancestors had any such means of hardening 

 their bronze. What can be done, however, with flint in cutting 

 stone, is told us by Mr. E. T. Stevens, in his interesting and valuable 

 work, entitled " FHnt Chips," p. 495 : " In the museum at St. 

 Germain,'' he wi-ites, " There are some blocks of granite, upon which 

 figures resembling those upon the stones of Gavr Inis have been cut 

 with an ancient flint tool within the last two or three years, and Sir 

 James Simpson has proved experimentally that ring and cup-cuttings 

 can be produced upon the Argyleshire schist and hard Aberdeen 



all done by brute strength and stupidity. They have neither science nor craft, 

 nor any implements of art but the lever. I was told that the ashes of the 

 burnt dead were often deposited under them ; but could not make out that this 

 was a general custom. The whole country is studded with stone erections, 

 usually a cromlech, with a row of tall stones behind it.' " — From Col. Sir Henry 

 James' work on Stonehenge published in connection with the Ordnance Surrey. 



