1872.] The Dolmen-Mounds of Brittany. Ta 
the allée itself and the stones composing it are larger in 
width and height at the western than at the eastern ex- 
tremity. Here we may observe that this is one of the few 
monuments of its kind which it is a real pleasure to visit, 
as it is kept free from rubbish and filth, which generally 
render such grottoes so disgusting to penetrate, and when 
illuminated presents a striking appearance. ‘The last time 
We visited this sepulchre we found it arranged with seats at 
the western chamber, and decorated with garlands in honour 
of some little /éte, when it presented the appearance rather 
of some nymph’s retreat than a dismal charnel-house. On 
a bright day, after entering this vault without lights, after 
allowing one’s eyes to get accustomed to the gloom, the day- 
light through the entrance is quite sufficient to render the 
stones in the chamber itself visible, and under these circum- 
stances the angle of the gallery, as seen from the interior, is 
impressive. There is some sculpturing on one or two of the 
side slabs in this dolmen, which is of the same type of pattern 
as those found at Les Pierres Plates. 
This elaborate ornamentation, which is a marked charac- 
teristic of some of the dolmens, may help archeologists in 
determining the relative antiquity of the monuments in which 
it is found. The most ancient markings are most probably 
the so-called cup-markings, which have successfully baffled 
hitherto all enquirers as to their origin and meaning, and 
seem to be found in the New World as well as the Old. In 
the Ohio mounds, and at Orizaba, in Scandinavia, the 
Channel Islands, England, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and 
Switzerland, they are to be seen; their interpretation re- 
mains a mystery. These cup-cuttings, in fact, hardly come 
under the head of Archaic sculpture. 
Irregular lines and a species of net-work seem to be the 
earliest of any actual design or pattern, as at Kercado and 
Kerozille ; next a pattern of pot-hooks, or boomerangs, as 
at the Dol-au-Marchand ; all these last are rude and nearly 
effaced. Whilst speaking of the Dol-au-Marchand, the re- 
cent disfiguration of the western upright, which exhibits 
these most interesting Archaic sculpture, deserves severe 
reprobation. Some wilful hand has carved, with an iron 
tool, in the centre of the slab, the word GazELLE, in large 
letters: the mere mention of this fact, and the thought that 
it is attributable to British visitors, is sufficient. The pro- 
gress of sculpture, as developed at Pierres Plates and 
Gavr’ Inis, is instructive. In the first the patterns are 
more regular, but in the last they are more elaborate, and 
seem even as intended to convey some information by means 
of their hieroglyphics. 
