WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 185 



between Carnac and Stonehenge no similarity exists in the general 

 aspect of the two places. In the first place, the form of the 

 stone assemblage at Stonehenge is circular, having a flat slab, 

 called the altar stone, in the centre whereas that of Carnac is a 

 parallelogram formed by eleven ranks, and headed by a single row 

 of rude, upright blocks in the shape of a crescent. These are all 

 of rough granite obtained in the neighbourhood ; whilst those of 

 Stonehenge are a kind of hard sandstone brought, as demonstrated 

 by Mr. Tom Smith, on rollers from the Gray Wethers, about ten 

 miles off; just as the largest pedestal in the world that which 

 carries the equestrian statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg 

 a granite block, weighing 1,217 tons > was brought from a vast 

 bog to that city. " Trunks of oak bound with iron, and pierced 

 with holes for levers," furnished, as Mr. Smith suggests, the rollers 

 on which the stones were conveyed to their destination. At 

 Stonehenge far greater care appears to have been taken in the 

 construction of its monuments than in those of Carnac, the latter 

 being unhewn and single blocks only, whereas the horizontal slabs 

 of the outer circle at Stonehenge are artistically tied by mortices 

 to the upright props, each of which has two tenons that fit into 

 the imposts. This is supposed to have been used as a Druidical 

 temple or Pantheon ; the other at Carna.c as a bury ing-ground 

 alone. Both, however, being " anterior to all written evidence," 

 and therefore without history, nothing certain is known about 

 either, except, indeed, that they must be considered as among the 

 most ancient monuments of man's labour. 



We did not reach Henn-bont that evening before seven 

 o'clock, the last hour from Auray being passed in a Stygian 

 darkness, illumined only by two wretched dip-candles, borne in 

 a couple of horn lanterns on either side of the voiturier. Without 

 some such contrivance the man would have been liable to a fine 

 by the authorities ; but the light, if intended for our safety, could 

 only have contributed to it by preventing other voitures from 



