CHAPTER V 

 FRANCE, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL 



FRANCE contains large numbers of megalithic 

 monuments. Of dolmens and corridor- 

 tombs no less than 4458 have been recorded. In 

 the east and south-east they are rare, but they 

 abound over a wide strip running from the Breton 

 coasts of the English Channel to the Mediterranean 

 shores of Herault and Gard. In 1901 Mortillef 

 counted 6192 menhirs, including those which 

 formed parts of alignements and cromlechs. 

 Several of these attain to a great size. That to 

 Locmariaquer (Morbihan), now unfortunately 

 fallen and broken, measured over 60 feet in height, 

 being thus not much shorter than the Egyptian 

 obelisk which stands in the Place de la Concorde 

 in Paris. 



Passing now to combinations of menhirs in 

 groups, we must first mention the remarkable 

 alignements of Brittany, of which the most famous 

 are those of Carnac. They run east and west over 

 a distance of 3300 yards, but the line is broken 

 at two points in such a way that the whole forms 

 three groups. The most westerly, that of Menec, 

 consists of eleven lines of menhirs and a cromlech, 



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