2o6 THE EXETER ROAD 



It only just struck the friar on the heel, and stuck 

 there in the turf, where it stands to this day. 



The various stones of which Stonehenge is con- 

 structed derive from widely-sundered districts. The 

 outer circle and the five Great Trilithons are said to 

 have been fashioned from stones that came from 

 Marlborough Downs, and the second circle and inner- 

 most ellipse belong to a rock formation not known to 

 exist nearer than South Wales. The ' Altar Stone ' 

 is different from any of the others, and the circum- 

 stance lends some colour to the theory that it, 

 coming from some unknown region, was the original 

 stone fetish brought from a distance by the pre- 

 historic tribe that settled here, around which grew 

 by degrees the subsequent great temple. There are 

 those w^ho wdll have it that this was a temple of 

 serpent-worshippers ; and an argument not altogether 

 unsupported by facts would have us believe that 

 Stonehenge is really a Temple of the Sun. It is a 

 singular accident (if it is an accident) that the 

 ' Friar's Heel,' as seen from the centre of the circle, 

 is in exact orientation with the rising sun on the 

 morning of the Longest Day of the year, 21st June. 

 Every year, on this occasion, great crowds of people 

 set out from Salisbury to see sunrise at Stonehenge. 

 There have frequently been as many as three thousand 

 persons present on this occasion. As the spot is nine 

 miles from that cathedral city, and as the sun rises 

 on this date at the early hour of 3.44 a.m., it requires 

 some enthusiasm to rise one's self for the occasion, if 

 indeed the more excellent way is not to sit up all 

 night. Great, therefore, is the disappointment when 



