NATURE 



465 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1901. 



CARNAC AND STONEHENGE. 



(1) The French Slonehenge : an Account of the Principal 

 Megalithic Remains in the Morbihan Archipelago. 

 ByT. Cato Worsfold, F.R.Hist.S., F.R.S.L. Pp. 44. 

 (London: Bemrose and Sons, Ltd. No date.) Prices.?. 



(2) A Sentimental and Practical Guide to Amesbury and 

 Stonehenge. By Lady Antrobus. (Salisbury : Brown 

 and Co., igot.) 



MR. WORSFOLD'S book, though the reason for its 

 title, " Stonehenge," is not very apparent, gives a 

 popular and interesting account of the wonderful mega- 

 lithic works at Carnac, in Brittany. Those who desire to 

 enter more deeply into the subject should consult " Les 

 Alignments de Kermario," par James Miln Rennes (1881), 

 a work which our author appears to have well studied, 

 and " L'Astronomie Prehistorique," par F. Gaillard, 

 dans la Revue Mensuelle Internationale des Sciences 

 Populaires ( 1 5 Rue Lebpun, Pans;. 



Let us, however, accompany Mr. Worsfold in the 

 slighter introduction which he gives. A lucid glance at 

 the inhabitants of the district, which, with the peninsula 

 of Quiberon, is part of the Department of Morbihan, is 

 given in "Cjcsar's Commentaries" (De Bello Gallico,iii.3), 

 describing his naval engagement with the Veneti, who 

 seem to have been assisted by allies from Britain (Cses., 

 iv. 20). From this account it appears that the Veneti had 

 evidently attained to no inconsiderable height of civili- 

 sation, as particularly shown in the construction and 

 fittings of their ships. Our author adds the tradition that 

 after their defeat the Veneti sailed away to the Mediter- 

 ranean and founded the city of Venice. A description of 

 Carnac follows. 



The three great heads into which the megalithic 

 remains may be divided are : — 



{a) Menhirs, or single stones, in most cases upright, 

 but occasionally overthrown. These, when they appear in 

 circles, are called cromlechs. 



{h) Dolmens, from Dol Men, a table stone consisting of 

 a flat stone resting on two or more upright stones having 

 subdivisions, " Dolmen a galerie " having an entrance 

 way of sufficient height, and " Galgal," similar but 

 smaller, " Dolmen a I'allee couverte " and " Kist-vaen," 

 which should, indeed, be under another head, meaning 

 stone coffins hewn out of one block. 



(c) Alignments, which are lines of menhirs. These form 

 the chief objects near Carnac. The finest dolmens are 

 near Locmariaquer, a village about eight miles distant. 



A large and lofty tumulus near Carnac, named Mont 

 St. Michel, from a church so dedicated, which has been 

 built upon it, has yielded on excavation many prehistoric 

 relics ; and near its base was found the remains of a 

 Roman villa with Celtic or pre-Celtic relics arranged on 

 shelves, showing that its Roman owner had been some- 

 what of an antiquarian. The name of the place is sup- 

 posed to be derived from this tumulus or cairn. That 

 this tumulus may have been connected originally with sun 

 worship may be argued from the fact that the annual 

 custom prevails of lighting a large bonfire on its summit 

 at the time of the summer solstice, which is the signal for 

 NO. 1663, VOL. 64] 



others to be kindled on similar prominent eminences for 

 a distance of twenty or thirty miles round. These fires 

 are called in the local patois " Tan Heol," and also by a 

 later use, Tan St. Jean. 



This practice prevailed also in Scotland under the 

 name of Bel Tan, or Baal's Fire ; the synonym for summer 

 used by Sir Walter Scott in the " Lady of the Lake" : — 



Ours is no sapling chance-sown by the fountain 

 Blooming at Beltane in winter to fade. 



The alignments of Carnac consist, firstly, of those 

 known as " Le Menec," signifying the place of stones, or, 

 by another interpretation, the place of remembrance. The 

 next series are those of Kermario, or the place of the dead. 

 The third series, Kerlescant, or the place of burning. 



The alignments of Menec consist of eleven lines of 

 menhirs, terminating towards the west in a cromlech, and 

 notwithstanding that great numbers have been converted 

 to other uses, still contain 1 169 menhirs ; some, however, 

 do not exceed 18 inches in height, but others reach as 

 much as 18 feet. 



The alignments of Kermario in ten lines contain 989 

 menhirs. That of Kerlescant, which beginning with eleven 

 rows is afterwards increased to thirteen, contains al- 

 together 579 stones and thirty-nine in its cromlech, with 

 some additional stones in a northerly direction. Each of 

 these three alignments has its own orientation, and the 

 large menhirs at the ends are supposed by some persons 

 to mark the rising and setting of the sun, in some cases 

 at the equino.xes and others at the solstices. In con- 

 nection with this it is interesting to state that at Kerles- 

 cant the winter solstice is celebrated by a holiday, whilst 

 Menec greets the summer solstice, and Kermario the 

 equino.xes, with festivals. It appears that the adoration 

 paid these stones remained strongly rooted for many 

 centuries and yielded very slowly to Christianity. This 

 is shown by the constant denunciations made against it 

 in different countries. In the church history of Brittany 

 in particular, the Cultits Lapidum was denounced in 

 658 .v.D., and a decree was passed at Nantes that trees 

 so worshipped should be torn up and burnt and stones 

 cast down and hidden from those who sought to do them 

 reverence. Indeed, the author quotes M. de Freminville, 

 who writes ; — 



"On sait qu'au dix-septi6me siecle meme I'idolatrie 

 etait encore exercde dans I'isle d'Ouessant \i.e. Ushant] 

 et dans plusieurs paroisses de I'eveche de Vannes.'' 

 [Vannes is about twenty miles distant from Carnac] 



In connection with this it is stated that some years 

 since a large number of these menhirs were lying prone 

 on the ground exactly due north and south, and were sub- 

 sequently restored to their original position by the French 

 Government. These stones may have been overturned in 

 compliance with the decree of 65S a.d. above referred to. 

 Several of the loftier menhirs have been surmounted by 

 crosses of stone or iron, so as to convert, at any rate, the 

 appearance of veneration into an orthodox channel. 



After a digression upon Stonehenge, presumably for the 

 purpose of justifying the title of the book, but in which 

 no very apparent analogy is pointed out, he cites 

 Avebury, where it may be admitted that the character of 

 the stones, but not the arrangement, is more suited for 

 comparison. He returns to Morbihan and describes the 



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