January i6, 1908] 



NATURE 



251 



i(.'i book which everybody interested in the monuments 

 should possess), to give two photographic views from 

 the east and west ends. It is a May-year avenue 

 (Az. N. 63° 30' E., from 25-inch Ordnance map) like 

 the Bcckhampton Avenue at Avebury. 



avenue, for llie Iruc azimuths of the many stones on 

 the E. side iil course depend upon this. 



This avenue and the fine one at Callernish can be 

 treated together. For the latter the conditions are as 



follows 



Fig. 14. — .Assacombe Avenue looking east. 



It will be noticed that, like the avenues at Merrivale, 

 the row ef stones is furnished at the west end with 

 monoliths larger than ordinary, and that the other 

 end has a well-marked blocking or sighting stone 

 ending the avenue. 



I may here refer to yet another May-year avenue 

 which I measured in South Wales. It is near 

 ■" .Arthur's Stone," 

 a famous cromlech 

 in Gower to which 

 I refer elsewhere. 

 The true azimuth is 

 S. (11° E., height of 

 horizon 1° 30'. 



There is no 

 doubt, I think, 

 that the " Nine 

 Maidens " near St. 

 Colomb, Cornwall, 

 of which a plan is 

 given by Lukis 

 (plate xxxii.), is the 

 remains of a double 

 or multiple avenue. 

 With Lukis 's value 

 of the magnetic 

 variation, I found 

 from his plan an 

 azimuth of N. 28° 

 E. I visited them 

 in April, 1907, and 

 assuming a varia- 

 tion of 18° W. (with hill 2°), I got the same 

 value, giving Dec. N. i}^ 47' : that of Capella 

 in 1480 B.C. 



This is a locality worthy of minute study, especially 

 with reference to the actual commencement of the 



NO. T994, VOL. 77] 



Azimuth of Aveitite. — \. C)° E. ; 

 hill, 1° 2& ; dec. ^2° 26' N. ; 

 Capella, 1720 B.C. 



This avenue is associated with a 

 circle 42 feet in diameter, within 

 which is a remarkable chambered 

 cairn referred to elsewhere. The 

 avenue consists of two parallel 

 lines going off to the northward 

 270 feet in length, and about 27 

 feet in width. The total number 

 of stones is forty-eight, and the 

 total length of the monument, 

 from the extremity of the double 

 line, through the centre of the 

 circle to the extremitv of the single 

 line beyond, is 408 feet. 



It will be seen,_ then, that the 

 ?nore recent measurements give us 

 avenues directed, on the orientation 

 Iheory, both to sun and stars. The 

 sun is the May sun, and the solar 

 avenues are at Aveburv, .'\ssa- 

 combe, and Gower. 



Of new stellar avenues parallel 

 to others previously shown by the 

 investigations to be aligned on 

 northern clock-stars, we have those 

 at Callernish and St. Colomb. , 



But these are not all. 



Norman Lockver. 



THE CAUFORNIAN EAKTHQUAKE OF 1906. 



ALTHOUGH only twenty months have passed since 

 Central California was devastated and San Fran- 

 cisco destroyed, partly by earthquake but largely by 

 fire, some fifty papers have appeared from technical and 

 other journals describing this great catastrophe. The 

 last appears as a Bulletin (No. 324, Series R, Struc- 



15 —The Nine Maide 



riioto, by Lady Lockyer. 



tural Materials, i) of the U.S. Geological Survey. It 

 is a volume of 158 pp., illustrated by fifty-seven excel- 

 lent process plates, in addition to which there are two 

 maps. The introduction is by Dr. G. K. Gilbert, and 

 it treats of the earthquake as a natural phenomenon. 



