NO. 6 



GREAT STONE MONUMENTS FEWKES 



19 



everywhere among the Moabites, Canaanites, Edomites, and Samari- 

 tans are still to be seen in the Syrian and Arabian mountains, where 

 they are marked with obelisks cut out of solid rock, photographs of 

 which are shown by Libbey and Hoskins ' in their account of the ruin 

 of Petra. 



It is instructive to note how universally ancient megaliths have 

 come to be associated with germinative rites, which among primitive 

 man are universal. In Brittany and elsewhere in France, Sabillot has 

 found in the folk lore of the country people many large boulders where 

 germinative rites are still performed. The same association exists 



Fig. 10. — Platform monoliths, Zimbabwe, Africa, from Bent. 



wherever monoliths occur. The obelisk or stone pillar of Begig in 

 the Fayum is resorted to by Egyptian women who desire children, and 

 the god of germs at Hopi is a log of petrified wood ; survivals from 

 different geographical locations which are instructive as showing the 

 connection of these large stones with earth goddess worship. 



The monoliths found in the great ruins of Mashonaland, in South 

 Africa, recall in general forms the menhirs of Brittany, being for the 

 most part tall, rude monoliths alternating with small round masonry 

 towers arranged on platforms, reminding one of the stone colossi and 

 their bases at Easter Island. 



1 William Libbey and Franklin Evans Hoskins, The Jordan Valley and Petra. 

 New York, Putnam and Sons, 1005. 



