94 CORNISH DOLMENS. 



this would certainly have been reported to the classical authors. 

 Truly, therefore, our dolmens may be said to be prehistoric. 

 Such historians as Tacitus and Caesar would surely mention the 

 building of dolmens if it had occurred in their day but, although 

 the former describes the manners of the Germans, Caledonians,*^ 

 Fenns, *' and others, and the latter gives an account of the 

 Gauls and Britons, I do not know any passage in which either 

 of these authors mentions the building as then occurring. Let 

 us picture what must have taken place in Central France at the 

 era when they were erected. Thousands of men must, year after 

 year, have been engaged in drawing and placing and fashioning 

 gigantic blocks of stone, and great assemblies must have always 

 been taking place. The Romans, if they were then in France, 

 must have seen all this, yet they never once mention these 

 wonderful occurrences, which clearly proves that dolmen building 

 had ceased long before France fell under the dominion of Rome. 



As our dolmens are truly prehistoric, they may also be said 

 to be pre-traditional, for not a single tradition can give us any 

 rational account of their origin. By whom do the old traditions 

 of Europe declare that they were erected ? By elves, dwarfs, 

 fairies, giants, goblins, and later traditions assign them to the 

 saints, and even to the devil. *^ This proves that the oldest 

 traditions that have come down to us do not go far enough back 

 to reach the builders of the dolmens. We have amongst us 

 traditions, habits, customs, and practices, which are, certainly, 

 pre-Celtic, and cannot be assigned to any Aryan source.^ But 

 even these give no account of the erection of the dolmens 

 clearly, because when our oldest traditions originated the 

 builders were absolutely unknown.*' In Brittany, so complete 

 has ever been the ignorance of the peasantry about the origin of 

 the dolmens that they are often said to date from the creation of 

 the world. When questioned as to their origin, the Breton 



43. Life of Agricola. 



44. Manners of the Geimans, chap. xlvi. 



45. In India and Circassia many dolmens are assigned to the dwarfs. 



46. An interesting account of these customs is given by Mr. Elton in his Origins 

 of English History, chaps, vii., viii. 



47. It is curious that in Central France dolmens are assigned to unknown 

 races, the names of which are preserved by tradition. The names are strange. Are 

 these really the names of vanished races .' 



