98 CORNISH DOLMENS. 



Celts would have seen their erection, and would have had some 

 knowledge of their building, but this is not the ease. The 

 builders of the dolmens, therefore, must have lielonged to the 

 Turanian family but to which special division of this family 

 we are quite unable to determine. These Turanian dolmen 

 builders must, as already remarked, have been a maritime and 

 sea-loving people. 



The curious markings on some of the French dolmens may 

 have been intended to represent the waves of the sea,^' which a 

 sea-faring people would love to represent. The existence of 

 such a people in the early part of the Neolithic age, who, though 

 ignorant of metals, possessed vessels large enough to make long- 

 voyages may seem somewhat improbable. AVe must, however, 

 remember that tlie natives of Polynesia when ignorant of metals 

 were able to make similar voyages in canoes constructed with 

 stone hatchets. Thus, the Maories of New Zealand, when in a 

 stone age and ignorant of metals, left the island of Rarotonga 

 and voyaged for 1,600 miles, in a fleet of great canoes, to New 

 Zealand, which they colonized in the 1 5th century.^^ It must be 

 remembered also that these Maories are Turanians and members 

 of the same branch of the human family as that to which the 

 builders of the dolmens probably belonged. The dolmen 

 builders, therefore, might have constructed large vessels with 

 stone tools and like the Maories might have taken long voyages 

 across the sea during their migrations. 



What became of these Turanian dolmen builders? They 

 departed mysteriously, for I do not think that there is any 

 evidence to show that they were amalgamated with later races. 

 Why they disaj)peared and what happened to them we cannot 

 even imagine. A remarkable parallel to their voyages and 

 disappearance is presented in Polynesia. In many of the groups 

 of the Polynesian islands, such as the Carolines, the Marquesas, 

 the Sandwich, the Isle of Tinian, and Easter Island, gigantic 

 walls, earthworks and rude stone statues and monuments have 



57. Formation de la Nation Fraufaise, by M. de Mortillet, pp. 167, id8. 



58. Hommes Fossiles et Homines Saiivages, by M. de Ouatrefages, pp. 406, 474 

 also Polynesian Mythology, by Sir George Grey, p. 134. 



