Manchester Memoirs, Vol lix. (19 15), No. 10. 5 



common methods of sepulture," he justly remarks, " I own 

 this kind of vague generalisation does not satisfy me, in 

 the face of such exact points of similitude .... Such 

 can hardly have been the result of accident, or any 

 common human instinct" (p. 173). 



But it is not merely the identity of structure and the 

 geographical distribution (in most cases along continuous 

 coast-lines or related islands) that proves the common 

 origin of megalithic monuments. It is further strongly 

 corroborated by a remarkable series of beliefs, traditions 

 and practices, many of them quite meaningless and unin- 

 telligible to us, which. are associated with such structures 

 wherever they are found. Stories of dwarfs and giants 

 (13), the belief in the indwelling of gods or great men in 

 the stones, the use of these structures in a particular 

 manner for certain special councils (20, pp. 64 and 65), 

 and the curious, and, to us, meaningless, practice of hang- 

 ing rags on trees in association with such monuments 

 (20, pp. 63 and 64). In reference to the last of these 

 associated practices, Lane Fox remarks, " it is impossible 

 to believe that so singular a custom as this could have 

 arisen independently in all these countries." 



In an important article on " Facts suggestive of pre- 

 historic intercourse between East and West" (Journ. 

 Anthr. Inst., Vol. 14, 1884, p. 227), Miss Buckland calls 

 attention to a remarkable series of identities of customs 

 and beliefs, and amongst them certain legends concerning 

 the petrification of dance maidens associated with stone 

 circles as far apart as Cornwall and Peru. 



Taking all of these facts into consideration, it is to 

 me altogether inconceivable how any serious enquirer 

 who familiarises himself with the evidence can honestly 

 refuse to admit that the case for the spread of the inspira- 

 tion to erect megalithic monuments from one centre has 



