158 Megalithic Structures [April, 



gradually, and the widths of the avenues also diminish towards the 

 east. He says, " There is a feature that is common both to groups 

 of rows and to the sepulchres which may help to throw some light 

 on the subject, viz. their orientation. By far the larger number of 

 the sepulchral monuments, those I mean which are usually termed 

 Dolmens, have their openings or entrances between the east and 

 south points of the compass, i.e. nearly 90 per cent, are so turned, 

 which it must be admitted cannot be an accidental circumstance. 

 So too all the avenues are similarly orientated. If therefore the 

 builders of the tombs had a religious reason for this arrangement, 

 that same reason must have been dominant in the minds of the 

 constructors of the avenues, and the inference is not without force 

 that the same people erected both. There are few circles of stone 

 not attached to avenues in the Horbihan." 



It is in China, however, that chambered tumuli associated with 

 megalithic avenues have attained, if not their hugest, their most 

 elaborate development, in consequence of an ancient acquaintance 

 with iron and steel tools. Thus we read that the great tomb (the 

 " Ling " or resting-place of Yung-Lo, of the Ming dynasty), thirty 

 miles from Pekin, consists of an enormous mound or earth barrow, 

 covered with trees; its height is not mentioned, but is evidently 

 considerable, from the fact that the circular wall which surrounds 

 it is a mile in circumference. In the centre of this mound is a 

 stone chamber containing the sarcophagus, in which is the corpse. 

 This chamber or vault is approached by an arched tunnel, the 

 entrance to which is bricked up. This entrance is approached by 

 a paved causeway, passing through numerous arches, gateways, 

 courts, and halls of sacrifice, and through a long avenue of colossal 

 marble figures, sixteen pairs of wolves, kelins, lions, horses, camels, 

 elephants, and twelve pairs of warriors, priests, and civil officers. 

 Whether this avenue is orientated or not is not mentioned. An 

 idea may be formed of the size of these marble figures from the 

 following :— " During the building of the late Emperor Heen-fung's 

 tomb a road lOO miles long was made from the quarries at Fang- 

 shan to the Tung-ling, and a block of marble 15 feet long, 12 feet 

 high and 12 feet broad, weighing 60 tons, was seen by several of 

 us then resident at Pekin being dragged along this road, on a strong- 

 truck or car drawn by 600 mules and horses." .... "This block 

 was to be cut into the figure of an elephant, to be placed as one of 

 the guardians of the tomb." * 



In order more fully to appreciate these pre-historic catacombs, 

 and to comprehend the modes of their construction and the usages 

 connected with them, we must follow Sir John Lubbock's example 

 in comparing them with somewhat similar remains in use by 

 modern savages; and we take this occasion to bring forward as 

 *-W. Lockhart, 'Proc. K. G. S.,' 1866. 



