240 The Amorpholithic Monuments of Brittany. [April, 



associated with a circle, lay on the Beckhampton side. Mr. 

 Lukis, however, feels that he has very little evidence in 

 support of his views, with which, however, he will find many 

 archaeologists ready to agree. Beyond the fact that in both 

 the Avebury and Carnac remains circles are associated with 

 avenues, he finds the points of resemblance few and faint, 

 and the points of dissimilarity numerous and strong : how- 

 ever, as one point of resemblance, he states that in Brittany 

 the circular enclosure is invariably situated on an elevation, 

 or on the summit of gently rising ground. In Wiltshire, one 

 set of concentric circles is on Overton Hill, and the great 

 circle of Avebury is also on a gentle elevation. Thus far, 

 although the comparison of Avebury has not done much 

 towards the elucidation of Carnac, yet the example of Carnac 

 has taught us to look at Avebury in a new light. 



Among the points of dissimilarity are the following, viz. : 

 — At Carnac there are many — ten, eleven, and even thirteen 

 rows of stones ; at Avebury there were never more than 

 two. With the Brittany circles there is no vallum or fosse, 

 nor are there any concentric circles, all of which features 

 appear to be characteristic of the Wiltshire remains. 



Sir Gardner Wilkinson describes the stone lines of Dart- 

 moor as leading up to concentric circles with cromlechs or 

 kists, and as therefore being in some way connected with 

 sepulchral and religious rites. Again, Mr. Spence Bate, in 

 his supplementary report on the prehistoric remains of 

 Dartmoor, mentions an extensive avenue in the neighbour- 

 hood of Corydon Ball, consisting of seven or eight rows, 

 extending at least a hundred yards, with suggestive traces 

 of what may have formed portions of a circle at the eastern 

 extremity. A huge cairn, with a portion of a kist, are also 

 mentioned near the same locality. It would be interesting 

 to compare the seven or eight rows of stones at Corydon 

 Ball with those described in this paper as to their parallelism 

 or convergence, &c. 



There are systems of avenues of stones with circles in 

 various other parts of the world — in Lombardy, Africa, 

 India, &c. We may quote the elaborately ornamented 

 megalithic avenues leading to the tombs of the emperors of 

 China as modern developments of the primaeval structures. 

 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 it is 

 evidently considerable, from the fact that the circular wall 

 which surrounds it is a mile in circumference. In the 



