1 873 -J The Amor pholithic Monuments of Brittany. 247 



structure, according to Fergusson, is "probably " (or, as he 

 says in another place, evidently) unfinished. If this great 

 temple is really finished, as does not seem improbable, we 

 have here some hundreds of carved pillars forming an ap- 

 proach of several avenues, which have been erected within 

 recent times for a specific object. 



Fergusson, it must be borne it mind, gives no reason for 

 supposing that this edifice is unfinished, or that the architects 

 ever contemplated putting a roof on these columns, and it is 

 certainly well worth noticing, and enquiry should be made 

 upon this subject. 



The whole number of columns standing is 688 ; they are 

 all equally spaced, except that there is a broad aisle down 

 the centre, and a narrower transverse avenue in the direction 

 of the entrance. Fergusson gives a plate (No. 65), taken 

 from Ram-Raz's " Hindu Architecture, " which shows the 

 forest of pillars supporting no roof. Fergusson likens the 

 great choultry to the Stoa Basilica of Herod's restored 

 Temple. 



Another analogy in the great development of stone avenues 

 may be noticed in the avenues of sphinxes extending for 

 miles on the banks of the Nile, connecting the Hypostyle 

 Halls, Pylons, &c, of the palace-temples of great Thebes. 



Fergusson's conclusion as to the age and destination of the 

 Carnac stone rows may be summed up briefly as follows : — ■ 



(1.) That it is most improbable that a temple should ex- 

 tend over six or seven miles of country ; in fact, he hardly 

 knows any proposition that appears to him so manifestly 

 absurd as that these stone-rows were temples, and he feels 

 sure that no one who thinks twice of the matter will venture 

 again to affirm it. 



(2.) It seems equally clear that they were not erected for 

 any civic or civil purpose. No meetings could be held, and 

 no administrative functions could be carried on in or around 

 them. 



(3.) They are not sepulchral, in the ordinary sense of the 

 term, as nowhere were men buried in rows like this, extend- 

 ing over miles of heath and barren country ; moreover, the 

 French savants have dug repeatedly, and found no trace of 

 burial. " It no doubt is true that the long barrow at Kerles- 

 cant, the dolmen at Kermario, and the enclosure at Menec y 

 may have been, indeed, most probably were, burying-places, but 

 they can no more be considered the monument than the 

 drums and fifes can be considered the regiment. They are 

 only adjuncts ; the great rows must be considered as essen- 

 tially the monuments," (Why so ?) 



