i26 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



our first glimpse was rather disappointing. A couple of hundred feet 

 to the left of the road was the first dolmen, a dozen stones, about five 

 feet high, standing upright in a pasture, and roofed in by two large 

 stones lying across them. It recalled a child's house on a large scale, 

 built out of the lichen-covered stones of the field. By its side stood a 

 square stone monument announcing that this dolmen of Keriaval is the 

 property of the French Eepublic, and that any one injuring it in any 

 way will be prosecuted. It may be said that by each group in the entire 

 district is a similar stone. On the other side of the road are three dol- 

 mens, close together, standing scarcely above the surrounding soil but 

 excavated inside so that one may stand upright in the interior. 



It would serve no useful purpose to give our itinerary in detail, but 

 a clearer idea of these strange structures may be given by a general 

 description of the monuments as a whole, specifying here and there 

 those of more particular interest from size or other features. 



Possibly the most striking of all are the alignments. Certainly 

 they are the most difficult to explain. Of these there are several groups, 

 each distinct from its fellows, and yet the whole series being in the 

 same belt. Many of the stones have tumbled down and some have been 

 utilized in building walls and houses. Thus the little church of St. 

 Comely at Carnac is built entirely of menhirs, broken up into blocks 

 of convenient size, while the curious crown that surmounts its west 

 portal was carved out of a single menhir. Le Eouzic, whom I shall 

 often quote, says that the series of alignments once extended from a 

 point to the west of the village of Carnac, five miles east to the Crac'h 

 Eiver, while other series occur further west, near Erdeven. 



Fig. 1. Dolmen of Keriaval, half way between Auray and Carnac. 



