"DRUID STONES" OF BRITTANY 135 



of the dolmens has any significance or not, the tumuli were mortuary in 

 character. Sometimes the body was buried while still in the flesh; in 

 other instances cremation had occurred. At times there were isolated 

 interments ; at others the bones are found in large numbers, as if there 

 were collective burials. Along with the human bones occur those of 

 the horse and cow, while burnt clay vases, necklaces of pierced stones 

 and stone implements — celts, arrow and spear points, etc. — accompany 

 the remains. Some of the vessels were apparently new, while others 

 show signs of culinary use. Many of the stone implements have a per- 

 fection of surface and edge that would imply that they were never used 

 but were merely votive offerings, ceremonial in character. It is inter- 

 esting to note that even to this day the peasants of Morbihan prize the 

 arrow and spear points as talismans and call them " men-garun " — 

 thunder stones. 



But what are the alignments ? Here we are in the region of specu- 

 lation — pure guessing. One may pass by with mere mention the view 

 that they, with the cromlech at the end, are gigantic phallic symbols. 

 Le Eouzic thinks them funereal without being sepulchral in character. 

 He thinks that they might have been connected with the religious rites. 

 The spaces between the rows would afford passages for the faithful 

 assembled for the celebration of the ceremonies, possibly in connection 

 with the collective burials in the tumuli, while the cromlech was the 

 place set apart for the priests. 



Whether we can ever arrive at an exact interpretation of these 

 monuments or not, whether we ever know when or by whom they were 

 erected, whether we solve the problems involved in the handling of these 

 immense stones; these thousands of rocks — originally 15,000 or 20,000 

 in number — scattered over the plains of Morbihan will form one of the 

 most striking of the monuments of antiquity. Possibly we shall get 

 nothing better or more definite, certainly nothing more poetical, than 

 the medieval legend of Saint Comely which I paraphrase from the 

 version given by Le Eouzic. 



Saint Cornely was Pope of Eome, from which place he was driven 

 by the pagan soldiers, who pursued him as he fled before them, accom- 

 panied by two cows which bore his baggage and belongings when he was 

 tired. One evening he arrived at the village of Moustoir (two miles 

 north of Carnac). Here he fain would have stopped, but hearing a 

 young girl there abusing her mother, he could not stay. So he went on 

 until he came to a little hill (Mont St. Michel) where he had a view 

 in all directions. In front was was the sea, behind the soldiers in 

 martial array. Further flight was impossible. What could he do? 

 He stretched forth his hand and immediately the soldiers, rank and file 

 as they stood, were changed to stone. Hence it is that one sees the 

 long lines of standing stones to the north of the village of Carnac, and 



