On the Stone Avenues of Carnac, 



79 



Not for the archaeologist alone, hut for every sensihle and 

 intelligent person, these questions have a bright, an interesting, 

 and an instructive aspect. For although the ravages of time have 

 greatly marred these venerable relics of antiquity, still we are able 

 to recog-nize in them the arts of primitive peoples, and to call up be- 

 fore the mind's eye the very peoples themselves ; to study their mental 

 development, and to define the uses many of their works were 

 destined to serve. We are able in this manner to catch a glimpse 

 of the private life, and even the religious ideas, of peoples of whose 

 great antiquity we know absolutely nothing at present, because 

 written history and tradition have not reached it. 



There are few countries so rich in stone monuments of pre-historic 

 times as that portion of Western France which was formerly known 

 by the ancient name of Armorica, and now bears the name of 

 Britanny. These monuments are found in every part of it, but are 

 more numerous on the lands bordering on the sea, where the exposed 

 shores, poor soils, and dreary heaths, have not invited agricultural 

 operations. In certain districts they are very remarkable, and in 

 none more so than in the Department of the Morbihan, which is 

 situated in the south of the Province, between the Departments of 

 Finistere and Ille et Vilaine. Here we find communes in which they 

 exist at short intervals, in every variety of form, and of all dimen- 

 sions, from the rude unhewn menhir or granite pillar, standing 1 

 singly, to the wonderful groups of menhirs, arranged in lines or in 

 circles ; and from the simple rectangular cist of moderate proportions, 

 to the hugh and complicated sepulchre with its side chambers and 

 ponderous capstones. 



The menhirs, or pillars, are mysterious monuments, whose desti- 

 nation still remains, more or less, a problem. Some are supposed 

 to have been erected as memorials of departed heroes ; others as 

 symbols of divinities ; while others have been, perhaps, mere 

 boundary stones ; but no one has yet been able to suggest a reason- 

 able and satisfactory theory for the vast avenues or lines of menhirs, 

 which are more numerous, more remarkable, and more visited, in 

 the Morbihan, than in other Departments of the Province. 



Most persons have heard and read of the celebrated Lines of 



