By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 81 



are enclosed in a circle of upright stones,, which is 277 feet in its 

 largest diameter. The circle forms the western termination of a 

 group of eleven lines of menhirs or pillars ; and if you walk east- 

 wards you at length arrive at the other end of the group, at a distance 

 of 3,076 feet from the village of Menec. In the course of your 

 march two or three facts present themselves to your notice. You 

 perceive that the bulk and height of the menhirs diminish gradually 

 (i.e., from about nine feet down to three feet), and that the widths 

 of the avenues also diminish ; and that as you gain the further ex- 

 tremity of the lines the stones increase somewhat in dimensions, not 

 however rivalling in grandeur those near the circle which you have 

 left behind you. You notice another fact, that the eastern extremity, 

 which may be said to be the commencement of the avenues, is on a 

 comparatively low level, that the ground gradually rises westwards 

 over an undulating country, and that the heads of the lines and the 

 circle are on a more elevated plateau. These are features generally 

 noticeable in the other groups of avenues. 



Continuing your course eastwards, you traverse a space of 1,669 

 feet, and ascend to a plateau, on which you find the western ex- 

 tremity of another group of avenues, consisting of ten lines, 

 commonly known as the menhirs of Kermario, taking their name 

 from a farmhouse close by. These stones form the termination of a 

 grand series of greater length than the one you have just quitted. 

 The blocks of granite are of colossal proportions (about 12 feet in 

 height), but there is no terminating circle now existing. If you 

 follow these lines, you cross a hill by a windmill, descend into a 

 small dell, through which a slender rill trickles, and then ascend 

 another hill, on the slope of which the avenues lose themselves at a 

 distance of about 4,000 feet from the other extremity. Here the 

 stones are generally of small dimensions, few exceeding three feet in 

 height. As you emerge from a fir plantation, which clothes the 

 eastern slope of this hill, you perceive, on the other side of a small 

 valley and crowning the summit of the opposite hill, the standing 

 stones of a third group of avenues, bearing* the name of Kerleseant. 

 A portion of the terminating circle (about 300 feet in diameter) 

 exists here, as at Menec, and the lines are thirteen in number, and 



VOL. XIII. — NO. XXXVII. G 



