By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 



$7 



ground for adopting his view. I have likewise found fragments of 

 similar vessels and flint implements in the disturbed earth of the 

 avenues ; but there is no proof of careful interments, such as we observe 

 in the Dolmens or sepulchral stone chambers. The soil in most parts 

 is not more than six inches thick, and rests upon a bed of granite. 



With regard to isolated menhirs, there may be less difficulty in 

 arriving at a safe conclusion. They are very frequently found 

 associated with structures whose destination was strictly sepulchral. 

 They may have been raised, therefore, to commemorate the death of 

 those whose bodies rest in the tombs at their feet ; or they may be 

 symbols of presiding divinities watching over and sanctifying spots 

 which the spirits of the dead may be supposed to haunt. At Loc- 

 mariaker, the tombs are of such colossal proportions as to induce the 

 belief that heroes of no common order died and were interred there. 

 Accordingly we find menhirs of much larger dimensions than at 

 Carnac, close to the sepulchres, and one menhir, in particular, of 

 astonishing size, measuring 67 feet 6 inches in length. Circles also 

 sometimes form part of sepulchral monuments. It is possible, there- 

 fore, that groups of pillars arranged in lines and in circles and 

 associated together, may have served a purpose iu some way connected 

 with the funeral rites or solemnities that preceded interment. 



There is a feature which is common both to groups of rows of 

 stones and to the sepulchres, which may help to throw some light on 

 the subject, viz., their orientation. By far the larger number of the 

 sepulchral monuments — those, I mean which are usually termed 

 Dolmens — have their opening or entrances between the east and 

 south points of the compass, i.e. nearly ninety per cent, are so turned, 

 which it must be admitted cannot be an accidental circumstance. 

 So, too, the avenues are similarly orientated. If, therefore, the 

 builders of the tombs had a religious reason for this arrangement, the 

 same motive must have been dominant in the minds of the construc- 

 tors of the avenues; and the inference is not without force that the 

 same people erected both. This arrangement may be a token of their 

 religious reverence for the deified orbs of heaven, the sun and the moon. 



It would not be right on such an occasion as the present, and in 

 a paper treating exclusively of lines of stones and circles to omit all 



