272 Wiltshire Books, Pamphlets, and Articles. 



obelisks is for holding a flag-staff, to signal some special point in the service, 

 analogous to the sounding of the sanctus bell at the elevation of the host. 

 The illustrations — apparently reduced from larger photographs — are good; 

 but it is to be regretted that such purely fanciful analogies should be 

 presented as facts for the enlightenment of "the people " in the last decade 

 of the nineteenth century. j 



Stonehenge and Abury are mentioned and illustrated in "The Story off 

 Primitive Man," by Ed. Clodd. 16mo. London. 1895. Price, 1*. 



This extremely useful and suggestive little book contains in short space I 

 and in very readable form a vast amount of information as to the remains f 

 of primitive man, and the habits and customs of savage people who are 

 living under conditions analogous to those of Neolithic times at the present ti 

 day. The author regards Stonehenge as sepulchral in origin, — " recurring to the r 

 unquestioned relation of the dwelling of the living to the tomb of the dead, I 

 we may see in the surrounding earthwork the village rampart ; in the avenue ] 

 .... the underground gallery leading to the pit-dwellings ; and in the 

 circles the enlargement of the ring of stones which surrounded or supported 

 the beehive-like hut." The author's views are the more entitled to respect in 

 that he evidently writes from a mind stored with varied lore, and more 

 especially is widely learned in the ideas and customs of primitive peoples of I 

 the present day and in the survival of such customs amongst peoples who have j 

 long passed into the civilised state. He is, however, rather apt to state as facts 

 things which seem to most people still debateable, and without apology or 

 explanation he uses the term " cromlech " as applying exclusively to stone 

 circles— Stonehenge and Abury being cromlechs with him. This is, to say the 

 least of it, confusing. 



Senams or Megalithic Temples of Tarhuna, Tripoli, is the subject of 

 an extremely interesting note in The Antiquary for Nov., 1895, which 

 copies from the East Anglian Daily Times for Sept. 14th. Mr. Cowper | 

 seems to have visited and photographed nearly sixty sites at which these I 

 singular structures exist, which were practically unknown before. They 

 consist of large rectangular enclosures of excellent masonry, always associated { 

 with and generally enclosing large megalithic structures resembling the 

 Stonehenge trilithons, except that the jambs are often formed of two or three 

 stones instead of one. These " Senams " rest on footing stones, and vary from 

 6ft. to 15ft. in height — the average width between the jambs being only 16|in. 

 Roman work is mixed up with these megalithic structures, showing that the 

 Romans occupied and utilised the sites. It is suggested that these " Senams," 

 which seem to have stood free in their enclosures as a rule, and in front of 

 some of which stone altars were found, were symbolical effigies akin to the 

 " Asherah " so often alluded to in the Old Testament— probably the symbol 

 of the goddess of fertility. 



Thoughts from the Writings of Eichard Jefferies, selected by H. 

 S. EE. Waylen. Red-lettering. 16mo. pp. vii., 127. London : Longmans, 1 

 Green, & Co. 1895. 

 This daintily got-up little volume will be welcomed by all lovers of Jefferies. 



