454 



with its outline. It would appear as if the artist had begun from the 

 left-hand side, and was obliged, from want of room, to extend the last 

 member of his composition beyond the limits intended to contain the 

 monogram. 



Thirdly. — The constituent parts of the monogram seem to be cha- 

 racters having separate and distinct functions. This would appear to re- 

 sult from a comparison of the central portion of the contained group with 

 the central figure in stone (N'o. 4) from the Mane Nelud (see page 401, 

 ante)^ and from the similarity of the lowest member of the group to the 

 objects inscribed on the headstone of the chamber of the Butte de Tumiac, 

 explored by the Antiquarian Society of Yannes, in A. D. 1853. 



With respect to the objects external to the panel, they appear to 

 present the hatchet in various modes of mounting and in various combi- 

 nations. The loop at the head of some of the varieties seems to be an 

 imperfect representation of the recurved handle, as it appears in the larger 

 design on the ceiling of the Merchants^ Table tomb, and on one of the 

 parietal supports of the passage to the chamber of Gavrinis. 



The drawing of the objects on the under surface of the covering 

 stone Qith.Q 2Ierohants' Table tomb (Plate XXYII.) exhibits, besides the 

 peculiarly mounted hatchet and the designs referred to by the writer in 

 his former Paper, two characters hitherto unnoticed, apparently the re- 

 mains of some memorial designation formerly existing along the western 

 edge of the plafond. This portion of the stone slopes upward and out- 

 ward, forming a species of natural cornice, which is much exposed and 

 weather-worn. Some traces apparently of a third character exist ; but, 

 owing to the disintegration of the surface, the writer was unable to fix 

 on any definite outline. Resemblances may be traced between those 

 which remain and two of the characters from the Mane Nelud. It would 

 thus seem as if each of the great tumuli at Locmariaquer had originally 

 contained a memorial designation inscribed in characters having separate 

 functions, and some kind of significance in combination. 



E,eturning to the vaiied array of hatchets which surrounds the panel on 

 the stone from the Butte deCcBsar, and viewing these objects by the light 

 reflected from the larger examples, it would appear as if some of them 

 were designed to be represented as decorated with an ornament in the 

 -nature of a plume issuing from the curved top of a recipient handle ; 

 others are seen mounted on handles received into the socket of the head. 

 The position of the hand-guard in all the instances where it appears, is 

 reversed — a circumstance which can hardly be considered accidental. 

 In one group a smaller hatchet seems to issue from the blade of a larger. 

 The appendages attached to or connected with others appear not arbi- 

 trary, but the result of design. These singularities may induce a ques- 

 tion whether we have here a representation merely of the arms of an 

 individual, or whether those objects also may not have some significant 

 force as characters or representative symbols. 



In reference to the imperfect figure in the lower compartment, 

 which seems to be the rude outline of a horned quadruped, the eye is at 

 once arrested by the prominence rising from behind the shoulder, Whe- 



