87 
are found in every part of it, but are more numerous 
on the lands bordering on the sea, where the exposed 
shores, poor soil, 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 lUe et Yilaine. 
Here we find communes in which they exist at short 
intervals, in every variety of form, and of all dimensions, 
from the rude unhewn menhir or granite pillar, standing 
singly, to the wonderful groups of menhirs, arranged in 
lines or in circles ; and from the simple rectangular cist of 
moderate proportions, to the huge and complicated sepulchre 
with its side chambers and ponderous capstones. 
The menhirs, or pillars, are mysterious monuments, whose 
destination 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 reasonable 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 Carnac, but few, even of those who have visited them, 
have a clear notion of their plan. The prevailing idea is, 
that all these lines of granite pillars constitute one monu- 
ment ; whereas they form several groups of lines or avenues, 
separated and wholly distinct from one another. The 
number of lines in the several groups vary, and each group 
is separated by a void space of ground. Each group, there- 
fore, constitutes a distinct monument. 
I will now describe them, and then say what opinions 
have been put forth as to their destination. 
