unknown tongue which cannot be understood, for it is Latin". Many curious customs exist, too, even to the present day, as the blessing of the beasts: which, on a certain occasion, are assembled at night and marched in a solemn procession to the church, where the owners kneel and pray at the north door; after which they take the animals to the holy fountain of Cornély, where they pour water upon them, and return home. The animals, too, on certain occasions receive the episcopal benediction in the day-time, and this quaint and curious custom I had the pleasure of witnessing myself in September 1896. Concerning this blessing of the animals, I would point out a very remarkable parallel which exists, and which certainly points strongly to the survival of the Pagan legend in the Christian custom. According to the Celtic mythology, the two oxen of Hu Gadarn, a divinity of the Ancient Bretons, are fabled to have dragged out of the waters of the flood by strong chains a creature called the Avank, a monstrous crocodile which had caused the Deluge; and this legend is preserved even to to-day in a most ancient Breton ballad, known as "The Frog's Vespers". Now, the legend of St. Cornély is that he was a Bishop of Rome, whence he was chased by heathen soldiers. He fled before them, accompanied by two oxen, who carried his baggage and even himself when he was fatigued. He arrived at the village of Moustoir, where he would have stopped; but hearing a young girl speak harshly to her mother, his spirit was moved to indignation, and he went on his way. Shortly after, he observed a little village by the side of a hill. Before him there was the sea, behind him the soldiers threatening him with instant death, they all being ranged in long lines so as to prevent his escape. Finding himself in this position, he at once stopped, and, waving his hand, the whole of the heathen soldiers were turned to stone as they stood; and these petrified Pagans became the three great alignments of Mennec, Kermario and Kerlescant. A church was erected in remembrance of St. Cornély and his miracle; and he, in return for the benefits he obtained from the oxen who had been his faithful companions, took all

beasts under his protection; and it is said, if supplication is made, he cures them of all illness in token of his gratitude.

Over the west door of the church at Carnac there is, too, a curious coloured representation of St. Cornély, with some oxen and other cattle. Pilgrims coming to seek the protection of St. Cornély always pay a visit to the great stones, when the men take away such small fragments as they may find, the women bringing earth, which, with the stones, is deposited at the Mont St. Michel, outside Carnac, which I have already mentioned.

Here I may remark that the great menhirs, etc., as a rule, are all formed of the granite of the neighbourhood, greyish in colour, and passing to red if exposed to fire; the two chief exceptions to this rule being the menhir of Plouhinec and the gigantic one at Locmariaquer, which are of another grain and mingled with quartz veins.

The shape of the stones tends to the cubic and quadrangular natural to the splitting of this kind of rock.

A curious instance of the hatred caused by the harshness and oppression of the Romans, who quitted this district in A.D. 409, exists even to this day, when, if one man calls another a "Roman", he is considered to use a most opprobrious epithet. Again, the inhabitants of the district suffered considerably from the Normans; and until relatively recent times, the Litany offered in the churches used to contain the prayer-" From the wrath of the Normans, oh, Lord, deliver us !"

All the islands appear to have been formerly connected with the mainland, as petrified branches of trees, etc., have been dredged up occasionally in the bay and in the inland sea.

According to some theorists, from the fact that the alignments vary from the line of the Equinoxes and the Solstices, their orientation points to the fact that the inhabitants who reared these stones were worshippers of the sun. But, inasmuch as the three names of the three great alignments signify "The Place of Remembering",

"The Place of the Dead", and "Place of Burning", and that there have been found in the dolmens, bones partly burnt, bones unburnt, weapons and other instruments in stone, different kinds of pottery, golden bracelets, etc., I am strongly inclined to favour the theory that these stones were, first, places of burial among a pre-Celtic race; secondly, that they were used and adapted by the Romans in many instances for shelter and residence; and that, thirdly, they were subsequently utilised by the peasantry for the same purposes.

Cæsar, it will be remembered, expressly refers to the magnificence of some of the Gallic funerals and cremations, and as to valuable articles being ruthlessly committed to the flames.

"Funera sunt pro cultu gallorum magnifica et sumtuosa; omniaque, quæ vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur, in ignem inferunt, etiam animalia: ac paulo supra hanc memoriam, servi et clientes quos ab iis dilectos esse constabat, justis funeribus confectis, unâ cremabantur." Cæs. De Bello Gallico, lib. vi, cap. xix.

Here, I think, we may pause a moment to consider, not unprofitably, the aspect which our own Stonehenge -or perhaps what the Bretons would call the English Carnac-affords by way of contrast. The first thing that strikes one forcibly is the attempt to shape and hew the stones, which does not obtain to any extent in the Morbihan. The upright stones at Stonehenge are connected by a species of architrave, and by a system of mortice and tenon joints, distinctly pointing to mason's work. It may be noted, too, that the outer circle of Stonehenge consists of native Wiltshire stone called the Sarsen or grey wether-stone found chiefly on the Marlborough downs, and the five great trilithons or triplets of stone are all hewn of the same; but the smaller stones of the inner circle and the inner half-circle are all of the primary igneous rock called Syenite, which is not found in the country for miles and miles around, the only exceptions being three stones, I believe, of greenstone, which again indicates that the skilled labour of the day was applied by those who had it at their command.

Avebury, on the other hand, appears to me in its ruggedness and, so far as we can trace, lack of any attempt to shape or hew the stones, to be of greater antiquity than Stonehenge, and from a certain formation and style, coeval with the remains in West Brittany.

In addition to the lines at Carnac, there are others at Erdeven, five miles north-west of Carnac, extending

some 5,700 ft. in length, but they are not large generally, though some attain to a height of 25 ft.

Passing, then, from Carnac to Locmariaquer, about some two miles from this latter village, on the right as one is about to enter it, there is a dolmen to be observed marked on the map "Table des Marchands", or " Dolmen des Marchands", of which I give a view from the exterior. Of tremendous size and weight, one hardly grasps the immensity of the mighty shaft, which is shown as lying horizontally on three others, until the interior is entered. Then, looking at the stone which is

shown as from the outside on the left, we find it full of curious tracery, somewhat resembling the pothooks and hangers of our early childhood; every now and then three or four hieroglyphics of axes are interspersed, and in one instance the faint outline of two serpents is also represented. A curious thing about the tracery on this Dolmen is that sometimes the same form of decoration is to be found on the dresses worn by the women on feast days. I may mention that the large table-stone is about 35 ft. in length, and that the three vertical ones are some 16 ft. in height.

But, without doubt, the most wonderful of all the menhirs is the vast one at Locmariaquer. There is no doubt whatever that at one time it stood erect, and that at some period it was overthrown by a thunderbolt or lightning. Measuring, as it does, 78 ft. in height, 13 ft. at the base, and weighing at least 240 tons, we may well marvel how it was ever placed in the vertical position it undoubtedly occupied at one time. menhir, in addition to being the largest, is also notable -as I have previously stated-for being one of the few stones of a character different in its formation to that of the majority elsewhere, it being formed of a coarser granite.

This

The Pierres Plattes is an interesting dolmen of the kind called "Dolmen à l'allée couverte", and really consists of two parallel lines of menhirs, the ceiling being formed of tables of stones instead of one single one, as in the case of the "Dolmen des Marchands".

Not very far from Locmariaquer is an interesting tumulus called "Montagne de la Fée", or in the Breton dialect, "Mané ar Groach"; also called "Butte de Cæsar". It consists of a very large tumulus, containing a stone chamber, covered with tracery and hieroglyphics, in which were discovered jasper bracelets and necklets, stone axes, etc., all of which were removed to the Museum at Vannes, where I had the pleasure of inspecting them.

At Locmariaquer it is that we have to put to sea in order to inspect the wonderful tumulus on Gavr' Inis = "The Goat Island". From the accompanying illustration