The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1868-04-04

| mise that, II We had similar information re-
garding other countries, we should find gi.
gantic races in them also? But we are not
left altogether to conjecture, for oral tradi.
ton Especially of Celtic nations) and ar
ch@olcgy both favor the theory that giants
were widely distributed at least over the
countries which border the Mediterranean.
1t may be objected, why are their bones
rot discovered if they were so widely dis
trbuted? To this it may be replied, that
until they are found in Palestine, where we
know the giants once existed, we cannot
| logically dispute the existence of gigantic
| races in other countries, on the ground that
no remains are found.
Respecting the archaeological proofs to
which / have adverted, the philosophic
Schlegel remarks in his PHILOSOPHY of
History (p. 1865: "There exist also mon
uments, or rather fragments of edifces, of
| the most primitive antiquity, which, as they
are connected with the subject, are here
deserving Of slight notice. | alude to
those cyclopean walls which are to be found
in several parts Of Italy, and which those
who have once seen will not easily forget
nor the singular stamp Of antiquity they
bear. In this very peculiar architecture we
see, instead Of the stones of the usual cubi
cal or oblong form, huge fragments Of rock
rudcly cut into the shape of an irregular
polygon, and skitully enough joined togeth-
er Even the great and often admired sub
terrancous aqueduct or clodca of ancient
Rome is considered as belonging to this cy-
clopean architecture, remains Of which exist
also near Argos, and in several other parts
Of Greece. These ediiccs were certainly
not built by the celebrated nations that at a
later period occupied these countries; for
even they regarded them as the work and
production OF a primitive and departed race
of giants and hence the name the monu.
ments received. When we consider how
very imperfect must have been the instru.
mcnts of those remote ages, and that they
cannot he supposed To have possessed the
knowledge in mechanic which the Egyp-
tians, for instance, displayed in the creation
VI tHti pbciiAhH' We Call easily conceive
how mcn were led to imagine that more Wig.
orous arms, aui other powers than those
belonging 10 the lrcAcnt race oE men, were
necessary to the construction of those cdi.
ice. OF rock. :"
The cyclopean remains in Italy and Greece
are apparently progressive, and get perfectly
diainc, from, the Etruscan and Latin STYLES
OF architecture. The walls Of Iyrins, near
Naupiia alluded to by Homer, and those of
Lcrna. III Italy, are examples Of the rudcr
style; those Of Mycena and Epirus of the
more advanced in these the blocks are
carefully fitted together. And not only are
these ruins found over Greece and Italy, for
Asia Minor. Phwnicia, Persia, Malabar,
Brittany, Great Britain, and even North
and South America. afford examples of cy-
copean architecture. Now. in the most Of
these cases, popular tradition refers the
origin of these relics to giants. In Italy and
Greece they are attributed to the Cyclops,
primitive race Of giants, skilled in architcc-
ture, whose leader was said by Homer to be
one-eyed, and hence this peculiarly was ex-
tended, by subsequent writers, to the whole
race. In Malta is remarkable cyclopcan
structure. supported on huge pillars, and
popularity called. "The Giants Grave +
Some Of the blocks of stone are thirty feet
long. Stonehenge itself was said by Welch
tradition to have been built by 'giants who
came from Africa This is significant,
since the Carthagnians, the greatest en-
ployers Of mercenaries, colonized portion
of England aud Ireland,
The very names of Some of the British
cycopean antiquities show the evidence of
tradition as to their origin, as, for instance,
''The Giants Bed" ".rhe Giants Grave"
''The Giants Load" "1he Old Wife $
Lift" THE Giants Quoit,' "The Hag' S
Bed" &c. In Brittany it is very curious
that the grandest relic of antiquity, whole
yalley full of huge stones, is called Scar
nas, "a name evidently Identical with that
temple in Egypt upon which the exploits of
the Rephaim are recorded.
A curious light has been lately thrown
upon the antiquities of Western Europe by
the discovery in the old region of the giants,
now inhabited by the Druzes, of the homes
and Giles of the Anakim. The Rev. Mr.
Porter and Mr.. Cyril Graham have found
the whole of ancient Bashan covered with
rims hitherto unknown to Europeans. In
the cities of Kerioth and kiriatham are
| housns stronr cnouoh ia resist the violence
of man or of nature; the roofs are formed
| of beams of stone in juxtaposition, twenty
five feet long, supported by square stone
pillars, and huge doors, formed OF "a single
stone ",rhesc ancient cities of Bashan
contain probably the very oldest specimens
Of domestic architecture now existing in
the world, says Mr.. Porter In conclusion,
there is no doubt that the cromlechs of Gel.
tic countries irresistibly suggest the idea Of
Limitations: Indeed no other use can be as
signed for thrn. lheii height is too great
far use as affairs. ] is just possible that the
vast physical and mental powers which char.
acteriaed the giants may have caused thoil
dedication when extinct hy inferior races
and ihus their temples and residences might
even come to be regarded with supersti,ious
respect or copied and reproduced as object.
of worship. At any ratc, this cannot b,
denied, giants once existed as races, not a