The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-22

ancient make and flavor are exposed.
1t ia kirkless, and nought but the sound of
the old abbey bell from mile away at
Melrose dlsturbs the wondrous quiet of
the place. All doors are open 60
all In Scotland, and you peer into this cot
tage aud that. The incarnation of sweet
ness and cleanliness, but no human, is be-
held. Here Is an old school house. deserted
ana silent. An orchard was its play
ground, but a few sheep are grazing among
Its tender e. asses now.
Unconsciously you have begun to tip
though even football might break the
spell OF silence and repose; and you pass
on to reach the rough, red road that leads
TO the primeval forest beyond. But no.
here is such quaint old cottage that you
halt again, Something like an arched front
from which rises huge chimney arrests
your attention. On either side Of the Chin
ney ls tiny pane of glass. You peep into
one and sec the oldest ingle-nook in all
Scotland. A huge arch sustaining the
bowed wall of the cottage and the chimney
above iDcloses cavernous fireplace At
each side OF this settle OF stone is built in
the bow beneath the arch. The panes of
glass are little outlooks from this pleasant
fortilace Of snuggery.
Opposite to the one into which you are
peering an old, old woman is asleep. She
hAS OtCh ALAbtiLp hlO lOOklDk anu 0TedIUS
ing out through the apple-boughS across the
sunlit valley. Her white old face is as
white as her white old "mutch" cap. She
had knit to the middle Of her needle, and
then fallen asleep. But her thin old hands
hold the needles upright and clenohed as
though duty lasted beyond consciousness:
and her cat has come TO the opposite settle
to stare at the silent face, as if doubtful of
the meaning when the clicking needles
stopped. This is the only soul you have
found in Gattonside among the apple or-
chards and their sunshine by the Tweed.
Savans dig and peck away for remnants
of the cast-of shells of lost races and ages
in all the lands frinRing the Mediterranean.
Yet at Carnac, in the very Brittany of
Brittany, and at the very threshold of
Europe, are imperishable remains of the
activities of people and a time 80 remote
that archBologists are dumb in the pres
ence of what no learning has yet been able
TO interpret and reveal. / think the study
of rude stone monuments and these silent,
awe-inspiring reminders of the past grows
on one with strange and increasing fas~
oinRtion.
On entering Brittany one is all impotence
to first see the vast fields OF pillar stones
the ancient Celts have here raised in some
inexplicable way for some inexplicabls pur.
pose and have consciousness for himself of
the kinship of those re-historio races that
have left such mighty monuments to pagan
mysticisms upon almost every square rood
of these westernmost European lands.
The plains OF Carnac would be indescrib-
ably dreary were these thousands of stone
monuments not standing upon them. But
underneath wintry skies, whipped and
beaten by storms of wind and sleet, and
ghostly as q vast graveyard with these
monumental stones, the belief that pagan
races sought the saddest and dreariest places
nature provided for the burial Of their dead,
is given startling emphasis here.
"A vast tumulus, or mound OF stones, once
pagan burial place, about 100 feet in
hight and now surmounted by a chapel
and Calvary dedicated to st. Michael, to
which pilgrimages are made, stands al
most in the center of the desolate ex-
paDse. This is called Mont. st. Michael
From its top the entire plains of Carnao
may be seen, with their countless pillar
stones, peulvens, or menhirs, and many
grimmer and vsster cromlechs or dolmens.
AS is well known the former are believed
to be stone monuments to pagan dead.
They vary from 6 to 18 feet in hight above
the soil. Hundreds upon hundreds have
fallen, and are partly covered with furze
and brambles. Countless thousands were
destroyed by the efforts Of Charlemapge,
Nantes. especially enacted to effect the
destruction of pagan monuments. Old
chroniclers assert that over 10000 stood on
these fields before that time. II, as some
assert, each menhir or stone served as a
memorial OF the death of numbers by
Druidic sacrifice, what an awful olden
slaughter-pen one stands upon at Carnacl
Here and there within sight of Mont st.
Michael are many huge and still more
weirdly suggestive dolmens. the exact pro-
totypes of 1871 have personally inspected
of the 226 cromlechs known to exist in
Ireland. These consist OF upright stones,
held in their vertical position by horizontal
slabs OF immense proportions. At Carnac
some are from ten to fifteen feet in hight,
with Gaping stones OF from twelve 80
twenty feet in length, and from two TO four
feet In thickness. But two miles from
Carnac, near the village of Plouharnel,
are several immense dolmens, one,
covered by three tremendous stones, nearly
fifty feet long. These dolmens are thought
Co have been the raised pieces where Druidic
sacrifices took place before assembled
thousands, and the chambers within, the
burial places of the victims. IL is certain
they were pagan burial places, for there
have been recovered from every one halls
burned bones of human beings, cinnerary
urus, stone weapons, gold torques and other
rude ornaments.
The pillar-stones still stsnding upon
Carnac fields are seen principally clustered
in three distinct ranges or avenues; and
all are to the north and northeast of the
village. The most eastern grouping Is
known as Kerlescant. The central and
smallest grouping is called Kermario, and
the western and largest field 10 generioally
named the Stones OF Carnac. At first
each of these seems q confused mess, but
as theeye becomes familiar. long and sinu-
Gus avenues are distinctly traced; and the
curious fact will impress the keen OBJ.
server that in ali three of these vast col
lections of pillar-stones the lines aud
avenues, from eight TO eleven in each still,
being easily followed, converge rapidly as
their eastern termini are approached; the
theory, as held by some aroh@ologists, be-
ing that the three great series still visible,
and perhaps hundreds of others effaced
within the 5000 or 1900 years since they
we're erected, all once led to the most sacred
and eastern point at LocmRriker, some
fifteen miles distant, where there is still to
be seen fallen and broken, but tremend-
GUS monolith, which, as the Hottest member
or "lonR stoue OF the sun" stood above the
grave cf the greatest Celtic chieftain.
All this however, is theory. But II is
not theory that you stand among the most
irnpressi We monuments Of prehistoric days.
To the south are the brown roof peaks Of
Carnac Beyond, the steely blue sea aud
the far-reachng land arm Of Quiberon.
From the northeast around by Auray, far
around the southern outlook to the north
vest. is savage moor-frlnged coast
To the north, as far as the eye can
l.. mind Whinuad WnatA.