The new South-news., 1909-03-06

Meaning Of Strange Monuments
Around a Breton Village.

Around a Bretsn Village.
Nothing more curious could well be
Imagined than the low plain on
| Quiberon Bay. with its vast number OF
prehistoric monuments. They say
there are 2,S3s separate stones, any
way. there are far too many 10 count,
and they stretch over acres Of ground
with nothing 10 break their serr!ed
monotony but patches OF gorse and
heather.
The only way to get a general i'm
precision of Carnac Is to ascend the
iumulus known as Mont ST. Michel.
Eastward Is the Gulf OF Morblhan.
With an ifs lslets. and al our feet the
wide. wonderful plain. with rs lines
Of mcnhir1 and doimens. it's stern
avenues Of upright stones. which
might wen be supposed 10 mark the
last resting places OF a race OF giants
Here and there the lines are broken
by a rude semiclrcle. place where
an altar probably stood. or by two or
three huge blocks OF stone supporting
another laid horizontally upon them.
thus forming a gigantic table for shell
ter. such an arrangement is called
a dolmen, or II very large, an alice
couycrtc. The Menhir Is a single
standing stone; when these menhirs
are so placed as 10 form a circle they
are called q cromlcch. but If they
sland .seogeIhsr Ia parallel Ines. We
nave an alignment. Some OF them
stand thirty feet above the soil. though
none Of exceedingly great height is to
be found ut Carnac The taliest ever
known in the whole country was sixty
four feet high, but unfortunately it
was shattered by lightning.
The real meaning OF These mysterl.
Gus monuments IS subject of much
different opinion, even after the inves-
LEGATIONS of recent years The se-
crets of these silent stones have a
tremendous fascination for some peo.
pie. A Scotch antiquary. James Min.
hved at Carnac for several years.
from 1874 to 1880, devotng all his
time 10 the subject. His conclusions
are the same as those of the French
authority NJ. Lee Rouzie. and Barring
Could, who has given infinite study to
the Dartmoor alignments--antiquiti
which In way are even more val
liable than those at Carnac. because
they have been left absolutely un-
touched. while the Breton farmer has
been unabl to resist Interference with
the treasures of his own land.
Bering Gould says. "The dolmens
and aliceS couyertes were sepulchres.
family or tribal. and the alignments
consist OF stones erected by the tribe
in honor of the several dead who were
laid In the dolmens. He reminds us
that TO this day the Bedouin when he
visits the tomb of a Moslem saint
efccts a rude block of stone in token
of homage. The same authority furth-
er tells us that: "Thv stone circles
were either places where the dead
were burned and funeral feasts were
held or. We're places of tribal gather
ings for palavers: generally they
served both purposes. Isolated men.
HRS were either memorials to the dead
or boundary marks. All domens
were originally buried under cairns or
tumuli"
But IT is hardly likely that the peas
ant viii be content with a scientific
explanation. He tells you that every
stone on Carnac plain was once a
human being: that all together they
formed a vast pagan host who cruelty
pursued the blessed St Cornely. the
patron of the parish church. until he
was in imminent danger of drowning.
But when he got to the edge of the
waves he made a last effort and
cursed his pursuers vigorously. and le
bon Dieu turned every one into pill
lar of stone.-New Orleans Times.
Democrat