Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-06-06

TTONEHENGE, that mysterious circle
> Of colossal stones which were set in
place thousands OF years ago on
Salisbury Plain. England. by the painful
efforts OF prehistoric man. is being re-
stored by modern machinery For ages
the great gray monoliths had resisted
time. falling slowly and stubbornly one by
one. Beneath n terrific storm awhile ago
two OF the largest fell. and then It was
realized that unless immediate steps were
taken for Stonehenge's preservation this
monument Of antiquity. perhaps the most
extraordinary In all the world. would soon
DC little more than shapeless heap
SO That Is why today n donkey engine
and immense cranes are seen at the side
OF this ancient temple OF earliest man.
Workmen swarm about the huge stones
where tho Druid priests carried on their
rites before hundreds or worshppers, and
tho monoliths that were raised with ouch
prodigious oil by the hands OF men of the
atone age are lifted with ease by the
winchcs and cables, or swing through the
air into place by 4 truer magic than that
which by popular superstition explains
their original placing.
The real antiquity of Stonehenge ia un.
known. IT Is asserted that the Druids. the
priests of tho early Britons, used It as an
astronomical observatory and n temple
1000 years before Christ. But even then
1t must have been very old. and various
scientists have placed its building as from
10000 to $4,000 years ago. 1t Is even prob.
able that another race than the Britone
erected 1t. There are records OF power
full Neolithic. or Stone Age. maritime power
which before history began established
colonies throughout the then known world.
This power was African but not Egyptian.
DIR. Cope Whitehouse. OF New York. the
distinguished Psychologist. has called at
tention to the evidence In Egyptian rec
ords Of a great maritime nation, estab-
lished to the west of the Nile. that threat
ened Egypts supremacy at the height Of
her greatness.
these people, as a great sea power must
have left traces of themselves all over the
accessible world to which their ships
traded He holds the remarkable rock
structure known as Fingall's Cave. in
Scotland. to be clearly OF human origin,
and thinks II reasonable to believe that it
was the work Of the forgotten African
race.
II Is also reasonable, to believe that
Stonehenge Is the creation OF the same
people, since both works belong to an ad.
vanced period of the Stone Age. with SINH.
lar characteristics Of rough grandeur. 1t
need hardly be added thaS the discovery by
Professor Norton of temple west OF the
Nile OF similar workmanship to Stone
henge strengthens the theory that great
maritime power, whose existence has been
forgotten, covered Europe with their stone
monuments.
The blocks OF Stonehenge were orig.
inaly arranged to form two ovals. There
are now 140 Of them. weighing from
ten to seventy tons each. In the
centre of the ovals is a huge fat
calcareous stone which the Druids used
as an altar. Upon the tops Of the mono
liths other enormous squared blocks were
placed like lintels. Thn accomplishment
of such a task by hands alone must ever
remain a triumph Of human determination
and ingenuity. While the reconstruction
is going on the huge stone mauls and axes
That the builders used to rough-hew tho