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perhaps intended for the Moon ;
Sacred Stones 87
on
fig. 3
is what looks like
a Sun. Fig. 2 is a monolith of the same nature, from the
summit of that mountain. Fig. 4 is another stone from
Chandeswar in the same district." The English stone circles
of Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wilts, are well known. Simi-
lar monuments exist also in the Channel Islands, in Guernsey,
and on the island of Herm. Fig. 5 is a stone from Tartary,
given both in front and in side face. Fig. 6 is from the
island of Na.xos in Greece. The two latter bear a strange re-
semblance to each other, but, we would remark, it is probably
a still more singular circumstance to find the same types
of stones existing in Europe, and still used as places of
pilgrimage by women—the menhir of Kergloas in Brittany
for example. On Plate X is represented a statue, locally
known as the Venus de Ouinipily, taken from a sketch made
by a friend some years ago. It is situated near Baud,
Morbihan, Brittan)-. Black, in his Guide to Brittany, gives
the following description of it : " It is a nude, rudely formed
stone statue, about eight feet high, standing against a slab.
The thighs are disproportionately thin. Round the waist of
the statue is a narrow girdle, the ends of which fall down in
front; the hands are crossed over the body. It stands on a
pedestal nine feet high, rising from the front of a terrace over
a dilapidated fountain. From the flatness of the features
some have supposed it to have an Egyptian origin, but the
probability is, that it does not date later than the sixteenth
century, when it was the object of impure rites among the
Bretons."
Near St Renan, and about twelve miles from Brest, is
a monolith called the menhir of Kergloas, said to be the