estates to wink at, if not to encourage the destruction of remains of a remote antiquity which a more cultured intelligence and taste would have cherished with a scrupulous care.

Cromlechs.-In that carefully compiled serial, the Cambrian Register, 1799, it is said that there were then in Anglesey thirty cromlechs, and their names and localities are given, but in 1870 we could find no such abundance. By cromlech was, doubtless, understood the erection popularly known by that designation, which consists of a large stone more or less flat laid upon several supporters. Dr. Lukis, and most modern Continental antiquarians, confine the name to a combination or series of cromlechs, of which there are instances in Anglesey, as at Plas Newydd and Tynewydd, Llanfoelog, while to the single cromlech they apply the term " dolmen," meaning table-stone.

We shall, perhaps, be well-nigh correct if we say that at the present time, 1871, the following cromlechs and dolmens are discoverable, some in a very imperfect state, in Anglesey. In the grounds of Plas Newydd, the beautiful residence of Lady Willoughby de Broke, about 200 yards from the Menai Straits, near the Tubular Bridge, there are two standing near each other, which probably formed parts of one great monument; and near at hand is a tumulus containing a cist-vaen, recently opened and described by Mr. W. O. Stanley, M.P. Of the larger cromlech we give an engraving. The capstone measures twelve feet in average length and ten feet in breadth, with a thickness of four feet.

Trevor, Llansadwrn, has a double cromlech, and Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf has a single one. On the Lligwy there exists a cromlech of extraordinary dimensions, viz., 171 × 15 feet. It was recently minutely explored by the Rev. Hugh Prichard and Rev. W. Wynne Williams, and described by the former in the Arch. Cambrensis, Jan., 1867. Near Blochty, Llanfihangel, on Bodafon Hill, is found a small cromlech, called "Y Maen Llwyd," about eleven feet long, but in a disturbed and disappearing condition, and having remains of others not far. More imposing than any of these is the great monument, believed to be a cromlech,

CROMLECH AT PLAS NEWYDD. 12 feet X 10 feet; 4 feet thick.

but now with the capstone dislodged and prostrate, at Henblas, between Llangefni and Trefdraeth. If a real cromlech, it is by far the most stupendous in Wales, or probably in Great Britain, if the enormous dimensions of the masses of rock which are supposed to have been the supporters are considered, one measuring 50 feet in circumference and 13 in height, the other 55 feet in circumference and 10 feet in height, and computed to weigh from

60 to 70 tons. The fallen capstone measures 18 by 15 feet, and is 4 feet thick at the centre. All the stones are of the quartzose rock of this locality. The monument was examined and described by the Rev. Hugh Prichard (Arch. Cambrensis, 1866).

The "Maen-Chwyf," or Arthur's Quoit, near Llwydiarth, is a fine stone 17 feet long. A small one is seen at Clegyr Mawr, and one of good dimensions, about 12 feet long, in the middle of a field, close by Presaddfed Mansion.

On Holyhead Island were two cromlechs, one near Bodjor, which it seems has been not long since destroyed, the other at Tref Arthur, also now partly demolished. Looking towards Aberffraw, near the shore, at Tynewydd, Llanfaelog, a double cromlech can, or rather, could be seen one has been used up, the other has been broken. An "improving" tenant made hedges of the first; and a worshipping tenant, apparently believing in the fitness of what he considered an "altar" to the occasion, made a bonfire on the second to celebrate the coming of age of his landlord, and thus split the ponderous mass (5 feet thick and 13 feet long) in two. The stone is of the metamorphic rock of the country.

At Mynydd y Cnwc, nigh at hand, is a single cromlech. On the river Crigyll, in the same neighbourhood, there are three cromlechs of small size. On the farm of Bryn Celli Du, Llan Ddaniel, is a very fine cromlech in a comparatively well-preserved state; part of the tumulus being still unremoved from the capstone, and the long passage which led to the chief place of sepulture, under the great stone, with its main features undisturbed. To the credit of the proprietor, the site is planted and protected by an enclosure. At Llangaffo, near Dinam, in the middle of a field, is also a small cromlech.

Having thus gone the round of the island in search of cromlechs, we have now arrived in a district which, in pre-historic as well as in historic times, was clearly one of peculiar importance. The monuments of both periods are here numerous, and show that similar causes operated in both periods similarly, although it is quite sub judice whether the builders of the cromlechs and the builders of the camps and churches belonged to one and the same race or group of mankind.

We have, however, never been able to see that any advantage is gained to ethnology, any difficulty removed, or light imparted, by attributing the megalithic creations of these and other parts to a pre-Celtic race. It is possible that a pre-Celtic race built them: it is as possible that the Cymry built them. They may have stood where they now stand for ten thousand years, but there is nothing absurd in the more moderate supposition that their builders lived within the thousand years preceding the Christian era; for we know that in some parts of the world, e. g., Madagascar, the erection of similar monuments is carried down to our own day.

Be the period far or near, the gently rising land on the side of Mon which looks towards Carnarvon and the Snowdon district seems through many distant ages to have been the theatre of great events. Did it become such mainly from its position? It is certainly the nearest point to the Snowdon mountains, the great stronghold of the Welsh in all ages. The routes from the south, like Sarn Helen, probably led long before our era to Caer Seiont, the last resting station in a pilgrimage or a march to "Tir Mon Mam Cymru ;" and on its nearest, best sheltered side, looking down upon the blue waters of the ebbing and flowing Menai, it is likely enough the chief solemnities of the island were performed. The straits and the river Braint were separated by a gently rising ground suitable for settlement

and observation; and the Menai, close at hand, offered the nearest ferry, or perhaps a ford, for crossing.

Be the determining reason what it may, it is certain that between Plas Newydd and Maesyporth, and between the Menai shore at Llanidan and Dinam, there is found a mysterious. group of spots sanctified by ancient faiths, warlike deeds, and interment of mighty dead, such as is rarely equalled in a like space in Europe, save on the misty and most mysterious shores of the Morbihan in Brittany. Too long ago occurring, and too unrecorded were the deeds here done, to be known to us. What was Caerleb before it became a Roman station? Who were the chieftains, priests, or demigods, whose altars were guarded by the great stones, never yet disturbed (except in their precious contents), at Bryn Celli Du and Plas Newydd? Were the burials at Caer Fynwent and Bryn y Bedd, those of the gory and swiftly gathered remains of battle, or the tenderly laid down and cherished dust of the fathers, brothers, sons, and daughters of generation after generation of a race which has entirely passed away, leaving none but these dumb and yet eloquent records behind them? We know not. We must wait until careful examination and comparison in different parts of the world have furnished us with better data than we now possess to form a fair induction; and perhaps the best induction which can then be found will only terminate in doubt. As yet the science of pre-historic inquiry is in its infancy; our most venerable monuments are the least understood, and our greatest triumphs have been achieved in the exploding of ill-founded and ill-digested opinions.

The idea that cromlechs were sacrificial altars, and that the blood shed upon them was that of human victims, is one of those ill-founded opinions. Dr. Lukis, in the Channel Islands and in Brittany, has explored with scientific care and knowledge the contents of many unopened cromlechs and dolmens, and has come to the conclusion, from the remains they contained, that they were nothing less than the laboriously constructed sarcophagi where a reverent race deposited their dead—the prototypes, in fact, of the great altar-tombs of our churches. In Anglesey itself the same conclusion from similar research has been forced upon Mr. Prichard and Mr. Wynne Williams, as shown in their valuable memoirs in the Arch. Cambr., 1867, &c. For the old opinion, which cast so dismal a reflection on the Druidic cultus, there was absolutely no evidence beyond the circumstance that in some of these great stones there were found depressions, which, in masses of unhewn rock exposed for thousands of years to the elements, might naturally be expected, but which the imagination, tempted by the enticing voice of a pre-conceived theory, converted into basins for the blood of the victim. Rowland theorized, and easily formed grand conclusions, but modern inquirers are content to proceed on the laborious principle of the finding out and comparison of facts.

Burial places-probably also places of religious rites-these cromlechs were. The spot where they stand, therefore, is sacred to the thoughtful. The solemn procession is not seen, the impressive gloom of the silent forest is not felt, the deep tones of the venerable Druid priest are not heard; but the same sea moans in the distance, and the same heavens look down overhead, and the very stones of the same cromlech are still there, the one upon the other. Gone is everything human,-bard, Druid, and prince, with the song, the sacrifice, and the sword; the dance, the war-shout, and the clash of battle; and there remain alone a riddle which we cannot solve, and a lesson of wisdom as to

C

the passing nature of human things and the littleness of our own brief day, we cannot refuse to learn.

Maenhirs, or Erect Stones.-Anglesey contains a good number of these stones, called in Brittany menhirs, and in that country greatly exceeding in size those of Wales-some of them measuring as much as forty or fifty feet in height, as those at Plouarzel near Brest; while those at Lokmariaker, now prostrate, measure above sixty feet long, with breadth and

thickness proportionate. The menhirs of Anglesey seldom exceed twelve or fourteen feet in height, and possibly, therefore, correspond to the stones in Brittany called peulven, pillar stone, which number many hundreds in the great field of Carnac alone. In Anglesey there is apparent no plan or method in the distribution of the menhirs, nor is there visible, except doubtfully in two or three instances, any relation between them and the cromlechs; whereas in Brittany they often stand in rows parallel to, and equidistant from each other, like the pillars of an Oriental temple, with wider distances, and are so often in close proximity to the cromlechs as to argue some purposed and systematic correlation. The arrangement in rows is shown in the accompanying illustration from a photograph by Reeve, and it is seen that the farmer has utilized the menhirs to form fences between his narrow fields. Two colossal fallen menhirs at Lokmariaker, Brittany, measuring respectively 27 ft. and 30 ft. long, with an average breadth of 11 ft., were so situated in the vicinity of a great cromlech as to suggest the idea that they might have served, when erect, as two obelisks (unhewn, yet pointed at the top) at the entrance to the sacred precincts, like the colossus at the entrance of the temple at Thebes.

The maenhir in Wales has no doubt the same raison d'être as it has in Brittany and other regions of the world. What that reason was we are even more helpless to discover than in the case of the cromlechs. It was not to be a landmark or a division of property: much less was it to supply a post for cattle to rub against, as some unpoetic persons would fain believe; although there are cattle-posts of good size and maenhirs which are diminutive, making the determination of their character sometimes perplexing. It must be borne in mind that the maenhirs now standing are probably only solitary remains of a combination of

erections which in further or nearer proximity held relation to each other-cromlechs, circles, barrows, other maenhirs, &c., which subsequent ages of superstition and later ages of improving tillage have removed. In the preceding engraving we see the solemn congregation still standing together, but the silent signs they make to us we have no key to interpret. We may ask, were these wonderful masses of rock brought thus together in order to serve as places of solemn council on national affairs? or were they memorials of men slain on the spot in battle? or were they monuments of a national pantheon or cemetery, erected by degrees, as the great men of the tribes were brought in from various distances to the sacred place of burial? or were they symbols, monitors, or guides, in subordination to some system of worship in a contiguous or neighbouring temple? Probably some of these questions touch upon the fringe of the reason of their existence.

Less mercy is, we fear, shown to these maenhirs in an agricultural country than to the cromlechs. The latter offer by their bulk a tolerably successful resistance to the rustic iconoclast; but the maenhir, unless it proves useful as a rubbing-post or gate-post (as we have heard of church fonts turned into hog-troughs-or, as at Lligwy, changed from a gate-post into the step of a stile,-and as the sarcophagus of Prince Llewelyn's consort, daughter of King John, was for ages used as a watering-trough for horses), or is stout enough to challenge ordinary powers of destruction, stands but a poor chance of lengthened life. It offends, perchance, the superstitious religionist; it steals three square yards of land from the thrifty farmer; it offers to the sharp-eyed road-surveyor "metal" for road-making, or to the quarryman stones for building; and its fortune is to be blasted or beaten to fragments, after bravely rendering the kind of service it was bidden to render to mankind for thousands of years. Thanks to advancing intelligence and the interposition of our antiquarian societies, this ungentle barbarism is gradually diminishing, and the gentry of Anglesey, some of whom we have named, are not behind others in bringing about this result.

The maenhirs of Anglesey abound mostly on the north-eastern side, few being found to the west or south. The first we meet in proceeding from Beaumaris towards Pentraeth and Holyhead is at College, near Trevor; this, however, is by some considered as part of a cromlech; and we soon encounter another at Plas Llanddyfnan. At Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, a fine one, known as " Maen-Addwyn," the Stone of Virtue, is seen. In the same neighbourhood, on Bodafon Hill, are the remains of cromlechs, already noticed, and a carnedd is found near the Llanerchymedd road. A stone in the grounds of Trescawen, sometimes called a maenhir, turned out on inspection to be a monument of some kind, bearing a Latin inscription quite illegible. The owner of the place informed the writer that for many years it had been a gate-post on the estate, fixed with its inscribed face turned towards the cart wheels, whereby the inscription was effectually worn away.

At Bodewryd, and at Llechcynfarwy, near Presaddfed-here again in the neighbourhood of a noble cromlech-are maenhirs; and near Bryndu, the seat of General Hughes, and in the parish of Llanfechell, is the celebrated "Maen Arthur," and several remains of cromlechs and tumuli. A maenhir stands, or not long ago stood, near Nantyfron, west of Cemmaes, and two at a few hundred yards distance from each other on a rising ground on the farm of Pen yr Orsedd, the throne or seat eminence-a very significant name-on the road towards Llanfaethlu. Near the inn at Llanfaethlu we come on a sturdy maenhir standing close to the road on the left, whence an extensive prospect of country is enjoyed. On the