[Footnote 71: Sir Gardner Wilkinson in 'Journal, Archæological Association,' xvi. p. 112, pl. 6 for Cas Tor, and pl. 7 for Merivale Bridge.] [Footnote 72: From _Maen_, as before, stone, and _hir_--high. Minar is supposed to be the same word. It cannot, at least, be traced to any root in any Eastern language.] [Footnote 73: 'Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,' iv. 119 _et seq._] [Footnote 74: 'Freminville, Finistère,' pl. iv. p. 248.] [Footnote 75: All these, and many others, are to be found illustrated in Taylor and Nodier's 'Voyage Pittoresque dans l'ancienne Bretagne;' but as the plates in that work are not numbered they cannot be referred to.] [Footnote 76: I know only one instance of sculptured stone in France; it occurs near the Chapelle St. Marguerite in Brittany.] CHAPTER III. AVEBURY AND STONEHENGE. If there existed any acknowledged facts or accepted data with regard to the megalithic remains we are now treating of, the logical method of following out the subject would be to describe first their geographical distribution, and then their uses and dates. While, however, everything concerning them is considered as uncertain--in fact, as unknown, such a mode of treatment, though satisfactory to believers, would fail to carry conviction to the minds of those who doubt. It appears, therefore, that under the circumstances a preferable mode will be to take three or four of the principal and best known British groups, and to subject them to a tolerably exhaustive examination. If it is possible to dispel the errors that have grown up around them, and to fix their uses and dates on anything like a reasonable basis, the rest will be easy; but so long as men believe in Druids or Dragons, or even think it necessary to relegate these monuments to prehistoric antiquity, it is useless to reason regarding them. By the process it is proposed to follow, it is hoped at least to be able to dispel these mists. Others must judge whether the landscape their dispersion will reveal is either real, or pleasing to contemplate.