We may even, I think, go further and ask whether some of the constellations were not figured as in Egypt, otherwise it is difficult to account for the horror of the black pig (p. 195) at Hallowe’en. The whole Egyptian story is told in my _Dawn of Astronomy_[109] in connection with the worship of Set, that is the stars visible at night, blotted out at dawn by the rising sun, or becoming predominant after sunset. 9. The worship of the sun and stars. Here also, as I have shown, is complete agreement. The same astronomical methods have been employed for the same purpose. The chief difference lies in the fact that by lapse of time the precessional movement caused different stars to be observed as clock stars or to herald the sunrise on the chief ceremonial days. [100] _Dolmens of Ireland_, p. 426. [101] “France, indeed, furnishes us with a stepping-stone, as it were, between the natural cave and the dolmen in certain artificial caves which offer comparison both with the former and the latter... the natural cave was scooped out into a large chamber or chambers either by the swirling of water pent up in the limestone or other yielding rock and finding its way out through some narrow crevice. The ground plan and section, therefore, is that of an _allée couverte_ with a vestibule... the artificial cave is modelled on the natural one, and yet bears, as M. Mortillet points out, a close resemblance to the dolmen.” [102] Wandle, _Remains of Prehistoric Age in England_, p. 147. [103] It is interesting to point out in relation to the fact that different swarms successively introduced the May and solstitial years that the “sleeping rooms” of the May year cairns at New Grange are about 3 feet square, while at the solstitial Maeshowe, built very much later, the dimensions are 6 feet × 4¹⁄₂ feet. There were differences of sleeping posture in the old days among different peoples as well as different methods of burial. [104] Borlase, p. 617. [105] “The Builders and the Antiquity of our Cornish Dolmens,” by Rev. D. Gath Whitley (_Journal R.I. Cornwall_, No. 4). [106] _Book of Brittany_, p. 21. [107] _History of the Semites_, p. 364. [108] _Strange Survivals_, p. 122. [109] Pp. 146, 215, and elsewhere. CHAPTER XXIV THE MAY-YEAR IN SOUTH-WEST CORNWALL The previous pages of this volume have apparently dealt with two distinct subjects; the use of the British monuments on the orientation theory, and the folklore and tradition which enable us to get some glimpses into the lives, actions, habits and beliefs of the early inhabitants of these islands, and the region whence these early inhabitants had migrated.