STONES OF CARNAC. 261 fell upon the scene, and the mighty stones, now shadowless, stood out from the earth like long grey tongues, which seemed as if they could talk of the past, feelings too deep for utterance stirred me, and I thought, while contrasting the period when the huge blocks around me were set up, by a people who walked in darkness, with the present age, illumined by the light of Christianity, that the visitor to Carnac might exclaim with the patriarch of old, "Surely the Lord is in this place." EXCURSION TO LOC-MARIA-KER.-HIRE LA BELLE JEANNETTE.'- LEGENDS.-ST. GILDAS DE RHUYS.-ABÉLARD.— CELTIC -LARGE DOLMEN.-IMMENSE MENHIR.-SPECULATIONS.-MYSTERIOUS SCULPTURES.-BELZ.-RETURN TO AURAY. ALTHOUGH a day on the plains of Carnac will give you a very impressive idea of the magnitude of the Celtic remains in the Department of the Morbihan, yet you must visit Loc-Maria-Ker to fully realize the extraordinary labours of that mysterious people who EXCURSION TO LOC-MARIA-KER. 263 raised such mighty and puzzling monuments on the barren shores of this remote part of France. Not that Brittany alone was selected by the Gaulish Celts for their stone temples; but a satisfactory explanation of the amazing number of these monuments in Brittany is found in the fact that when Charlemagne, in his anxiety to uproot Paganism throughout his dominions, ordered all Celtic structures for the purposes of worship to be destroyed, his commands were very generally carried out in all parts of France but Brittany, which province was never completely subdued by him; and subsequently, when the Council of Nantes enacted a canon for the especial destruction of Pagan stones in southern Brittany, the order seems to have been only obeyed in the dioceses of Nantes and Rennes. My intention to visit Loc-Maria-Ker having become known to the boatmen of Auray, one of their fraternity came to me respecting the trip. He was a huge fellow, with long shaggy hair and rough exterior, but his weather-worn features had an honest expression that promised well. After much talking, for a Breton is not quick in striking a bargain, he engaged to convey me in his boat, 'La Belle Jeannette'-which, with its equipage of six persons, was, as he assured me, capable of braving the Atlantic-to Loc-Maria-Ker and bring me back, for ten francs, and for two more he was willing to enter the Sea of Morbihan, or at least make the attempt, and land me on Gâvr'-Innis. This was so much less a sum than I expected to pay, considering that the trip would occupy the whole day and that I was to have the services of six persons, that I closed at once with the offer; and I may mention, as illustrative of the cheapness of Brittany, that my boatman was willing to hire his boat for less than ten francs on other days, but the day on which I purposed going to Loc-Maria-Ker being one of the oyster-fishing days, he required to be paid for losing his fishing by hiring his boat to me. A French gentleman, the only tourist that I met in Brittany, expressed a desire to accompany me; but when he found that I was very desirous to enter the Sea of Morbihan, which bears an ugly reputation for its rough waters and extremely difficult navigation, he hesitated. The sturdy boatman, with the view of inspiring the timid gentleman with confidence in 'La Belle Jeannette' and in his seamanship, assured him that she had weathered a storm gallantly in that sea two months before, when he and an enterprising English tourist, who was desirous of seeing the Morbihan Islands, were obliged to remain out all night; but the French gentleman declared that he would not go; adding, that Englishmen were proverbially 'LA BELLE JEANNETTE.' 265 fond of the sea, but, for his part, he had no love for sailing on salt or even fresh water: so I had not the pleasure of his companionship in ‘La Belle Jeannette.' The morning for my proposed trip broke most auspiciously, giving every promise of ripening to a glorious day. According to appointment I was on the quay at the head of the little harbour of Auray at seven o'clock. Thinking of pleasant water-excursions at home, in gaily-painted boats with white sails and cushioned seats, I was somewhat disconcerted to find that my bargain of the preceding evening made me master for the day of a huge tub-like craft, rigged schooner-fashion, redolent of fishy odours, and having for crew two men, a boy, and three sturdy women, who, judging by the muscular development of their arms and legs, would have been formidable antagonists in a wrestling match. The fittings of 'La Belle Jeannette' were of a most primitive character, but what was wanting in elegance was made up by great solidity; and my attention was drawn to the half-deck cabin at the bows, filled with clean straw, which the boatman declared would prove extremely comfortable if fate ordained that we should be obliged to pass the night in the Sea of Morbihan. We were of course provided with provisions, which N |