of Wiltshire;
whereas the larger Sarsen blocks are to be found in considerable
numbers scattered over the Wiltshire Downs. This difference in
material seems to present a considerable difficulty; and the question
naturally arises, How did the foreign stones come to Salisbury Plain?
This point will be considered later, as it is one involving other
matters, such as the ethnology of the builders and the probable region
from which they obtained these unusual materials. But the Sarsens
present no problem, and so may be considered first of all, for
familiar as they are their story is full of interest.

[Illustration: The Lithology of Stonehenge.]

THE STORY OF THE SARSENS

The geologist would probably describe the Sarsen stones of Wiltshire
as "masses of saccharoid sandstone," which in plain English might be
rendered as boulders closely resembling gigantic lumps of coarse
sugar. These huge stones are to be found, though in decreasing
numbers, scattered all over the plain, and particularly along the
ridges of the Marlborough Downs. The country folk, always
picturesquely minded, call them "Grey Wethers," and indeed in North
Wilts, it is not hard to conjure up their poetic resemblance to a
flock of titanic sheep, reclining at ease upon the pasturage of the
Downs. The alternative name Sarsen, has an interesting derivation. It
is a corruption of the word "Saracen." But what have Saracens to do
with Wiltshire? Frankly nothing. The name has come to the stones from
Stonehenge itself, and is a part of that ever interesting confusion of
ideas, which has been bequeathed to us by our ancestors of the Middle
Ages. To them all stone circles and megalithic monuments were the work
of heathens, if not of the devil himself. Heathenism and all its works
was roundly condemned, whether it be Celtic, Mahomedan, or Pagan; and
the condemnation was as concise and universal as the phrase "Jews,
Turks, Infidels, and Heretics" of the Christian Prayer Book to-day. In
the early days of the _Moyen Age_, the Saracen stood for all that was
antagonistic to Christianity. Consequently the stones of Stonehenge
were Saracen or heathen stones, which the Wiltshire tongue has
shortened in due time to Sarsen.

This confusion of ideas may seem amusing, but it is not more absurd
than the existing popular idea that Stonehenge is of Druidical origin.
The stone circle of Salisbury Plain was many hundred years old when
those half mythical Celtic priests first set