[Illustration: Stonehenge, Yesterday--Looking South East.]

THE BUILDING OF STONEHENGE

The question is often asked, "How did they build Stonehenge?" There is
a refreshing simplicity about that indefinite word "they," but for the
present, whoever "they" may be, it is possible to some extent, at all
events, to furnish an answer to this ever recurring query. In the
first place, however, it may be well to recapitulate very briefly the
conclusions already arrived at, before entering into a more detailed
description of the tools which were employed in the work of erection,
and the methods by which the huge Sarsens were reared into position.

Stonehenge is a circular monument, enclosed by a circular earthwork,
and approached by an avenue lying north-east and south-west. Without
the circle lie four Sarsen stones. The Hele Stone, and two smaller
stones _unworked_, occupying definite sites with reference to the
rising and setting of the sun at the Summer and Winter Solstices; and
the so-called Slaughtering Stone, the use of which is at present a
matter of speculation. The monument proper, consisting of a circle of
Sarsen Trilithons, enclosing a circle of upright foreign stones.
Within these, five detached Sarsen Trilithons, of graduated height.
These five Trilithons are set horseshoe wise. Before them a standing
horseshoe of foreign stones, and in the front of the great Trilithon a
flat slab or altar stone. From this stone it is possible to look
outwards towards the Hele Stone, which lies in line with the axis of
the monument drawn through the centre of the Altar Stone. The Sarsen
stones were obtained from the immediate neighbourhood, the foreign
stones must have been imported from a very considerable distance. All
the stones, with the exception of the four specially indicated, have
been worked. The question naturally arises how were they worked? The
answer to this may be given without the least hesitation: with stone
tools. For many years the method of working the stones was a matter of
great debate, and the uncertainty then prevailing permitted many
theorists to speculate on the "Roman" origin of the structure. Now,
however, the entire absence of any metal which resulted from Mr.
Gowland's excavations in 1901, at once precludes the possibility of
the builders being anything but a primitive people, to whom the use
of metal was unknown, or only partly known. The stone tools in use in
the construction of Stonehenge were