rests of one of the camps of
Caesar, who had had these stones upreared only to serve as support for
the tents of his soldiers and prevent them from being blown away by the
wind. What gales there must have been in those days, on the coasts of
Armorica!

The honest writer who, to the glory of the great Julius, discovered this
sublime precaution, (thus returning to Caesar that which never belonged
to Caesar), was a former pupil of l'Ecole Polytechnique, an engineer, a
M. de la Sauvagere. The collection of all these data constitutes what is
called _Celtic Archaeology_, the mysteries of which we shall presently
disclose.

A stone placed on another one is called a "dolmen," whether it be
horizontal or perpendicular. A group of upright stones covered by
succeeding flat stones, and forming a series of dolmens, is a "fairy
grotto," a "fairy rock," a "devil's stable," or a "giant's palace"; for,
like the people who serve the same wine under different labels, the
Celto-maniacs, who had almost nothing to offer, decorated the same
things with various names. When these stones form an ellipse, and have
no head-covering, one must say: There is a "cromlech"; when one
perceives a stone laid horizontally upon two upright stones, one is
confronted by a "lichaven" or a "trilithe." Often two enormous rocks are
put one on top of the other, and touch only at one point, and we read
that "they are balanced in such a way that the wind alone is sufficient
to make the upper rock sway perceptibly," an assertion which I do not
dispute, although I am rather suspicious of the Celtic wind, and
although these swaying rocks have always remained unshaken in spite of
the fierce kicks I was artless enough to give them; they are called
"rolling or rolled stones," "turned or transported stones," "stones that
dance or dancing stones," "stones that twist or twisting stones." You
must still learn what a _pierre fichade_, a _pierre fiche_, a _pierre
fixee_ are, and what is meant by a _haute borne_, a _pierre latte_ and a
_pierre lait_; in what a _pierre fonte_ differs from a _pierre fiette_,
and what connection there is between a _chaire a diable_ and a _pierre
droite_; then you will be as wise as ever were Pelloutier, Deric, Latour
d'Auvergne, Penhoet and others, not forgetting Mahe and Freminville.
Now, all this means a _pulvan_, also called a _men-hir_, and designates
nothing more than a stone of greater or lesser size, placed by itself in
an open field.

I