r one possible example in Egypt and
several in the Soudan. In Europe the distribution of dolmens and other
megalithic monuments is wide. They occur in the Caucasus and the Crimea,
and quite lately examples have been recorded in Bulgaria. There are none
in Greece, and only a few in Italy, in the extreme south-east corner.
The islands, however, which lie around and to the south of Italy afford
many examples: Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Gozo, Pantelleria, and
Lampedusa are strongholds of the megalithic civilization, and it is
possible that Sicily should be included in the list. Moving westward we
find innumerable examples in the Spanish Peninsula and in France. To the
north we find them frequent in the British Isles, Sweden, Denmark, and
North Germany; they are rarer in Holland and Belgium. Two examples have
been reported from Switzerland.

It is only to be expected that these great megalithic monuments of a
prehistoric age should excite the wonder and stimulate the imagination
of those who see them. In all countries and at all times they have been
centres of story and legend, and even at the present day many strange
beliefs concerning them are to be found among the peasantry who live
around them. Salomon Reinach has written a remarkable essay on this
question, and the following examples are mainly drawn from the
collection he has there made. The names given to the monuments often
show clearly the ideas with which they are associated in the minds of
the peasants. Thus the Penrith circle is locally known as "Meg and her
Daughters," a dolmen in Berkshire is called "Wayland the Smith's Cave,"
while in one of the Orkney Isles is a menhir named "Odin's Stone." In
France many are connected with Gargantua, whose name, the origin of
which is doubtful, stands clearly for a giant. Thus we find a rock
called the "Chair of Gargantua," a menhir called "Gargantua's Little
Finger," and an _allee couverte_ called "Gargantua's Tomb." Names
indicating connections with fairies, virgins, witches, dwarfs, devils,
saints, druids, and even historical persons are frequent. Dolmens are
often "houses of dwarfs," a name perhaps suggested or at least helped by
the small holes cut in some of them; they are "huts" or "caves of
fairies," they are "kitchens" or "forges of the devil," while menhirs
are called his arrows, and cromlechs his cauldrons. In France we have
stones of various saints, while in England many monuments are connected
with King Arthur. A