, that is to say, stone circles, in
the centre of which might be found a beth-el. We know not by whom were
set up these monuments there, nor at what time: the fact that they
are in no way different from those which are to be met with in Western
Europe and the north of Africa has given rise to the theory that they
were the work of some one primeval race which wandered ceaselessly
over the ancient world. A few of them may have marked the tombs of
some forgotten personages, the discovery of human bones beneath them
confirming such a conjecture; while others seem to have been holy places
and altars from the beginning. The nations of Syria did not in all cases
recognise the original purpose of these monuments, but regarded them as
marking the seat of an ancient divinity, or the precise spot on which he
had at some time manifested himself. When the children of Israel caught
sight of them again on their return from Egypt, they at once recognised
in them the work of their patriarchs. The dolmen at Shechem was the
altar which Abraham had built to the Eternal after his arrival in the
country of Canaan. Isaac had raised that at Beersheba, on the very spot
where Jehovah had appeared in order to renew with him the covenant that
He had made with Abraham. One might almost reconstruct a map of the
wanderings of Jacob from the altars which he built at each of his
principal resting-places--at Gilead [Galeed], at Ephrata, at Bethel, and
at Shechem.* Each of such still existing objects probably had a history
of its own, connecting it inseparably with some far-off event in the
local annals.

* The heap of stones at Galeed, in Aramaic _Jegar-
Sahadutha_, "the heap of witness," marked the spot where
Laban and Jacob were reconciled; the stele on the way to
Ephrata was the tomb of Rachel; the altar and stele at
Bethel marked the spot where God appeared unto Jacob.

[Illustration: 235.jpg TRANSJORDANIAN DOLMEN]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph.

[Illustration: 238.jpg A CROMLECH IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HESBAN, IN THE
COUNTRY OF MOAB]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph.

Most of them were objects of worship: they were anointed with oil, and
victims were slaughtered in their honour; the faithful even came at
times to spend the night and sleep near them, in order to obtain in
their dreams glimpses of the future.*

* The menhir of Bethel was the identical one whereon Jacob
rested his head o