Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/129

Rh instead of a true dolmen there is a narrow passage alone, an allée couaverte. Various subdivisions of these types are recognized, but they may be ignored here.

It was to see these megaliths that we took the all-day journey (really only 148 miles) across Brittany. It was early morning when we left the wonderful rock of St. Michel's Mount and the omelettes of the now reconciled Poulards, with whose quarrels all travelers are familiar. Half an hour by tram took us to Pontorson. Why do places like Pontorson exist? Our two hours were one continual struggle with station agent, hack drivers and porters, all of whom were insistent that we should drive out to Mt. St. Michel. "One franc a person" but we knew their ways; half way there would be a demand for a pourboire which would make the original fare look like twenty cents. Besides, we had just come from the Mount, and why should we go back? At Dol another wait, this time long enough to get an early lunch, before we could get a cross-country train for Rennes. Up to that day Rennes had been associated in our minds with the Dreyfus trial of a few years ago. Two hours here were sufficient to assure us that Bädeker did not slander the town when he wrote that with its 75,000 inhabitants, "its spacious modern streets are generally dull, lifeless and deserted."

Next a wait of an hour at Redon before taking the last train of the day—the Nantes-l'Orient express for Auray, which we reached just in time for dinner at the most comfortable and hospitable Pavilion hotel.

One may go in various ways from the railway to the monuments, but there is a best way—by carriage. There is the route from Vannes, taking a boat down through the sea of Morbihan to Locmariaquer. It is a picturesque route through a land-locked arm of the sea, studded with islands, like a miniature Casco Bay. But it is not to be depended upon, as the sailing of the steamers varies with the tides. It is cheaper to take the train from Auray to Carnac station on the little road to Quiberon, and then the little tram to Carnac village and to Erdeven. This brings one within easy walking distance of the principal alignments; but to reach the other monuments a carriage is convenient; even necessary, if one is to see the important menhirs, dolmens, etc., of Locmariaquer. Besides, the foot traveler will have to have a guide, otherwise he will waste much time and probably will miss much that he ought to see. Bädeker's map is on too small a scale to be of much assistance. The total drive from Auray to all of the standing stones is about thirty-five miles, but by cutting out some which apparently were repetitions of others, we made our round trip about twenty-five miles. The country traversed is best described in the terms of physical geography as a peneplain and the shore to the south as a drowned coast. It is nearly level, with no hills rising markedly above the rest of the country. We saw the first of the monuments about six miles out of Auray and