Page:Rude Stone Monuments.djvu/428

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
402
ALGERIA AND TRIPOLI.
Chap. X.

thousands, it requires very complete knowledge of the whole before any classification can be attempted. Suffice it to say here that there is hardly any variety met with elsewhere of which a counterpart cannot be found in Algeria.

Rude Stone Monuments 0428a.png

171.
Dolmens on the Road from Bona to Constantine. From 'Exploration scientifique de l'Algérie.'

Of their general appearance as objects in the landscape, the annexed woodcut will convey a tolerable idea. They seem to affect the ridges of the hills, but they also stretch across the plain, and in fact are found everywhere and in every possible position. Except apparently on the sea-coast, nothing like the Viking graves, so far as is known, is found in Algeria; whether this indicates that they were a sea-faring people or not is not quite clear, but it is a distinction worth bearing in mind.

Rude Stone Monuments 0428b.png

172.
Four Cairns enclosed in Squares. (From 'Soc. arch. de Constantine,' 1864.)

One curious group is perhaps worth quoting as a means of comparison with the graves of Aschenrade (woodcut No. 119). It consists of four tumuli enclosed in four squares joined together like the squares of a chess-board. Single squares enclosing cairns are common enough