THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 627 



foothills, althougli at Roncevaux extending back into the moun- 

 tains proper. Behind them, in the recesses of the Pyrenees, is 

 the third layer of population. These mountaineers are distinctly 

 dolichocephalic. Conscripts with the characteristically narrow 

 head, the long and smoothly oval face, are depicted in portraits 

 on this same page. These last people are really Mediterranean in 

 type, overflows from the true Iberian stock, which forms the bulk 

 of the Spanish population. This ethnic segregation has probably 

 been preserved because of the political independence of the people 

 of the mountains during many generations. These three groups 

 merge into one imperceptibly to the eye ; but on analysis their 

 differentiation from one another has now been clearly established. 

 How has it come to pass that our Basques are thus left inter- 

 posed between two neighboring populations so entirely distinct 



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Mediterranean Dolichocephalic Types. Pyrenees Mountains. 



in respect of these important racial traits ? Is it permissible to 

 suppose that the intermediate zone in which the triangular face 

 occurs most commonly is really peopled by a simple cross be- 

 tween the two ethnic types on either side ? This would be simi- 

 lar to Canon Taylor's supposition that a brachycephalic parent 

 stock determined the head form of the Basques, while the narrow 

 lower face and chin was a heritage from a dolichocephalic long- 

 visaged ancestry. Such disharmonic crania arise sometimes 

 from crossing of the two types of head form, especially in Swit- 

 zerland, where the Teutonic and Alpine races come into contact 

 with one another. - An objection to this theory of secondary 

 origin by intermixture is close at hand. It is fatal to the assump- 

 tion. It is an important fact that the Basques are relatively 



