THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 629 



course of the Ebro that is to say, modern Navarra in Spain. 

 The barbarian invasions ravished all Gaul with fire and sword. 

 The Visigoths, controlling for a time the two slopes of the Pyre- 

 nees, were finally expelled from Aquitaine by the Franks, greater 

 barbarians even than they. It is readily conceivable that these 

 Visigoths about this time began to covet the rich territory of the 

 A^ascons over in Spain, especially the environs of Plamplona, 

 which were of great strategic importance. History furnishes no 

 details of the conflict, except that the Vascons were completely 

 subjugated and partly driven into the Pyrenees. Here they 

 speedily found their way over into Beam in France, meeting no 

 opposition since the country there had mainly been depopulated 

 by constant wars. This occupation by the A^ascons, according to 

 Gregory of Tours, took place in the 

 year 587 that is to say, some time 

 after the fall of the Roman Empire. 

 The invasion was accelerated later 

 through the pressure exerted by the 

 Spaniards, fleeing before the Sara- 

 cen conquerors in the south. Rem- 

 nants of all the Spanish peoples took 

 refuge at this time in the north. 

 Impelled by this pressure from be- "j^,^ 



hind, the Vascons were driven out 

 of the Pyrenees and still farther 

 north into France, retaining their 



political autonomy under Prankish / 7 



rule. Here they remained undis- v jr 



turbed by the Saracens, save by 



the single army of Abd-er-Rhaman. g^^^,^ ^^^^^^ 



Hence on this northern side of the Zamudin, Ouipuzcou. 



Pyrenees they have preserved their 



customs and physical characteristics intact, while in Spain inter- 

 mixture has disturbed the racial type to a greater degree. The 

 language alone has been better preserved south of the mountains 

 because it was firmly fixed there before the Spanish refugees came 

 in such numbers. Of our three layers of present population the 

 dolichocephalic type in the fastnesses of the Pyrenees to-day rep- 

 resents the primitive possessors of Aquitaine. Here, driven to 

 cover by the advancing wave of the Alpine stock on the north 

 long before the fall of Rome, they have remained protected from 

 disturbance by the later invaders from the south. The Vascons 

 or Basques have simply passed through their territory, with eyes 

 fixed upon the fertile plains of Aquitaine beyond. They spread 

 out in two wings as soon as they were out of the mountains, as 

 we have seen. In the course of time they have intermarried with 



