THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 167 



are still relatively short, with an average stature but an inch or so 

 greater than the long-barrow men of the stone age. For England, 

 then, the maps of brunetteness and of average stature agree remark- 

 ably well. Our portrait herewith represents this common Welsh 

 type. In this case the hair was very deep brown, with dark eyes. 

 The slender build and short stature are characteristic. Even the 

 curious dark spot north of London, which we have already identified 

 as an ancient British outcrop, appears clearly upon our map. It 

 seems to be nearly severed from the western short populations by an 

 intermediate and seemingly intrusive zone of taller men. As a rule, 

 coast populations all over England are taller than inland ones. Even 

 Ireland does not seriously embarrass our hypothesis of a primitive 

 dark and short population. The eastern half, to be sure, is shorter 

 than the western; but a variation of half an inch is not very much, 

 and we know that the Irish are much more homogeneous than the 

 English or Scotch in color of hair and eyes. The western half 

 ought certainly to be shorter to fit our hypothesis exactly, but we 

 might possibly ascribe this to chance, to an inadequate statistical 

 basis, or some other cause. 



Consideration of the distribution of stature in Scotland, how- 

 ever, is enough to reduce the consistent anthropologist to despair. 

 The physical traits seem to cross one another at right angles. In- 

 verness and Argyleshire, as brunette as any part of the British Isles, 

 equaling even the Welsh in this respect, are relatively well toward 

 the top in respect of stature. This is all the more remarkable since 

 this mountainous and infertile region might normally be expected to 

 exert a depressing influence. To class these Scotchmen, therefore, 

 in the same Iberian or neolithic substratum with the Welsh and 

 Irish is manifestly impossible. The counties south of them, where 

 stature culminates for all Europe, are also fairly dark. Only two 

 explanations seem possible. Either some ethnic element, of which 

 no pure trace remains, served to increase the stature of the western 

 Highlanders without at the same time conducing to blondness; or 

 else some local influences of natural selection or environment are 

 responsible for it. Men with black hair are indeed shorter in many 

 places, but the averages shown on our map belie any general law 

 in that direction. We have no time to discuss the phenomenon 

 further in this place. As Dr. Beddoe acknowledges, the difficulty 

 is certainly a grave one. At all events, a profound contrast in re- 

 spect of stature between the two branches of the Celtic-speaking 

 peoples is certain. The only comforting circumstance is that we 

 thus find in language some indication of a very early division of the 

 Gael from the Brython. On the whole, the Gaelic branch, the Irish 

 and Scotch, seem to agree in stature, and to contrast alike with the 



