342 proceedings: anthropological society 



divisions: The Creoles and the Spaniards formed the governing class; 

 the mestizos strove to be on an equal footing with these; and, a long way 

 down in the social scale, came the Indians, considered inferior even to 

 the African slaves. The same laxity permitted the mixing of the African 

 with the other races. The Indian population, so long neglected, is now 

 a matter of deep concern in many of the Latin- American countries; for 

 example, in Peru, where there is a larger percentage of pure Indian and of 

 mestizo blood. 



At a special meeting of the Society, held April 14 at the National 

 Museum, Mr. S. M. Gronberger read a paper on The origin of the 

 Goths. The ancient home of the Goths was undoubtedly situated, he 

 said, on both the northern and southern shores of the Baltic, and at the 

 beginning of the Christian era this people had settled chiefly along the 

 river Vistula in northeastern Germany. Previous to the Christian era, 

 another division of this race had immigrated into Scandinavia (about 

 200-300 B.C.) probably across the Danish isles. Somewhat later, at the 

 time of the earliest Gothic movement southward, about 215 A.D., the 

 migrants were probably joined by their Scandinavian brethren who emi- 

 grated from "Scandza" (mentioned by Jordanes, the Gothic historian), 

 and to this period the Gothic saga of Jordanes should be assigned. 

 This emigration of the Goths from Scandinavia was probably due to 

 some signal defeat in the savage warfare then carried on by them with 

 the Swedes or "Svear" of the Scandinavian peninsula. Names of 

 regions and localities in Scandinavia testify to their association with the 

 Goths, and the names of Ostrogoths, or East Goths, and Visigoths, or 

 West GothS, are recognized in the Sweden of today. Mediaeval Swed- 

 ish history tells of constant conflicts between the Swedes and Goths, 

 the latter of whom were the more ancient inhabitants. The two races 

 are now merged together and constitute the modern Swedish nation. 

 The Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf," by an unknown author, furnishes 

 powerful testimony as to the early home of the Goths in the Scandina- 

 vian peninsula and the Danish islands. The Baltic island of Gotland 

 received its name from the Goths, and great numbers of Roman and 

 Byzantine coins and other objects which have been unearthed in that 

 island afford further proof of the Scandinavian migrations. In addition 

 to Jordanes, Cassiodorus, upon whose history that of the first named was 

 based, Tacitus, Procopius, and Paulus Diaconus, not to mention the 

 earhest though doubtful evidence of Pytheas of Massilia (now Marseille), 

 who had the advantage of having personally visited the regions he de- 

 scribed, testified to the Scandinavian or Baltic origin of the Goths. 

 The most ancient tradition relating to the Goths was that they had 

 come originally from Asia, the cradle of mankind, by way of south- 

 eastern Europe under the leadership of their legendary hero and deity, 

 Odin, or Wothan. 



One of the most remarkable runic inscriptions in Scandinavia is that 

 of the so-called Rok stone, located in western Ostrogothia, Sweden, 

 which is of great importance in connection with the early history of the 



