306 THE ARYAN QUESTION. vi 



Asia Minor, the one over the Bosphorus and the 

 other through the passes of the Caucasus, and the 

 Aryans may well have utilised both. Finally, the 

 south-eastern tribes probably spread themselves 

 gradually over west Turkestan, and, after evolving 

 the primitive Indo-Iranian dialect, eventually col- 

 onised Persia and Hindostan, where their speech 

 developed into its final forms. On this hypothesis, 

 the notion that the Celts and the Teutons migrated 

 from about Pamir and the Hindoo-Koosh is as far 

 from the truth as the supposition that the Indo- 

 Iranians migrated from Scandinavia. It supposes 

 that the blond long-heads, in what may be called 

 their nascent Aryan stage, that is before their dia- 

 lects had taken on the full Aryan characteristics, 

 were spread over a wide region which is, conven- 

 tionally, European; but which, from the point of 

 view of the physical geographer, is rather to be 

 regarded as a continuation of Asia. Moreover, 

 it is quite possible and even probable, that the 

 blond long-heads may have arrived in Turkestan 

 before their language had reached, or at any rate 

 passed beyond, the stage of primitive Aryan; 

 and that the whole process of differentiation 

 into Indo-Iranian took place during the long 

 asres of their residence in the basin of the 

 Oxus. Thus, the question whether the seat of 

 the primitive Aryans was in Europe, or in Asia, 

 becomes very much a debate about geographical 

 terminology. 



