Observations and Reflections 357 



soil of the Iberian Peninsula prior to the occupation 

 of the South American continent. 



The lands of Central and South America, colonized 

 originally by the Spanish and Portuguese, are often 

 denominated 'Latin America/' The appellation is 

 not strictly scientific, and in many respects is mis- 

 leading. The people of Spain and Portugal, although 

 the languages they speak are strict derivatives from 

 the tongue of old Latium, have in their veins very 

 nearly as little Latin blood as the people of Great 

 Britain and Ireland. The student of ethnology 

 knows well that the Basques, who were the leaders in 

 the colonization of Chili and Argentina, are as little 

 Latin as the men of Cork or Tipperary. They are a 

 remnant of the old Iberian race, which tenanted the 

 peninsula before the days of Hannibal, before the days 

 of Caesar. They have perdured through the centuries 

 in their home about the head of the Bay of Biscay, 

 while the surges of conquest and colonization have 

 rolled hither and thither through Europe, just as the 

 Welsh have survived in their mountains, and the High- 

 landers of Scotland have survived in their fastnesses. 

 They came in contact with the various peoples who 

 from time to time overran the Peninsula, but they 

 were neither Africanized nor Romanized. They re- 

 main to this day a peculiar people. It is an ethno- 

 logical error to speak of them as representing the Latin 

 race. Neither is the Spaniard nor the Portuguese, 

 strictly speaking, Latin. For that matter it is doubtful 

 whether there are any true survivals of the old Latins, 

 in all of southern Europe, who have preserved in its 

 purity the blood of ancient Rome. The Latin races 

 of Europe are such in sentiment, but not in physio- 

 logical fact. Even in Italy the modern Italian repre- 



