74 THE STATUS OF PEASANTRY IN PORTLAND. 



the Celtic element in those counties at that date. This is but 

 too often overlooked or ignored altogether, perhaps because of 

 the preponderance of Celtic blood in Devon and Cornwall ; but 

 there is much to justify the belief that this element was, and 

 probably is, still strong in the first mentioned counties, and a 

 certain allowance must be made for this in considering old 

 customs of land tenure, or in an attempt, however feeble, to 

 re-create any condition of Ancient Society. Though the Irish 

 Celt (Goidet) was most likely as well represented in the south- 

 west as the Welsh Celt (JBrython}, it is rather to the latter we 

 must look for what is known of Celtic institutions on British 

 soil, though doubtless various modifications would prevail in 

 certain localities, according to the commercial intercourse of the 

 time and the influx of strangers, either for peaceful trading 

 purposes or bent upon warlike expeditions. We will, therefore, 

 enumerate a few of the chief points, as interpreted principally by 

 a study of Ancient Welsh known customs, which approximate 

 closely in general to those of Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany. 



According to Bede, the rule of so-called Pictish succession 

 prevailed in Scotland; this rule gave precedence to the claims 

 of maternal kin, and in Irish legends and Gaelic inscriptions 

 there are many little things which point to the same system. 

 Though later on these maternal claims became subsidiary to the 

 paternal, it no doubt shows that woman was held in high esteem, 

 and may help to form the basis of a later mentioned fact. 



There were two ways of managing property, both of which 

 were communalistic. By the one every man of full age had an 

 equal share in the land occupied by the village irrespectively of 

 his genealogical position ; by the other the succession was 

 according to the laws of " gavelkind." As the village became 

 too crowded, it will easily be seen that fresh settlements had to 

 be made and new land reclaimed, thus clearly indicating the 

 origin of the scattered hamlets and farms which prevailed in 

 Celtic localities. The pursuits of the people in times of peace 

 were almost entirely pastoral ; inter-commoning of herds within 

 the division of land accorded to each tribe, sept, or clan was 



