262 BRITISH ETHNOLOGY V 



Lapland. The Melanochroi, on the other hand, 

 may be represented as a broad band stretching 

 from Ireland to Hindostan; while the Xantho- 

 chroic area lies between the two, thins out, so to 

 speak, at either end, and mingles, at its margins, 

 with both its neighbours. 



Such is a brief and summary statement of what 

 I believe to be the chief facts relating to the 

 physical ethnology of the people of Britain. The 

 conclusions which I draw from these and other 

 facts are (1) That the Melanochroi and the 

 Xanthochroi are two separate races in the bio- 

 logical sense of the word race ; (2) That they have 

 had the same general distribution as at present 

 from the earliest times of which any record exists 

 on the continent of Europe ; (3) That the popula- 

 tion of the British Islands is derived from them, 

 and from them only. 



The people of Europe, however, owe their 

 national names, not to their physical character- 

 istics, but to their languages, or to their political 

 relations ; which, it is plain, need not have the 

 slightest relation to these characteristics. 



Thus, it is quite certain that, in Caesar's time, 

 Gaul was divided politically into three nationali- 

 ties the Belgse, the Celtso, and the Aquitani ; 

 and that the last were very widely different, both 

 in language and in physical characteristics, from 

 the two former. The Belga3 and the Celtae, on 

 the other hand, differed comparatively little either 



