CHAP. xvii. THE LAPPS OR FINNS. 357 



fishers, and that they knew nothing of pastoral or 

 agricultural pursuits. 



Who these ancient people were, has been the sub- 

 ject of much conjecture. It is not improbable that 

 they were Lapps or Esquimaux. The most ancient 

 skulls which have been found in Denmark, near the 

 shell-mounds, are small and round, indicating the 

 small stature of the people. Sir Charles Lyell says 

 that they bear a considerable resemblance to those of 

 the modern Laplanders. It is probable that a great 

 part of Europe was originally peopled by Lapps ; 

 and that they were driven north by the incoming of 

 a more civilised race from the east. There are still 

 remnants of the Lapps in the island of Malmon, off 

 the coast of Sweden, in North Connaught and the 

 island of Aran in Ireland, in the island of Lewis off 

 the western coast of Scotland, and in several of the 

 Shetland Islands.* 



When the discoveries in Denmark came to light, 

 and were republished in this country, investigations 

 began to be made as to the existence of similar shell- 

 mounds on the British coast. We do not know 

 whether the first investigations were made along the 

 shores of the Moray Firth ; but they are the first of 



* Dr. Beddoes, in his Stature and Bulk of Man in the British 

 Isles, says, "The Black-haired Shetlanders are of low stature, with 

 features approaching the Finnish type, and of a melancholic tempe- 

 rament" (p. 13). The island of Lewis also, in the Hebrides, indi- 

 cates an aboriginal substratum of population of Finnish type and 

 short stature. 



