EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



with the opinion that they were the first to 

 branch off from the original stock. The Kelts 

 have always been an important race, but their 

 languages have not thriven in the world. Keltic 

 geographical names are scattered all over Eu- 

 rope, and in the eastern part such words as 

 Dnieper, Don, and Danube testify to the former 

 presence of the language in which don was a 

 common name for water or river. The Kelts 

 formed a large part of the populations of Spain 

 and northern Italy, and a principal part of the 

 populations of Gaul and Britain, when these 

 countries were subjected to Roman dominion ; 

 and as late as the Christian era they were to be 

 found in large numbers as far east as Bohemia. 

 Since then they have been partly conquered 

 and partly driven westward by Romans and 

 Teutons, without ceasing to be conspicuous as 

 a race ; but their languages have sunk into com- 

 parative obscurity, and are fast disappearing. 

 The Gauls, who showed such a remarkable 

 aptitude for taking on the manners of their 

 conquerors that by the fourth century their 

 country was almost as thoroughly Romanized 

 as Italy itself, forgot their own language with 

 wonderful ease. It was so completely trampled 

 out by Latin that very scanty vestiges remain 

 to show what it was, if we except geographical 

 names. At the present day two groups of Keltic 

 languages remain : the Gaelic, still spoken in 

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