306 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



region. Wherever they left the country untouched, the popula- 

 tion approaches the Alpine type, being darker, broader-headed, 

 and shorter in stature. This indicates that the tribes, such as the 

 Caletes (the city of Caux), the Lexovii (Lisieux), and the Baio- 

 casses (Bay eux) in Caesar's time were probably of this latter type ; 

 in other words, that the district was Alpine in population until 

 the Normans came with Hollo in the tenth century. The Romans 

 appear to have allowed the Saxons to settle at places along the 

 seacoast, but they had never penetrated deeply into the interior. 



The correspondence between the map of Norman place names 

 and that of cephalic index is sufficiently close to attest to the 

 value of each. One of the common features of the Teutonic vil- 

 lage names is " ville," from " weiler," meaning an abode, and not 

 from " villa," of Romance origin. This suffix appears, for ex- 



PLACE NAMES 

 I ^AXON BRITTANY AND NORMANDY' 



NORMAN 

 CELTIC 



ample, in HacomnZZe, or in a corrupted form in 

 Another common ending of place names is ~bce,uf, as in Marboeuf. 

 Dr. Collignon has traced out a considerable number of such place 

 names of Norman origin, all of which point to the Cotentin that 

 distinct peninsula which juts out into the English Channel as a 

 center of Norman dispersion. Certain it is that Cherbourg, at its 

 extremity, shows the Norman element at its maximum purity. 

 Probably this was a favorite base of supplies, protected by its iso- 

 lation and in close proximity to the island of Jersey, which the 

 Normans also held. The Saxon colony near Caen was a factor 

 also which determined this location. The extension of the Nor- 

 mans to the west seems to have been stopped by the human dike 

 set up by the English and Saxons about Dinan, and by "Nor- 

 man Switzerland," the hilly region just east of it. Follow the 



