THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 



625 



the one spot in France where there was evidence in the place 

 names of a retrogression of the Basque speech before the French. 

 The light-dotted line shows the former boundary. It is the one 

 French-speaking canton, with nearly a quarter of the population 

 of the Basque facial type. The exception proves the rule. Some 

 relation between language and racial type is proved beyond a 

 doubt. 



Another significant fact is illustrated by this map. It appears 

 that instead of being refugees isolated in the recesses of the 

 Pyrenees, the Basque physical type is really most frequent in 

 the foothills and open plains along the base of the mountains. 



BASQUE >PE 



RELATIVE: FREQUENCY 



OF 



BASQUE FACIAL TYPES 



IN FRANCE 



APTtB. COLUaNON'95 



In order to emphasize this point we have indicated the lay of the 

 land upon our map by means of the five-hundred-meter contour 

 line of elevation above the sea. It shows that in the Basque 

 country the mountains are much narrower than farther to the 

 east. The Pyrenees, in fact, dwindle away in height down to the 

 seacoast. The only canton in the mountains proper with upward 

 of half the population of the Basque facial type lies at the famous 

 pass of Roncevaux. At this point the contour line sweeps far 

 south, well toward the frontier. Of the three cantons with the 

 maximum frequency of triangular faces among conscripts, Dr. 

 Collignon found two and a half to be outside the mountains 

 proper. The area of their extension is shaped like a fan, spread- 

 ing out toward the plain of Barn. The two wings of the fan are 

 the cantons which form the core of the ethnic group. This re- 



