UPON THE SERIES OF PREHISTORIC CRANIA. 717 



horizontal segment corresponding- to its molar teeth, of its wide 

 ramus, of its short coronoid process, of its feeble chin, of its rounded, 



follows of the modern Higlilanders : — * The Highlanders, notwithstanding the mention 

 of fish in several old poems, certainly did never willingly make use of such food. It was a 

 matter of astonishment to an English resident among them a century ago that the trout 

 with which their streams were teeming remained entirely disregarded, but they retain 

 a proverb which implies their contempt for fish-eaters, and the encouragement of govern- 

 ment has not yet induced either the Scots, Welsh, or Irish to enter with spirit into the 

 fish trading.' Later evidence is not wanting to the same effect. 



The same peculiarity is recorded by Mr. "\ATiymper in the Alpine Journal of May, 

 1870, with the same indications of surprise, as distinguishing the Esquimaux : — ' Fish 

 are plentiful on most parts of the Greenland coast, particularly cod, holibut, and 

 salmon. But, although their quality is little, if at all, inferior to the best we can 

 obtain in this country, the Greenlander does not care for them, he will eat them and 



does eat them, but he will seldom do so imless there is a great necessity It is 



certain that in his heart of hearts he cares for none of them as food.' 



Neither modern research among still existing savages (see ' Reliquiffi Aquitanica?,' 

 p. 95) nor ancient literatiu'e jiistifies the scepticism which has been expressed (see 

 Sturzius in ed. Dio Cassius, 1824, vol. vi. p. 812; Selden, Mare Clausum, ii. p. 127, 

 ed. 1635) as to the abstinence from fish-food on the part of wild races li^dng by the 

 sea-side. Irrespectively of notices in the classical ■\\Titers as to the prohibition of 

 such food for religious reasons by Pythagoras, or in the cases of priests as in Egypt 

 (Hdt. ii. 37), or as in the service of the Bona Dea (Julian, pp. 176, 177, ed. Lipsise, 

 1696), we have such abstinence on the part of early races repeatedly mentioned by 

 them as a matter of wonder and contrast. Marsham (Can. Chron., Leipzig, 1676, 

 p. 220) has improved upon the well-known remarks of Plato (Eep. iii. 404, or Trans. 

 Jowett, ii. p. 231) and of Athenajus (Dipnosoph. iv. p. 157, ed. Leyden, 1612), fol- 

 lowing Meleager of Gadara, to the effect that the warriors of the Iliad did not eat 

 fish, by pointing out that the same may be said of the luxurious Phoenicians and 

 the Ithacan suitors of the Odyssey, and that it was only under the pressure of necessity 

 that the sailors of Ulysses betook themselves to fishing (Od fi. (xii.) 329-331) : — 

 'AW' ore 5^ vjjos k^(<pdiTO rfia irdvTa, 

 Kai Sfj dyprjv tipeireaKov d\r]TevovTfs dydyicrj, 

 'IxOvs opvidds re, (piXas on x*'P«s iicotTO. 

 Similarly the lines of Horace (Sat. ii. 2. 46-48), — 



' Hand ita pridem 



Tutus erat rhombus tutoque ciconia nido,' — 

 and those of 0\'id (Fasti, \i. 173-179) show that even in the times of Augustus 

 a tradition remained of the period when fish and fowl were not used in supplementa- 

 tion of mammalian meat, when ' Piscis adhuc illi populo sine f raude natabat,' though 

 ' Sus erat in pretio,' 



The second peculiarity which I wish to note is one recorded by the ancient Strabo 

 (iii. 4, 16) and by his contemporaries Diodorus Siculus (v. 33) and Catullus (xxxv,xxx\-ii) 

 as distinguishing the Iberians and Celtiberians of their time ; and by the modern 

 Egede (DescriiJtion of Greenland, second edition, London, 1818, p. 127 ; French edition, 

 1763, p. 98, cit. Sir John Eichardson, 'Polar Eegions,' 1861, p. 304) as distinguishing 

 the Esquimaux ; and it may be best given in the words of the first-named of those 

 authorities: — {Oflprjpes ov) npbs Siaywyfjv d\Kd ftdWou irpos dvdyKrjv Koi 6p/j.rjv OrjpiuiSrj 

 fxerd iOovs cpavXov ^wai . . . . el fx-q rts olerai npos Siayaiyrjv ^tjv rovs oijpqj Kovofxevovs 

 €V Se^aixivais iraXaiovfxtvqj Kal Toiis oSovras (T/XTjXOfJ.evovs Kal avTovs feai ras yvvaiKas 

 avTcuv, KaOdnep Kal tovs KavrdPpovs cpaal koi rovs o/iupovs avrois. The words iv Sf^aiifvais 

 ■na\aioviJ.iva> are explained by the information that the 'liquor is kept in tubs in the 

 porches of their huts for use in di-essing the deer and seal skins.' It is clear from 

 Catullus's use of the word mane (xxxvii) that he did not miderstand the rationale 

 of the process he refers to, and that he was inaccurate as well as otherwise offensive. 



