UPON THE SERIES OP PREHISTORIC CRANIA. 319 



horizontal segment corresponding to its molar teeth, of its wide 

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



the same observation, a statement which I have not been able to verify, writes (1. c.) as 

 follows of the modern Highlanders : — ' The Highlanders, notwithstanding the mention 

 offish 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 whicb 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 

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



The same peculiarity is recorded by Mr. Whymper 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 unless 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 ' Reliquiae Aquitanicae,' 

 p. 95) nor ancient literature justifies 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 living by the 

 sea-side. Irrespectively of notices in the classical writers 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. Lipsiae, 

 1 696), 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 (' Rep.' iii. 404, or Trans. 

 Jowett, ii. p. 231) and of Athenaeus (' Dipnosoph.' iv. p. 157, ed. Leyden, 161 2), fol- 

 lowing Mfcleager 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. xii. 329-331) : — 

 'AAA' ore df] vrjbs kgecpOiro rj'ia iravra, 

 Kal 877 ayprjv €<peir€<Tfcov a\r)TevovTes ai/ay/cy, 

 'iX^vs opviQas re, <pi\as on x*tp as ?koito. 

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



' Haud ita pridem 



Tutus erat rhombus tutoque ciconia nido,' — 

 and those of Ovid (Fasti, vi. 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 fraude natabat,' though 

 1 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, xxxvii) 

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

 Egede ( ' Description of Greenland,' second edition, London , 1 8 1 8, p. 1 2 7 ; French edition, 

 1763, p. 98, cit. Sir John Richardson, 'Polar Regions,' 1861, p. 304) *» distinguishing 

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

 authorities :— (Oi "Ifirjpts ov) irpbs liayuyty dAA* fxaWov wpdt dvdyxrju *a2 dprfv ***** 

 /x€ra Movs <pai\ov @ffi ....«2M rt$ oUrai npbs Siaywy^v £f,v rote oipy Kovo^vovs 

 kv 5e£atxeva?s vakaiovtihcp ml rohs 656vtcls anxorfvovs ml avroh ml T<h yvvaiKa* 



