1224 REPORT—1885. 
were, in all probability, non-Celtic, and at the same conviction Professor Rhys has 
arrived, and also at the opinion they were Turanians. Dr. Skene found that the 
Pictish kings did not succeed from father to son, confirming the statement of Beda 
that there was a female succession. The male succession begins with Malcolm 
Canmore. Dr. Skene found that out of forty-two names of Pictish kings a score 
were of the types of Talarghan, Talan, Taran, &c.; about a quarter Brude, and 
about a quarter Drust. As these are non-Celtic there is a ground to seek for 
them in Iberian names, as in the names of the rivers, cities, and southern British 
kings. The names of kings have to be sought in the heroic epoch precedent to the 
adoption of Hellenic names. They are to be found in the forms Telegonus, 
Telkhines, Telkhis, &c., being of the model of Tarkon and Tarkondimotos. So Brude 
is found under similar circumstances as Proteus, Proetus, &c., and Drust as Adrastus, 
&c. In the heroic epoch these three names are found inconnection. Brude is the same 
name as the Brutus, King of Britain, of Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose fables some- 
times transmit traditions and sometimes by chance afford parallels to other 
traditions. Dr, Skene, Professor Rhys, and Mr. Grant Allen have pointed out the 
peculiar relations of the Picts to the Cymric Britons, their late acceptance of 
Christianity, their retention of a peculiar language, and their bearing towards the 
Danish invaders. These and other circumstances are explained by considering the 
Picts as representing the Iberian populations of Britannia and Hibernia, closely 
pressed by the Celtic invasion and making their last stand in Caledonia among kins- 
men. The Picts were as much reviled by the British historians, Gildas and Nennius, 
as were the Saxons, The Pictish language dying out left a readier opening for the 
spread of English in Caledonia, the adoption of which was resisted in Wales and in 
Cornwall. Dr. Skene stated that the husbands of the Pictish mothers of the kings 
must in some cases have been foreigners, and he traced the case of Eanfrid, son of a 
king of Northumbria. The advance of knowledge shows us in surviving institutions 
the nature of exogamy once more widely spread. Under this institution a man or 
Woman cannot marry into the tribe, but into another tribe, while the offspring 
are held to belong to the tribe of the mother and not of the father. In various 
historical examples this female succession or matriarchy has been disturbed by male 
succession, and constantly by Aryan influence. Thus the real explanation of the 
instance of Malcolm Canmore is that he established the male succession. Mr. 
Hyde Clarke advocated the collection andpreservation of local non-Celtic names 
in title-deeds and records as a means of affording philological materials. 
11. Report of the Committee for investigating and publishing reports on 
the physical characters, languages, and industrial and social con- 
dition of the North-western Tribes of the Dominion of Canada.—See 
Reports, p. 696. 
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. Notes on the opening of a Cist, in the Parish of Leslie, Aberdeenshire. 
By the Rev. Joun Russetn, M.A. 
The parish of Leslie is intersected by the Gadie. It seems to have had a large 
population at a very early date. It is rich in prehistoric remains, though in the 
course of agricultural improvements many have disappeared. In the locality are 
remains of stone circles. Flint spear and arrow heads, stone celts and hammers, 
whorls and scrapers, have been found in abundance. 
The cist to which I refer was found by a farmer in New Leslie when digging 
sand in a corner of a field. On communicating with me, we examined the place but 
did not open it up until an opportunity was given to the public to be present. 
