ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN CRETE. 231 



It will be necessary to bear in mind the geographical outline of the 

 island. About 160 miles long (due E. and W.), it varies from 35 to 8 

 miles wide (N. and S.). A chain or backbone of mountains runs 

 throughout its length, broken into three chief massifs — the White Moun- 

 tains (8,000 feet) in the west, Mount Ida (8,000 feet) in the centre, 

 and Mount Dicte (6,000 feet) in the east. In the extreme east, beyond 

 the Isthmus of Hierapetra, lies the upland plain of Sitia, c. 2,000 

 feet in height. At the widest part of the island, to the south, is the 

 largest plain of Crete, the Messara, which, running westward to the 

 ' gateway ' of Phaestos, is shut off from the Libyan Sea by a wall of 

 mountains ranging from 2,500 to 4,000 feet high (Mount Kophinas). 



Administratively the island is divided into twenty ' eparchies,' and 

 for many reasons this division has proved the most convenient for a 

 starting-point in anthropometric work. The central eparchies have 

 average cephalic indices of 78 and 79 ; one only, Lasithi, has a dolicho- 

 cephalic average of 76'5. Both eastern and western eparchies show an 

 increased breadth — Selino 80'9 and Sphakia 80"4 in the south-west 

 corner, and Sitia 80'9 in the extreme east. 



The percentages of dolichocephalic and brachycephalic individuals 

 are in accord with these differences in averages : — 



Central . . 36 - per cent, dolichocephals, 17"5 per cent, brachycephals 



Lasithi . . 545 „ „ 61 „ „ 



Selino . . 13-3 „ „ 397 „ „ 



Silia . . 164 „ „ 38-1 



The mesaticephals account for the rest. Although we have an identical 

 mean cephalic index of S0'9 in the extreme west and east, these peoples 

 differ not only in stature but in actual head-form, for the Sitians have 

 shorl heads and the Selinots broad heads. In fact, the latter are the 

 broadest-headed on the island, and the Sitians barely escape being the 

 narrowest-headed, although their heads are the shortest. It is possible 

 that we have to deal with an invasion of Northern brachycephals (ulti- 

 mately of the tall Illyric stock) into the west, and another in the east 

 of Asiatic brachycephals from the uplands of Asia Minor. 



If the dolichocephal once possessed the land, and the brachycephal 

 was, in the main, an invader, we might expect to find the original 

 inhabitants driven up into the mountains; and this is the case. But this 

 general statement requires some modification. It would be nearer the 

 truth to say that the dolichocephal is not absent from the plains but 

 predominates in the mountains. The homes of the long-heads are on 

 the slopes of the mountain massifs — the White Mountains, Mount Ida, 

 and Mount Dicte — as also in the range which shuts off the rich Messara 

 Plain from the Libyan Sea. Of these, the best example is Mount Dicte, 

 the ' birthplace of Zeus,' where, before the Northern god came to the 

 island with his broad-headed contingent, the Cretan Rhea was wor- 

 shipped. Here in the mountain-plain of Lasithi, 2,700 feet above the 

 sea, shut in on all sides by towering summits, and only to be reached 

 by toilsome tracks from the plains below, is a true dolichocephalic 

 centre with a cephalic mean of 76'5. The long-heads outnumber the 



