286 FOOTPRINTS OF VANISHED RACES IN CORNWALL. 



The last race tliat entered Cornwall in the Neolithic age, the 

 fourth in order of time, was the most important of all, and has 

 left behind it more relics than any other. This race is known as 

 the Ivernian, or, as many prefer to call it, the Iberian. It has in 

 Britain left so many remains and relics, that its representatives 

 may be called the Neolithic men par excellence. The proof of its 

 presence consists in the collection and arrangement of a multi- 

 tude of facts and details, which we must now consider. 



Numerous facts combine to show that the Celts were not the 

 first inhabitants of Britain, and that on their arrival on our shores 

 they found at least one other race of non-Aryan stock in 

 possession of most of the country. 



Scattered over Western and Northern Britain there are 

 linguistic peculiarites, religious ideas, social customs, and physical 

 characteristics, which cannot be traced to any Aryan source. ^"^ 

 Many of these are found in Cornwall. The custom called 

 Borough English, by which, in the absence of a will, land 

 descends to the youngest son, and which is known in Cornwall, is 

 admitted both by Lord Avebury^^^ and Mr. Elton^"^' to mark a 

 non-Celtic race. The traces of serpent worship amongst us are 

 not of Aryan but of Turanian origin,^"^ and so are the indications 

 of animal worship.^"* The numerous flint arrow-heads also are 

 not of Celtic origin, for the bow does not seem to have been a 

 Celtic weapon at the time when the Celts invaded Britain. The 

 Celts are supposed to have introduced bronze into Britain, and 

 their weapons were chiefly swords, spears, and battle-axes. Sir 

 John Evans draws attention^"*' to the almost total absence of bronze 

 arrow-heads in England, and in ancient Irish Celti(3 history the 

 bow is rarely mentioned,^"^ although Sir WiUiam Wilde figures 

 a few bronze Irish arrow-heads.^"^ It is curious, also, that in 

 France, where the Celts were so numerous and powerful, there is 

 no mention of the bow in historical writings, previous to the reign 

 of Charlemagne in the 8th century.^''^ Now in Cornwall we have 



lOi. A summary of these is given in Mr. Charles Elton's Origins of English 

 History, ist edit., pp. 183— 222, 



102. The Scenery of England, p. 470. 



103. Origins of English History, pp. 217, 218. 



1C4. Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 40, 73. 



105. Celtic Britain, by Professor John Rhys, p. 260: 



106. The Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain, p. 217. 



