FOOTPRINTS OF VANISHED RACES IN CORNWALL. 301 



People." Shiiilai- little people, of dark colour, were said by 

 tradition to live in caves in Western Europe, ^^^ where they worked 

 metals, and this is, perhaps, a vague recollection of the time 

 when the Ivernians gave up stone weapons, and forged metals in 

 secret for fear of their Celtic persecutors. A similar tradition of 

 Elfin-arrows being made in caverns was known in Scotland. ^^^ 

 The Saxon conquest of Cornwall, by Athelstan, in A.D. 926, 

 doubtless brought about a great change. The genuine dwarfs 

 had long been extinct, and the short Ivernians were fast becoming 

 destroyed or assimilated with their masters. 



The Ivernian language lasted, according to Professor 

 Ehys,^" in Northern Scotland until the 11th century, and in 

 Ireland it was still spoken a few centuries before. It was spoken 

 in Cornwall in the days of Ptolomey, A.D. 150, and probably for 

 many centuries after. ^^^ According to the Eev. S. Baring-Gould, 

 the Iveiiiians occupied Connaught in the 5th century after"^^ 

 Christ, and for a long time the bulk of the population in South 

 Wales remained Ivernian. 



The date when the Ivernians lost the last shadow of indepen- 

 dent existence is quite unknown. They were absorbed into the 

 Celtic and Saxon stocks, and, as it were, submerged. Traces of 

 their existence, as a lower racial stratum, may even now be seen 

 in the swarthy comjolexion and black hair, which are common in 

 the Jiorthern and western parts of Great Britain. In the High- 

 lands of Scotland and in the Hebridies, short, dark folk, with 

 black hair and black eyes, may still be seen. Mr. J. F. 

 Campbell describes his meeting with one of these in the following 

 words : — " Behind the fire sat a girl with one of those strange 

 foreign faces, which are occasionally to be seen in the Western 

 Isles — a face which reminded me of the Nineveh sculptures, 

 and of faces seen in St. Sebastian. Her hair was as black as 

 night, and her clear, dark eyes, glittered through the peat smoke. 

 Her complexion was dark, and her features so unlike those that 



215. Les Cai'e} lies et leiirs Habitants, by J. Fraipout, pp. 319-329; aXso L' Homme 

 pendant Les Ages de la Pierre, bj' E. Dupont, pp. 241, 245, M, Fraipant identifies 

 these dwarfs with the Brownies. 



216. Demonology and Witchcraft, p. 162. 



217. Celtic Britain, p. 270. 



218. Ibid, p. 214. 



2ig. Journal of ihe Royal Institution of Corttzvall, vol. xiv., pp. 17, 18. 



