THE PEOPLE. 



17 



only Celts, but more ancient populations, whose very name only survives in that of 

 mountains and lakes. Formerly the inhabitants of the country were known as 

 InteriuU, whence, perhaps, their present name. The Romans Latinised the Tyrol, 

 and mediseval documents mention many landowners bearing Italian names. In 

 the early Middle Ages " Ladin " was spoken even on the northern slopes, and up 

 to the sixteenth century that language kept its ground in tho Vorarlberg. A 

 hundred years ago the mountaineers of the Yintschgau, or Upper Adige, still 

 spoke that tongue, and even during the present centur}' several Ladin villages 

 have been Germanised. The only parts of Tyrol where Romaic dialects were not 

 spoken formerly are the central portion of the valley of the Inn and the Puster- 



Fig. 8. — Eain Map of Austria. 

 According to Von Sonklar and Eeles.^e. 



Lexs than 32m. 32-43in. 43-S3in. 



thai. The names of several villages in the latter prove that the district was 

 formerly inhabited, in part at least, by Slavs. 



Boioarians and Swabians from the north-west, Germanised Slavs advancing up 

 the valley of the Drave, Goths and Longobards ousted from Italy, gradually 

 reduced the domain of the Ladins, and they are confined now to the valleys of 

 Gherdeina (Gardena, or Groden), Enneberg, and Badia, to the east of Brixen. 

 The "Welsh" spoken there is mixed, however, with many words of German 

 origin, whilst the German mountaineers make use of Ladin terms. Most of the 

 inhabitants speak both languages indifferently. The Ladins differ not only in 

 language, but also physically, from their neighbours, the Germans and Italians. 

 They are of more slender build than the former; have poor beards, but long 

 73 



