39G BELGIUM. 



M. Iluyttens lias directed attention to several "clans" living in the country 

 around Ghent, Avho differ from the other inhabitants by their smaller stature, 

 black hair, brown eyes, and greater gaiety and excitability. The census has shown, 

 however, that the brown type is met with throughout Belgium — not only at 

 Liège and JN^amur, where it preponderates, but also amongst the Flemings, where 

 a fourth or third of the inhabitants belong to it.* 



Most anthropologists trace this brown type to the pre- Aryan inhabitants of 

 Belgium. The round-skulled men of small stature, whom we frequently meet with 

 in Flanders, would thus have to be looked upon as the lineal descendants 

 of the aboriginal population of the countr3\ The Spaniards, on the other hand, 

 have exercised but a small ethnical influence upon the population. 



As to the Wallons, there can be little doubt of their Gallic origin. The 

 tribes of Belgium mentioned by ancient authors bear Gallic names, and so do 

 many towns, including Namur, Dinant, Cortoriacum (Courtrai), Lugdunum, 

 and others. The Bomans did in Belgium what they did in the remainder of 

 Gaul — they introduced their language. The Germanic tribes who subsequently 

 settled amongst the Wallons, being inferior to them in civilisation, adopted their 

 language, though not without exercising some influence upon it. The dialect 

 spoken around Liège abounds thus in German words and grammatical forms, 

 whilst the dialects of Namur and the south generally are most akin to those spoken 

 in the adjoining parts of France. 



Physically the Wallon differs strikingly from his Flemish fellow-countryman. 

 He is bonier, stronger limbed, and more angular ; his complexion is but rarely 

 as fair as that so frequent amongst the Flemings ; and he can boast of neither 

 brightness nor beauty. Tall men are more numerous amongst the Wallons than 

 in Flanders ; life is longer, and more exempt from disease. In Flanders and the 

 province of Antwerp ninety persons die to every hundred that are born ; in the 

 four Wallon provinces only seventy. This relative immunity of the Wallons 

 may be inherent in the race, but is more probably due to their greater well- 

 being, and to the salubrity of the country they live in. In the Middle Ages it 

 was the Flemings who were the superiors of the Wallons in wealth, civilisation, 

 and freedom. Bevolutions and gradual transformations, however, have displaced 

 the seat of power, and it is the Wallons who now take the lead in industrial 

 activity and mental culture. The Flemings nevertheless maintain their pre- 

 eminence in the arts, and it is they who give the country most of its painters 

 and musicians. 



When Flemings, or Vlamingen, first came as " strangers " f into the country, the 

 plains which they now inhabit were but sparsely peopled. At that time swamps 

 and lakes covered a considerable extent, whilst the remainder of the country 

 consisted of a plain of sterile sand. A wide forest region {Silva Carbonaria) 



* At Namur 47 per cent, of the inhabitants have dark eyes, and 57'5 percent dark hair ; at Malines 

 only 24 per cent, have dark eyes, and 20*3 per cent, dark hair ; and between these two extremes we meet 

 with every gradation. (Beddoo, "Report of the British Association," I8ô7.) 



t According to H. Leo (" Angelsachsisches Glossar"), Fleming means " stranger," or " fugitive," whilst 

 Meyer, in his " Chronicle of Flanders," derives their name from viae, a marsh. 



