312 A TOPOGRAPHICAL ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF THE 



names in Jutland, and words in the vernacular of Schleswig and 

 Holstein, are found to be Cymric. It is difficult to know why the 

 Chersonese should be called Cimbrica at all, except for the reason 

 that the Cimbri abode therein ; and it is impossible to accoturt for 

 the belief of ancient historians that this peninsula was inhabited by 

 Cimbri, unless such was the case. Equally difficult is it to account 

 for the adoption of the name Cymry or Cyruri by the people now 

 i-epresented by the inhabitants of Wales, unless we allow as the 

 reason their relationship to the ancient Cimbri. The plain account 

 of the name Cymro or Cymru is that it is a modification of Cimbi*i, 

 just as Cimbri again, according to the testimony of Diodorus, is a 

 slight modification of Cimmerii." Whatever other value the opinions 

 which have been cited respecting the order in which the two divisions 

 of the Celts entered the British Isles may have, a strong expectation 

 will thus be formed that when the topography of these Isles has 

 been closely examined, it will corroborate the theory that the Gaels 

 came at an earlier time than the Cymri from Europe, and that those 

 Celts who still speak the Gaelic language are the descendants or 

 representatives of the earliest Celtic occupants of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. Nor, so far as the value of such a topographical argument 

 is concerned, is it material to determine the question, as to whether 

 there were races in Britain before the Celts made their appearance, 

 the desire being simply to ascertain what the Celtic names of streams, 

 and rivers, and headlands, and mountains, and hillocks have to 

 teach respecting the manner in which the Celts must have spread 

 over the British Isles. In his Celtic Scotland (vol. 1, pp. 164, 226), 

 Skene says ; " Archaeology enables us to trace the previous existence 

 of a people of a different race, indications of which are to be 

 found to a limited extent in the earlier notices of Britain and its 

 topography. . . . The Celtic race in Britain and Ireland was 

 preceded by a people of an Iberian type, small, dark-skinned and 

 curlydieaded." It will be generally admitted that the names of 

 rivers, and lochs, and hillocks, and mountains, and headlands, and 

 bays which are to be found in any country, furnish a very useful 

 guide for determining who the earliest settlers of the country were, 

 and who were the earliest races that had sufficient strength and 

 importance, and continuance to leave indelible traces of their presence 

 in the topography of the country. Such names as Ottawa, Ontario, 

 Toronto, Niagara, Caughnawaga, Manitoba, &c, will always pro- 



