EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE BRITISH ISLES BY CELTS. 331 



The topographical argument in favour of the peopling of the 

 British Isles by the Gaels may be thus briefly expressed : Calais 

 and Dover are Gaelic names which must have been given by Gaels 

 who were in the habit of crossing at those points from the continent 

 of Europe to the British Isles. Along the eastern coast of England 

 there are indelible traces in the names of streams, and rivers, and 

 hillocks of the presence of the Gaels, Owing to the powerful wave 

 of invasion that successively rolled over England until it was sub- 

 dued by William the Conqueror, Gaelic names, which doubtless 

 were given to what is now the site of English towns and cities, were 

 superseded by names of Roman oi'igin, or by names which the later 

 invaders chose to give. That such an opinion is correct may readily 

 be seen by looking carefully at the map of England. That portion 

 of Scotland which lies south of the Friths of Forth and Clyde was 

 subjected from the time of the Roman invasions to im-oads from 

 other nations, and, as a natural consequence, the topographical 

 names are not so commonly Gaelic as in the Highlands. A close 

 similarity obtains between the topographical names of England, of 

 the south of Scotland, and of the Highlands of the latter country ; 

 whence the inference may be drawn that the Scottish Gaels are now 

 the representatives of those Celts who were the first to enter Britain, 

 and to travel northwards from the south of England to the north of 

 Scotland. From an examination of the Topography of Ireland, the 

 inference may fairly be drawn that the same Gaelic race must have 

 peopled that country, and that the Scottish Highlanbers of to-day 

 can extract satisfactory evidence from the topographical names of 

 Ireland to convince them, that their own remote ancestors and the 

 Celts, who were the first to people Ireland, were one and the same 

 people, and spoke the same language. 



The topographical argument which has been now examined, leads 

 to the conclusion, that the first powerful stream of immigration into 

 the British Isles was Gaelic ; that it entered the south of England 

 and extended northwards and westwaixls ; that from Scotland, where 

 its branches were widely scattered, it passed into Ireland, and left 

 thei-e numerous and indelible proofs that the same Celts who gave 

 names to Calais and Dover, gave also names to Innistrahull and 

 Durrow, to Ballachulish and Aberdour ; and that the same Celts 

 who gave names to Fintry and Bannockburn in Scotland, gave 

 names also to Bantry and Kinsale in Ireland. 



