16 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



Brittany, Scotland and Ireland, where in certain districts they retain their primi- 

 tive name of Gael. 



The features of these people are strongly marked. They are tall, and 

 athletic, and little prone to obesity, while their physical strength corresponds to 

 their muscular proportions. They have the head rather elongated, and the fore- 

 head narrow and but slightly arched : the brow is low, straight and bushy ; the 

 eyes and hair are light, the nose and mouth large, and the cheek bones high. 

 The general contour of the face is angular, and the expression harsh. 



They are slow but laborious, and endure fatigue beyond the sufferance of 

 other men. In disposition they are frank, generous and grateful, yet quick- 

 tempered, pugnacious and brave to a proverb. 



In some localities their physical traits, their moral character and their 

 peculiar customs, have undergone little change since the time of Caesar. It is 

 probable that the most unsophisticated Celts are those of the southwest of Ireland, 

 whose wild look and manner, mud cabins and funereal bowlings, recall the 

 memory of a barbarous age. 



The Celts have generally been considered the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 western Europe; but Sir William Betham has recently undertaken to show "that 

 ancient colonies of Phenicians settled in Spain, Ireland, Britain and Gaul, long 

 before the Christian era ; that they called themselves Gael or Celtae ; and that the 

 Irish, the Gael of Scotland and the Manks (of the Isle of Man) are now the only 

 descendants of that ancient people who speak their language."* The author then 

 proceeds with an ingenious comparison between the Gaelic and Phenician lan- 

 guages, and illustrates their affinity to a degree truly surprising.f Strong as the 

 evidence is on this point, we may still hesitate to acknowledge the afiliation of the 

 Celts and Phenicians until some remaining discrepancies are explained : for is it 

 not singular, if the Celts were Phenicians, that they should have inherited so 

 little of the national splendor, refinement and maritime enterprise of their pro- 

 genitors? Betham brings but slender evidence of the civilisation of the ancient 

 Irish ; and Co5sar's account is any thing but complimentary to their domestic and 

 civil relations. 



The same learned author gives plausible reasons for supposing that the Picts 

 or Caledonians of Scotland were not, as is commonly believed, of Celtic orirfn 



* Inquiry into the Origin of the Gael and Cimbri, Introd. p. 16. 



t Betham shows, after Vallancey and others, that the Carthaginian speeches in the P£enulus of 

 Plautiis are absolutely Gaelic. See his work above quoted, p. 112. 



