84 
Basque Element in present British and French 
Populations. 
The Basque non- Aryan blood is still to be traced in the 
dark-haired, black-eyed, small, oval-featured peoples in our 
own country in the region of the Silures, where the hills 
have afforded shelter to the Basque populations from the 
invaders. The small swarthy Welshman of Denbighshire 
is in every respect, except dress and language, identical 
with the Basque peasant of the Western Pyrenees, at 
Bagneres de Bigorre. 
The small dark-haired people of Ireland, and especially 
those to the west of the Shannon, according to Dr. Thurnam 
and Professor Huxley, are also of Iberian derivation, and, 
singularly enough, there is a legendary connection between 
that island and Spain. The human remains from the 
chambered tombs as well as the river-beds prove that the 
non- Aryan population spread over the whole of Ireland as 
well as the whole of Britain. The main mass of the Irish 
population is undoubtedly Celtic, crossed with Danish, 
Norse, and English blood. 
The Basque element in the population of France is at the 
present time centered in the old province of Aquitaine, in 
which the jet-black hair and eyes, and swarthy complexion, 
strike the eye of the traveller, now, as in the days of Strabo, 
and form a vivid contrast with the brown hair and grey 
eyes of the inhabitants of Celtica and Belgica. The map 
published by Dr. Broca (“ Memoires d’ Anthropologic,” t. I., 
p. 330) shows at a glance the average complexion prevailing 
in each department, and the relative number of exemptions 
per 1,000 conscripts, on account of their not coming up to 
the standard of height (1‘56 metre = 5 feet IJ inches), and 
it will be seen that the only swarthy people outside the 
boundary of Aquitaine, constitute five ethnological islands. 
Of these Brittany is by far the largest, probably because its 
fastnesses afibrded a shelter to the Basques, who were being 
