upon British Ethnology. 
197 
of making war, or the positions of their best harbours. In 
the account of his second voyage he remarks, 14 that in the 
interior of Britain live the descendants of the original inhabi¬ 
tants, while the parts near the coast are inhabited by those 
who have crossed over from the land of the Belgag. Of course 
the coast referred to is that of the south-east. He adds that 
the most civilized of all these nations are those which inhabit 
Kent, whose customs are similar to those of the Gauls. The 
tribes of the interior were either pre-Celtic, or Gauls who 
had settled in Britain many generations before the voyages 
of Caesar. 
Little can be said about the race-affinities of the various 
tribes found here by the Bomans during their occupation. 
The fullest discussion of this question, from the philological 
point of view, may be found in the late Dr. Guest's ‘ Origines 
Celticae.' The following examples, however, may be given. 
The Silurians of South Wales are generally allowed to have 
been largely pre-Celtic or Iberian, their dark complexion and 
curly hair having been noted by Tacitus. Mr. Elton con¬ 
siders the Ordovices of central Wales to have been a nation 
of Gaelic descent, and Professor Bhys supposes the Damnonii, 
or Dumnonii, of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, and the 
Durotriges of Dorset to have been mainly Gaelic. Dr. Guest 
is inclined to think there was a cbnnection between the 
Brigantes, Coritani (or Coritavi), and Iceni, and the Lloegrian 
or Ligurian group of the Brythons. But the Iceni are con¬ 
sidered by Mr. Elton to have been mainly of the more recent 
Gallic immigration to which the Cantii, Trinobantes, and 
Catyeuchlani belonged. As regards the Belgas, who, as Caesar 
remarks, settled in the maritime parts, and who occupied a 
considerable territory in what are now Hampshire and Wilt¬ 
shire, they are considered by Dr. Guest to have been a Gaelic 
people. 
A general ethnological survey of the British Isles at the 
time of the Boman Occupation would have given the follow¬ 
ing broad results. In Ireland the population mainly consisted 
of a dark pre-Celtic race, probably Iberian, with a later and 
14 1 De Bello Gallico,’ Book v. ch. 12. 
P 
