198 
Notes on the Evidence bearing 
fairer Gaelic immigration. In Scotland the same Iberian 
people, with a large Gaelic admixture, occupied the Highlands, 
while the Lowlands were inhabited by races among whom the 
Brythons were the prevailing influence. In what is now Eng¬ 
land the Brythons were almost everywhere paramount. It does 
not appear that the broad-headed men of the Bronze Age any¬ 
where formed a distinct and separate element of the population. 
Here the question suggests itself, Who were the Piets ? 
The prominence ot this people during the Roman Occupation 
and their utter disappearance, as a nation, shortly after, have 
naturally given rise to many conjectures as to their ethno¬ 
logical affinities. Of these speculations the most probable 
seems to me to be that of Professor Rhys, who thinks that 
the Piets, though by no means a pure and unmixed race, 
were mainly composed of the dark pre-Celtic people, the 
Scots being chiefly Goidelic. According to Professor Rhys, 15 
the true story of Macbeth has an ethnological interest it is 
not generally supposed to possess. Macbeth, when he slew 
Duncan in the year 1040, was the head of the Transmontane 
Piets, and bore the title of Mormaer or grand steward of 
Moray. He was thus, in a sense, the representative of the 
old line of Pictisli kings which had been superseded by 
a Gaelic dynasty. The exact circumstances under which 
Macbeth slew Duncan are unknown, but it was probably the 
result of an attempt on the part of Duncan to reduce Macbeth 
to submission. Macbeth reigned as King of Alban, or 
Scotland beyond the Forth, seventeen years, and was then 
slain in battle by Malcolm, son of Duncan, the representative 
of the Gaelic line of kings. Still later, in 1160, we read of 
severe measures being taken to reduce the people of Moray 
to obedience. And when we find, as will be presently shown, 
that the dark-haired people of Scotland are especially nu¬ 
merous in the former head-quarters of Macbeth’s power, the 
ancient districts of Moray and Buchan, it seems to me clear 
that Professor Rhys’s view is most in harmony with the avail¬ 
able evidence. 16 
15 ‘ Celtic Britain.’ 
16 Mr. Skene is inclined to think the Piets Gaelic ; Mr. Isaac Taylor, 
Brythonic. 
