BASQUES, basks, or BISCAYANS, in their own language, EUSCALDUNAE ; the Spaniards call them °Vascongados.D A remark able, very ancient race inhabiting both sides of the Pyrenees, the southwest corner of France and the north of Spain. They represent the remnant of a people once spread over the whole of the Iberian Peninsula and southern Gaul in prehistoric times. They are probably the de scendants of the ancient Iberi, who occupied Spain before the Celts, though this is by no means a decided point among ethnologists. From the early dawn of history they constituted small republics, ruled by duly elected chiefs and according to special codes (fueros), breathing fierce independence, parochial exclusiveness and stern but patriarchal regulations. The French Basques (Gascons) settled on the north side of the Pyrenees about the end of the 6th cen tury, between the mountains and the Garonne. Under the Carlovingians they elected their own dukes, but after the extinction of that family they fell under the dominion of Aquitania in the Ilth century. In 1106 they purchased the Labourd for 3,306 gold florins, and were incor porated with it under France in 1453, by Charles VII, but continued to enjoy certain exemptions from taxes, enlistment in the army, etc. Their number is estimated at about 150,000. The ultramontane.Basques have not played any im portant part in Spanish history. Their distinct national code has been respected at all times and by every ruler, forming a kind of imperium in imperio with their special parliament, Dis putacion Provincial, tariffs, tolls, and, until recent years, even their own army and police. After the close of the second Carlist war in 1876 the powers and privileges of the Basque Dispu taciones were considerably curtailed by the Spanish government, though the provinces re tained entire control of their municipal affairs. They collect their own taxes and pay an annual tribute to Spain, the amount of which is fixed periodically and generally for 20 years in ad vance. The tribute for the years 1915-16 was fixed at 9,000,000 pesetas ($1,800,000), while the province of Guipazcoa contributes an addi tional tax of 700,000 pesetas ($120,000). The Basques preserve their ancient language, former manners and customs and their national dances. The rhythm of their music differs altogether from that of other parts of Spain; it possesses its own essential characteristics, so pronounced that none in Spain can imitate it and few out side can understand. Their national anthem, the "Guarnica,* named after their sacred tree in Loyola, is said to be capable of rousing the Basque to a fierce degree of patriotism. They make admirable soldiers, especially in guerrilla warfare, to which their native temperament in clines. They furnish a prescribed quota of re cruits to the Spanish army annually. The people of the Basque provinces and Navarre were the strongest supporters of the pretender, Don Carlos, and supplied the best leaders in the Carlist wars. In personal appearance the Basques are of medium size, active and athletic; of fair complexion in general, they bear some resemblance to certain Tartar tribes of the Caucasus. They arc faithful and honest, kind and hospitable to strangers. Their mental
equipment is said to be somewhat dull, though illiteracy is comparatively rare among them. In his °Bible in Spain° George Borrow tells us that no people on earth are prouder than the Basques, "but theirs is a kind of republican pride? They have no nobility amongst them, and no one will acknowledge a superior. They are good seamen, and were the first Europeans who engaged in the whale fishery, when whales were plentiful in the Bay of Biscay.
The Basques are the °mystery people') .of Europe; much controversy has raged around the question of their origin. The Romans mention a tribe called "Vascones,* who lived somewhere in the present Basque provinces. Gascones is the same word, the letters b and g being often interchanged. Not all the Basque speaking people are Basques. The old Gascones and the present Bearnais spealc a Basque dia lect, but they differ widely from the Spanish Basques. These French people have dark curly hair and brown eyes; they are round-headed and short of stature, whereas the true Basques are long-headed and short-faced, with light hair, and generally blue or gray eyes. They are also taller and high-shouldered. Borrow decided that the Basques were of Mongolian origin. He discovered many Sanskrit roots in their language, but was "inclined to ra.nlc the Basque rather amongst the Tartar than the Sanskrit dialects.1) Modern scientists, however, have completely discarded Borrow's theory, and not a few have sought to place the cradle of the Basque race in northern and northeastern Africa, from the similarity of their language to the old Berber and Tuareg languages. In any case it is certain that Basque is neither an Aryan nor Indo-Germanic language; its af finities with Berberic point to Egypt and to Somaliland. On the other hand, the language of the old Mediterranean race also has affinities with Basque, and points eastward into Asia Minor. Our whole knowledge of the so-called Basque language being based entirely upon the living Basque dialects, it is probable that the mystery will long remain unsolved. According to some authorities it contains only about 40 foreign words, while others emphatically assert that more than half the words in the whole language are borrowed. The following stanza, "noted down from recitation') by George Bor row, may serve as an example of Basque poetry: Ichasoa urac aundi, Estu ondoric &gnarl — Pasaco ninsaqueni andic Maitea icustea gatic.
This means, °The waters of the sea are vast, and their bottom cannot be seen; but over them I will pass, that I may behold my love? As stated above, the Basques call themselves Euscaldunac: eusk language, sound; al from aldea= part or side; dun full of, plenty; ac =adjectival ending, the c being the sign of the plural. Thus the whole word signifies °those with a language.D The language itself is called l'Euscara,* and the country Euscallerria, Euska-Herria or Eusquererria, from the word erria, land. The Spanish group of Basque dialects are the Guipazcoan, upper Navarrese and Biscayan; the French group are the Labourdin, lower Navarrese and Souletin. See