The other peoples of Europe also reflect in their history the influence of their respective native countries and of their varied experience in their conflicts with nature. The greater the difficulty in overcoming natural obstacles, the later do the people appear in history: with sonic, as the Lithuanians, such appearance was entirely impossible; owing to coun try and position, they have remained antique both in customs and in language.
The Celts of the Continent, who no doubt passed north of the Alps to their location, established their chief seat in Galicia, a comparatively com fortable country, but it did not improve their condition. Besides being rather northerly at that early period, it was too large; the ocean was ton vast to invite navigation, and time north, west, and south were cloyed by impenetrable mountains and woods. Therefore the new inhabitants were entirely dependent on themselves, and even in their later extensive migrations, as far as Asia Minor, they learned nothing more than what they had already learned at home—namely, to wage war and to roam about on the Continent. Imagination, the divine gift of the Indo-Germans, degen erated under such circumstances into rude fantasies or love of finery and of adventures.
The Irish and British were not much different; while the Scotch were at an early period divided by the character of their country into hostile clans. In like manner, the character and history of the Germanic and Slavic families—of course only in their more general groundwork—can be traced to the nature of the German and Slavic countries.
Aboriginal Remains. —Did the advancing Indo-Germans meet with aboriginal inhabitants in Europe ? We must so suppose from the ancient diluvial remains which have been found in France, Germany, Denmark, and elsewhere. Illustrations of two of the most ancient skulls in Europe are found on Plate 2. One (figs. 2-4) was found near Dfisseldorf, and the other (figs. 6, 7) in the valley of the Meuse in Belgium. These skulls, both dolichocephalic and both very flat, especially the one from the Nean derthal (Dusseldorf), which is also noted for its exceedingly strong bones, are very remarkable, for they belong to no class of skulls of races now living.
In order to give them an ethnologic position they have been pro nounced to be of Finnish origin—a supposition which has no foundation, for the form in question deviates as much from the Mongolian skull (comp. fii. 2, figs. 13, 14) as from the Indo-Germanic. An extinct aboriginal race has also been thought of, of which we know nothing, and possess nothing but these skulls and a few pre-historic articles, perhaps the most ancient of the Stone Period. The fact that these remains must belong to a pre
historic population is clear, but it is doubtful whether we can find a place for them. (For illustrations of the different stone weapons, the pieces of bones, the scratched images of animals of the diluvial "finds," and of the bronze weapons and the buildings of a later period, see Vol. II.) Dispersion.—How, then, shall we explain the migrations of which we have spoken ? The earliest masses of population, having less developed means to supply an existence, required far more space than the peoples of to-day. When their numbers became greater, they gradually spread, and of course to places where the conditions were most favorable and most inviting. In this manner the masses separated by gradual dispersion; of course such migrations proceeded very slowly, and with all the leisure which life at that period permitted; and they were very different from systematic colonizations or from wild wanderings. Still, the latter also probably occurred: by some mishap (going astray, wars, etc.) single parties, or even larger hosts, might have separated from the common centre. Thus the ancestors of the Basques may have separated from the ancestors of the Indo-Germans when the latter were on a very early grade of civilization; and just so other closely-united clans or casual hordes may have separated. Such seems to have been the origin of the earliest inhab itants of Europe. Perhaps they were more closely united to the ances tors of the Basques.
The following reflections give more solidity to these suppositions: first, geographically considered, such migrations are not only possible, but are more probable than an influx of Finnish tribes from the North or of swarms of Arabic-Africans from the South. Secondly, the oldest form of the Indo-Germanic skull was no doubt dolichocephalic, for the skulls of the Asiatic Indo-Germans are mostly so, and close observation seems to indicate that the doliehocephalic form is gradually changed into the mesocephalic with the advance of civilization. This we find later on among most European Indo-Germans (comp. 5/. 2, fig. 9, with 2, fig. 12, or ft/. 89, fig. II). Thirdly, civilization and changes in the manner of living seem to diminish the thickness of the skull-bones. Skulls from old French graves of the thirteenth century, which were examined by a famous French anatomist, were exceedingly thick and much stronger than those of the present French.