ETIINOLOGY. Uf the early peoples of the Nethcr• little is known. except that portions of the country were inhabited successively by tribes of the Stone. Bronze. and Iron ages. In the time of Cwsar the tribes of the swampy lowlands of the south were of Celtic stock, as the Nervii and Men a iii. In the north were the Frisians and in the central portion were the Batavians and Ca ninefates, of Teutonic stock, speaking Low Dutch. The Batavians belonged to the Chatti, who had moved. in from the east, pushing the Celts into the outskirts. During the Roman occupation the Celts of the south were crushed, the Frisians were compelled to pay tribute, and the Batavians were conciliated and later supplied the best of soldiers for the Roman armies. In the fifth cen tury the Roman power was broken by the Ger mans, and in this period of the swarming of na tions westward-moving tribes overflowed the Netherlands. The Saxons amid these changes
occupied the country and crossed over to Eng land. The ethnical components have remained constant in the centuries that have intervened. The home of the Frisians, who in the early part of the Middle Ages dwelt along the coast as far south as the Scheldt, has been contracted to a small area. The anthropological survey of the conntry shows a preponderance of the long headed, blond, tall, Teutonic type in the north and east, with cephalic index of from 79 to SO. In North and South Holland there is a large ele ment having Alpine affinity, with cephalic index from 83 to 84. In Zeeland the pure Alpine or Celtic head-form is found with measures of from 83 to 88, dark hair and skin and medium stature, which is 1.655 meters, while that of the Teutonic element, as in Overysx,e1. is 1.701 meters.