up in hundreds by the fishermen from the | descendants, isolated among the fastsurface of the Dogger-Bank. Such were the denizens of southern England when man made his first appearance there. It seems not unlikely that he came some time before the close of the long ice age. He may have been temporarily driven out of the country by the returning cold periods, but would find his way back as the climate ameliorated. Much ingenuity has been expended in tracing a succession of civilization in this primeval human population of Britain. Among the records of its presence there have been supposed to be traces of an earlier race of hunters of a low order, furnished with the rudest possible stone implements; and a later people, who, out of the bones of the animals they captured, supplied themselves with deftlymade, and even artistically decorated weapons. All that seems safely deducible from the evidence, however, may be summed up in saying that the paleolithic men, or men of the older stone period, who hunted over the plains, and fished in the rivers, and lived in the caves of this country, have left behind them implements, rude indeed, but no doubt quite suitable for their purpose; and likewise other weapons and tools of a more finished kind, which bear a close relationship to the implements still in use among the modern Eskimos. It has been suggested that the Eskimos are their direct descendants, driven into the inhospitable north by the pressure of more warlike races. The rude hunter and dweller in caves passed away before the advent of the farmer and herdsman of the neolithic or later stone period. We know much more of him than of his predecessors. He was short of stature, with an oblong head, and probably a dark skin and dark, curly hair. His implements of stone were often artistically fashioned and polished. Though still a hunter and fisher, he knew also how to farm. He had flocks and herds of domestic animals; he was acquainted with the arts of spinning, could make a rude kind of pottery, and excavate holes and subterranean galleries in the chalk for the extraction of flints for his weapons and tools. That he had some notion of a future state may be inferred from arrowheads, pottery, and implements of various kinds which are found in his graves, evidently placed there for the use of the departed. He has been regarded as probably of a non-Aryan_race, of which perhaps the modern Basques are lineal nesses of the Pyrenees by the advance of younger tribes. Traces of his former presence in Britain have been conjectured to be recognizable in the small, dark Welshmen, and the short, swarthy Irishmen of the west of Ireland. When the earliest neolithic men appeared in this region, Britain may still have been united to the Continent. But the connection was eventually broken. It is obvious that no event in the geological history of Britain can have had a more powerful influence on its human history than the separation of the country as a group of islands cut off by a considerable channel from direct communication with the mainland of Europe. Let us consider for a moment how the disconnection was probably brought about. There can be no doubt that at the time when Britain became an island, the general contour of the country was on the whole what it is still. The same groups of mountains rose above the same plains and valleys, which were traversed by the same winding rivers. We know that in the glacial and later periods considerable oscillations of level took place; for, on the one hand, beds of sea-shell are found at heights of twelve or thirteen hundred feet above the present sea-level; and on the other hand, ancient forest-covered soils are now seen below tide-mark. It was doubtless mainly subsidence that produced the isolation of Britain. The whole area slowly sank, until the lower tracts were submerged, the last low ridge connecting the land with France was overflowed, and Britain became a group of islands. But unquestionably the isolation was helped by the ceaseless wear and tear of the superficial agencies which are still busy at the same task. The slow but sure washing of descending rain, the erosion of watercourses, and the gnawing of sea-waves all told in the long degradation. And thus, foundering from want of support below, and eaten away by attacks above, the low lands gradually diminished, and disappeared beneath the sea. Now, in this process of separation, Ireland unfortunately became detached from Britain. We have had ample occasion in recent years to observe how much this geological change has affected our domestic history. That the isolation of Ireland took place before Britain had been separated from the Continent, may be inferred from a comparison of the distribution of living plants and animals. Of course, the interval which had then the strong tides which pour alternately up and down the strait must have helped also to deepen the Channel. And yet, in spite of the subsidence and this constant erosion, the depression remains so shallow that its deepest parts are less than one hundred and eighty feet below the surface. As has often been remarked, if St. Paul's Cathedral could be shifted from the heart of London to the middle of the Straits of Dover, more than half of it would rise above water. At what relative time in the human oc elapsed since the submergences and icesheets of the glacial period must have been of prodigious duration, if measured by ordinary human standards. Yet it was too short to enable the plants and animals of central Europe completely to possess themselves of the British area. Generation after generation they were moving westward, but long before they could all reach the north-western seaboard, Ireland had become an island, so that their further march in that direction was arrested, and before the subsequent advancing bands had come as far as Brit-cupation of the region this channel was ain, it too had been separated by a sea channel which finally barred their progress. Comparing the total land mammals of the west of Europe, we find that while Germany has ninety species, Britain has forty, and Ireland only twenty-two. The reptiles and amphibia of Germany number twenty-two, those of Britain thirteen, and those of Ireland four. Again, even among the winged tribes, where the capacity for dispersal is so much greater, Britain possesses twelve species of bats, while Ireland has no more than seven, and one hundred and thirty land-birds to one hundred and ten in Ireland. The same discrepancy is traceable in the flora, for while the total number of species of flowering plants and ferns found in Britain amounts to fourteen hundred and twenty-five, those of Ireland number nine hundred and seventy- about two-thirds of the British flora. Such facts as these are not explicable by any difference of climate rendering Ireland less fit for the reception of more varied vegetation and animal life; for the climate of Ireland is really more equable and genial than that of the regions lying to the east of it. They receive a natural and consistent interpretation on the assumption of the gradual separation of the British Islands during a continuous north-westward migration of the present flora and fauna from central Europe. The last neck of land which united Britain to the mainland was probably that through which the Strait of Dover now runs. Apart from the general subsidence of the whole North Sea area, which is at tested by submerged forests on both sides, it is not difficult to perceive how greatly the widening of the channel has been aided by waves and tidal currents. The cliffs of Kent on the one side and of the Boulonnais on the other, ceaselessly battered by the sea, and sapped by the trickle of percolating springs, are crumbling before our very eyes. The scour of finally opened cannot be determined. At first the strait was doubtless much narrower than it has since become, so that it would not oppose the same obstacle to free intercourse which it now does, and neolithic man may have readily traversed it in his light coracle of skins. Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the old Basque or Iberian stock had for many ages inhabited Britain before the succeeding wave of human migration advanced to overflow and efface it. The next invaders - the first advance-guard of the great Aryan family were Celts, whose descendants still form a considerable part of the population of the British Isles. The Celt differed in many respects from the small, swarthy Iberian whom he supplanted. He was tall, round-headed, and fair-skinned, with red or brown hair. Endowed with greater bodily strength and pugnacity, he drove before him the older and smaller race of short, oblongheaded men, gradually extirpating them, or leaving here and there, in less attrac tive portions of the country, small islandlike remnants of them which insensibly mingled with their conquerors, though, as I have already remarked, traces of these remnants are perhaps partially recogniza. ble in the characteristic Iberian-like lineaments of some districts of the country even at the present day. The Celts, as we now find them in Britain, belong to two distinct divisions of the race, the Irish or Gaelic, and the Welsh or Cymric. Some difference of opinion has arisen as to which of these branches appeared in the country first. It seems to me that if the question is discussed on the evidence of geological analogy, the unquestionable priority should be assigned to the Gaels. There can be no doubt that the Celts came from the east. They had already overspread Gaul and Belgium before they invaded Britain. The tribe which is found on the most northerly and westerly tracts must after crossing it by some of the deep valleys by which it is trenched, they would find themselves in the wide plains of the Eden and the Solway. Still pushing their way northward, and driving the Gaels before them, they would naturally follow the valley of the Nith, leaving on the left hand the wild mountainous region of Galloway, or "country of the Gael," to which the conquered tribe retired, and on the right the high moorlands about the head of Clydesdale and Tweeddale. Emerging at last upon the lowlands of Ayrshire and lower Clydesdale they would spread over them until their further march was arrested by the great line of the Highland mountains. Into these fastnesses, stoutly defended by the Pictish Gaels, they seem never to have penetrated. But they built, as their northern outpost, the city and castle of Alcluyd, where the picturesque rock of Dumbarton, or "fort of the Britons," towers above the Clyde. have crossed on its way the regions lying to the east, while on the other hand, the race occupying the eastern_tracts should be of later origin. We ought to judge of the spread of the human population as we do of that of the flora and fauna. Had England been already occupied by the Welsh, Cymric, or British branch, it is inconceivable that the Irish or Gaelic branch could have marched through the territory so occupied, and have established itself in Scotland and Ireland. The Gaels were, no doubt, the first to arrive. Finding the country inhabited by the little neolithic folk they dispossessed them, and spread by degrees over the whole of the islands. At a later time the Cymry arose. We are not here concerned with the question whether these originated by a gradual bifurcation in the develop ment of the Celtic race after its settlement within Britain, or came as a later Celtic wave of migration from the Continent. It is enough to notice that they are found at At one time, therefore, the Cymry exthe beginning of the historical period to tended from the mouth of the Clyde to the be in possession of England, Wales, and south of England. One languagethe south of Scotland up to the estuary Welsh and its dialects appears to have of the Clyde. It is improbable that the been spoken throughout that territory. Gaels, who must once have occupied the Hence the battles of King Arthursame attractive region, would have will-which, from the evidence of the ancient ingly quitted it for the more inhospitable Welsh poems, appear to have been moors of Scotland and the distant bogs fought, not in the south-west of England and fenlands of Ireland. It is much as is usually supposed, but in the middle more likely that they were driven forcibly of Scotland, against the fierce Gwyddyl out of it. Possibly the traditions they carried with them of the greater fertility of England may have instigated the numerous inroads which from early Roman times downwards they made to recover the lands of their forefathers. Crossing from Ireland they repossessed themselves of the west of Wales, and sweeping down from the Scottish Highlands they repeatedly burst across the Roman wall, carrying pillage and rapine far into the province where their Cymric cousins had begun to learn some of the arts and the effeminacy of Roman civilization. Looking at the territory occupied by the Cymry at the time of their greatest extension, we can see how their course northward was influenced by geological structure. As they advanced along the plains which lay on the west side of the great Pennine chain of the centre and north of England, they encountered the range of fells which connects the mountain group of Cumberland and Westmoreland with the uplands of Yorkshire and Durham. This would probably be for some time a barrier to their progress. But Ffichti or Picts of the north and the heathen swarming from beyond the seawere sung all the way down into Wales and Devon, and across the Channel among the vales of Brittany, whence, becoming with every generation more mystical and marvellous, they grew into favorite themes of the romantic poetry of Europe. The Roman occupation affected chiefly the lowlands of England and Scotland, where the more recent geological formations extend in broad plains or plateaux. Numerous towns were built there, between which splendid roads extended across the country. The British inhabitants of these lowlands were not extirpated, but continued to live on the lands which they had tilled of old, more or less affected by the Roman civilization, with which, for some four centuries or more, they were brought in contact. But the regions occupied by the more ancient rocks, rising into rugged, forest-covered mountains, offered an effective barrier to the march of the Roman legions, and afforded a shelter within which the natives could preserve their an cient manners and language with but little change. The Romans occupied the broad | who had gradually pushed their way westcentral lowland region of Scotland, which ward up the valley of the Thames, found is formed by the old red sandstone and themselves on the edge of the Cotswold carboniferous strata, extending up to the plateau, looking down upon the rich and base of the Highlands. But though they long settled plains of the Severn. De inflicted severe defeats upon the wild bar- scending from these heights they fought barians who issued from the dark glens, in 577 the decisive battle of Deorham, and though they seem to have been led by which had the effect of giving them posSeverus round by the Aberdeenshire low session of the Severn valley, and thus of grounds to the shores of the Moray Firth, isolating the Britons of Devon and Cornand to have returned through the heart of wall from the rest of their kinsmen. the Highlands, they were never able per- Driven thus into the south-west corner of manently to bring any part of the moun- England upon ancient Devonian and grantainous area of crystalline rocks under ite rocks, poorer in soil, but rich in wealth their rule. of tin and copper, these Britons maintained their individuality for many centuries. Though they have now gradually been fused into the surrounding Englishspeaking people, it was only about the middle of last century that they ceased to The same geological influences which guided the progress of the Roman armies may be traced in the subsequent Teutonic invasions of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Norwegians. Arriving from the east and north-east, these hordes found level low-use their ancient Celtic tongue. lands open to their attack. Where no impenetrable thicket, forest, fenland, or mountainous barrier impeded their advance, they rapidly pushed inland, utterly extirpating the British population, and driving its remnants steadily westward. By the end of the sixth century the Britons had disappeared from the eastern half of the island south of the Firth of Forth. Their frontier, everywhere obstinately defended, was very unequal in its capabilities of defence. In the north, where they had been driven across bare moors and bleak uplands, they found these inhospitable tracts for a time a barrier to the further advance of the enemy; but where they stood face to face with their foe in the plains they could not permanently resist his advance. This difference in physical contour and geological structure led to the final disruption of the Cymric tract of country by the two most memorable battles in the early history of England. Between the Britons of south Wales and those of Devon and Cornwall lay the rich vale of the Severn. Across this plain there once spread, in ancient geological times, a thick sheet of Jurassic strata of which the bold escarpment of the Cotswold Hills forms a remnant. The valley has been in the course of ages hollowed out of these rocks, the depth of which is only partly represented by the height of the Cotswold plateau. The Romans had found their way into this fertile plain, and, attracted by the hot springs which still rise there, had built the venerable city of Bath and other towns. One hundred and seven years after the Romans quitted Britain, the West Saxons, Still more important was the advance of the Angles on the north side of Wales. The older palæozoic rocks of the principality form a mass of high grounds which, flanked with a belt of coal-bearing strata, descend into the plains of Cheshire. Younger formations of soft red triassic marl and sandstone stretch northward, to the base of the carboniferous and Silurian hills of north Lancashire. This strip of level and fertile ground, bounded on the eastern side by high desert moors and impenetrable forests, connected the Britons of Wales with those of the Cumbrian uplands, and, for nearly two hundred years after the Romans had left Britain, was subject to no foreign invasion, save perhaps occasional piratical descents from the Irish coasts. But at last, in the year 607, the Angles, who had overspread the whole regions from the Firth of Forth to the south of Suffolk, crossed the fastness of the Pennine chain and burst upon the inhabitants of the plains of the Dee. A great battle was fought at Chester in which the Britons were routed. The Angles obtained permanent possession of these lowlands, and thus the Welsh were effectually cut off from the Britons of Cumbria and Strathclyde. The latter have gradually mingled with their Teutonic neighbors, though the names of many a hill and river bear witness to their former sway. The Welsh, on the other hand, driven into their hilly and mountainous tracts of ancient paleozoic rocks, have maintained their separate language and customs down to the present day. Turning now to the conflict between the Celtic and Teutonic races in Scotland, we notice in how marked a manner it was directed by the geological structure of the races, it still serves to define the rethe country. The level secondary forma- spective areas of the Gaelic-speaking and tions which underlie the plains, and form English-speaking populations. On the so notable a feature in the scenery of England, are almost wholly absent from Scotland. The paleozoic rocks of the latter kingdom have been so crumpled and broken, so invaded by intrusions of igneous matter from below, and over twothirds of the country rendered so crystalline and massive, that they stand up for the most part as high tablelands, deeply trenched by narrow valleys. Only along the central counties, between the base of the Highlands on the one side and the southern uplands on the other, where younger palæozoic formations occur, are there any considerable tracts of lowland; and even these are everywhere interrupted by protrusions of igneous rock, forming minor groups of hills, or isolated crags, like those that form so characteristic a feature in the landscapes around Edin burgh. In old times dense forests and impenetrable morasses covered much of the land. A country fashioned and clothed in this manner is much more suitable for defence than for attack. The high mountainous interior of the north, composed of the more ancient crystalline rocks, which had sheltered the Caledonian tribes from the well-ordered advance of the Roman légions, now equally protected them from the sudden swoop of Saxon and Scandinavian sea-pirates. Neither Roman nor Teuton ever made any lasting conquest of that territory. It has remained in the hands of its Celtic conquerors till the present time. old red sandstone we hear only English, often with a northern accent, and even with not a few northern words that seem to remind us of the Norse blood which flows in the veins of these hardy fisherfolk and farmers. We meet with groups of villages and towns; the houses, though often poor and dirty, are for the most part solidly built of hewn stone and mortar, with well-made roofs of thatch, slate, or flagstone. The fuel in ordinary use is coal, brought by sea from the south. But no sooner do we penetrate within the area of the crystalline rocks than all appears changed. Gaelic is now the vernacular tongue. There are few or no villages. The houses are built of boulders gathered from the soil and held together with mere clay or earth, and are covered with frail roofs of ferns, straw, or heather, kept down by stone-weighted ropes of the same materials. Fireplaces and chimneys are not always present, and the pungent blue smoke from fires of peat or turf finds its way out by door and window, or beneath the begrimed rafters. The geological contrast of structure and scenery which allowed the Teutonic invaders to drive the older Celtic people from the coastline, but prevented them from advancing inland, has sufficed during all the subsequent centuries to keep the two races apart. On the north-western coasts of the island there are none of the fringes of more recent formations which have had so But the case has been otherwise with marked an influence on the east side. the tracts where the younger palæozoic From the north of Sutherland to the headdeposits spread out from the base of the lands of Argyle the more ancient rocks Highland mountains. These strata have of the country rise steep and rugged out not partaken of the violent corrugations of the sea, projecting in long, bare promand marked crystallization to which the ontories, forever washed by the restless older rocks have been subjected. On the surge of the Atlantic. Here and there contrary, they extend in gentle undula- the coast-line sinks into a sheltered bay, tions forming level plains, and strips of or is interrupted by some long, winding lowland between the foot of the more an-inlet that admits the ebb and flow of the cient hills and the margin of the sea. It ocean tides far into the heart of the mounwas on these platforms of undisturbed strata that invaders could most successfully establish themselves. So dominant has been this geological influence, that the line of boundary between the crystalline rocks and the old red sandstone, from the north of Caithness to the coast of Kincardineshire, was almost precisely that of the frontier established between the old Celtic natives and the later hordes of Danes and Northmen. To this day, in spite of the inevitable commingling of the same tains. Only in such depressions could a |