170 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. VI.
i.'
of Tacitus. Tliey tend to show that with the dark-looking, dark-haired people, of shorter stature,
of Celtic and ancient British origin, there are others of the same blood, with lusty limhs and
hail- of some shade of red. Dr. Beddoe, as the result of his extensive and careful examination
of these points, makes this statement:—" The frequency of red hair in the east of Scotland is
remarkable, and brings to miad Tacitus's description of the Caledonu. In fact, the " rutUae
com®, magni artus," which led Tacitiis to derive them from Germany, are stUl attributable to a
large number of their supposed descendants in Athol and Mar *." These districts were nearly
approached by Agricola in his sixth campaign, A.D. 83; hence the probable soiu'ce of Tacitus's
information t .
Some evidence may be adduced from the harrows that the hair of the Britons was not of
uniform hue. In a British barrow of the extensive series of the eastern moors of Torkshii-e,
which present such proofs of a numerous Brigantian population, opened by Mr. Kendall a few
years ago, human hau- was discovered which had been formed into a personal ornament. The
excavation first exposed a British urn in an inverted position. When this was lifted up, it was
found to cover a smaller vase placed upright, round the foot of which lay, upon the bottom of
the cist, a beaxitiful chaplet of Ught-aulmrn haii-. This pledge of affection was quite perfect
when first exposed, and had been carefully braided in four plaits, fragments of which are stiU
preserved. In 1843 the remains of an ancient Briton were discovered at a depth of about
fom-teen feet, and three feet fi.-om the bottom, in Scaleby Moss, Cumberland. The hair, which
had been worn short, is perfectly preserved, as weU as the skin dress and other remains, by the
antiseptic fluids of the bog. They may most likely be referred to a young man who has been
overwhelmed in crossing this treacherous ground: the thick staff, about three feet long, found
by his side, confirms such a view. The colour of the haii- is dark brown, nearly black, and very
probably offers the prevailing hue of that of the Britons I. What we learn from modern observation
tends to confirm this opinion, notwithstanding that Xiphiline, as before quoted, in his
description of Boadicea, attributes to her a very great stature and a profusion of yellow hair
opinions, which are eagerly caught up to give support to a and so soft and downy that it cannot be referred to the young
supposed mutability of physical characters. (" Physical Researches,"
iii. 192, 393.) This has been satisfactorily refuted
by Dr. Beddoe, " On the Phys. Chars, of the Ancient and
Modem Germans," Dublm Meeting of the Brit. Ass. 1857.
* Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scot. 1855. Antea,
pp. 21, 22.
t There can be no doubt whence Tacitus obtained much of
his knowledge of Britain and British affairs, when we recollect
his own assertions, as in chapter xxir., " Saepe ex eo,"
Agricola, "audiTi." His devotion, at the close of the Life,
of the memory of the great general to enduring fame has been
singularly accomplished.
^ "We owe all that has been preserved (when found, the body
and its dress were complete) of these curious remains to the
great pohteness of Mr. Robert Ferguson of Morton, Carlisle.
They are remarkable in other ways besides affording a clue to
the colour of the hair of the Britons. They consist, in addition,
of a humerus, a scapula, a claTXcle, a rib, the right half of
the lower jaw, three teeth, a portion of the brain converted
into adipocere, &c., and some shreds of the skin dress. This
latter has been made of the hide of an animal, with the silky
fur on, which seems to have been worn inwards, and sewn with
sinews in the most regular and neat manner. The fur is short,
even of any of our common animals ; the late Prof. Quekett determined
it to be that of the Otter. The humerus is eleven
inches long, and, like the other bones, looks small and slender;
so that they have all been considered to belong to a very short
and perhaps young person, or girl. We are induced, from their
examination, to take a different view, being convinced that they
have undergone some singular changes. In the first place, the
acids of the Moss have acted on the earth of the bones, and
rendered it soluble. This constituent has consequently been
washed out, leaving the animal matter of the bones behind.
By the action of the tannin of the Moss, this has been converted
into leather, and thus rendered indestructible. The
leather retains the exact shape of the bones, but in a shrivelled
and diminished form, and is flexible. Even from the shrunken
teeth the mineral constituents are so discharged that a pin
may be thrust into them.
An ancient Hibernian was discovered at a considerable depth
in one of the Irish bogs. His remains present a remarkable
similarity to those of the Briton. The deer's-hide dress, with
hair on, sewed most accurately with gut, the dissipation of the
bone-earth, and the hair of a dark hrown-colour. Wilde,
" Beauties of Boyne," 2nd ed. 237. His admirable Descriptive
Catalogue of the Antiq. in the Mus. of R.I.A., 18G1, p. 27C.
CHAP. VI.] ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SUCCESSIVE POPULATIONS. 171
which feU down to her hips. The whole scene has much more the appearance of a picture drawn
in historical propriety than with ethnological correctness, unless the warrior Queen's hair had
been stained more Gallico.
Tacitus, almost 150 years after Caesar, in alluding, as he often does, to the character of the
Britons, describes them as fierce and warlike, as obstinate in resistance, brave, independent, and
difficult to subdue, being inflamed with an ardent love of liberty. These, according to his impression,
were the attributes of all the tribes, Iceni, Silures, Brigantes, and Caledonii. He
marks the difficulty vtdth which they combined against a common enemy, from their mutual
animosities. After the critical and very complete treatise of our colleague. Dr. Thiirnam,
exhibiting the manners, arts, military equipment, and religion of the ancient Britons, it wUl be
unnecessary to dwell further upon their mental characteristics and capabilities. That they were
an uncivilized race, in the modern acceptation of this term, is quite plain; but the ingenuity
they displayed, the perfection they attained in some arts, their resources, both civil and military,
and the independent spirit they evinced, although quite unavailing when put in competition
with those of the more highly organized Romans, fuUy prove their capabilities and the high
position they must take among uncivilized races. Yet it ought never to be forgotten that the
Romans, with aU their ardour for conquest, and their vast military resources, under the ablest
commanders, never brought the entire island into subjection, and never attempted any invasion
of Hibernia. The Britons had little of that docile temper which becomes a subject people, and
enables them to support then- condition with complacency. We know that slaves were exported
from Britain in the earliest times—in fact, that they constituted an article of commerce, like
dogs and hides, and were to be seen in Gaul and in the markets of Rome itself for ages. Of
British slaves, as a booty of war, during Csesar's second expedition, Cicero speaks in one of his
Epistles, lamenting the entire absence of more precious plunder, but says they are not to be
expected to be skilled in letters or in music—attainments within the reach of Roman slaves *.'
The learned historian of the Roman Wall considers that the drudgery of that vast work was
executed by the enslaved Britons, under the superintendence of the more skilled legionaries and
Roman artificers. He instances the stones, which are cut of such a size as might be carried
on the backs of the Britons t-
The Roman armies were extensively recruited from Britain J. Mr. C. Roach Smith has
enumerated the different cohorts of the Britons, and the countries in which they served, in the
following passage:—" The fii-st cohort of the Britons, ui the reigns of Titus and Domitian, was
stationed in Pannonia; in the reign of Antoninus Pius, it appears among the auxiliary troops
distributed in Egypt and Cyrenaica: and it is recorded in several inscriptions found in Germany
and other parts of the Contiaent, fi-om which we learn that it was styled successively Flavia,
from Vespasian; Ulpia, from Trajan ; and ^lia, from Hadrian, in consequence of its services
under those princes. Other cohorts of the Britons are mentioned in inscriptions, as well as a
fii-st cohort sui-named Britannioa, which occurs in a military diploma, together with the first
cohort of the Britons. A sixth cohort appears to have served under Trajan in the Dacian wars.
A fourth cohort, surnamed Antoniniana, is mentioned in an inscription found in Northumberland
; and upon a fragment of a tile foimd in the Roman station at Ebchester, in Durham, are
the letters . . HIBR., which probably denote the first cohort. The first British cohort is some-
* There is an eloquent account of the moral condition of
t Bruce's " Roman Wall," 2nd ed. 1853, pp. 66 and 74.
the Britons during the Roman occupation in Mr. Kemble's
J Camden's " Britannia," I. cxi.
" Saxons in England," ii. 278, &c., especially 282-3.