tion, that the Cimbri, who played so important a part in the history
of early Europe, were of the same race as the Belgians ; and that old
writers, coeval with the time of A l e x a n d e r , or fourth century b . c.,
place this race on the Morthem Ocean, in Jutland. Between the
years 113 and 101 b . c., the Cimbri were set in motion, and eventually
devastated Gaul, Spain, and Italy. It is a striking fact, that, in this
invasion, when they reached Northern Gaul, where the Belgians were
already seated, the latter immediately joined them, as allies, against
the Celts; and it seems to he clearly proven that the Cimbri and
the Belgians spoke dialects of the same language.
This Cimmerian race was diffusely scattered through the north of
Europe, and even into Asia Minor, at an early period.
g Down to the seventh century before our era, the history of the Cimbri near the Euxine
remains enveloped in the fabulous obscurity of Ionian traditions; it does not commence
with any certainty before the year 631 b. c . This epoch was fruitful in disturbances in the
west of Asia and east of Europe.” ;
About this time, it is to he inferred from Herodotus, the Gene,|j.acal
GoMBi, Gomerians, or Kymri, abandoned the Tauric Chersonosus,;and
marched westward.39
We pretend not to afford a complete analysis of M. Thierry’S able
work. He has tracked out, with vast research, the settlements and
subsequent history of the various Caucasian races of ancient Gaul ;
and to him we refer the reader for corroboration of the facts we are
succinctly sketching. The resume at the end of his Introduction
explains his general conclusions. He considers the following points
to he unanimously demonstrated by authorities : —
“ Two great human families furnished to Gaul its ancient inhabitants: viz., the Iberian
and the Gallic ( Gauloises) families. The Aquitanians and Ligurians appertained to the
Iberian family. The Gallic family occupied, out of Gaul, the British Isles. It was divided
into two branches or races, presenting, under a common type, essential differences of language,
manners^ and institutions, and forming two individualities widely separated.”
M. T h ie r r y , notwithstanding, asserts that the Cimbri and Celts
were branches of the same family; hut this we doubt. They were
both fair, and strikingly contrasted with the dark-skinned, black-
haired, and hlack-eyed Iberians : M. E dw a r d s , however, proves that
their physical characters were exceedingly different. Ho proof can
he adduced of their common origin, beyond some affinity between
their languages : arguments that we shall show to be no longer satisfactory
evidence of aboriginal consanguinity.
“ The first branch had preceded, in Gaul and the neighboring Archipelago, the dawn
of history. The ancients considered them as autochthones. From Gaul they extended to
Spain, Italy, and Illyria. Their generic name was Gael, or rather a word which the Romans
rendered by Gallus, and the Greeks by Galas and Galatea. The latter had improperly attributed
to the whole stem the denomination of Celt, .which properly belonged only to its
southern tribes. The second branch, colonized in the west of Europe since historic times,
was represented in Gaol by the Armorioans and Belgians, and by their descendants m the
British Isles. Armorican was a local designation; Belgian, the name of. a belligerent confederation
; Cimbri, the name of a race. The relative position of the two Gallic branches
was as follows: the Cimbrian branch occupied the north and west of Gaul — the east and
southuf Britain; the Celtic branch, on the contrary, the east and south of Gaul, and the
west and north of the British Isles.” . . J y L
It becomes apparent, then, from the facts detailed, and which no
historian will question, that the territory of ancient Gaul was occupied,
some 1500 years b . c,, by at least two distinctly-marked Caucasian
races the Celts and the Iberians: the one fair-skinned and lighthaired;
the other a dark race; and each speaking a language bearing
no affinity to that of the other — precisely, for instance, as the Euskal-
dune of the present Basques is unintelligible to Gaelic tribes of Lower
Brittany. But history justifies us in going beyond this dual division.
Each type was doubtless a generic one, including many subordinate
types. There are no data to warrant the conclusion that either of thesé
stocks was an ethnic unit. I t will be made to. appear, when we come
to the monuments of Egypt, that various Caucasian types existed m
Egypt and Asia 2000 years before the most ancient Celtic history
begins; and the-same diversity of races, without question, prevailed
simultaneously in Europe. _
Let us inquire whether some positive information cannot he obtained
with regard to the types of primitive European races. The work of
Edwards, to which we have already alluded,40 stands in many respects
unrivalled. The high reputation of its author as a naturalist guarantees
his scientific competency; and he has directed his attention into
an unexplored,qhannel. After perusing Thierry’s Eistoire des Gaulois,
of which'we have just spoken, M. Edwards made a tour of France,
Belgium and Switzerland (i. e. ancient Gaul), and Italy, engaged in careful
study of the present diversified races, in connection with their
ancient settlements; and he asserts that now, at the end of 2000 years,
the types of the Belgians (Cimbri), the Galls or Celts, the Iberians or
Aquitanians, and the Ligurians, are still distinctly traceable among
their living descendants, in the. veiy localities where history at its
earliest dawn descries these families.
Gaul has been the receptacle of other races than those named, hut
these-were comparatively small in popular multitude; and although
a great variety of types is now visible, yet M. Edwards contends
that such exotic constituents of later times form but trivial exceptions,
and that three major types stand out in hold relief.
Edwards upholds sundry physiological laws to account for this preservation
of types ; and a few shall be noticedancidentally, as we go
on. He lays down a fundamental proposition, the importance of which
will be. at once recognized:.—