“are by no means to be regarded as the primal heirs of the land, but
are, on the contrary, comparatively recent intruders. Ages before their
migration into Europe, an unknown Allophylian race had wandered to this
remote island of the sea, and in its turn gave place to later
Allophylian nomades, also destined to occupy it only for a time. Of
these ante-historical nations, archæology alone reveals any traces.”
Passing from this strange and solemn spectacle of the death and utter
extinction of human races, once living and enjoying themselves amidst
those very scenes where we ourselves now pant and revel in the drama of
existence,—let us look upon the face of Europe as it appears when first
the light of history broke upon it. Since then, there have been
remarkable declines, but no extinction of races. As if war and rivalry
were a permanent attribute of the species, when the curtain first rises
upon Europe, it is a struggle of races that is discernible through the
gloom. A dark-skinned race, long settled in the land, are fighting
doggedly with a fair-skinned race of invaders from the East. The
dark-skins were worsted, but still survive—definitely in detached
groups, and indefinitely as a leaven to entire populations. That
dark-skinned race have been called Iberians,—the fair-skinned new-comers
were the Indo-Germans, headed by the Gaels or Celts. When the two races
first met in Europe—the _blond_ from the south-east, meeting the _dark_
in the west—they encountered each other as natural enemies, and a severe
struggle ensued. The Celts finally forced their way into Spain, and
established themselves there,—became more or less amalgamated with the
darker occupants, and were called _Celt-Iberians_. Ever since, these two
opposite types have been commingling throughout Western Europe; but a
complete fusion has not even yet taken place, and the types of each are
still traceable in certain localities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive