From what region did the Basques invade Europe? M. Broca, from their identity with the Kabyles and Berbers, holds that they entered Europe from northern Africa, spreading over Spain, and passing over the Pyrenees into southern France. It seems, however, to me, from their range as far north as Scotland, and at least as far to the east as Belgium, that they travelled by the same route that the Celtic, Belgic, and Germanic tribes travelled long ages afterwards, coming from the east and pushing their way to the west: and that while one section chose this route, another mastered northern Africa, following the same westward direction as the Saracens. On this hypothesis this great pre-Aryan migration would start from the central plateau of Asia, from which all the successive invaders of Europe have swarmed off. This view of the eastern derivation of the Basque peoples is confirmed by the examination of the breeds of domestic animals which they possessed. The _Bos longifrons_, the sheep, and the goat are derived from wild stocks that are now to be found only in central Asia; and the dog and breed of swine with small canines were also probably imported after they had become the servants of man in the east.[151] _The Celtic and Belgic Brachy-cephali._ The occurrence of broad-skulls in the tumuli in this country, and in caves and tumuli in France, proves that the Basque peoples were invaded during the neolithic age. And since Dr. Thurnam has shown that they are identical in form with Celtic and Belgic skulls,[152] it follows that one or the other of these, probably the Celtic or the older, was in possession of portions of Britain, Ireland, and Gaul at that remote time. It is of course conceivable that non-Celtic races, physically allied to the Celts or Belgæ, are represented by the human remains in question; but in that case they have left no mark behind by which they can be identified. And the supposition is rendered improbable to the last degree by the fact, that the older or conquered race--the Basque--still survives, in the area under consideration, the invasions and vicissitudes which it has undergone. _A fortiori_, would their conquerors have had a still greater chance of survival, in the fastnesses which are offered by these countries. It is therefore reasonable to presume that the broad-headed peoples in the neolithic caves and tombs are represented by the Celts, and possibly, though not probably, in part by the Belgæ, rather than by the equally broad-headed Wends, Sclavonians, and Fins, which are not known by the historian to have settled in Gaul or in Britain. The successive invasions of Europe have been invariably from the east to the west, so far as we have any certain knowledge; and it is most improbable that Wends, Fins, or Sclaves should have occupied these countries and subsequently have retreated eastwards against the current of the Celtic, Belgic, and Germanic invasions.