Like
the bones of the mammoth, it remains a monument of the destruction
produced by a succession of ages. It stands single and alone of its
kind, surrounded by idioms that have no affinity with it."
We have seen them settling, in the earliest ages, in Ireland. They also
formed the base of the dark-haired population of England and Scotland.
They seem to have race affinities with the Berbers, on the Mediterranean
coast of Africa.
Dr. Bodichon, for fifteen years a surgeon in Algiers, says:
"Persons who have inhabited Brittany, and then go to Algeria, are struck
with the resemblance between the ancient Armoricans (the Bretons) and
the Cabyles (of Algiers). In fact, the moral and physical character is
identical. The Breton of pure blood has a long head, light yellow
complexion of bistre tinge, eyes black or brown, stature short, and the
black hair of the Cabyle. Like him, he instinctively hates strangers; in
both are the same perverseness and obstinacy, same endurance of fatigue,
same love of independence, same inflexion of the voice, same expression
of feelings. Listen to a Cabyle speaking his native tongue, and you will
think you bear a Breton talking Celtic.
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