Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/461

Rh by sea. They are part of the Saxon hordes which have touched all along the coast of Brittany. These last people, settled in the beautiful Médoc and Bordelais wine country, protected by their peninsular position, are among the tallest peasantry of the southwest. They are, without doubt, the legitimate descendants of the Medulli and of the Nitiobriges Cubi and Vivisci of early times. But between these two colonies of the Teutons, about Limoges and in Médoc respectively, lies the one whose origin we have not yet traced. The Petrocorii about Périgueux, who were they? If they also are of Teutonic descent, why are they not blond? This they most certainly are not, for a noticeable feature of the population

of Dordogne is the high proportion of black hair, rising in some cantons to twenty-seven per cent. This is very remarkable in itself, as even in Italy and Spain really black hair is much less frequent. This characteristic for a time gave color to the theory that this great area of dolichocephaly was due to the relics of the Saracen army of Abder-Rhaman, shattered by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours. It is not improbable that some Berber blood was thereby infused into the peasantry; but this explanation does not suffice to account for other peculiarities, which a detailed investigation reveals.

The most curious and significant trait of these long-headed people in Dordogne remains to be mentioned. A harmonic long and narrow head ought normally to be accompanied by an elongated oval visage. In the Teutonic race especially, the cheek