Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/638

622 latter case clustered about 83. The difference of four units and over was too great to ascribe to chance variation or to defective measurement. The champions of the broad heads, such as Retzius and Pruner Bey, affirmed an Asiatic origin, while their opponents, following Broca, as vehemently claimed that, whatever the Basques might be, they certainly were not Mongolian. They generally asserted an African origin for them. The often acrimonious



discussion has been settled finally by proof that both sets of observers were right after all. Strange as it may seem, the people on the two opposite slopes of the Pyrenees, both alike speaking the same peculiar language distinct from all others in Europe, were radically different in respect of this most fundamental racial characteristic. No proof of this, beyond a glance at our map of cephalic index, on page 620, is necessary. From preceding articles the broad heads in France, denoted by the dark tints, will be recognized as the extreme vanguard of the Alpine race of central Europe. Spain, on the other hand, is a stronghold of the long-headed Mediterranean type. Here we have the point of contact between the two. Let us not be confused by the light-shaded area about Dax. That is not truly Mediterranean. It need not bother us. Dr. Collignon identifies it as a remnant of the same prehistoric Cro-Magnon race, centering in Dordogne, which we described in our last paper.

Bearing in mind now that the crest of the Pyrenees runs along the political frontier, it seems as if, on the whole, the line of division between broad-headed and long-headed types lay at the northern base rather than along the summits of the mountains.