down arches, a ruined tower and dismantled
wall, would seek to form a mental picture of the stately building that
once stood there. If we can here and there discover, by the light
of history or exploration, some races or tribes that, owing to their
geographical position, have escaped the fate that befell the great body
of their countrymen, we may perhaps replace our mental picture by one
founded on reality. Nor need we be in doubt where to seek for such
scattered remnants of people. Successful invaders always appropriate
to their own use the fertile lowlands and the fruitful portions of the
country of their helpless foes. But a weak people have often, in
the rocky fastnesses of their land, made a successful stand. So, to
determine the race, we will examine the people living in such regions,
and see if there are any that physically conform to what is already
known of the Neolithic people, and so entitled to claim a relationship
by descent.

Both slopes of Pyrenees Mountains, between France and Spain, have been
occupied from time immemorial by a peculiar race of people known as
the Basque. Secure in their mountain homes, they have resisted foreign
civilization, and retained their national characteristics as well as
their liberties, though they have been nominally vassals to many powers,
from the early Carthaginians to the later French and Spanish. From the
many invasions they have undergone the Basque language and people are by
no meals uniform. But Dr. Broca, one of the most learned anthropologists
in Europe, has shown that the original Basques were dark in complexion,
with black hair and eyes. In addition to this, the efforts of some
of the most eminent scholars in Europe,<39> who have made numerous
examinations of skulls and skeletons obtained from ancient Basque
cemeteries, have conclusively shown that in all physical features the
Basques agree with men of Neolithic times.<40>

The Basques do not belong to the great division of the human family
known as Aryans, to which the English-speaking races, as well as the
nations of Europe generally, belong. They belong to a far older division
of the human family--the Turanian<41>--and were doubtless in possession
of Europe long before the Indo-European nations commenced their westward
migrations from Central Asia. They are described as being brave,
industrious, and frugal, with patriarchal manners and habits. They
scorn authority, except what emanates from themselves, and ha