show that they have not entirely disappeared from among the race
distinctions observable among the people of these islands. If it is
possible to proceed from this to another stage, and to show from the
British evidence what Mr. Risley has so well illustrated from the
Indian evidence, namely, that gradations of race types as shown by
anthropometrical indices correspond with gradations of social
precedence and social organisation,[181] it may yet be possible to
prove that the people who were not Celts were the people with whom
originated those recorded customs and beliefs which are rejected as
too savage for the Celt. Unfortunately, we know nothing about them,
except the isolated scraps which are to be picked up from the early
historians. This compels us to turn to other sources of information,
and when we do this we find that British folklore preserves in
traditional custom, rite, belief, and folk-tale, parallels to each and
every item of savagery mentioned by the early historians of Britain;
and further, that anthropology shows clearly enough that among the
customs and beliefs of primitive races there are to be found parallels
to every item of custom and belief recorded of early Britain. This
gets rid of one of our greatest difficulties, and disposes of Dr.
Sullivan's unwarranted assertion to the contrary (_ante_, p. 113). The
recorded customs and beliefs of early Britain are proved by this means
not to be impossible or improbable factors in the elements of the
British prehistoric race. It will not be possible to term them
inventions of romance or of false testimony, simply on the ground that
they are not found elsewhere. On the contrary it will, I think, be
difficult to resist the conclusion that inventions such as these,
covering a wide and ascertained area of sociological and early
religious development, could hardly have been made by historians
having the limited range of knowledge possessed by the native and
classical writers who are responsible for the facts. It is an easy,
but not a satisfactory method of criticism to declare what is not to
one's liking to be invention and romance, and it has until late years
been difficult to combat such an argument. The battle has raged round
wordy disputes, the merits of which are governed by the abilities of
the respective disputants; that this is no longer possible is due to
the fact that there have entered into the fray the methods and results
of folklore which prevent the t