198
Notes on the Evidence bearing
fairer Gaelic immigration. In Scotland the same Iberian
people, with a large Gaelic admixture, occupied the Highlands,
while the Lowlands were inhabited by races among whom the
Brythons were the prevailing influence. In what is now Eng-
land the Brythons were almost everywhere paramount. It does
not appear that the broad-headed men of the Bronze Age any-
where formed a distinct and separate element of the population.
Here the question suggests itself, Who were the Picts ?
The prominence of this people during the Roman Occupation
and their utter disappearance, as a nation, shortly after, have
naturally given rise to many conjectures as to their ethno-
logical affinities. Of these speculations the most probable
seems to me to be that of Professor Rhys, who thinks that
the Picts, though by no means a pure and unmixed race,
were mainly composed of the dark pro-Celtic people, the
Scots being chiefly Goidelic. According to Professor Rhys',16
the true story of Macbeth has an ethnological interest it is
not generally supposed to possess. Macbeth, when he slew
Duncan in the year 1040, was the head of the Transmontane
Picts, and bore the title of Mormaer or grand steward of
Moray. He was thus, in a sense, the representative of the
old line of Pictish kings which had been superseded by
a Gaelic dynasty. The exact circumstances under which
Macbeth slew Duncan are unknown, but it was probably the
result of an attempt on the part of Duncan to reduce Macbeth
to submission. Macbeth reigned as King of Alban, or
Scotland beyond the Forth, seventeen years, and was then
slain in battle by Malcolm, son of Duncan, the representative
of the Gaelic line of kings. Still later, in 1160, we read of
severe measures being taken to reduce the people of Moray
to obedience. And when we find, as will be presently shown,
that the dark-haired people of Scotland are especially nu-
merous in the former head-quarters of Macbeth's power, the
ancient districts of Moray and Buchan, it seems to me clear
that Professor Rhys's view is most in harmony with the avail-
able evidence.16
15 'Celtic Britain.'
16 Mr. Skene is inclined to think the Picts Gaelic; Mr. Isaac Taylor,
Brythonic.