Chapter XVII

There is yet another characteristic of the modern Aino which suggests the dwarf of the British Isles. "Mention must also be made of an anatomical peculiarity of the Aino skeleton, consisting of a remarkable flattening of the arm-and leg-bones."[318] This peculiarity, which is known scientifically as "platycnemism," forms a part of Herr von Siebold's "Ethnologische Studien über die Aino, auf der Insel Yesso."[319] Much may be learned with regard to platycnemism in a paper "On the Discovery of Platycnemic Men in Denbighshire,"[320] by Professors Busk and Boyd Dawkins; and the subject of platycnemism generally has been very fully discussed in Dr. L. Manouvrier's "Mémoire sur la Platycnémie."[321] The question is full of interest; but what we are here concerned with is the fact that, characterizing the dwarfish, hairy Ainos of the nineteenth century, this flattening of the leg-bones is also associated with the dwarfs of Britain. Those cave-dwelling, "platycnemic men" of Denbighshire, though not actually dwarfs, were of no greater height on an average than five feet, or a trifle over. Again, the skeletons found in the underground dwellings of Wiltshire, which have been so closely studied by General Pitt-Rivers, exhibit marked platycnemism in several instances, and of these the average height was 5 ft., 1^.3 (among eleven males), and (among three females) 4 ft., 10.[322] In Wigtownshire, also, the bones of certain cave-men have yielded at least one tibia which has been pronounced to be "highly platycnemic." The locality where these remains were found has been spoken of on a previous page,[323] as a locality famed as the last refuge of the "Pechts," and, at the same time, as a home of the "fairies." These are a few special instances; but if once we recognize the probability that platycnemism was specially a characteristic of "the little people," then there will be small difficulty in accepting as true the forecast with which Mr. Boyd Dawkins concludes his remarks in the paper above mentioned:--"I have not the slightest doubt that platycnemism will be recognized in remains from chambered tombs in many parts of Britain, and that eventually the men found in Denbighshire will be proved to belong to a race that spread over Britain and Ireland, and a large area on the Continent."

The effect of this flattened tibia or leg-bone is to give to the "platycnemic man" an unusual degree of agility. Thus one reads that the Ainos who drew Miss Bird's _kuruma_ raced "for a considerable distance" with some mounted Japanese, drawing the _kuruma_, of course, at the same time. Similarly, the mountain-ponies of the Picts "could hardly excel the speed of the troops on foot."[324] The traditional accounts of the "Fians" have much to say of their marvellous swiftness of foot. The same thing is noted of the Dartmoor _gubbins_ of the sixteenth century: "Such their fleetness, they will outrun many horses."[325] And the earth-dwelling "Red Fairies" of Merionethshire "were also remarkable for their swiftness and agility."[326] There is a Scotch story of a brownie who successfully "herded" a hare; and the lightness of foot of the fairy in general is proverbial. From all these references, then, there is every reason for believing that the little people were "platycnemic men."

This identification of the traditional dwarfs with the Ainos on the one hand and the Eskimos on the other, amounts to an assumption that the dwarfs were not only hirsute like the first of these, and mound-dwellers like the second, but also that, like the extinct _Onkilon_ of Siberia, they were in a distinct sense "sea-folk." In other words, that, while showing a strong _affinity_ with the two modern types chiefly referred to in these pages, they were nevertheless not _identical_ with either. That they were the ancestors of both seems probable, bequeathing to each division some of the qualities and customs of the original stock; which might be described as Aino-Eskimo.

So far as tradition goes, there is every indication that the hairy dwarf was of a sea-faring race. The Gaelic _ur-uisg_ was rightly called a "wild or _shaggy_ man" by Sir Walter Scott, but literally he was a "_water_-man"; which term has many equivalents, such as wasser-man, mer-man, and others. The Guernsey "King of the _Auxcriniers_" previously mentioned,[327] may also denote this identification of the _zee-woner_ with the "shaggy man"; unless the name _auxcriniers_ bears a less obvious meaning than it appears to do. But no better illustration of this union can be found than the historical Picts. Tradition has told us of their shaggy skins, and the "small boats" which they used. And both of these are indicated by the sixth-century Gildas, in his account of the inroads of the Picts and Scots, after the withdrawal of the Romans, where he says:--"Itaque illis ad sua revertentibus, emergunt certatim de curicis, quibus sunt trans Cichicam[328] vallem vecti, quasi in alto Titane incalescenteque caumate de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis fusci vermiculorum cunei, tetri Scotorum Pictorumque greges, moribus ex parte dissidentes, sed una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate concordes, furci-ferosque magis vultus pilis, quam corporum pudenda, pudendisque proxima, vestibus tegentes."[329]

There is complete agreement among the commentators of Gildas that the word "curicis" is a Latinized form of the Celtic _curach_, a skin-boat. And the expression "de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis" is singularly confirmative of the assumption that the variety of skin-boat denoted was the narrow kayak with its small round man-hole, and covered "hold," out of which the invading Pict "eagerly emerged" in his haste to attack the Romanized and civilized people in the neighbourhood of the Wall. The reference to their appearance generally is, moreover, very much like the terms used by the Norse writers in speaking of the tenth-century "Skrælings."

That the historical Picts were as "amphibious" as any other "sea-folk" of the kind here discussed, is further testified by such a statement as this:--"They passed their days in the water, swimming in the northern estuaries, or wading with the stream as high as the waist. Dion Cassius adds, with his characteristic vivacity, that they would hide in the mud for days together, with nothing but their heads out of the water."[330] Although the custom of hiding from an enemy in the fashion just described was practised quite recently by the "bog-trotters" in Ireland (see _Rokeby_, Note 2 R), it is doubtful how far these statements ought to be accepted literally. But at least they point to the Picts as a race as much at home on sea as on land; and the reference to their "wading" in the water waist-high is again suggestive of the traditional mer-man or Triton, and the actual Eskimo (as he appears at a distance).

Thus, although the dwarfs of Shetland tradition are separately remembered as "sea-trows" and "hill-trows" (otherwise "hill-people," or "högfolk"), it seems quite evident that these two names simply refer to two different aspects of one race. The memory of them, in connection with their homes in chambered mounds ("hows," "högs," or "pechts' houses"), has gradually become dissociated from the memory of them in their character of sea-rovers, when in their swift "sea-skins" they darted after and easily overtook the heavy wooden boats used by the rival race. Nevertheless, although popular tradition, in thus remembering them, has almost transformed them into an actually amphibious race, it yet asserts that these seafaring "Finns" "are reckoned among the Trows."

* * * * *

Such are some of the deductions to be drawn from a comparison of traditional accounts with those of history, taken in connection with the ethnical features and the customs of certain races of people. There are many more inferences which could be made, but these may reasonably be deferred until the true value of tradition has been tested. The way in which this can be done has been pointed out in the foregoing pages. Should tradition prove itself reliable as a guide to the dwellings of "the little people," then _all_ its statements regarding them will merit the closest consideration.

FOOTNOTES:

[318] This statement, made by Professor Tylor in his Introduction to the "Aino Folk-Tales," is based upon the accounts of others; for a reference to one of which (Von Siebold's) I am indebted to Mr. Tylor.

[319] Berlin, 1881.

[320] Jour. Ethnol. Soc. of London, Jan. 1871.

[321] Paris, 1888.

[322] See General Pitt-Rivers' "Excavations in Cranborne Chase," 1887. (Privately Printed.) II., 206-7.

[323] Page 99. See specially pp. 87-8 of the volume quoted (1885-86) of the Proc. of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland.

[324] Elton's "Origins," p. 169; quoted from Dion Cassius.

[325] Fuller, as quoted by Kingsley.

[326] _Scots Magazine_, 1823, Vol. 13, pp. 424-6.

[327] Page 16.

[328] This is variously spelt "Aticam," "Styticam," and "Tithicam" (Petrie's _Monumenta historica Britannica_); and the solutions are as various as the spellings. If by "Tithicam vallem" is denoted the valley of the River Teith, this variant appears preferable to any; and the district referred to would be the whole of the Teith or Forth basin, which at that period was probably a mixture of land and water,--a northern Bedford Level, or fen-country.

[329] Gildas' "De Excidio Britanniæ," Stevenson's edition, London, 1838, pp. 24-25.

[330] Elton's "Origins," p. 169. The first sentence is from Herodian.