"Pockets" of peoples of distinctive type are to be found in different parts of the British Isles. In Barvas, Lewis, and elsewhere in the Hebrides, pockets of dark peoples of foreign appearance are reputed by theorists, as has been indicated, to be descendants of the sailors of the Spanish Armada. They resemble, however, the Fir-bolgs of Ireland and the Silures of Wales. Hertfordshire has a dark, short people too. Galloway, the country of the ancient Selgovæ (hunters), is noted for its tall people. It may be that there is a Crô-Magnon strain in Galloway, and that among the short, dark peoples are descendants of the ancient metal workers, including the Easterners who settled in Spain. (See Chaps. IX and XII.) Beddoe thinks that the Phoenician type "occasionally crops up" in Cornwall.[107]
[107] _The Anthropological History of Europe_ (new edition, Paisley, 1912), p. 50.
Culture Mixing--Classical Evidence regarding Druids--Doctrine of Transmigration of Souls--Celtic Paradises: Isles of the Blest, Land-under-waves, Fairyland, and "Loveless Land"--Paradise as Apple-land--Apples, Nuts, and Pork of Longevity--Mistletoe connected with the Oak, Apple, and Other Trees--Druids and Oracular Birds--Druids as Soothsayers--Thomas the Rhymer as "True Thomas"--Christ as the Druid of St. Columba--Stones of Worship--Druid Groves and Dolmens in Anglesea--Early Christians denounce Worship of Stones, Trees, Wells, and Heavenly Bodies--Vows over Holy Objects--Bull Sacrifices, Stone Worship, &c., in Highlands--"Cup-marked" Stones--Origin of Druidism--Milk-Goddesses and Milk-yielding Trees--European and Oriental Milk Myths--Tree Cults and Megalithic Monuments.
When the question is asked "What was the religion of the ancient Britons?" the answer generally given is "Druidism". But such a term means little more than "Priestism". It would perhaps be better not to assume that the religious beliefs of our remote ancestors were either indigenous or homogeneous, or that they were ever completely systematized at any period or in any district. Although certain fundamental beliefs may have been widespread, it is clear that there existed not a few local or tribal cults. "I swear by the gods of my people" one hero may declare in a story, while of another it may be told that "Coll" (the hazel) or "Fire" was his god. Certain animals were sacred in some districts and not in others, or were sacred to some individuals only in a single tribe.