inferior tenants called lats; and Othere, the Norse mariner, informed King Alfred that the majority of gajol-geldas, or tenants paying some kind of rent, among the Northmen in his days were Lapps of the so-called Finnish race.[1] Having this evidence in view. it seems very unreasonable to doubt that some of them were introduced into England among the Northmen who were their lords.
In considering the evidence which may point to the settlement in England of some people of other tribes ethnologically allied to the Fins from the eastern coasts of the Baltic, we must not forget that the Livonians of the Gulf of Riga are a race partly of Teutonic extraction. Livonia is south of Esthonia, and near the Livs are the Letts and Lithuanians, who also are not pure Slavs. That the Livonians are of Teutonic affinity or descent receives support from the head-shape of the race at the present day. They are long-headed, as all purely Teutonic races are, their cephalic index ranging from 77·8 to 79.[2] There was an early settlement of Teutons on this part of the east coast of the Baltic, and their early civilization must have resembled that of the tribes which sent colonists to England and became the founders of the Anglo-Saxon race. Among the collection of Anglo-Saxon relics in the British Museum there are similar objects found in Livonia, placed among the English collection for comparison, and consisting of axe- and spear-heads, buckles, chains for the neck, and other personal ornaments, which resemble those of the Anglo-Saxon period. Anglo-Saxon coins, in date from A.D. 991 to 1036, were found with these objects,[3] thus proving some intercourse between England and Livonia. The south part of Livonia is within the area of Lettish territory. The Lettish language is spoken in Courland, and there
