194 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Aryan Hindus, should be in fact to them what the Hol- 

 steiner or Frisian is to the Englishman. 



These Dards, be it noted, though a few among them 

 may be blonde, seem to be generally dark-eyed and dark- 

 haired ; and the same seems to be the case with the Kafirs 

 of the Hindu Kush. 



Topinard in his commentary on Risley's tables hints 

 his surprise at the smallness of the influence which the 

 Turanian conquerors (Turks, Mongols, perhaps Saka) have 

 had in raising the kephalic index. It seems to me that 

 these invaders, in the historical period at least, usually 

 crossed the Punjab to settle in the richer valley of the 

 Ganges. It is true that there is no indication of them in 

 Risley's figures for the north-west provinces, either ; but 

 then he has not included the up-country Mussulmans, 

 Moguls, Rohillas, etc., in his observations, which seems 

 to be an unfortunate omission. 



Another thing which some may regret is the exclusion 

 from the scheme of any observations on colour. Mr. Risley 

 appears to have been unacquainted with Broca's colour-scale 

 (which, though not applicable to the hair, is fairly good for 

 the skin), and to have thought that no easily workable system 

 of colour-observation existed. 



The Punjabis are, as is generally known, strikingly 

 superior in stature to the people of other parts of India. 

 Of 80 Sikhs measured the range was from 165 to 190 

 centimetres (65 to 74*8 inches), and the average 171*6 

 (67*5 inches) ; and the lowest average for a single caste in 

 the Punjab (165*8 for the Aroras) surpasses the highest for 

 any caste in Bengal (165*6 for the Brahmans). In weight, 

 however, they fall below the burly mountaineers of Sikkim ; 

 and even among the stunted hillmen of Chota Nagpur there 

 is one tribe, the Munda, which excels them. The proportion 

 of weight to height varies, therefore, very remarkably, from 

 372 in the Mundas to 290 in the Khatris of Oudh, a caste 

 supposed to have a strong Aryan element, the average for 

 the whole of Bengal being apparently 308. On the whole 

 the tall slender frame seems to characterise the partly-Aryan 

 Hindu to-day, as it did in the Vedic period, when his 



