54 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2na s. No 107., Jan. 1G, '58. 



in England, a copy of which was given to Miss 

 Hall : — 



" If you recollect Tom Hall of Monkridge Hall, * * * 

 I shall give you the last account of him, though dreadfull 

 it may be a satisfaction to his friends, who cannot I 

 suppose have heard what has become of him. He left 

 Bombay in the beginning of April, 1782, in a Portuguez 

 [sic] vessell, which was bound to Madrass, but put into 

 Goa. She was by some means or other detained, and 

 Hall and some more gentlemen who wished to get for- 

 ward took an open boat in order to proceed to Callicut 

 further down the coast, and where a part of our army 

 Avas, but upon their passage they were overtaken by a 

 squall, which overset the boat. He and Capt. Campbell 

 were the only people saved, and on their being washed 

 ashore they found themselves prisoners with some savages 

 belonging to Hj'der Ally. They were immediately, ac- 

 cording to the custom of the country, put into irons and 

 conducted to Biddamore Fort, where poor Hall died the 

 December following. When the unfortunate General 

 Matthews took Biddamore, Captain Campbell was re- 

 leased, and gave this account. 



" I saw Tom Hall a few days before lie left Bombaj-, 

 and thought him fortunate in getting away before us, but 

 it proved otherwise." 



This extract differs in some particulars from 

 the narrative of Captain Campbell, but I am dis- 

 posed to consider that there is an error in the 

 letter. The writer has evidently repeated the 

 oral account which had reached him after Capt. 

 Campbell's escape from Biddamore, and which, 

 though correct generally, might be incorrect in 

 some of the details. It is very improbable that 

 the voyage from Goa to Callicut would be at- 

 tempted in an open boat ; and it is more consonant 

 with probability to receive the less romantic ac- 

 count given by Captain Campbell of their having 

 sailed from Goa on May 18, 1782, in a Portuguese 

 Snow. I would certainly be greatly favoured, if 

 any of Captain Campbell's relatives could furnish 

 me with any farther account of Mr. Hall. M. D. 



STRANGE COINCIDENCES IN NATIONAL CUSTOMS. 



(2"^ S. iv. 430.) 



Sir J. Emerson Tennent expresses his " sur- 

 prise that the same customs should prevail in 

 distant regions, where inter-communication seems 

 all but impossible." But why must we appeal to 

 inter-communication for a solution of the mys- 

 tery — if such there be in these coincidences ? 

 This method has filled the books with drowsy 

 dissertations and wild hypotheses, whilst a suf- 

 ficient explanation suggests itself from the mere 

 consideration of the subject in all its bearings. 



Whatever opinion we may be led by reasoning 

 to adopt concerning the genesis of the various 

 populations of the globe, all must admit that there 

 is but one genus homo : — and whatever expla- 

 nation we may give for the varieties of the genus, 

 the fact itself stands prominently forth, with all 

 Jts natural and logical consequences. 



But the attributes of his genus must predomi- 

 nate in man, whatever may be his variety. The 

 coincidences which startle the traveller — in the 

 matter of national customs — must be explained^ 

 by the general points of resemblance in the va- 

 rieties of the human family. 



Now, what is that resemblance ? I apprehend 

 that it is a subject of much wider extent than is 

 commonly supposed. It is not only the shape of 

 the skull, or general conformation of body — but 

 all the circumstances in which each variety of the 

 human race has been placed — soil, climate, vege- 

 tation — and, above all, the kinds of lower animals 

 which surround man in his primitive habitat. For 

 instance, the variety which exhibits the highest 

 endowments, the Caucasian, has always been sur- 

 rounded by the sheep, the cow, and the horse. 



If we contemplate the varieties and tribes of 

 the human race in this manner, their points of 

 resemblance may cease to surprise. Peculiar cus- 

 toms may result from the peculiar circumstances 

 of their position, or may be referred to that way- 

 ward caprice which is an essential attribute of the 

 genus homo. 



The explanation of the particular case quoted 

 by Sir E. Tennent seems obvious enough. Dr. 

 Livingstone has recorded facts which show that 

 those Africans are extremely desirous of having 

 children, and that sterility is the greatest mis- 

 fortune in the consideration of their women. The 

 fortunate mother is therefore proud of her child ; 

 and to proclaim the fact to all her neighbours, 

 her name is a compound of maternity and the 

 name of the child — as in the instance given — 

 Ma-Robert. I submit that the same explanation 

 applies to the Indians of the Khasia Hills, quoted 

 by Sir J. E. Tennent, as calling themselves from 

 their children, only reversing the point of honour 

 by referring it to paternity : — Pa-Haimon, father 

 of Haimon. The ancient Arabians, according to 

 Gmelin, had a similar custom ; they named them- 

 selves after one of their idols — Abd-Wadd, the 

 servant of Wadd. 



The books of historians and travellers teem with 

 such coincidences. Some may be explained by the 

 vague hypothesis of inter- communication, but the 

 great majority can only be referred to the general 

 propositions which I submit as a sufficient expla- 

 nation. Some few of many which have occurred 

 to me, in investigating this subject, may here be 

 added to that quoted by Sir J. E. Tennent. 



The negroes of Congo file away the inner edges 

 of their teeth, notch them, or grind them down to 

 the gums. The Asiatic islanders have a similar 

 custom. But Vancouver found, in the natives of 

 Trinidad Bay, on the north-west coast of Ame- 

 rica, that " all the teeth of both sexes were by 

 some process ground uniformly down horizontally 

 to the gums." 



A tribe of Africans name their children after a 



