to the Ethnological Society of London. 57 



themselves Iron, and their country Iri, which names are 

 thought to connect them with the Aridi or ancient Medes, 

 and with the Aryas, or the higher classes of the Hindoos.* 

 There is another memoir by the same author on the Mingre- 

 liin, Soane^n, and Abschassian languages, spoken by other 

 nations of Caucasus, the tendency of which is to point out 

 certain common characters in all these idioms, though they 

 are still regarded as radically distinct. I must not omit to 

 notice a memoir on a remarkable Caucasian tribe, the Ku- 

 betschi, by the learned Petropolitan academician, M. C. W. 

 Fraehn, which appeared in the fourth volume of the Bulletin 

 Scientifique de I'Academie Imperiale de St Petersbourg,+ or 

 to mention that the same volume contains an inquiry into 

 the history of the powerful Afghan tribe of the Jusufzte, by 

 B. Dorn,| who endeavours to follow up the investigations of 

 our illustrious countryman the Honourable Mountstuart 

 Elphinstone. With regard to the history of the Caucasian 

 nations it may be remarked, that the whole subject requires 

 further elucidation before we can venture to draw any gene- 

 ral conclusions as to the origin of these tribes, and their re- 

 lation to the great races of Europe and Asia ; and I believe 

 that this remark coincides with the opinion of Dr Latham, to 

 whom we have been indebted for a learned memoir on the 

 inhabitants of the Caucasian chain, read during the last win- 

 ter before the Ethnological Society. 



Considerable additions have been made during late years, 

 and even during the last year, to our previous knowledge of 

 the native races of India. In saying this, I need only to ad- 

 vert to the admirable series of papers read in this Society, 

 by General Briggs, on the aboriginal tribes of the Dekhan, 

 of which the learned author seems to know every corner and 

 mountain range, with its inhabitants, with an accuracy and 

 precision altogether unexampled. How ignorant we were 

 only a few years ago of the real facts of Indian Ethnology, 



* Is the name of Evi or Ive-land of the same origin ? 



t Ueber ein merkwiirdiges Volk des Kaukasus, die Kubetschi. Von C. W. 

 Fraehn. 



X Beytrag lur Geschichte des Afghanischen Stammes der Jusafsey. Von 

 B. Dorn. 



