PROCEEDINGS. | 497 
to contribute a considerable amount of grain and other tribute to 
the Imperial revenue. 
Rev. W. Morrueap seconded the vote of thanks proposed to 
General Mesny by Mr. Donovan, and said the paper they had heard 
was a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of Yunnan, and 
he hoped the greatest publicity would be given to it. He had often 
marvelled at the wonderful amount of general information to be 
derived from Central Asian sources, and felt how much we are 
indebted to those who have undergone hardship and privation in 
order to visit those remote regions and describe them to us, thereby 
adding so inestimably to our knowledge of things in general. 
Their friend had done well in putting together such a valuable 
paper in connection with his itineraries, and it would be very much 
to be regretted if his knowledge were not availed of. They would 
all be highly pleased to hear General Mesny had been appointed to 
some position in Yunnan where his unique knowledge could be 
made practically useful. They were aware he had been there for 
a number of years, and it would be interesting if he gave them a 
narrative of his experiences as regards himself, but at the same 
time, as a Society, they were indebted to a very great degree 
to him for the important information given them that night. The 
important view which presented itself to Mr. Muirhead from 
hearing General Mesny’s paper was in connection with ethnological 
observation. Was it not wonderful that the tribes of Yunnan have 
existed in that great country in such a low condition for thousands 
of years? We have been accustomed to speak of the Chinese as a 
very long-lived people; they have been here for millenniums, but 
when we look at their annals we find there were people here earlier 
than they, and it was about these they had heard from Geanmal 
Mesny there that night. We are aware the Babylonians, Persians, 
and other contemporary nations have long disappeared, and to what 
extent we know them we know them only from inscriptions on stone 
and from the scattered remains of the great edifices they constructed ; 
but not only the Chinese, but people of China anterior to the 
Chinese, are living here still, and it is of the utmost =r to 
enquire in what way they might be improved, civilised and, above 
