PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF LONDON. 275 



warded the present specimens to the author of this paper, found 

 them in the sockets of the eyes of some of the Peruvian mummies 

 at Arica. The purpose to which they were applied is thus definitely 

 settled. 



January/ 24th ^ 1865. 



The paper before the meeting was " On the Progress of Civili- 

 zation in the Northern Celebes," by Mr. A. E. Wallace. Its prin- 

 cipal object was to bring under discussion the system of coffee-cul- 

 ture established since 1822, through the intermediation of the native 

 chiefs, and under the direction of European "controlleurs," by the 

 Dutch government, and the beneficial influences it has had upon the 

 native population. Up to a very recent period these people had 

 been thorough savages, and there were persons still living who re- 

 member a state of things identical with that described by the writers 

 of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Now the coffee plan- 

 tations and rice fields are cultivated in common — men, women, and 

 children working together at weeding and gathering ; an account is 

 kept of the work done by each family, and when the crop is gathered 

 each receives a proportionate share. A fixed price is established at 

 which the government buys the coffee, and the village chiefs, who 

 are dignified with the titles of " Mayors," receive 5 per cent. The 

 duty of the " controlleurs" is to visit every village in succession 

 once a month, and to report on their condition to the G-overnment. 

 The coff'ee plantations were established by the Dutch government at 

 a considerable outlay of skill and capital ; roads have been made, 

 and education has been freely given to the people ; and if in return 

 the Government claims the monopoly of the produce as the most 

 economical and least oppressive mode of taxation, what right have 

 we to cry out against it whilst we maintain a salt-tax and an opium 

 monopoly in India, neither of which can be shown to have been as 

 directly instrumental in raising and elevating the people as this 

 coffee culture ? The author thought that there was gi'eat wisdom 

 in treating uncivilized people for a while as children under a system 

 of moderate tutelage, and that indeed it was necessary for their pre- 

 servation to educate and protect them for a sufficient time before 

 exposing them to the full contact with the wealth and energy of 

 civilized Europeans. 



Fehruary Itli, 1865. 

 The paper for the evening wa.-?, " On Human Eemaius and Works 



