TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 153- 
j _ they are no longer pure, but mixed with Brahmin races, and if possible distinguished 
_ into castes even more than in India itself. The principal seat of the Buddhist Mon- 
gols, which may be regarded as a great and perfectly homogeneous tribe, is in Tibet, 
where they have retained their religion unchanged for centuries perfectly free from 
Indian castes; it is only in a small portion of Tibet, the westernmost, that the Bud- 
dhists have been converted to Islam. 
In Central Tibet itself, when the great caravans from Russia came through Turk- 
_ istan as far as Cashmir, a mixed race between the Tibetans and the Northern Mon- 
_ gols had been formed, which is called Argon: they are Mohammedans. 
5. ‘he half-savage, nearly naked races in the mountains to the east of the Brah- 
maputra, constitute another group to be specially referred to. From their most 
__ general characters they belong to the Mongol race, but possess little similarity even 
amongst themselves in language and bodily structure. The few religious ideas of 
the lowest kind which they possess, are also very different in the various tribes. 
6. For the sake of completeness, we have still to mention, as perfectly foreign 
races dwelling in India, besides the Europeans and their descendants of mixed race, 
the Parsis and Jewish settlers, some of them very ancient, a few Sidis from Africa, 
and Armenians, nearly all confined to the west coast of India. 
On the Influence which Physical Characteristics exert upon the Language 
and Mythology of a People, as a means of tracing the affinities of Races. 
By Professor W. K. Suttivan, MALA., 
Observations on Vancouver Island. 
By Kennetu Leiry Sutuer.ann, RWV., Barrister-at-Law, F.R.G.S. &e. 
This island, situated between the parallels of 48° 19’ and 50° 50’ north latitude, 
deserves the honour of bearing the name of one of those great men England has 
good reason to be proud of; but what would Vancouver think of his country- 
men, if he could look now upon the natural charms of this island, still breathing in 
her undiminished beauty, but no happy Christian population contentedly smiling 
through her rich valleys, drawn there not only to enjoy and partake of the bountiful 
goodness of Providence, but to promote the true welfare and conversion of the 
poor savages that are thinly scattered over the face of this smiling country, on which 
the hand of human industry has not yet been laid? Here is a soil the richest I know 
of, without a human being to draw from it even the minimum of human exertion, a 
soil that will produce whatever the husbandman may design to cultivate; the 
aboriginal inhabitants neither plant nor sow, but live upon the spontaneous products 
_of the soil,—a few roots. Do we not claim this island as a part of our possessions? 
~ and does not this ownership hold us in duty to promote to the utmost of our ability 
_ the amelioration of the moral and civil condition of these savage or semi-barbarous 
_ Indians, for the purpose of gradually fitting them to assume the characters and 
_ station of freemen,—to emancipate these poor creatures from their degraded position 
by civilization? I am sorry to see projects entered into with regard to the coloniza- 
__ tion of this island, that reason and policy, upon a closer investigation, and humanity 
_ itself, would pronounce to be premature. This island, under the existing state of 
_ affairs, is not likely to receive many colonists; all those who are intending to emi- 
_ grate will be scrupulous in purchasing land. I consider the grant of Vancouver 
Island to the Hudson’s Bay Company as an unwise act. The evil consequences 
attending the Company’s exclusive right to the fur trade will be soon felt by every 
colonist. 
_ _ But notwithstanding we make false moves in our colonies, we may be justly proud 
of them all, whether they be connected with or independent of the parent state ; and 
_ may feel not alittle vain, that the benefits we have conferred on our species, equal, 
ay, surpass, what has been accomplished by the whole of the other nations of Europe 
put together. The present system, with regard to the sale of lands in a new colon 
: oY Vancouver), appears to me to be founded on a false principle. Every frac- 
_ tion produced by the sale of lands in a new colony, should go to the ameliorating the 
e condition of the aboriginal inhabitants; if you want a stimulus to immigration to a 
_ particular colony, let not that stimulus be given at the expense of the poor savage, 
