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NATURE 



\Sept. 23, 1875 



their fellows immediately after his decease, their idea of a future 

 state being that they become devils after death. They never 

 laugh, and they' are very noteworthy as being the only savage 

 race in existence speaking an Aryan language . Their vocabulary 

 consists largely of words derived directly from the Singhalese ; 

 others indicated an affinity with Pali or Sanskrit, whilst there 

 remained a considerable residue of doubtful origin. There was 

 an absence of any distinctly Dravidian element. 



In the discussion on these papers, Prof. Rolleston said that 

 the ethnology and languages of Hindostan were now in pretty 

 much the same state of fusion as those of Great Britain. Since 

 the writings of Sir George Campbell and others, and the excel- 

 lent publications of the Indian Government, he had arrived at 

 the conclusion that the Australioid and not the Mongolian type 

 was that which formed the substratum all through the outcast 

 tribes of India : this accorded also with the probabilities of evo- 

 lution. He believed that the earliest races of mankind were 

 eminently Australioid, with long and narrow heads. With re- 

 gard to the Weddas, it was a most interesting question whether 

 they were really a degraded outcast Sanskrit population. Max 

 Miiller was of that opinion ; and their possession of the bow and 

 arrow, which no Australioid ever had, tended in that direction. 

 Their skulls were not Australioid. — Sir George Campbell did not 

 know that there was any authentic case of degradation of a race. 

 In this instance the primd facie inference seemed to him to be 

 that the Weddas were an aboriginal race. Very small tribes 

 which had been reduced in numbers easily changed their language 

 under the influence of a more powerful surrounding people. 

 From the photographs of the Weddas he pronounced their ab- 

 solute identity in feature with many of the barbarous aboriginal 

 tribes of India which he had seen, and which were distinctly non- 

 Aryan. The use of the bow was universally known among the abo- 

 riginal races of India, which had the same notions about witchcraft, 

 &c. as the Weddas. He asked for information as to their strength 

 in the left arm, which Mr. Hartshorne had mentioned, for he had 

 always supposed that the use of the bow called forth strength in 

 the right arm. — Mr. Hartshorne said that in his experience of 

 shooting with the bow, he had found that the great tension in 

 pulling the bow was on the muscles of the left fore-arm. He was 

 therefore prepared to find that the Weddas were stronger in the 

 left arm, and it was so. — Sir Walter Elliot agreed with Sir G. 

 Campbell as to the aboriginal character of the Weddas, but be- 

 lieved in the possibility of great degradation. — Mr. Hyde Clarke 

 said they had all the appearance of being an aboriginal people. 

 Their speaking an Aryan language was no decisive reason for 

 calling them Aryans. 



Dr. Leitner gave a graphic summary of the results of his 

 travels and researches in the Central Asian region to which 

 he has given the name Dardistan. He gave the following as 

 the chief results of his investigations: — "First, we have ascer- 

 tained the existence of a number of languages — one of which, 

 Chilasi, the object of my mission, is a mere rude dialect — which 

 were spoken at or before the time that Sanskrit became the ' per- 

 fect ' language, for no one who can speak any of the derivative 

 languages of India can class the bulk of the Dard languages 

 among them. Secondly, the legends and traditions of the Dards 

 show a more European tone and form than anything we find in 

 India. Thirdly, by the adoption of the term Dardistan for the 

 countries between Kabul, Kashmir, and Badakshan, we are driven 

 to compare a number of races which offer certain analogies, and 

 which may have a certain history in common since the time of 

 Alexander the Great's invasion of India. Fourthly, our Govern- 

 ment now know accurately what they certainly did not know 

 before 1866, the modern history of the countries bordering 

 on Kashmir." He found that the dialects in this district, 

 which were in a highly inflexional state, had been preserved 

 from deterioration by isolation and other causes. He had very 

 little doubt that Dardistan was the first halting-place of the 

 Aryan migration to India ; the second being Kashmir. There 

 was as great a diiference among some of their dialects as between 

 French and Italian. They had songs, legends, and fables of 

 superior character, which he had carefully taken down and 

 would publish. Among the evidences of their high state of 

 civilisation were the respect shown to the female sex, and the 

 liberty and responsibility accorded to them ; their love and 

 charity to animals ; and the charm and beauty of their legends. 

 They called themselves the brethren of the Europeans. Asso- 

 ciated with them was a race of predatory kidnappers, very 

 similar to them, but speaking a somewhat different language. 

 He had found a great quantity of art products, especially sculp- 

 tures, which clearly indicated a great influence of Greece upon 



them in very early times, probably through the existence of the 

 Bactrian kingdom. There was no trace of the later and more 

 extravagant influences of Buddhism, but scenes essentially Budd- 

 histic and Asian were treated after the Greek manner, and very 

 much with the Greek success. Expression attained a high level 

 in these works. 



Prof, Rolleston read a paper On the Applicability of Historical 

 Evidence to Ethnological Inquiries, in which he showed the 

 danger of drawing conclusions from isolated expressions of his- 

 torians unless they were of the first class, such as Caesar and 

 Tacitus, He quoted modern examples of carelessness and inac- 

 curacy in this respect. He referred especially to the Cimbri, 

 who were dealt with in the next paper, and expressed his ina- 

 bility, from any historical investigation, to come to a satisfactory 

 conclusion as to who they were. 



Prof. Rawlinson's paper On the Ethnography of the Cimbri 

 was in favour of the Celtic theory of their ethnological character. 

 He said that in favour of the theory that they were Germans the 

 following considerations were urged : — The supposed etymology 

 of their names; their geographic position before they began their 

 wanderings in Jutland and between the Rhine and the Elbe ; 

 their close alliance with the Teutons, whom all allowed to be 

 Germans ; their physical characteristics, blue eyes and flaxen 

 hair ; some points of their manners and customs, especially the 

 fact that their armies were accompanied to battle and directed 

 by priestesses rather than priests ; and, lastly, the statements of 

 Julius Caesar, Strabo, Pliny the elder, and Tacitus, who include 

 the Cimbri in their lists of German nations. The advocates of 

 the Celtic theory relied chiefly on five arguments : (i) the name 

 Cimbri, which they identified with the term Cymry or Cymraeg, 

 which was still the native name of the Welsh ; (2) the almost 

 imanimous authority of the Greek and Roman writers, excepting 

 Julius Cjesar ; (3) the individual names of Cimbri, which were 

 Celtic ; (4) the fact that the Romans employed Celts as spies to 

 bring them intelligence of the designs of the enemy during the 

 Cimbric war ; (5) the manners and customs of the people, which 

 were held to be far more Celtic than German. They also jomed 

 issue on the argument from the physical characteristics of the 

 race, which they held to be, according to the description given, 

 at least as near the Celtic as the German type. Prof. Kawlinson 

 then -proceeded to examine the various arguments, holding that 

 the balance was in favour of the Celtic origin, though it was a 

 point open to dispute, and unless fresh data should be obtained, 

 which seemed very unlikely, would always remain among the 

 vexed questions which would divide ethnologists. — Dr. E, A, 

 Freeman dissented from Prof. Rawlinson's conclusions, holding 

 strongly to the opposite theory. He especially censured his 

 rejection of the evidence of Julius Cresar and Tacitus, 



The ethnology of New Zealand and Polynesia received much 

 attention owing to the presence of two distinguished authorities, 

 the Rev. Wyatt Gill, from the Hervey Islands, and Dr. Hector, 

 of the New Zealand Geological Survey. The connection be- 

 tween the origin of the Maories and the Polynesians was brought 

 out in a series of papers followed by a valuable discussion, Mr, 

 W, S. Vaux, in a paper On the probable origin of the Maori race, 

 concluded that the Maories were the descendants of the great colo- 

 nising race of yellow men who originally migrated from Central 

 Asia. The Rev, W. Gill then read a paper On the origin 

 of the South Sea Islanders, i Mr. Gill said that Mr, A. R. 

 Wallace, in his " Malay Archipelago," has advanced the 

 theory that the Polynesians are descended from a race which 

 once overspread a vast submerged southern continent. As 

 the land gradually sank, a few of the aborigines may have 

 escaped to the tops of the loftiest mountains, around which subse- 

 quently coral reefs were found. Admitting that Polynesia is 

 pre-eminently an area of subsidence, and its great widespread 

 groups of coral reefs may mark out the positions of former conti- 

 nents, Mr, Gill believed that Mr, Wallace's reference was un- 

 warranted. (I) Supposing that human beings inhabited this 

 great southern continent at the period of the subsidence, and that 

 a remnant escaped, it is not probable human life could have been 

 sustained on the tops of these mountains for any considerable 

 time, owing to the want of food and water. (2; The theory is 

 utterly opposed to the native accounts of their own origin, which 

 all point to the north-west. (3) The spread of the race can 

 easily be accounted for on the basis of historical facts. In 1862 

 he saw on Manua, the easternmost island of the Samoan group, a 

 small boat which had accidentally drifted from Moorea, a dis- 

 tance of 1,250 miles, and no life was lost. A few months later 

 on in the same year Elikana and his friends drifted in a canoe 

 from Manihiki to Nukurakae, in the Ellice group, .lying N.W. of 



