May 26, 1898] 



NA TURE 



83 



various classes which inhabit the city of Madras, during 

 my residence at headquarters ; (2) periodical tours to 

 various parts of the Presidency, with a view to the study 

 of the more important tribes and classes ; (3) the publi- 

 cation of bulletins, wherein the results of my work are 

 embodied ; (4) the establishment of an anthropological 

 laboratory (Fig. i), equipped with the apparatus 

 necessary for carrying out anthropometric research ; 

 apparatus for testing sight, hearing, vital capacity, hand- 

 grip, &c. ; a small series of Hindu, Muhammadan, 

 Burmese and Sinhalese skulls ; and an anthropomorphic 

 series, still in a very early stage of development, but 

 including the finger-print impressions of an Orang-utan ; 

 (5) a collection of photographs of native types, arranged 

 in albums ; (6) a series of lantern-slides for lecture 

 purposes. 



A museum, such as that of Madras, the visitors to 

 which sign their names in Tamil, Telugu, Kanarese, 

 Malayalam, Nagari, Hindustani, Mahrati, Guzarati, 

 Bengali, Burmese, Sinhalese, and Chinese, lends itself 

 to the requirements of the anthropologist, as it is re- 

 sorted to by very large numbers of the poorer classes, 

 who, in return for a small fee, are ofttimes willing to 

 lend their bodies for the purposes of anthropometry. 

 And, nearly every morning, I am to 

 be seen measuring Hindus or Muham- 

 madans, amid an admiring crowd of 

 native visitors (the females dressed in 

 gaudy English piece-goods), in the 

 surrounding corridor. Quite recently, 

 when I was engaged in an inquiry 

 into the Eurasian or half-breed com- 

 munity, the booking for places was 

 almost as keen as on the occasion ot 

 a first night at the Lyceum, and the 

 Sepoys of a native infantry regiment, 

 quartered in Madras, entered heartily 

 into the spirit of what they called the 

 " Mujeum gymnashtik shparts," cheer- 

 ing the possessor of the biggest hand- 

 grip, and chaffing those who came to 

 grief over the spirometer. Anthropo- 

 logical research in the city of Madras, 

 where the native community has be- 

 come accustomed to the European, 

 and discovered that, if his ways are 

 peculiar, he is at any rate harmless, 

 is all plain sailing. But, in the jungles 

 and places remote from civilisation, 

 one has todeal with simple-minded folk, 

 unfamiliar with the eccentricities of 

 the investigator, and suspicious of his motives. Well do 

 I remember a native remarking at a pearl-fishery camp, 

 "Mr. Thurston is a pleasant man, and it is a great pity 

 he is so mad." The fact indicating msanity being that I 

 used to sit outside my tent in the sun, at mid-day in 

 the month of April, examining oyster after oyster in 

 connection with the pearl-producing area. 



The essential ingredients of a successful campaign 

 in the wilds are tact, patience, 4-anna pieces, cheap 

 cheerots, and, as a final resource, raw whiskey or brandy. 

 The Paniyan women of the Wynaad, when I appeared 

 in their midst, ran away, believing that I was going to 

 have the finest specimens among them stuffed for the 

 museum. Oh, that this were possible I The difficult 

 problem of obtaining models from the living subject 

 would then be disposed of. The Muppas of Malabar ; 

 mistook me for a recruiting sergeant, bent on enlisting \ 

 the strongest of them to fight against the Moplahs. An 

 Irula of the Nllgiris, who was "wanted" for some 

 ancient offence relating to a forest elephant, refused to > 

 be measured on the plea that the height- measuring 

 standard was the gallows. A mischievous rumour found j 

 credence among the Irulas that I had in my train a | 



NO. 1 49 I, VOL. 58] 



wizard Kurumba, who would bewitch their women and 

 compel me to abduct them. The Malaialis of the 

 Shevaroys got it into their heads that I was about to 

 annex their lands on behalf of the Crown, and transport 

 them to the penal settlement in the Andaman islands ; 

 and one of them informed me that he would rather have 

 his throat cut than be measured. On one occasion I 

 casually photographed a group of Badagas in their 

 bazaar, and, on the following day, a deputation waited 

 on me with a petition to the effect that " we, the under- 

 signed, beg to submit that your honour made ' botos' of 

 us, and have paid us nothing. We, therefore, beg you 

 to do this act of common justice." The deputation was 

 made happy with a pour boire. Would that official 

 deputations could be disposed of as easily ! 



Despite the trifling obstacles at the outset, confidence 

 was eventually established with the various tribes just 

 referred to, though not without a good deal of palavering 

 and mild bribery, and a sufficient number of individuals 

 for statistical purposes were investigated. 



The main objects, which are systematically kept in 

 sight during my wanderings, are : — 



(i) To record at least the essential measurements of 

 men, and (when they will permit) women. 



Fig. I. — Anthropological Laboratory. 



(2) To Study the characteristics of external anatomy. 



(3) To record " manners and customs," tattoo-marks, 

 clothing, personal adornment, &c. 



(4) To take photographs of typical individuals, dwell- 

 ing-huts, &c. 



(5) To acquire by purchase "specimens" illustrating 

 clothing, jewellery, musical instruments, games, &c. 



As a general rule the traveller, who makes collections 

 in any branch of science, hands them oyer, as a gift or 

 by purchase, to some national or provincial museum, and 

 honours are divided ; the museum securing the collec- 

 tion, and the collector being immortalised on a label or 

 in a monograph. Possibly, with luck, a new species, or 

 even genus, is named after him, and his reputation is 

 enhanced in the family circle. Looking recently, on a 

 depressing November day such as we in the East know 

 not, at a collection of sponges which to the casual visitor 

 possess no special attraction, exhibited in or by my name 

 at the British Museum (Natural History), I recalled 

 to mind the many pleasant hours spent in a dug-out 

 (canoe) on the coral reefs, an attack by a saw-fish, and 

 a severe sun-head. And the museum, whose destinies I 

 have steered since 1885, teems with happy memories of 



