A V7 TURE 



[October 25, 1900 



population of West Aberdeenshire from observations made 

 and statistics compiled by himself and Mr. J. F. Tocher. These 

 observations, he said, were made at a Louach gathering in 

 Strathdon, an isolated district lying right at the head of the Don 

 Valley, with the principal object of ascertaining if any difference 

 existed between the people in the upper ends of the river valleys 

 and those on the eastern seaboard. It was reasonable to con- 

 clude, from the anthropological statistics compiled, that in 

 Aberdeenshire at some distant date an early, tall, broad-headed, 

 dark-haired and blue- eyed people, descendants of men of the 

 Bronze age, who had perhaps come from South-east Europe, 

 had been driven inland to the upper ends of the valleys and hills 

 by later immigrants from North Germany who were shorter, had 

 narrower heads, and were of a blonde type. 



Mr. J. L. Myres then read a communication from Mr. D. 

 Randall- Mad ver on the present state of our knowledge of the 

 modern population of Egypt, in which it was pointed out that 

 whereas we had from statues and paintings, and especially from 

 the skeletons found in recent excavations, a very fair idea of 

 the composition and changes in the ancient population of 

 Egypt, the interpretation of that evidence and of the problems 

 in Egyptian history which it might l)e expected to solve was 

 seriously hampered by the absence of corresponding evidence in 

 regard to the modern population. 



The Committee f 'r the Ethnological Survey of Canada con- 

 tinue its most useful and necessary work, the report presented at 

 this meeting being of exceptional value. The work of the past 

 year has furnished conspicuous evidence of the great importance 

 of securing ethnological data with as little delay as possible. 

 While this is eminently true with respect to the white popula- 

 tion, which is experiencing new and marked changes almost 

 every year, in consequence of the introduction of foreign ele- 

 ments, often in large numbers, it is more particularly true with 

 respect to the native Indian population. In many localities the 

 original blood has become so diluted by intermarriage with 

 whites that it is often a matter of great difficulty to find an Indian 

 of pure blood. Proximity to settlements of white people has 

 resulted in a more or less profound impress upon the social life 

 and tribal customs, which are fast becoming obsolete and for- 

 gotten. The old chiefs who have served as the repertories of 

 traditional knowledge are rapidly passing away, and with their 

 death there disappears the last possibility of securing reliable 

 data of the greatest value. Conspicuous instances of this kind 

 have been brought to notice during the past year, especially in 

 the case of the British Columbia Indians, whose ethnology is of 

 the greatest interest and impoitance in consequence of their 

 possible connection with the people of Eastern Asia. At present 

 the great difficulty of securing competent and willing investi- 

 gators is one of tie most serious obstacles to be contended 

 with, and it is believed that the ollen considerable expense 

 involved in the prosecution of such work is largely accountable 

 for this condition of aftairs. 



It is gratifying to note that the Department of Education for 

 Ontario has taken a very practical and active interest in ethno- 

 logical studies in that province, and that it provides for the 

 publication of the results of research in its annual reports. 

 Evidence has latterly been accumulating to indicate the presence 

 at one time of numerous aboriginal settlements in localities 

 which were very sparsely inhabited when first visited by the white 

 explorers. 



The committee appointed to carry out investigations on the 

 natural history and ethnography of the Malay Peninsula pre- 

 sented their report, which had been drawn up by Mr. W. W. 

 Skeat, the leader of the expedition. 



The expedition itself was composed of members of the 

 Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The objects of the 

 expedition were to carry out a scientific survey, in which ethno- 

 logy, zoology, botany and geology should be included, of the 

 little known Malay provinces of Lower Siam. The report 

 stated that some very curious racial problems were found in the 

 district arising out of the fusion of two antagonistic race 

 elements. The most interesting problems were found in con- 

 nection with the very primitive jungle tribes of the interior, 

 concerning which much valuable information was obtained. 

 The inhabitants were found to be for the most part Malay, who 

 had become subject to Siamese influence. One little known 

 tribe — the sacred tribe of the Prams— claimed to have come 

 from India, and to have established themselves in the country 

 previous to the coming of the Malays. The expedition was 



successful in obtaining a copy of llicir sacred book, from 

 which it is believed an account of the origin of the tribe 

 may be obtained. One small jungle tribe of Pangans was heard 

 of, but though a forced march was made to reach them, the wild 

 men had heard of the approach of the expedition, and had taken 

 flight. Their late dwelling-place, a cave under a projecting 

 rock, was photographed, as also were the very curious '' tree- 

 graves " used by the Siamese. This "tree-grave" burial, how- 

 ever, was now condemned by the Bankok authorities, and 

 would become extinct before long The most interesting of 

 Malay industries observed was the manufacture of damasked 

 "krisses." Near the head-waters of the Muda a tribe of from 

 twenty to thirty individuals was found living in a long barrack- 

 like shelter of palm leaves. From them and from a neighbour- 

 ing tribe valuable information as to their manners, customs and 

 language, as well as full measurements of a few individuals, and 

 some probably unique phonographic records of their songs, had 

 been obtained, which were of an extremely simple and primitive 

 character. It was found also that many of the leading Malay 

 industries were being rapidly modified by the introduction of 

 European methods and appliances, and it was now the rarest 

 and most difficult thing to obtain cloth actually made of home- 

 spun thread, the use of Singapore silk and aniline dyes being 

 already the fashion everywhere. 



IV. 



-ARCHyEOLOGV. 



NO. 



1617, VOL. 62] 



Mr. A. M. Bell then contributed a paper on the occurrence 

 of flint implements of pala3olithic type on an old land-surface in 

 Oxfordshire, near Wolvercote and Pear-tree Hill, together with 

 a few implements of various plateau types. He stated that a 

 large section of the quaternary river-gravel there produced the 

 usual fauna and many fine implements of human workmanship. 

 This gravel cut into and was therefore newer than a previous 

 land surface, a portion of which was found at Wolvercote and 

 another within half a mile at Pear-tree Hill. In both places 

 flint instruments of palaeolithic type, together with bulbed flakes 

 and a few implements of plateau-type had been found. In every 

 case these flints were vitreous, a point which distinguished them 

 from those belonging to the liver-gravels at Wolvercote. The 

 older surface has been previously described as Northern Drift. 

 Mr. Bell said he supposed it to be a remamement — i.e. a re- 

 handling or working over of the true Northern Drift, but de- 

 posited under semi-frozen conditions. It must be anterior to the 

 river- valley, and consequently its relics of man were the oldest 

 as yet obtained from the Thames valley. The drift in question 

 most resembles the drifts of Caddington described by Mr. G. 

 Worthington Smith and some sections on the Lower Greensand 

 near Limpsfield, both of which are implemeniiferous, and the 

 author would correlate the Wolvercote and Pear-tree Hill 

 surface with these drifts. 



A paper by Mr. J. Paxton Moir on stone implements of 

 the natives of Tasmania, was read by Prof. E. B. Tylor. Ex- 

 amples of tools prepared with the help of grinding, and furnished 

 with handles, were very rare, and were evidently of Australian 

 origin. The Tasmanian implements were variously used — as, for 

 example, by the women to cut notches in the bark of trees as an 

 assistance in climbing ; in the making of the Tasmanian spear, 

 by scraping it straight and smooth ; in grooving the handle of 

 the Tasmanian club ; and in sawing bones. 



Prof Tylor then proceeded further to add his own views on 

 the Stone age in Tasmania as related to the history of civilisa- 

 tion. Inasmuch as the stage of civilisation attained by any 

 people was of necessity closely associated with the nature of the 

 implements in their possession, we might fairly assume that the 

 development and habits of Europeans of the earliest authentic 

 Stone age were essentially similar to those of the Tasmanians. 

 What then, could we infer as to the earliest human races — the 

 earliest, that is, after we had crossed the great gulf of the un- 

 known which, on the evolutionary hypothesis, existed between 

 the animal and the man? We found, taking the Tasmanians as 

 representative of the earliest grade of society, that these people 

 had no bows and arrows or throwing stones, but they had 

 spears and clubs. They had houses and boats, but of the rudest 

 imaginable type. They knew of fire, and could make it by the fire 

 slick. With their stone implements they prepared and utilised the 

 skins of animals. They made basket- woik — in fact, the basket- 

 weaving art had not substantially advanced from the earliest 

 ages of which we had any knowledge until the present. They 



