402 SYSTEMS OP CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



other that either might have been taken for the same purpose. This schedule was 

 filled out by the Rev. James L. Scott, of Futtehgurh, North India, a missionary of 

 the American Presbyterian Board. 1 The care with which it was executed is shown 

 by his letter, which is appended in a note as a verification of the work. 2 This 

 system is specially interesting because it seems to embody the history and the 

 results of a conflict between the descriptive and the classificatory forms, which are 

 the opposites of each other in their fundamental conceptions. 



The first noticeable feature of the Hindi system appears in the fraternal and 

 sororal relationships. Their conception in the twofold form of elder and younger, 

 which is the rule rather than the exception amongst Asiatic nations, gives place to 



1 I cannot mention the name of this distinguished scholar without improving the same moment to 

 acknowledge my great obligations to him for his courtesy, and for the very efficient aid which he has 

 rendered me in India in procuring material for the illustration of my subject. Beside working out 

 the Hindi system, I am indebted to him for procuring the Marathi, the Gujarathi, the Canarese, and 

 one of the Tamil schedules. He also endeavored to obtain for me the system of the people of NTpal, 

 of the Assamese, and of the Malays. Without his friendly co-operation the materials for illustrating 

 the systems of consanguinity of the Asiatic nations would have been quite insufficient. If these lines 

 should ever meet the eyes of my friend in his distant field of labor, I trust he will regard them as 

 but a faint expression of my grateful appreciation of his friendship. A person at all familiar with 

 the excessive and exhausting labors of the American missionaries, in the enervating climate of India, 

 will understand the measure of the obligation imposed, by the voluntary assumption on their part 

 of additional labor, in the interests of science. 



FtJTTEHGCRH, April 30, 1860. 



1 MY DEAR SIR: It has given me much pleasure to fill the schedule which you have sent, and I 

 now return it, having done the best I could to make it accurate. I have gone over it two or three 

 times in company with a maulwi, a moushee, a pundit, and one or two others, besides having had 

 the assistance of an elderly female whom I found skilled in relationships. I have besides had it 

 revised by a friend of mine, assisted by his pundit, who pronounced it correct. Under these circum- 

 stances I may be allowed to express the hope that no mistake has been made, and that you may 

 depend upon the accuracy of the Table. 



The language which I have used is the Hindi. Had I used the Urdu, which is the language in- 

 troduced by the Mussulmen conquerors of India, the system would have been substantially the same, 

 with here and there a Persian instead of a Hindi term. The explanation of this I suppose is, that 

 the Mussulmen have, in the main, adopted the Hindi system. The Hindi language is, I am per- 

 suaded, the one in which it was the most important that the schedule should be prepared. It is the 

 language of the great mass of the people, and is derived immediately from the Sanskrit. Hence it 

 represents the system of relationship adopted by the Aryan race, who are shown by affinities of lan- 

 guage to be the same race as our own. 



And yet I see that their system of relationship is, in some points, strikingly similar to that which 

 you have found among the American Indians, and which is represented as existing among the abori- 

 gines of Southern India. I hope you will be able to explain how this has happened. 



The Hindi language is spoken with slight variation over a large portion of Northern India, and I 

 should expect to find that the same system of relationship prevails in the Punjaub or the Mahratta 

 country, and in Bengal, the languages of these countries being only different dialects, all looking up 

 to the Sanskrit as their common parent. 



The system of notation which I have used is that adopted by Sir William Jones, and extensively 

 used in this country. By attending to the directions I have given, you will, I think, have no difficulty 

 in reading it. Wishing you every success in your investigations, 



I remain, dear sir, yours sincerely, 



J. L. SCOTT. 

 To L. H. MORGAN, Esq., Rochester, New York. 



