116 G. W. LEITNER, PH.D., LL.D., D.O.L., ETC. 
would mean the female principle, ‘‘o’’ would be the self, and 
the ther would mean “the tribe” ; in other words, ‘‘ mother ”’ 
would mean : ‘‘ the female that bore me and that belongs to my 
tribe.” Now, fanciful as this may appear to us, it is the simple 
fact as regards the Hunza language, which, when put to the test 
of analysis, will throw an incredible light on the history of 
Aryan words. For instance, taking Sanskrit as a typical lan- 
guage, you will, I believe, find how the early relations grew, and 
you will get beyond the root into the parts of which the root 
is made up; each of which has a meaning, not in one or two 
instances, but in most. I am not going to read you this 
volume which I am preparing for the Indian Government, and 
which is only the first part of the analysis with regard to this 
language, and onlya very small portion indeed of the material 
that I collected in 1866, 1872, and 1884 regarding that 
important part of the world, Dardistan, which is now being 
drawn within the range of practical {Indian politics—a region 
situated between the Hindukush and Kaghan (lat. 37° N. and 
long. 73° EH. to lat. 35° N. and long. 74°30 H.), and com- 
prising monarchies and republics, including a small republic 
of eleven houses—a region which contains the solution 
of numerous linguistic and ethnographical problems, the 
cradle of the Aryan race, inhabited by the most varied tribes, 
from which region I brought the first Hunza and the first Kafir 
that ever visited England, and of which region one of its 
bigger Chiefs, owing to my sympathy with the people, 
invested me with a kind of titular governorship. In that 
comparatively small area the questions that are to be solved 
are great, and it is even now in some parts, perhaps, as 
hazardous a journey as, say, through the dark continent. 
Whether you get to the ancient Robber’s Seat of Hunza, where 
the right of plundering is hereditary, or into the recesses of 
Kafiristan or the fastnesses of Pakhtu settlers; whether you 
proceed to the republics of Darel, Tangir or Childs, or proceed 
to the community, where women are sometimes at the head of 
affairs, and which is neither worse nor better than others, an 
amount of information, especially ethnographic, is within one’s 
reach, which makes Dardistan a region that would reward a 
number of explorers. I may say, in my own instance, 
if my life is spared for ten years longer, all I could do 
would be to bring out the mere material in my possession 
in a rough form, leaving the theories thereon to be elaborated 
by others. My difficulties were great, but my reward has 
been in a mass of material, for the elaboration of which Inter- 
national, Oriental, and other Congresses and learned societies 
have petitioned Government since 1866. My official duties 
