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confirmation to that remark, I would mention that a good many years ago, 
while serving in China, I had a very interesting passage up the coast 
from south to north, and among my fellow-passengers was Sir Robert 
Hart, a gentleman whose name is familiar to you all. He had taken a 
world of interest in this question of the distribution of man, and he had in- 
quired among the different Pacific islands to see whether he could trace 
any grounds for the belief that the American continent owed its popula- 
tion to the Asian continent.* In the Aleutian Islands he observed a peculiar 
circumstance, which was the manner in which the natives reckoned their 
relationship, and he found that it coincided with that in use among the 
Chinese, and he could trace it nowhere else. I heard on Saturday from an 
American gentleman, with whom I was talking of the descendants of the 
slave population, that the descendants of the original Africans who went to 
America as slaves are assuming a less black colour than their forefathers, 
showing, of course that a modification takes place in man’s appearance 
according to locality. If a change is observable in so short a time as two or 
three generations, I can readily believe that it would be very marked 
indeed ina number of centuries. When I was in China, among other places 
I visited were the native prisons in Canton, and I saw a number of prisoners 
in all conditions of wretchedness; but what struck me was that, their 
hair having been allowed to grow long, their features assumed almost 
exactly the characteristics of those representations of American Indians 
with which all are familiar. Of course, they had flat, high cheek-bones, 
which indicated the Mongolian race distinctly. But, inasmuch as the modi- 
fication I have alluded to in the African race is perceptible in so short a time 
as has elapsed since the slave trade took place with America, we can sup- 
pose how a similar modification would take place in the course of generations 
in the Mongolian population who have passed to America. Another cir- 
cumstance I noticed was an illustration of the way in which a race may 
become distributed. Quite lately I had occasion to cross the Bay of Bengal 
from the Carnatic coast to Burmah. We experienced by no means favour- 
able weather, but, as we approached the mouth of the Irrawaddy, I was sur- 
prised to find a native craft signalling us by loading her masts with flags, 
We knew she wished to speak, a boat was lowered and the ship com- 
municated with. Shortly afterwards a native Burman and his canoe were 
hoisted down to the steamer’s boat and brought on board. The story was 
this:—The man had been out fishing on the Irrawaddy, a flood came and 
swept him out to sea, and he was buffeting about in the Bay of Bengal for 
days until he was fortunately picked up by this native craft. The idea that 
struck me was that this was an illustration of the way in which the popu- 
lations of continents may be transmitted to islands and other continents. 
Within a parenthesis I may say that the reason they covered all their masts 
with bunting was that they knew they had the proper signals on board, but, 
* This subject is also referred to in Mr. Whitmee’s paper, vol. xiv.—Eb. 
