December 15, 1898] 



NA TURE 



163 



- Nuttall summarised her own observations of the same 



peoples. 

 ' Miss Mary A. Owen contributed a note on the myths and 



customs of the Miisqiiakie Indians. 

 ' Mr. C. Hill-Tout sent photographs of newly-discovered rock 

 1^ drawings from British Columbia. 



■ The second report of the Committee of the Ethnographical 



' Survey of Canada stated that the investigation presents two 



main branches : (l) that dealing with the white races, and (2) 



l that dealing with the aborigines or Indians. These, however, 



' are not entirely distinct, for a particularly interesting line of 



inquiry is that relating to the Metis or " half-breeds,'' resulting 



.1, from the intermixture of the whites and Indians. 



[ > JThree sets of anthropometric instruments have been purchased, 



and distributed to Mr. Charles Hill-Tout, of \'ancouver ; to 



I Mr. A. F. Hunter, of Barrie, Ontario, who has associated with 



him Dr. F. Tracey, of Toronto ; and to Dr. A. C. Hebbert, of 



Montreal. A camera, specially adapted to its work in the field, 



has been placed in the liands of Mr. Hill-Tout. 



\ Communication has been opened with the Committee ap- 



;' pointed by the American Association for the Advancement of 



Science for an Ethnographic Survey of the United States. 

 ' The several provincial governments of Canada have been ap- 

 proached for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, grants in aid 

 ' of the work of the Committee. Nothing has, however, so far 

 resulted from the communications referred to in the way of 

 material aid ; but Mr. David Boyle has been commissioned by 

 the Government of Ontario to obtain photographs of the Indians 

 of the province in connection with his investigations of Iroquois 

 religious rites. Proceeding upon the lines adopted by Mr. B. 

 , Suite in regard to the province of (^)uebec (whose results form 

 ! Appendix II. of the Committee's Rejiort), a similar inquiry has 

 ' been undertaken by Mr. A. F. Hunter in regard to the com- 

 ' position of the population of the several counties of the province 

 ' of Ontario. In British Columbia Mr. C. Hill-Tout has been 

 I able to do some work among the Haida Indians, and his results 

 1 are presented in Appendix I. 



On Monday, September 12, Miss A. G. Weld exhibited an 

 I early Cinghalese bronze image of Buddha, found in 1886 on 

 the estate of Baltrasna, about 15 miles from Kells, by a labourer 

 ' digging deep into a bog. Mr. C. H. Read accepted the image 

 ' as a genuine work of Buddhist art, but quoted the frequent dis- 

 covery of Chinese porcelain seals on Irish sites, which, like the 

 figure in question, were probably not imported before the estab- 

 , ment of the tea trade. Sir John Evans pointed out that a bog 

 would offer a safe place ot concealment for stolen property. 

 j Dr. Beddoe stated that there was evidence, which was at least 

 suggestive, that Buddhist missionaries did at some remote period 

 reach these islands. 

 ! Mr. W. Crooke, late Director of the Anthropological Survey 

 ' of the North-western Provinces and Oudh, read a paper on the 

 ' jungle-folk and other Dravidians of Northern and Central India, 

 describing the character of the country occupied by these races, 

 j their environment, food-.supply and industries, and considering, 

 ( mainly on the evidence of anthropometry, the relations between 

 j these jungle races and the peoples inhabiting tlie great northern 

 plains. The suggestion that they were Mongoloid was dismissed 

 I as contrary to evidence recently collected. There was probably 

 I an original Negrito element in the earlier Indian races, but the 

 .' existing traces of it appear hardly elsewhere than in the Veddas 

 and the Todas. The existing Dravidians possibly represent a 



(later emigration from the African continent, possibly reaching 

 India by a route more northerly than that taken by the Negritos. 



In regard to the preponderate Dravidian element in the existing 

 J races, he briefly discussed the measurements collected by Mr. 

 ) Risley and himself, and while generally accepting the conclusion 



that the effect of the Aryan invasion was more social than racial, 

 \ he emp'hasised ihe need of a more extensive collection of 

 \ measurements both on Indian soil as well as in Eastern Africa. 

 I He then proceeded to note survivals of primitive custom among 

 I the Dravidians. A discussion followed in which Dr. Beddoe, in 

 I conflict with Mr. Risley, asserted the existence of a considerable 

 I Aryan element among the present races. 



Mr. Sidney Hartland desired to emphasise the value of the 

 ' work done by Mr. Crooke in his inquiries among the races of 

 : the North-west Province and Oudh, and referred to the fact 

 I that ethnological work was positively discouraged among its 

 1 officials by the Indian Government. Any one who realised the 

 I already very complex character of the facts relating to the 



native races, and the still increasingly complicated differenti- 



' NO. 1520, VOL. 59] 



ation of new sub-castes and sections, must come to the conclusion 

 that the amazing indifference of the Indian Government to 

 ethnological questions was nothing short of suicidal. He would 

 be glad if a representation could be made to the Indian Govern- 

 ment urging the pressing importance to the Indian Empire of 

 an exhaustive and sympathetic study of the races under its care. 

 The President heartily associated hiir.self with the suggested 

 appeal to the Indian Government. 



An ad iiilerim Report of the Torres Straits Anthropological 

 Expedition was read, to the effect that Murray Island was reached 

 on May 6, where, iin the course of a fortnight, a number of 

 anthropological and psychological observations were made. 

 Delena was reached on May 27, and Port Moresby on May 31. 

 In the absence of the Governor, Sir William Macgregor, Mr. 

 Musgrave gave every assistance. Short visits were paid to 

 Kaile, Kappakappa, Hula, Babaka and Kerepunu. Sub- 

 sequently a short excursion was made to the Astrolabe Range. 

 Drs. Rivers, MacDoiigall and Myers have obtained a large 

 number of observations in experimental psychology, and the 

 whole of the party have enjoyed good health. 



Mr. R. E. Guise, in a paper on the tribes inhabiting the 

 vicinity of the mouth of the Wanigela (Kemp Witch) River, 

 New Guinea, described the tribes of Bulaa, Kamali, Babaka, 

 and Kalo. 



Mrs. Isabella Bishop read an instructive paper on the Mantzu 

 of Western SzeChuan. She entered upon the territory of 

 the Tssu-Su of Goms and lived for some weeks among the 

 Mantzu, being lodged either in their houses or on their 

 roofs. She described the aspect of their villages and their 

 dwellings, their devotion to Lamaistic Buddhism, their system 

 of government, and their marriage and burial customs. Their 

 most noteworthy characteristic was the position accorded to 

 women, who were as unfettered as in England and America, 

 and were on an absolute equality with men, possessing legal 

 rights to property. She minutely described the dress and 

 ornaments of both sexes, showing their occupations and 

 amusements, and pointed out certain resemblances to the Lolos 

 of Yunnan. They had their own language, but it was written 

 in Tibetan characters. Their physiognomy was European in 

 expression as well as feature, and recalled that of the Latin races. 

 Mr. Archibald Little described some of his own experiences 

 in the region, and characterised the inhabitants as being polite 

 and hospitable. They seemed to be wedged in between China 

 and Tibet ; and how they came there appeared to be an 

 ethnological puzzle, as their appearance was similar to the high- 

 class Italian. Mr. Warington Smyth commented upon the 

 characteristics of the country. 



Sir T. Hungerford Holdich's paper on the Afridis and 

 Swatis was postponed, owing to the serious illness of the author. 

 On Tuesday, September 13, Miss Mary H. Kingsley read a 

 paper on West African conceptions of property, the object of 

 which was to give some idea of the law and nature of property 

 among the peoples of true Negro stock. The geographical dis- 

 tribution of the true Negro stock is a subject worthy of attention 

 for several reasons. One is that among these peoples were found 

 the most highly developed form of native African culture ; another, 

 that in the matters of physical and mental characteristics the 

 true Negro diflfers greatly from the better-known Bantu stock. 

 A high percentage of error had at present been attained by the 

 failure to recognise these diR'erences, and thereby the work of 

 Sir A. B. Ellison the true Negro, and that of Bastian on the true 

 Bantu, had not yet been given its full .scientific value. The three 

 kinds of property existing in West African culture are (l)an 

 ancestral property of the tribe ("stool" or "cap" property); 

 (2) family property in which every member of the family had a 

 certain share, to which every member had to contribute, and on 

 which every member had a claim ; (3) private piroperty, 

 acquired by personal exertion (over and above that made in co- 

 operation with other members of their family) gained by gifts, or 

 made in trade by the exertion of superior trading ability. Each 

 of these kinds of property was equally sacred in the eye of 

 native law. The only kind that could become another kind of 

 property was the private. Stool property and family property 

 remained of their kind for ever, and could not be alienated, 

 though liable, with all the other kinds, to meet debt. Wealth 

 was divisible into {a) the means by which property could be ac- 

 quired and developed, to which division belonged wives and 

 slaves ; (h) property in power over market rights, utensils, 

 canoes, arms, furniture, and trade goods. Property was guarded 

 by and existed under the law represented by the cult of the law 



