;S4 



NA TV RE 



[July 19, 1906 



The earliest seat of the Tibeto-Burmans seems to have 

 been ihe head-waters of the Yang-tse-kiang. From here 

 they migrated in successive waves along the valleys of the 

 great rivers of eastern India, the Salwin, the Irrawaddy, 

 the Chindwin, and the Brahmaputra. The first three led 

 them to Burmah, which they conquered, and where they 

 founded a comparatively stable kingdom. Down the 

 Brahmaputra they entered Assam, peopling the river valleys 

 and the mountains in successive waves, failing only to 

 occupy the Khasi Hills. Some of those who had entered 

 Burmah settled in the Chin Hills, and, finding no room for 

 expansion, were forced into becoming a backwash to the 

 north, entering Assam from the south — tribe after tribe, 

 in raid after raid — until the migration was stopped by the 

 strong arm of British authority. Other Tibeto-Burmans 

 went up the Brahmaputra into Tibet, which they peopled, 

 getting as far west as Baltistan and Ladakh, and also 

 occupying the Himalaya between Tibet and India proper. 

 It was here that they found and partly gave their speech 

 to the Munda-M6n-Khmer tribes already mentioned. 



The most recent Indo-Chinese immigration was that of 

 the Tais. They first appear in history in Yunnan, and 

 thence they began to occupy Upper Burmah some two 

 thousand years ago. A great wave of immigration occurred 

 in the si.xth century a.d. Not only did they 

 effectively conquer Upper Burmah, but they in- 

 vaded Assam. They peopled the Shan States, 

 and in the fourteenth century established them- 

 selves in the delta of the M^-nam, driving the 

 Mon-Khmers before them so as to form a Tai 

 wedge between those of Tenasserim and those 

 of Cambodia. This was the foundation of the 

 Tai (or Thai) kingdom of Siam. At the present 

 day the Tais are represented in British India by 

 the .Shans, the Khamtis, and other tribes of north 

 Burmah and Assam. 



\ few words may be devoted to the latest 

 great migration into India proper, that of the 

 Aryans from the north-west. We cannot tell 

 when this commenced. .^11 that we can say is 

 that parts of their earliest literary record, the 

 \'eda, which was composed in the Punjab, have 

 been considered by competent scholars to date 

 from so far back as B.C. 2000, while others date 

 them a thousand years later. The main line of 

 approach was over the most western passes of 

 the Hindu Kush, and along the valley of the 

 Kabul River into the Punjab. Thence they 

 spread over northern India. The entry into the 

 Punjab was a very gradual one, extending over 

 centuries. When the latest comers arrived tho\' 

 found that the language and the customs of their 

 earliest predecessors had developed to such an 

 extent that the former was unintelligible, and 

 the latter were unsympathetic to them. This is 

 reflected in the condition of the Aryan languages 

 of India from the earliest times to the present day. There 

 have always been two sharply differentiated groups of 

 Indo-.Aryan languages, one representing the speech of the 

 earliest invaders, and the other that of the latest, while 

 between the two there is a band of intermediate forms 

 of speech which can be referred to the dialects spoken by 

 those who were neither first nor last. 



Some .^ryan hordes entered the western Punjab from the 

 Pamirs directly to the north. Most of these settled en route 

 in the country round Gilgit, Kashmir, Chltral, and in 

 Kafiristan. Here the inhospitable character of the moun- 

 tains in which they took up their abode, and their own 

 savage nature, hindered communication with their cousins 

 ip the plains, and their customs and language developed 

 on independent lines. The latter presents extremely archaic 

 features. Words which were used three thousand years ago 

 in India proper, and which have since fallen into disuse 

 in that country, have been preserved by it almost letter for 

 letter. These .'\ryans from the Pamirs have lately been 

 identified with the Pis.achas or " ^nfio<pdyot." who in 

 later years became the subject of legend, and were looked 

 upon, in the time of Sanskrit literature, as a race of 

 demons. 



RESEARCH IN TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM} 



T^HE Department of Research in Terrestrial Magnetism 

 of the Carnegie Institution, if we may judge from 

 its report for 1905, does not intend to let the grass grow 

 under its feet. The work it has on hand at present com- 

 prises, inter alia, an examination, partly theoretical, by 

 Dr. Bauer into the secular variation of terrestrial 

 magnetism, a discussion of magnetic disturbances observed 

 during the eruption of Mont Pel^e, a general study of 

 the laws of the diurnal variation, a special investigation 

 into magnetic storms, and a discussion of magnetic observ- 

 ations made during the eclipse of the sun on August 30, 

 1905. 



In some researches the cooperation of eminent foreigners 

 has been secured. The investigation into magnetic 

 storms, for example, is being prosecuted under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. Ad. Schmidt, of Potsdam. The scheme, how- 

 ever, which figures most largely on the programme for the 

 immediate future is a magnetic survey of the North Pacific 

 Ocean. Arrangements have been made for observations in 

 countries adjacent to it, e.g. China, and a wooden sailing 

 vessel, the brig Galilee, has been specially adapted for 

 work at sea. The brig, of which a general idea will be 



NO. 191 6, VOL. 74] 



obtained from the picture here reproduced, is of about 

 60b tons, and carries a crew of eleven in addition to 

 magnetic observers. The bridge shown between the masts 

 is intended to supply a specially favourable site for mag- 

 netic observations. The vessel has already made pre- 

 liminary trips which are considered satisfactory. 



The survey of the Pacific is primarily intended to furnish 

 data for researches in which Dr. Bauer is interested, but 

 the results should also be of immediate practical use in 

 the improvement of charts. In addition to terrestrial 

 magnetism, the department is providing for work in atmo- 

 spheric electricity, and cooperation is intended with the 

 new solar observatory of the Carnegie Institution, near Los 

 Angeles, in studying the correlation between solar pheno- 

 mena and terrestrial magnetism. With the financial 

 support which the department enjoys, it may look forward 

 to an important sphere of usefulness, especially if it con- 

 centrates its efforts, and prefers substantiality to rapidity 

 of achievement. 



There are other institutions in America, e.g. the Coast 



1 Report of Department of Research in Terrestrial Magnetism, by L. A. 

 Bauer, Director. Extracted from the Fourth Year-book of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. (Washington, D.C., igo6.) 



