TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 135 
them, of the Sanskrit, the Gaelic, and Welsh, Mr. Crawfurd argued that no such 
manner of compounding words was known to either of these languages. This 
assertion was inexcusable; for if he had searched the dictionaries of the last two 
languages, he would soon have found that in upwards of one-third of the words 
the first syllable was a prefix. The author quoted numerous instances to prove 
this; and then contended that the English language was not of German origin, 
but a lan e which was principally based upon Greek and Latin, derived partly 
through Saxon and Norman-French, and partly direct from the two former lan- 
guages. 
On a Visit to Dahomey. By Mr. Crart. 
On the Commixture of the Races of Man, as affecting the Progress of Civiliza- 
tion in Eastern Asia and the Malay and Polynesian Islands. By Joun 
CrawrFurD, F.R.S. 
The writer gives, as examples, the mixture of the Chinese with the Malay, of 
the European with the Malay, and of the European with the Polynesian. The 
first description of admixture forms the largest portion of the so-called Chinese 
inhabitants of the Philippines with the Malayan Archipelago ; the second, under 
the designation of Mesizo, a considerable body in the Philippine Islands; and of 
the third, a striking instance is to be found in the Pitcairn Islanders. 
On the Origin of the Gipsies. By Jown Crawrurp, F.R.S. 
The gipsies, whose first appearance in Europe tool place 400 years ago, or about 
seventy years before the discovery of America, have excited much curiosity for the 
last fifty years, in consequence chiefly of their being believed to be Hindus—an 
hypothesis, according to the writer of this paper, for which there is no other evi- 
dence than a few Indian words in their rude language, and a somewhat darker com~ 
plexion than that of the people they are living among. Of the genuine Hindu 
words in their language he gives a list amounting to more than 123, while of other 
oriental languages, such as Persian, Turkish, and Arabic, it contains a considerable 
number. “ From all,” says he, “that has been said in the course of this paper, I 
must come to the conclusion that the gipsies, when, above four centuries ago, the 
first appeared in Western Europe, were already composed of a mixture of many dif- 
ferent races, and that the present gipsies are still more mongrel. In the Asiatic 
ortion of their lineage, there is probably a small infusion of Hindu blood ; but this 
is, 1 think, the utmost that can be predicated of their Indian pedigree. Shortly 
eaking, they are no more Hindus in lineage than they are Persians, Turks, or 
opeans; for they are a mixture of all these, and this in proportions impossible 
to ascertain.” . 
On the so-called Celtic Languages, in reference to the Question of Race, 
By Joun Crawrvrp, F.R.S. 
The object of this paper is to show that the Welsh and Armorican languages on 
‘the one side, and the Irish and Scots-Gaelic on the other, are not sister tongues, 
but distinct languages, and hence that the people speaking them, in so far as 
language can be considered evidence, are of different races. This the author 
endeavours to show by an analysis of the grammatical structures and vocabularies 
of the two tongues. “If,” says he “the facts and arguments adduced in the 
course of this paper be valid, the languages which are its subject are two dis- 
tinct and separate tongues. Bede, indeed, seven centuries ago, pronounced the 
Welsh and Irish to be as different from each other as Latin and Saxon. In so far, 
then, as language can be considered a test of race, and to the extent that one Eu- 
ropean race differs from another, the parties speaking the two languages must be 
viewed as distinct original races.” ie he concludes, “the Gaelic language on 
the one hand, and the Welsh and Armoric on the other, be two distinct tongues, 
and not, as the denomination of Celtic would give us to understand, dialects of a 
