178 REPORT— 1870. 



The principal objection that of late has been raised against great circle sailing is 

 "the series of ever-changing courses which a vessel must pursue." This is correct 

 with regard to true courses ; but it will be seen, by reference to the large chart, 

 that compass courses across the North Atlantic vary less than those on a rhumb 

 or on a parallel. 



Notes on Analogies of Manners hetiueen the Indo- Chinese and tJie Races of the 

 Malay Archipelago. By Col. H. Yule, C.B. 



The author believed the Malayan race to be closely connected with the Indo- 

 Chinese, although their language, which is not one of monosyllables, marked a 

 great present distinction. He had seen faces of natives from Java, on the one 

 hand, and of natives of Burmah and of the mountains on the eastern frontiers of 

 Bengal on the other, as near identity as human faces ever are ; whilst there are 

 many particulars common to the customs and peculiarities of the two regions 

 which seem to argue a close relationship. One of these common traits is the 

 aversion to the use of milk ; in Bali, where alone among the islands the Vedas 

 still exist, a preparation from the cocoa-nut is substituted for ghee in the Hindoo 

 rites. Another is the wilful staining of the teeth; and the singular custom of 

 covering the teeth entirely with a case of gold, noticed by Marco Polo among a 

 people of Western Yunnan, existed, at least recently, in Sumati'a, Timor, and at 

 Macaisar. The extravagant enlargement of the ear-lobe is also common to most 

 of the tribes of both regions. Another coincidence is an idiom of language of 

 remote origin, in which a term is added to a numeral in the enumeration of objects, 

 analogous to our word " head " in expressing a number of cattle, and of which 

 there are a large number of cases in the Malay language. Precisely the same 

 peculiarity is found in the Bm-mese, Siamese, and Chinese tongues ; and the pro- 

 pensity may be referred to a dislike to abstract numbers. The savage mania of 

 hunting for heads, generally by nocturnal ambuscade, and of treasuring them as 

 trophies, is found, with almost identical circumstances, among the wild Dayaks 

 and Kayans of Borneo and Celebes, and the wild Kukis, Nagas, and Garos of the 

 eastern frontier of Bengal. A superstitious abstinence from certain articles of 

 diet, which is hereditary and binding among certain families only, is foimd here 

 and there with remarkably coincident circumstances among the tribes of both 

 regions. Another very notable custom is the association of the whole of the 

 families of one village or community in one or in several great houses or barracks. 

 This appears to be general among some of the Dayak tribes of Borneo and among 

 the rude natives of the Pagi islands, oft' the west coast of Sumatra. The very 

 same practice is found among the Singphos, north of Burmah, and among the 

 Mekirs and Mishmis of the Assam border. The practice of ordeal by water is 

 found, with singular exactness of agreement in the circumstances, at intervals over 

 both the regions compared. No one can doubt the common origin of the music 

 and musical instruments of Burmah and Java, vastly superior as they are in spirit 

 and in melody to any thing called music in India proper ; there is also an extra- 

 ordinary similarity of dramatic entertainments in Burmah, Siam, and Java. 



The author concluded by stating that these and many other coincidences which 

 he detailed were singly of no value as argumeiits for some originnl close bond of 

 kindred, as isolated coincidences occur between the practices of the most distant 

 tribes of the earth, but that their great number must be admitted to have great 

 weight, especially considering the contiguity of the two regions. 



ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 



Address hy Professor W. Stanley Jevons, M.A., President of the Section. 



The field of knowledge which we cultivate in this Section is so wide, that it would 

 be impossible, in any introductory remarks, to notice more than a few of the im- 

 portant questions which claim our attention at the present time. 



