TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 117 



lying in a position in which one of the eastern tributaries of the TTcayali is marked 

 on the maps. The forest was everywhere so dense and lofty that from no point 

 could a yiew be obtained of the Andes, although Mr. Chandless supposed they 

 would be visible. Near these upper waters a primitive tribe of Indians was met 

 with, who had never had intercourse with white men or with the trading Indians 

 lower down ; they were ignorant of the use of iron, and possessed hatchets of 

 stone. 



On the Origin of the Gipsies. By Dr. CnAKsrocK. 



On Cannibalism in Europe. By Dr. E,. S. Chaknock, F.S.A. 

 The author commenced by avowing that he was aware that the subject of his paper 

 was an unpalatable one, but asked his hearers to take into account the fact that the 

 inhabitants of Europe were at one time quite as savage as many existing cannibal 

 races. He quoted the testimony of many ancient authors in favour of the existence of 

 cannibalism among the Lsestrygones, the Lamise, and the Cyclopes. Many ancient 

 writers had advocated the theory that it was more reasonable to eat human flesh 

 than to leave it a prey to worms and to putrefaction. A French author had stated 

 that human flesh did not differ appreciably in taste from that of domestic animals, 

 and that the moral crime of cannibalism consisted in the murder and not in the use 

 of the body as food. St. Jerome's well-known testimony in favour of the existence 

 of cannibalism amongst the Attacoli or Attacoti of Scotland was cited, as well as 

 that of Diodorus Sicidus respecting the Galatce, and that of Herodotus respecting 

 the Issedones. In the middle ages cannibalism was usually attributed to all nations 

 which had not embraced Christianity ; it was fashionable to bring the accusation 

 against enemies, and the Saracens and Christians during the Crusades charged each 

 other with devouring the flesh of slain prisoners. According to Reinard, Tarik the 

 Moor served up the flesh of his prisoners to his troops. In Milan, in 1519, a woman 

 was condemned to death for enticing into her house children, whom she killed and 

 salted. In 1782 a French bandit was broken on the wheel for the murder of young 

 women and children whom he devoured. In the reign of Elizabeth a Scotch ban- 

 dit, Sawney Bean, was executed for cannibalism, and other instances were cited 

 from Germany and Spain. In the latter country a law existed by which a father 

 besieged in his lord's castle and pressed by hunger might eat his own son rather 

 than surrender the castle. During the siege of Calahorra, this law was acted on. 



The Oriental Negro. By J. Ckawftjed, F.B.S., F.G.S. 



Under the designation of " Oriental Negroes," this paper describes no fewer than 

 seven different races, all differing not only from the African Negro, but widely dif- 

 fering among themselves in physical form and in language. The Negroes of the 

 Andaman Islands, of the Malay Peninsida, are pigmies of some 4 feet 9 inches 

 .high ; the Papuan Negroes of New Guinea rise to the average of 5 feet 4 inches ; 

 while those of the Fiji group reach 5 feet 7 inches, or are of the ordinary stature 

 of Europeans. In view of all the Negro races of man, whether Occidental or 

 Oriental, the conclusion to which the writer comes is, that they are inferior to all 

 the other races in juxtaposition to them. In Africa the Negro is inferior to the 

 Mauritanian, the Egyptian, the Nubian, and the settlers from Arabia and India. 

 In the Malay Peninsula, in the Philippines, and New Guinea, he is inferior to the 

 Malay, and in the isles of the Pacific he is ininieasurably below the brown 

 straight-haired Polynesian. It is especially his mental inferiority that makes the 

 Negro everywhere liable to be domineered over or enslaved by the more highly 

 gifted races. 



On the Physical and Mental Characteristics of the African or Occidental Negro. 

 By J. Ckawftjrd, F.B.S., F.G.S. 



The Negro was defined by the author as a human being with the hair of the head 

 . and other parts of the body always black and more or less woolly ; with a black 



