TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 831 



most favourite places for the dance, and the Welsh danced in their graveyards 

 after the conclusion of the sermon until quite recently. At one time of the world's 

 history the dance must have been exclusively an act of homage towards the Deity, 

 or the ministers and earthly representatives of the Deity. 



As nations gi'ow out of infancy and become more artificial and afl'ected, the 

 dance loses in siarnificance. 



3. Report of the Ethnographical Survey Committee. — See Reports, p. 509. 



4. On EthnograpJiical Observations in Bast Aberdeenshire.^ 

 JBij J. Gray, B.Sg. 



In August last, observations were made by the Buchan Field Club on the 

 people at the Mintlaw Gathering, in the centre of north-east Aberdeenshire. At 

 the entrance, the colour of hair and eyes, and shape of nose of 2,309 males and 

 649 females were noted. In a tent in the grounds measurements were made of the 

 height (standing and sitting), and length and breadth of head, of 169 adult native 

 males. The people belonged to the agricultural class. The gate observations gave 

 the following gross percentages:— //a!>— fair 9-7, red 5-7, brown 64-4, dark 20-2 ; 

 ^yes— dark 26-2, medium 49-0, light 24-8 ; wows— straight 56-4, concave 19-9, high 

 bridge or Eoman 14-8, sinuous or wavy 67, and aquiline or Jew 2-2. 



In the gate observations, it was found that in the majority of cases light eyes 

 were associated with fair hair, and dark eyes with dark hair. The ratio'^of light 

 to dark eyes changed gradually from fair hair, through red and brown hair, to dark 

 hair. On analysing the combinations of hair colour with the dili'erent types of 

 noses, it was found that the sum of the fair and red hair associated with each type 

 of nose was, in each case, almost the same, but the number of cases with dark hair 

 was least with concave noses and greatest with aquiline noses. This appears to 

 indicate that one of the primitive race-types had fair hair, light eyes, and a con- 

 cave nose. This agrees with the Germanic or Oanstadt type. The extreme 

 cephalic indexes obtained in the tent measurements were 86 and 70 ; but the most 

 usual indexes were 77 and 79. The diagrams of head breadths and lengths, 

 heights, and cephalic indexes all show two principal maxima near the centre, with 

 at least two smaller maxima at the sides. The prevailing type in the district has 

 brown hah-, medium eyes, and a straight nose ; but this appears to be a mixed 

 type, sprung from the mixture of a dolichocephalic fair race with two dark races, 

 one dolichocephalic and tall, and the other brachycephalic and short. 



5. On the Suffolk Dialect. By C. G. de Betham. 



6. General Conclusions on Folk-lore. By Edward Clodd. 



7. Illustrations of Folk Lore. By Professor A. C. Haddon. 



' A full account will be published in the Transactions of the Buchan Field Club, 



