H.— ANTHROPOLOGY. 1^57 



Quite apart from such states of society as are neither wholly primi- 

 tive nor entirely advanced, we have in the Old World three great centres 

 of culture, each of which has in its turn been in the van of progress, and 

 each of which has contributed no little to the advance of the others. 

 These are the civilisations of China and the Far East, of the Peninsula 

 of Hindustan, and what, for lack of a better term, I must call the 

 European Region. 



Though our relations with China and Japan have been intimate, 

 and on the whole friendly, for several generations, and many of our 

 compatriots are fairly familiar with both countries and their languages,, 

 it is surprising how little we know of either of these people from the 

 strictly anthropological standpoint. Tliis is the more to be regretted 

 since for over half a century Japan has been undergoing a change 

 and adopting fresh features from Western civilisation, while there are 

 signs that the same movement is beginning to take place in China. 

 So far those who have had an opportunity O'f working in these countries, 

 and have made themselves familiar with the languages of the Far East, 

 have studied the art, literature, philosophy, and religion of these regions, 

 rather than those aspects which more properly belong to our subject. 

 I have no desire to minimise the value oi such studies, but as part of 

 the science of man we need to know more of the physical form and 

 mental traits of these people, more, too, of their ordinary material culture 

 as it was before it came into contact with and borrowed from the West, 

 more of the dialects spoken in their provinces, and particularly more 

 abo'ut their social and territorial organisation, and abo'Ut the beliefs and 

 superstitions which have survived alongside of their official religion. 

 Certain fragments of such information are, it is true, to be found 

 among the writings of Westerners who' have lived long in the East, but 

 there are so many gaps in onr knowledge that it is not easy to piece 

 them together into an intelligible whole. 



What concerns us more nearly in this country is the Indian Eegion. 

 Here we have a well-defined province, peopled by successive waves of 

 different races, speaking different languages, and with different customs 

 and beliefs — an apparently inextricable tangle of diverse elements in 

 various stages of cultural evolution. A vast amount of material has 

 been gathered in the past, though such collecting has not been pro- 

 ceeding so fast during the last generation ; but basic problems are still 

 unsolved, and seem at times well-nigh insoluble. Perhaps it is this 

 superabundance of material, or it may be the apparent hopelessness of 

 the task, which has diminished the interest taken in these studies during 

 the past few years. This attitude is regrettable, and the only redeeming 

 feature is the extremely active and intelligent interest in these problems 

 now taken by various groups of Indian students, especially in the 

 University of Calcutta. 



I have suggested that perhaps the lack of interest in such matters 

 among Anglo-Indians, and especially among members of the Indian 

 Civil Service, may be due to the apparent hopelessness of reaching a 

 solution of any of the problems involved. It may also be due to the 

 fact that they are sent out from this country to govern a population 

 with different cultures and beliefs, and traditions wholly unlike those 



