1898.] Annual Address. 71 



Ethnographic and Linguistic Surveys. — During the period under 

 review two new Surveys have been added to those already existing in 

 India and doing such splendid scientific work. 



The first of these is the Ethnographic Survey, which, so far as 

 Bengal is concerned, was under the direction of the Hon'ble H. H. Risley, 

 C.T.E. This survey is one of the direct results of the general census of 

 1881. It was not commenced, however, before 1885, in Bengal, and 

 it was completed there in 1891 with the publication of Mr. Risley's 

 report in four volumes. In the North- Western Provinces it was taken 

 up in 1892 under the superintendence of Mr. W. Crook, and was 

 completed in 1896, also with the publication of a Report in four 

 volumes. The survey of the Panjab was started in 1894 under the 

 charge of Mr. Long worth Dames, and is still -in progress. 



The scheme of these ethnographic enquiries was framed from the 

 first so as to serve two distinct purposes, the one in the main adminis- 

 trative, the other principally scientific, — a distinction which is carefully 

 maintained in the four volumes embodying the results of Mr. Risley's 

 portion of the work. The administrative uses are subserved by his first 

 two volumes which contain, in alphabetical order, in the form of a glos- 

 sary, an enumeration and description of the tribes, castes, sects and 

 occupations of the people of Bengal The other two volumes give the 

 scientific part of the enquiry, and consist of the tables of anthropometric 

 data on which Mr. Risley's ethnographic generalisations are based. 

 Special interest attaches to these tables; for they are the first attempt on a 

 large scale to apply the anthropometric system, elaborated by the French 

 school of anthropologists, to the elucidation of the problem of caste 

 which is so prominent in India. In the introduction to his first volume 

 Mr. Risley discusses this problem in the light which is thrown on 

 them by the data collected in the tables. His conclusions may be 

 thus summarised. The whole of India is inhabited by a dolicho- 

 cephalic or long-headed race. The brachycephalic or broad-headed race 

 occurs only along the northern and eastern borders of Bengal, and can 

 hardly be deemed Indian at all. In the long-headed race, however, two 

 extreme forms can be distinguished, the Aryan and the Dravidian ; 

 and between these two extreme forms there are a large number of 

 intermediate groups, each of which forms, for matrimonial purposes, 

 a sharply defined circle, commonly known as a caste, beyond which 

 none of its members can pass. If these groups are arranged in the 

 order of their average nasal index, or the formula indicating the 

 proportion of the length of the nose to its breadth, so that the caste with 

 the finest nose shall be at the top, and that with the coarsest at the 

 bottom of the list, it is found that this order substantially corresponds 



