1881 ] Library 15 



Mr. Ball said : — " I have heard the paper bj Mr. de Roepstorff with 

 very great interest as I have always held* in opposition to his formerly 

 expressed views that there was sufficient testimony in favour of the opinion 

 that the interior of the Great Nicobar was inhabited by a race of people 

 totally distinct from those living on the Coast, and who were most probably 

 closely allied to the Andamanese. 



" Col. Yule in his ' Marco Polo' and Mr. Distant in a late number of 

 the Anthropological Institute's Journal both state that they had been 

 informed by Col. Mann, late Superintendent of the Nicobar Islands that 

 some Nicobarese on a visit to Port Blair had pointed spontaneously to the 

 Andamanese as being like the inland race of the Great Nicobar. Mr. de 

 Koepstorff says that the so-called Capt. Johnson, a Nicobarese, also saw 

 the same resemblance when he was at Port Blair, though other Nicobarese 

 at Nancowry denied the resemblance. 



" The man whom Mr. de Eoepstorff describes in this paper under the 

 title Shom-Beng is clearly not closely allied to the Andamanese. His colour 

 and the character of the hair now exhibited prove that ; but whether he 

 can really be regarded as a typical example of the inland race is of course 

 open to question. No safe generalisation can be made from the characters 

 of a single individual, the more especially of one who seems to have been on 

 terms of intimacy with the coast people. A number of these people who 

 live shut out from intercourse with the coast people must be examined 

 before any conclusive result can be obtained." 



At the close of the meeting the Eev. Mr. Dall read some extracts 

 from a letter describing portions of the work done by the United States 

 Coast Survey officers during the past season. 



The following communication has been received : — Notes on Serohi 

 Division, Western Rajputana (S.) Railway, by J. W. Parry, C. E. 



Library. 



The following additions have been made to the Library since the 

 meeting held in December last. 



Transactions, Proceedings and Journals, 

 presented by the respective Societies and Editors. 

 Berlin. K. preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, — Monatsbericht, 

 August 1880. 



* Vide Jungle life in India, p, 379. 



