76 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



BY W. B. TEGETMEIEE. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— June 6. 



The Races of Eskimo Land. — Dr. Berthold Seemann, in a paper 

 on onr knowledge of the races of the Arctic region, remarked on 

 the desirability of extending onr information with regard to their 

 geographical range, as the question has still to he answered how 

 near to the North Pole have human beings taken up their abode ? 

 The Eskimo, who are the most Arctic people known, are also one 

 of the most widely-spread races on the globe ; they extend from 

 Greenland to the Aleutian Islands, living almost entirely on the 

 produce of the chase, and clothing themselves with the furs of the 

 wild animals they have slain. The personal experience of the 

 author leads him to regard the western Eskimos as far superior to 

 those of the eastern district, a difference that he traces to the low 

 summer temperature of the eastern side of the most northern part 

 of America. This produces a stunted vegetation, and consequent 

 poverty of animal life ; hence there is a more precarious and 

 irregular supply of food, and consequently both the physical and 

 mental development of the human races are arrested. Dr. Seemann 

 described the Eskimo as generally destitute of any religion ; they 

 believe in the existence of good and evil spirits who inhabit the 

 earth, sea, and air, but place them all on a footing of equality. 

 Their marriage customs are very singular. When a man has made 

 choice of the girl he wishes to marry, he proceeds to her mother, 

 and asks for her hand; if the mother is satisfied that he can support 

 a wife by his pursuit of hunting and fishing, she gives her consent, 

 when the bridegroom obtains a complete suit of clothing, and offers 

 it to the bride, who takes it to her home, and on returning to the 

 bridegroom dressed in it, is considered as his wife. Infidelity is 

 very rare, but polyandry exists to some extent, apparently among 

 the less wealthy individuals. 



GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.— June 12. 



Visit to the Wahabee Capital of Arabia. — Colonel Lewis 

 Pelly, political resident at Bushire, described his recent journey to the 

 Wahabee territory, in company with Dr. Colvill and Lieutenant 

 Dawes. They started on the 18fch of February, and entered the 

 country at the Port of Kowait, in the north-west corner of the 

 Persian Gulf, and proceeded in a S.S.W. direction over the desolate 

 unpeopled waste which separates the coast settlements from the 

 well-peopled and cultivated highlands, or Nejed, of Central Arabia. 

 The party did not attempt to conceal their nationality, although they 

 found it prudent to throw the abbah and ckiffeeah of the country over 

 their own clothing. They travelled on camels, starting each morn- 



