1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, 37 



tance we receive from the Surveyor General's office. To Colonel 

 Thuillier and Colonel Gastrell we are indebted for a continuance 

 of the hearty and friendly aid they have invariably afforded to 

 the Society, not only by their personal support, but also by the 

 liberality with which they have aided the Society in bringing out the 

 many illustrations which accompany the volumes of your Journal, 

 and which, without this aid, it would have been impossible for your 

 Council to publish. 



I am happy to be able to announce to the Society that the various 

 papers on the Ethnology of Bengal, which the Government have 

 requested Col. Dalton to edit, together with his own report on the 

 tribes among which he has so long laboured, and with whom he is 

 so well acquainted, have now attained such progress towards comple- 

 tion, as justifies their being at once sent to press ; and we may hope 

 for greater progress being made during the coming year, towards their 

 completion. Dr. Simpson has also completed the series of photo- 

 graphs of those tribes, which he had not before had an opportunity of 

 picturing. The history of the native races in other parts of this vast 

 empire has also attracted much attention, and the Society has received 

 from various districts, valuable reports on the inhabitants, their history, 

 languages, customs, &c. I would also here acknowledge the impetus 

 which has been given to such studies by the publication during the 

 year of Mr. Hunter's valued contributions to the study of the Non- 

 Aryan races of India. These commend themselves alike to those who 

 would desire to study the history of these people, with a view to trace 

 out the curious and intricate relationship established by a study of 

 their languages, and the evolution of these in successive ages — and to 

 those who may be placed in positions of authority, and have to deal 

 with these ' lapsed peoples' in their political and social relations. I am 

 confident that no one is more thoroughly convinced of the fact, that these 

 researches have not yet, and indeed could not as yet, have attained to 

 any completeness or perfection than the accomplished author himself. 

 But if in nothing else, then the greater facility which such a work as 

 his Dictionary affords for seeing the errors, and, by eliminating 

 these, making a still further advance towards truth — if in nothing 

 else than this, every student of these Non-Aryan people — (and who 

 that has taken the slightest interest in the ethnological history of 



