88 Proceedings of (he Asiatic Society. [April, 



berBj and by enlisting in the discussion the Public and the Press, the 

 thing may gradually take practical shape and fruit may be borne. 



" I will not now address myself to the more magnificent proposal 

 which Dr. Fayrer, with a worthy enthusiasm, hopes to realise some 

 years hence, a great International Congress, in which the races of all 

 Asia, Australia, and the Isles even to the farthest Pacific, may be collec- 

 ted together in Calcutta as a great centre, and all the Savans of Europe 

 and America may flock here to see tliem. That may, I hope, some clay 

 be realised ; but it will take time, and there are steps intermediate before 

 arriving at that consummation. I do not wonder that at this early stage 

 the Government of India should cautiously abstain from pledging 

 themselves to this Congress, till the project has taken a more 

 definite shape. Meantime they give us the assistance which we 

 desire, by collecting information for us. Looking especially to the 

 advantage of a practical beginning, I would submit to the meeting a few 

 remarks regarding the humbler project, which is the subject of the 

 letter to the Government of Bengal. It seems probable that a com- 

 mencement can best be made by Local Ethnological Exhibitions on a 

 comparatively small scale, and such as can be carried out at small 

 expense and with machinery ready to hand. The body of scientific men 

 in this country is not so great, nor the interest of the public in a single 

 subject so absorbing, that a Local Ethnological Exhibition could be 

 expected to stand alone ; but it may, as the Special Committee on the 

 subject thinks, with great advantage and interest, be combined with 

 the Local Agricultural and. Industrial Exhibitions. For a project 

 of this kind, no place is so favourably situated as Calcutta, and no 

 country contains a greater and more interesting variety of races than 

 the Bengal Lieut- Governorship and its borders. If we go no further 

 than the bazars of this city, we there find an immense assemblage 

 Of most marked tribes and races of almost every nation and every 

 clime of Southern Asia and the Isles. And, as I think I once before 

 remarked, if we only explore this ' maidan' at our doors, and examine 

 tin; coolies working on the ditches, we may discover races more 

 peculiar, more unknown and undescribed, more ancient, and more 

 interesting, than in any savage and remote country in the world. The 

 aboriginal races come down very largely for labour of this kind. 

 1 ofteB stop and look at (hem. and I have tried to make something of 





