1866.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 89 



them, but the}' don't understand me ; I don't understand them ; and they 

 don't seem to realise the interest of ethnological inquiries, so I have 

 not progressed much. In brief, however, I say, that if we go no farther 

 than our bazars and our labouring coolies, we have the materials for a 

 large and important Ethnological Exhibition. The varieties of the 

 race are there, but without some arrangement, classification, and 

 means of enquiry, little can be done. The proposal really is little 

 more than to collect and marshal good and characteristic specimens 

 of the races ready to hand, at such time and place, and with such 

 facilities for communication, that they can be systematically studied 

 by those who take an interest in such matters. 



" To render complete an Exhibition of this kind in Calcutta, we 

 should hope that the Local Government would consent to bring 

 together, at no greater expense than is now devoted to the transport 

 of animals and goods, specimens of such races subject to it, as are not 

 found in. and about Calcutta. I will only glance at some of the races 

 within the limits of the Province. To begin with, we have not only 

 in Bengal but also in Behar a large portion of Hindoostan, and good 

 samples of the Hindustani races. All or almost all the tribes and 

 castes of Bengal and Hindustan, would be represented without any 

 difficulty. On the western border-land, in the Chota-Nagpore 

 Commissionership and the borders of Cuttack, we have what I can only 

 describe as a perfect congeries of aboriginal tribes of every kind. 

 Dravidian Gonds and Rajmahalees, the Coolie tribes, Moondales and 

 Bhoomiges and Sontals ; Bhooyas and Khonds and others yet unclassed. 

 They are all within easy reach of Calcutta, (when not, as they are for 

 the most part, already here,) and they have much engaged the attention 

 of a very scientific man, Col. Dalton, the Commissioner. An exhibition 

 of Aborigines would be the easiest thing in the world. And as they 

 are such excellent labourers, they might be utilised as Coolies to put 

 in order the Exhibition grounds at certain times, while at others 

 they take their seats for the instruction of the Public. 



" Then on the other side of Bengal, on the East, we have another 

 equally extensive congeries of races of another great stem of the human 

 family, the Mongolian and Indo-Chinese, represented in its principal 

 branches, Thibetan, Burmese, Siamese proper, and by a vast variety of 

 tribes, civilized and savage. Of these also, an assorted cargo 



