1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 21 



that of the civilized races ; as it is suggestive of what may have 

 been the condition of those earlier races of men who used similar 

 implements. 



At the November meeting, Captain Anderson of the Bengal 

 Army exhibited two Andamanese lads of about 10 years age, 

 whose education he had undertaken. Captain Anderson said he had 

 found them apt at learning the names of things and in acquiring a 

 parrot-like imitation of sounds ; and that they had a peculiar 

 desire and fondness for dress. The boys were made to sing a 

 native song, and perform a native dance. They are sharp bright 

 little fellows, true Melanesians or Negritoes, and albeit they are 

 considered to be among the lowest of the human race, have all 

 the quickness and vivacity, with apparently much of the intelli- 

 gence, of races more advanced in civilization than they are. It has 

 been said that they are cannibals, but without sufficient grounds, 

 and I believe that those who know them best, consider that there is 

 no foundation for this report. They have very much the aspect 

 of the African Negro : the blackness of skin and crisp curliness 

 of hair are not to be surpassed. Indeed some Ethnologists regard 

 them as the descendants of Africans, who have been wrecked on the 

 islands and have degenerated thus low in the scale. 



But again it is said by others that in neither skull nor teeth do 

 they present the true African characteristics, and that they are not 

 more prognathous than other Asiatic tribes. Dr. Latham represents 

 their language as being connected by a link with the monosyllabic 

 tongue of the Burmese. As is the case with most other of the lower 

 types of the human race, the introduction of European civilization 

 and habits is of questionable advantage, for with the good, so much of 

 the evil is learned, that their ultimate extinction is more probable 

 than their advancement among the other races of men. Disease and 

 alcohol have found them out, and it is to be feared that, like the 

 Caribs of the Antilles, their end is not far off. 



An important communication was then made by the Chairman, 

 Professor Partridge, who drew the attention of the Society to the dis- 

 crepancy of the observations at the Meteorological Observatory during 

 the late cyclone ; also to the destruction of the Anemometer, and moved 

 that Government be solicited to make enquiry into the causes of these 



