38 
destruction were sown in the constitutions of the natives. But since Chris- 
tianity has been introduced it has improved and benefited the people. 
I have great hope that some of these people will be spared to occupy au 
important position among the nations of the world. 
Mr. Sharp. — The Secretary having asked me to say a word or two, I may 
add one or two points touching on South India. I have been a missionary 
there, and know something of the languages. There are some peculiar 
features in those languages that resemble those we have heard of to-night. 
In every one of the instances given in the paper it is said that gender is 
sexual only. This is the case in the extreme south of India. With regard to 
the personal pronouns having forms that are inclusive and exclusive, that is the 
case inTelugu and in Tamil. The difficulty as to the letters l and / appears in 
the Tamil language, and the proper pronunciation of “Tamil” is “Tamir,” 
the r sound at the end being very hard. In certain parts of the country, how- 
ever, the people pronounce the letter some as l and some as r. With regard 
to the relations between d and r, in Tclugu the hard d merges so much into r 
that in translating it into the Roman lettering it is often given as r. In 
Tamil, if they put two consonants together they slip a slight vowel sound in 
between. In the South Indian languages there is no article at all. (In Tclugu 
every syllable is open.) As regards the patriarchal hold of property in India 
the property of a family is held, not as the property of the individual, but 
the elder brother (say) manages it for the rest as his co-proprietors. The 
point of the paper most interesting to me is the conclusion, and the cautious 
words of the author as to whence these people have come and their relation 
to South India and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. No doubt the 
Dravidian race have migrated to some of the islands — Sumatra and Java, for 
instance ; but I do not know that they have got further. 
[Mr. R. W. Dibden here referred to a recent number of the Journal of the 
Royal Geographical Society, and gave some extracts bearing upon the question 
as to whether cannibalism existed in New Guinea.] 
Professor Griffiths. — I have been called upon to say a few words ; but I 
am a mere recluse and must trust to those gentlemen who have seen the 
various parts of the world for my facts, and do the best I can to generalize. 
There have been many facts brought before us to-night, and it will be my 
business to think over them and make the best I can of them. I am deeply 
obliged to the author of the paper, whom I have heard often, and I was much 
interested in some of his remarks that have tended to confirm antecedent 
statements, my admiration being deepened by the caution with which he has 
put forward his facts. He has given them, not only as a philosopher, but 
as a conscientious Christian, anxious not to overstep, but to bring out the 
truth. 
The Chairman. — I should like to ask Mr. Whitmee whether he can tell us 
about the class to which these languages belong? Can he tell us whether 
the languages of this Archipelago have belonged to a class of which the 
Sanscrit is an instance— whether they are Aryan languages, or whether 
anything is known generally, as to the source from whence they come ? 
