118 
REPORT— 1847. 
jliiHilion by ihe Author.—^yir. Daniell has this day placed in my hands a touil 
vroodcD iigurc, which was brought down the river Congo uy native merchants fromtht 
country of the “ white ” people of Eastern Africa, distant a journey of three months— 
probably 800 or 900 miles. This would make the position of the country of (hit 
** wliite " people to be somewhere about the equator, and iu at loast25depwtif 
esut Joiigitudr, which would place it in the elevated land in which it may rwMabli 
U* runifcturod that some of the head-streams of the Xile hove their soorrei This 
Rguro naa a necklace of red and white Venetian seed-beads, and a string of the woh 
beads round its loins. Heads of this description arc not known on the gotiih-ftam 
coast; but they are common in the Red Sea and North-cawtorn Africa, ahilhet thn 
■re brought by the way of tho Mediterranean and Egypt. This circumstsoci it i 
proof that this image cornea from a part of Africa connected co«»rfci«% widt th* 
Borth-eastern coast. The carving of this figure is extremely good, and its faturn 
which we are warranted in considering to represent those of the people by whom ilia 
made, ore intolIecUial tmd pleasing, and ofa type wcminglv Indian rather thiuiAftm 
The nose hi large and jiromiucnt, the mouth and lips small, niid the forehead tolmbh 
high and well-formed. In om* remarkable pariicular the head bears a retcmbkiM 
to the ancient Egyptian rcprcsontatioiis of that portion of the buxonu frame, ueady, 
in the petition of the car, which i.s placed so high up as to he on a level witk thent. 
Of cmirso it cannot bo said whether or not this is natural to the people themn'In*; 
but the fact that a light-coiourod race, chvclliug most probably within die limit* 
iijipiT iiasin of the Nile, shoiihl possess tins peculiiirity in common with the ascwiii 
Egyptians, even if only in their works of art, is highly desenung of consiJerstiMi'— 
lOth Norembor, 1847. » p / 
On thf Afforiginal Trihes of India. Uy Major-General Briggs, FS-S. 
l*hc nil] Tribes of India represent a race distinct from ihegroatinassof diE prtjpfl 
llinduo pupulatiou. It is iu tho lughost degree probable that they inhabited thcwiiw 
continent of India between tho Indus and the Himalaya at a period antcriortotM 
of the proper Hnihminicid ruve. 
^ "J* j'thPt people have no historical record of iheir invasion of India. They «• 
knowledge that they cumc from the north-west, and their aticient books nirntiun ihit 
they found iuhabitenti overy where in tlioir progress, living in mountain* andforaw, 
“*'y ®l*ld*^d tho term A//ec/ia. signifying impiuw barbarians. 
The fact of small communities answering to this description, existing hors Ml 
there, has been occ/ujonally niontioued in the periodicals published by tho «ttnl 
Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ceylon. 
lue Hindoos, following the doctrines of the A'^edas, have peculiar custonis, 
rules of caste, municipRl institutions, and social habits, which reqnire tlw »h^ 
none* from certain food, imd from partaking of that which has been prepuri^ 
■iiy but pvTsons of their own caste, with other distinctions that mark, them as a ^op' 
•epamte from all oUiers in India or elsH-wbero. Notwithstauding the great MtifloitJ 
of tms nure, and the fact of their sacred Vedas being at least tnree tbousaad three 
nimdird vmrs old. they had not, two thousand years ago, established their 
over the 1 eninsula of India, nor over any cmmtry south of a line drawn neanj 
and WCTt ID the latitude of 22® north. 
On the other hand, tho inhabitants of the hills and forests arc wholly dbtinctsh® 
tho Ilmdot.race, whilst they exhibit a close uniformity of habiu, custom* wid^; 
gion to each oilier ; standing every where in the same relation to the Hindoo*. 1*^.' 
nave uo such institution as raifc. Their comunmities are governed by pstn*’^ 
I**',. taws. They arc ignorant of the use of letters, and 
iHMirf m a future xtate, or in the exUlcnce of a beneficent Supreme Bring, t"**! 
Tcljgmus Ceremonies require the spilling of blood ; someUmes human. ThririRW" 
oreujMilion i* hunting, seldom cultiv.ating the soil for their own use. One braw - 
l»o\vever. p«Me»se»large herds of cattle, which thev chase from one pastmetoM- 
oib^.sulwiimg on their flesh and milk. ' , 
appear to be marked in their moral character by’ an Inflesibl* fid' 7 
““we ito whom they owe allegionce j by their contempt of danger; by*^ 
wl»J truth, and by their hospitality : but they wagepe*T^^“ 
> civi izfd man, by incessant robberies, and murder when resistance i*' 
