# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Eurasian

​Eurasian.— Eurasian (Eur-asian) may, after the definition in 'Hobson-Jobson,' * be summed up as a modern name for persons of mixed European and Indian blood, devised as being more euphemistic than half-caste, and more precise than East-Indian. When the European and Anglo- Indian Defence Association was established ​17 years ago, the term Anglo- Indian, after much consideration, was adopted as best designating the community. According to Stocqueler, * the name Eurasian was invented by the Marquis of Hastings. East Indian is defined by Balfour †as "a term which has been adopted by all classes of India to distinguish the descendants of Europeans and Native mothers. Other names, such as half-caste, chatikar, and chi-chi, are derogatory designations. Chattikar is from chitta (trousers) and kar (a person who uses them). The Muhammadans equally wear trousers, but concealed by their outer long gowns. The East Indians are also known as Farangi (Frank), a person of Europe. The humbler East Indians, if asked their race, reply that they are Wallandez or Oollanday, which is a modification of Hollandais, the name having been brought down through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the Dutch. East Indians have, in India, all the rights and privileges of Europeans. Races with a mixture of European with Asiatic blood possess a proud and susceptible tone of mind." For the purposes of the Lawrence Asylum, Ootacamund, the word East Indian is restricted to the children of European fathers by East Indian or Native mothers, or of East Indian fathers and mothers, both of whom are the children of European fathers.
By a ruling of the Government of India a few years ago, it was decided that Eurasians appointed in England to official posts in India are, if they are not statutory Natives, to be treated as Europeans as regards the receipt of exchange compensation allowance.
Some Eurasians have, it may be noted, had decorations or knighthood conferred on them, and risen to the ​highest position in, and gained the blue ribbon of, Government service. Others have held, or still hold, positions of distinction in the various learned professions, legal, medical, educational, and ecclesiastical.
The influence of the various European nations — Portuguese, Dutch, British, Danish, and French — which have at different times acquired territory in peninsular India, is clearly visible in the polyglot medley of Eurasian surnames, e.g., Gomes, Da Souza, Gonsalvez, Rozario, Cabral, Da Cruz, Da Costa, Da Silva, Da Souza, Fernandez, Fonseca, Lazaro, Henriquez, Xavier, Mendonza, Rodriguez, Saldana, Almeyda, Heldt, Van Spall,Jansen, Augustine, Brisson, Corneille, La Grange, Lavocat, Pascal, DeVine, Aubert, Ryan, McKertish,Macpherson, Harris, Johnson, Smith, etc. Little did the early adventurers, in the dawn of the seventeenth century, think that, as the result of their alliances with the native women, within three centuries banns of marriage would be declared weekly in Madras churches between, for example, Ben Jonson and Alice Almeyda, Emmanuel Henricus and Mary Smith, Augustus Rozario and Minnie Fonseca, John Harris and Clara Corneille. Yet this has come to pass, and the Eurasian holds a recognised place among the half-breed races of the world.
The pedigree of the early Eurasian community is veiled in obscurity. But the various modes of creation of a half-breed, which were adopted in those early days, when the sturdy European pioneers first came in contact with the native females, were probably as follows: —
    A. European man (pure) . , B. Native woman (pure),
    C. Male offspring of A + B (first cross) . . . . D. Native woman,
    E. Female offspring of A + B(first cross) F. European man, G. Native man. ​fl. Cross — female offspring of
H. Male offspring of C + D ^ A + B. l_J. Native woman. f L. Cross — male offspring of K. Female offspring ofC+I-^ ■^,^ t- I M. European man. LN. Native man. The Eurasian half-breed, thus estabh'shed, has been perpetuated by a variety of possible combinations : — _ r Eurasian woman. European man . . . . i L Native woman. f Native woman. Eurasian man . . . . ■( Eurasian woman. l^ European woman. r Eurasian woman. Native man . . . . • • i t- L European woman.
In the early days of the British occupation of Madras, the traders and soldiers, arriving with an inadequate equipment of females, contracted alliances, regular or irregular, with the women of the country. And in these early days, when our territorial possessions were keenly contested with both European and Native enemies, an attempt was made, under authority from high places, to obtain, through the medium of the British soldier, and in accordance with the creed that crossing is an essential means of improving a race, and rendering it vigorous by the infusion of fresh blood from a separate stock, a good cross, which should be available for military purposes. Later on, as the number of the British settlers increased, connexions, either with the Native women, or with the females of the recently established Eurasian type, were kept up owing to the difficulty of communication with the mother-country, and consequent difficulty in securing English brides. Of these barbaric days the detached or semi-detached bungalows in the spacious grounds of the old private houses in ​Madras remain as a memorial. At the present day the conditions of life in India are, as the result of steamer traffic, very different, and far more wholesome. The Eurasian man seeks a wife as a rule among his own community; and, in this manner, the race is mainly maintained.
The number of Eurasians within the limits of the Madras Presidency was returned, at the census, 1891, as 26,643. But on this point I must call Mr. H. A. Stuart, the Census Commissioner, into the witness box. "The number of Eurasians," he writes, "is 26,643, which is 20.76 per cent, more than the number returned in 1881." The figures for the last three enumerations are given in the following statement: —
| Year. | Total | Males. | Females. |
| 1871 | 26,460 | 13,091 | 13,359 |
| 1881 | 21,892 | 10,969 | 10,923 |
| 1891 | 26,643 | 13,141 | 13,502 |
"It will be seen that, between 1871 and 1881, there was a great decrease, and that the numbers in 1891 are slightly higher than they were twenty years ago. The figures, however, are most untrustworthy. The cause is not far to seek; many persons, who are really Natives, claim to be Eurasians, and some who are Eurasians return themselves as Europeans. It might be thought that the errors due to these circumstances would be fairly constant, but the district figures show that this cannot be the case. Take Malabar, for example, which has the largest number of Eurasians after Madras, and where the division between Native Christians with European names and people of real mixed race is very shadowy. In 1871 there were in this district 5,413 Eurasians; in 1881 the number had apparently fallen to 1,676; while in 1891 it had again risen to 4,193, or, if we include South-east Wynaad, as we should do, to 4,439. ​It is to be regretted that trustworthy statistics cannot be obtained, for the question whether the true Eurasian community is increasing or decreasing is of considerable scientific and administrative importance. The Eurasians form but a very small proportion of the community, for there is only one Eurasian in every 1,337 of the population of the Madras Presidency, and it is more than probable that a considerable proportion of those returned as Eurasians are in reality pure Natives who have embraced the Christian religion, taken an English or Portuguese name, and adopted the European dress and mode of living. In the matter of education, or at least elementary education, they are more advanced than any other class of the community, and compare favourably with the population of any country in the world. They live for the most part in towns, nearly one-half of their number being found in the city of Madras."
In connection with the fact that, at times of census, Native Christians and Pariahs, who masquerade in European clothes, return themselves as Eurasians, and vice versâ, it may be accepted that some benefit must be derived by the individual in return for the masking of his or her nationality. And it has been pointed out to me that (as newspaper advertisements testify) many ladies will employ a Native ayah rather than a Eurasian nurse, and that some employers will take Eurasian clerks into their service, but not Native Christians. It occasionally happens that pure-bred Natives, with European name and costume, successfully pass themselves off as Eurasians, and are placed on a footing of equality with Eurasians in the matter of diet, being allowed the luxury of bread and butter, coffee, etc.
Mr. Stuart had at his command no special statistics of the occupations resorted to by Eurasians, but states that ​the majority of them are clerks, while very few obtain their livelihood by agriculture. In the course of my investigations in the city of Madras, the following occupations were recorded :—
| Accountant. | Painter. |
| Attendant, Lunatic Asylum. | Petition writer. |
| Baker. | Police Inspector. |
| Bandsman. | Porter. |
| Bill collector. | Printer. |
| Blacksmith. | Proof-reader. |
| Boarding-house keeper. | Railway — |
| Boatswain. | Auditor. |
| Boiler smith. | Chargeman. |
| Carpenter. | Engine-driver. |
| Chemist's assistant. | Engineer. |
| Clerk, Government. | Goods clerk. |
| Clerk, commercial. | Guard. |
| Commission agent. | Locomotive Inspector. |
| Compositor. | Parcels clerk. |
| Compounder. | Prosecuting Inspector. |
| Contractor. | Shunter. |
| Coppersmith. | Signaller. |
| Crane attendant, harbour. | Station-master. |
| Draftsman, | Storekeeper. |
| Electric tram driver. | Ticket collector. |
| Electric tram inspector. | Tool-keeper. |
| Engine-driver, ice factory. | Block signaller. |
| Evangelist. | Carriage examiner. |
| Filer. | Reporter. |
| Fireman. | Rivetter. |
| Fitter. | Saddler. |
| Hammerer. | Schoolmaster. |
| Harness-maker. | Sexton. |
| Jewel-smith. | Spring-smith. |
| Joiner. | Stereotyper. |
| Labourer. | Steward. |
| Livery stable-keeper. | Telegraph clerk. |
| Mechanic. | Watchmaker. |
| Moulder. | Watchman. |
| | Number of workers. |
| Endowments, scholarships, etc. | 813 |
| Pensioners | 438 |
| Railway clerks, station-masters, guards, etc. | 427 |
| Tailors | 378 |
| Merchants' and shop-keepers' clerks | 297 |
| Railway operatives | 262 |
| Teachers | 243 |
| Public service | 212 |
| Private clerks | 211 |
| Mechanics (not railway) | 203 |
| Carpenters | 167 |
| Telegraph department | 136 |
| Medical department | 136 |
| Cooks, grooms, etc. | 132 |
| Printing presses: workmen and subordinates | 106 |
| Independent means | 75 |
| Allowances from patrons, relatives and friends | 72 |
| Survey and Public Works department | 66 |
| Coffee and tea estate clerks and coolies | 60 |
| Inmates of asylums | 58 |
| Railway porters, etc | 57 |
| Musicians and actors | 54 |
| Harbour service | 50 |
| Workmen, gun carriage factories | 48 |
| Postal department | 48 |
| Non-commissioned officers, Army | 46 |
| Mendicants | 45 |
| Midwives | 42 |
| | Number of workers. |
| Priests, ministers, etc. | 41 |
| Tramway officials | 35 |
| Sellers of hides and bones, shoe and boot makers | |
| tanners, etc. | 33 |
| Local and Municipal service | 30 |
| Shipping clerks, etc. | 29 |
| Brokers and agents | 28 |
| Lawyers' clerks | 26 |
| Merchants and shop-keepers | 24 |
| Landholders | 24 |
| Watch and clock makers | 23 |
| Money-lenders, etc. | 22 |
| Military clerks | 21 |
| Blacksmiths | 18 |
| Chemists and druggists | 16 |
| Prisoners | 15 |
| Pleaders | 12 |
| Brass and copper smiths | 12 |
| Inmates of convents, etc. | 11 |
| Ship's officers, etc. | 10 |
| Prostitutes | 10 |
| Authors, editors, etc. | 10 |
| Cultivating tenants | 8 |
| Club managers, etc. | 8 |
| Hotel-keepers, etc. | 7 |
| Minor occupations | 363 |
As bearing on the subject of Eurasian marriage, I am enabled, through the courtesy of a railway chaplain and the chaplain of one of the principal churches in the city of Madras, to place on record the following statistics abstracted from the registers. It may, in explanation, be noted that M indicates the bridegroom, F the bride, and W widow or widower remarriage: — ​
(a) Railway :
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. |
| 25 | 18 | 34 | 19 | 24 | 18 |
| 21 | 15 | 27 | 16 | 35 | 21 |
| 24 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 24 | 19 |
| 21 | 14 | 22 | 18 | 22 | 18 |
| 22 | 19 | 25 | 16 | 21 | 20 |
| 23 | 17 | 22 | 18 | 32 | 19 |
| 23 | 14 | 25 | 16 | 26 | 21 |
| 23 | 18 | 23 | 21 | 25 | 18 |
| 25 | 16 | W 42 | 18 | 33 | 19 |
| W 45 | 19 | 37 | 28 | 20 | 15 |
| 25 | 23 | 25 | 19 | 25 | 18 |
| 24 | 17 | 24 | 17 | 24 | 20 |
| 22 | 17 | 26 | 16 | 32 | 19 |
| W 42 | 18 | 24 | 19 | 27 | 18 |
| 40 | 16 | 23 | 18 | | |
| 23 | 22 | 23 | 15 | | |
(b) Madras City :
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. |
| 33 | 26 | 28 | 19 | 27 | 18 |
| W 40 | 18 | 29 | 20 | W 39 | 19 |
| 23 | 26 | 23 | 21 | 27 | 31 |
| 23 | 23 | 26 | 21 | 23 | 14 |
| 25 | 21 | 22 | 18 | 33 | 24 |
| 29 | W 24 | 25 | 17 | 25 | 18 |
| 31 | 19 | 28 | W 35 | 25 | 18 |
| 28 | 25 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 19 |
| 26 | 17 | 26 | 19 | 24 | 20 |
| 23 | 15 | 32 | 26 | 26 | 19 |
| 23 | 19 | 27 | 18 | 23 | 23 |
| 30 | 24 | 25 | 21 | 22 | 20 |
| W 38 | 17 | 23 | 16 | 32 | 17 |
| 21 | 17 | 27 | 19 | 21 | 16 |
11-15 B
(b) Madras City—cont. :
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. |
| 26 | 21 | 40 | 16 | 21 | W 30 |
| W 53 | W 43 | 28 | 15 | W 40 | 17 |
| 28 | 20 | 31 | 24 | 25 | 24 |
| 29 | 21 | 27 | 25 | 30 | 20 |
| W 43 | W 36 | 29 | 17 | W 43 | 23 |
| 20 | 16 | 24 | W 30 | 22 | 18 |
| 22 | 18 | W 42 | W 34 | | |
Analysing these figures, with the omission of remarriages, we obtain the following results:—
(a) Railway. :
| | Bridegroom. | Bride. |
| Average age | 25-26 | 18-19 |
| Mean above average | 28-29 | 19-20 |
| Mean below average | 23-24 | 16-17 |
| Rage of age | 40-20 | 28-14 |
| (b) Madras City. |||
| | Bridegroom. | Bride. |
| Average age | 26-27 | 19-20 |
| Mean above average | 28-29 | 21-22 |
| Mean below average | 23-24 | 17-18 |
| Rage of age | 40-20 | 31-14 |
From the analysis of a hundred male cases in Madras, in which enquiries were made with reference to the married state, in individuals ranging in age from 21 to 50, with an average age of 33, I learn that 74 were married; that 141 male and 130 female children had been born to them; and that 26, whose average age was 25, were unmarried. The limits of age of the men at the time of marriage were 32 and 16; of their wives 25 and 13. The greatest number of children born to a single ​pair was 10. In only three cases, out of the seventy-four, was there no issue. In fifty cases, which were examined, of married men, with an average age of 34,207 children had been born, of whom 91 had died, for the most part in early life, from 'fever' and other causes.
The racial position of Eurasians, and the proportion of black blood in their veins, are commonly indicated, not by the terms mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, sambo (or zambo), etc., but in fractions of a rupee. The European pure breed being represented by Rs. 0-0-0, and the Native pure breed by 16 annas (= 1 rupee), the resultant cross is, by reference to colour and other tests, gauged as being half an anna in the rupee (faint admixture of black blood), approaching European types; eight annas (half and half); fifteen annas (predominant admixture of black blood), approaching Native types, etc.
The Eurasian body being enveloped in clothes, it was not till they stripped before me, for the purpose of anthropometry, that I became aware how prevalent is the practice of tattooing among the male members of the community. Nearly all the hundred and thirty men (of the lower classes) whom I examined were, in fact, tattooed to a greater or less extent on the breasts, upper arms, forearms, wrists, back of the hands, or shoulders. The following varied selection of devices in blue, with occasional red, is recorded in my case-book: —
    Anchor,
    Ballet girl with flag, stars and stripes,
    Bracelets round wrists,
    Burmese lady carrying umbrella,
    Bird,
    Bugles,
    Conventional artistic devices,
    Cross and anchor,
    Crown and flags. ​
    Crossed swords and pistols.
    Dancing-girl.
    Dancing-girl playing with cobras.
    Elephant.
    Floral devices.
    Flowers in pot.
    Hands joined in centre of a heart.
    Hands joined, and clasping a flower.
    Heart.
    Heart and cross.
    Initials of the individual, his friends, relatives, and inamorata, sometimes within a heart or laurel wreath.
    Lizard.
    Mercy (word on left breast).
    Mermaid.
    Portraits of the man and his lady-love.
    Queen Alexandra.
    Royal arms and banners.
    Sailing boat.
    Scorpion.
    Solomon's seal.
    Steam boat.
    Svastika (Buddhist emblem).
    Watteau shepherdess.
The most elaborate patterns were executed by Burmese tattooers. The initials of the individual's Christian and surnames, which preponderated over other devices, were, as a rule, in Roman, but occasionally in Tamil characters.
In colour the Eurasians afford examples of the entire colour scale, through sundry shades of brown and yellow, to pale white, and even florid or rosy. The pilous or hairy system was, in the cases recorded by me, uniformly black. The colour of the iris, like that of the skin, is liable to great variation, from lustrous black to light, with a predominance of dark tints. Blue was observed only in a solitary instance. ​The Eurasian resists exposure to the sun better than the European, and, while many wear solah topis (pith sun-hats), it is by no means uncommon to see a Eurasian walking about in the middle of a hot day with his head protected only by a straw hat or cap.
The average height of the Eurasians examined by me in Madras, according to my measurements of 130 subjects, is 166.6 cm. (5 feet 5½ inches), and compares as follows with that of the English and various Native classes inhabiting the city of Madras: —
| | cm. |
| English | 170.8 |
| Eurasians | 166.6 |
| Muhammadans | 164.5 |
| Brāhmans | 162.5 |
| Pallis | 162.5 |
| Vellālas | 162.4 |
| Paraiyans | 161.9 |
The height, as might be expected, comes between that of the two parent stocks, European and Native, and had, in the cases examined, the wide range of 30.8 cm., the difference between a maximum of 183.8 cm. (6 feet) and a minimum of 153 cm. (5 feet).
The average length of the head was 18.6 cm. and the breadth 14.1 cm. And it is to be noted that, in 63 per cent, of the cases examined, the breadth exceeded 14 cm.: —
| | Length. cm. | Breadth. cm. | Index |
| Brāhmans | 18.6 | 14.2 | 76.5 |
| Eurasians | 18.6 | 14.1 | 76 |
| Muhammadans | 18.7 | 13.9 | 76.1 |
| Vellālas | 18.6 | 13.8 | 74.1 |
| Paraiyans | 18.6 | 13.7 | 73.6 |
| Pallis | 18.6 | 13.6 | 73 |
| | 12-13 cm. | 13-14 cm. | 14-15 cm. | 15-16 cm. |
| Eurasians | -- | 11 | 27 | 2 |
| Brahmans | 1 | 9 | 27 | 3 |
| Muhammadans | 2 | 17 | 21 | -- |
| Vellalas | -- | 24 | 16 | -- |
| Paraiyans | -- | 27 | 13 | -- |
| Pallis | -- | 30 | 7 | -- |
The head of a cross-breed, it has been said, generally takes after the father, and the breadth of the Eurasian head is a persisting result of European male influence. The effect of this influence is clearly demonstrated in the following cases, all the result of re-crossing between British men and Eurasian women: —
| | Length. cm. | Breadth. cm. |
| | 19 | 14.5 |
| | 18.4 | 14.2 |
| | 19.2 | 14.2 |
| | 20.2 | 14.6 |
| | 19 | 14.6 |
| | 19.4 | 14.3 |
| Average | 19.2 | 14.4 |
| Eurasian average | 18.6 | 14.1 |
The character of the nose is, as those who have studied ethnology in India will appreciate, a most important factor in the differentiation of race, tribe, and class, and in the determination of pedigree. "No one," ​Mr. Risley writes, * " can have glanced at the literature of the subject, and in particular, at the Védic accounts of the Aryan advance, without being struck by the frequent references to the noses of the people whom the Aryans found in possession of the plains of India. So impressed were the Aryans with the shortcomings of their enemies' noses that they often spoke of them as ' the noseless ones,' and their keen perception of the importance of this feature seems almost to anticipate the opinion of Dr. Collignon that the nasal index ranks higher as a distinctive character than the stature, or even the cephalic index itself."
In the subjoined table, based on the examination of forty members of each class, the high proportion of leptorhine Eurasians, Muhammadans, and Vellālas, with nasal indices ranging between 60 and 70, is at once manifest, and requires no comment: —
| | 60-70. | 70-80. | 80-90. | 90-100. |
| Eurasians | 19 | 17 | 3 | 1 |
| Muhammadans | 17 | 18 | 4 | 1 |
| Vellālas | 14 | 22 | 3 | 1 |
| Pallis | 3 | 25 | 9 | 3 |
| Paraiyans | 2 | 17 | 19 | 2 |
I pass on to the Eurasians of the west coast. My visit to Calicut, the capital of the Malabar district, was by chance coincident with the commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Vasco da Gama at Calicut after his discovery of the sea-route from Europe to India. Concerning the origin of the Indo- Portuguese half-breed, I learn † that, on his return from the recapture of Goa, Albuquerque brought with him the women he had carried away when the Portuguese ​were driven out of the place. As soon as affairs became tolerably settled again at that port, he had them converted to Christianity, and married them to Portuguese men. No less than 450 of his men were thus married in Goa, and others who desired to follow their example were so numerous that Albuquerque had great difficulty in granting their requests. The marriage of Portuguese men to native women had already been sanctioned by Dom Manuel, but this privilege was only to be conceded to men of proved character, and who had rendered good service, Albuquerque, however, extended the permission to many far beyond what he was authorised to do, and he took care that the women so married were the daughters of the principal men of the land. This he did in the hope of inducing them to become Christians. To those who were married Albuquerque allotted lands, houses and cattle, so as to give them a start in life, and all the landed property which had been in possession of the Moorish mosques and Hindu pagodas he gave to the principal churches of the city, which he dedicated to Santa Catherina.
The names of some members of the community at Calicut recalled to mind Pedro Alvares Cabral, who anchored before Calicut in 1500, and established a factory at Cochin; the first Portuguese Governor, Dom Franciso de Almeida; André Furtado de Mendonca, who concluded a treaty with the king of Calicut; and many others, whose exploits are handed down to posterity in the Indo- Portuguese archives. Though Portuguese names persist at the present day, it does not follow of necessity that their owners have any Portuguese blood in their veins, for some are merely descendants of Native converts to Christianity, or of household slaves of Portuguese officers. " In Malabar," writes the Census ​Commissioner, 1881, "there is a section of Europeanized Native' Christians — Goa Roman Catholics — some of whom have adopted European dress and customs; and in all districts the popular interpretation of the word Eurasian is very liberal. There are many Pariahs and Native Christians, who have adopted a travesty of European clothes, and who would return themselves as Eurasians, if allowed to do so."
A social distinction is made at Calicut between Eurasians and East Indians. With a view at clearing up the grounds on which this distinction is based, my interpreter was called on to submit a note on the subject, which arrived couched in language worthy of Mark Twain. I, therefore, reproduce it in the original Indo-Anglian.
"Eurasians are classified to those who stand second in the list of Europeans and those born in any part of India, and who are the Pedigree of European descendants, being born of father European and mother East Indian, and notwithstanding those who can prove themselves as really good Indian descendants, such as mother and father of the same sex, therefore these are called Eurasians.
"East Indians are those off springs of Christians of the East, and they atimes gather the offsprings of Eurasians to the entering their marriage to the East Indian females in the East Indian community, thereby they are called East Indians.
"Native Christians are those of Hindu nations converted into Christians by their embracing the poles of Christianity. All Hindus thereby converted are made Christians by a second Baptism are called Native Christians.
"Coaster. They are alluded to those who belong to the Coast, and who come from a country that has a Sea ​Coast into that country that has not got a Sea Coast is therefore called a Coaster. A very rude word."
Speaking in general terms, it may be said that Eurasians are of greater stature, and possess skins of lighter hue than the East Indians, who, as the result of intermarriage with Native Christian women, have reverted in the direction of the Native type.
The Eurasians examined by me at Calicut, nearly all of whom were Roman Catholics, were earning a livelihood in the following capacities: —
| Bandsman. | Municipal inspector. |
| Boot-maker. | Musician. |
| Bugler. | Petition-writer. |
| Carpenter. | Police constable. |
| Clerk. | Railway guard. |
| Coffee estate writer. | Schoolmaster. |
| Compositor. | Tailor. |
| Copyist. | Tin-smith. |
| Mechanic. | Weaver. |
As in Madras, so in Malabar, tattooing is very prevalent among the male members of the community, and the devices are characterised by a predominance of religious emblems and snakes. The following patterns are recorded in my notes: —
| Bangle on wrist. | Fish |
| Boat. | Flags. |
| Bird (the Holy Ghost). | Flower. |
| Chalice. | Flower and leaves. |
| Christ crucified. | Initials. |
| Conventional and | Ladder. |
| geometrical designs. | Sacred heart. |
| Cross. | Snake encircling forearms. |
| Cross and crown. | Snake coiled round |
| Cross and heart. | fore-arm. |
| Cross and I.N. R.I. | Solomon's seal. |
| Crossed swords. | Steam boat. |
During a visit to Ootacamund on the Nīlgiri hills, I was enabled to examine the physique of the elder boys at the Lawrence Asylum, the object of which is "to provide for children of European and East Indian officers and soldiers of Her Majesty's Army (British and Native), and of Europeans and East Indians in the Medical Service, military and civil, who are serving, or have served within the limits of the Presidency of Madras, a refuge from the debilitating effects of a tropical climate, and from the serious drawbacks to the well-being of children incidental to a barrack life; to afford for them a plain, practical, and religious education; and to train ​them for employment in different trades, pursuits, and industries." As the result of examination of thirty-three Eurasian boys, I was able to testify to the excellence of their physical condition.* A good climate, with a mean annual temperature of 58°, good food, and physical training, have produced a set of boys well-nourished and muscular, with good chests, shoulders, and body weight.
Some final words are necessary on liability to certain diseases, as a differentiating character between Eurasians and Europeans. The Census Commissioner, 1891, states that Eurasians seem to be peculiarly liable to insanity and leprosy. To these should be added elephantiasis (filarial disease), concerning which Surgeon-Major J.Maitland writes as follows.† " Almost all the old writers on elephantiasis believed that the dark races were more susceptible to the disease than white people; but it is extremely doubtful if this is the case. It is true that, in those countries where the disease is endemic, the proportion of persons affected is much greater among the blacks than among the whites; but it has to be borne in mind that the habits of the former render them much more liable to the disease than the latter. The majority of the white people, being more civilised, are more careful regarding the purity of their drinking water than the Natives, who are proverbially careless in this respect. In India, although it is comparatively rare to meet with Europeans affected with the disease, yet such cases are from time to time recorded. Eurasians are proportionately more liable to the disease than pure Europeans, but not so much so as Natives. Doctors Patterson and Hall of Bahia ‡ examined the blood of 309 persons in ​that place, and found the following proportions affected with filaria; of whites, 1 in 26; of blacks, 1 in 10¼; of the mixed race, 1 in 9. Doctor Laville * states that, in the Society Islands, out of a total of 13 European and American residents, 11 were affected with elephantiasis. Taking all these facts into consideration, together with our knowledge of the pathology of the disease, I do not think we are justified in saying that the black races are more susceptible to the disease than white people. On the other hand, owing to the nature of their habits, they are much more liable to the diseases than are the white races." During the five years 1893-97, ninety-eight Eurasians suffering from filarial diseases were admitted into the General Hospital, Madras.
To Colonel W. A. Lee, I. M.S., Superintendent of the Government Leper Asylum, Madras, I am indebted for the following note on leprosy in its relation to the Eurasian and European communities. " Europeans are by no means immune to the disease, which, in the majority of instances, is contracted by them through coitus with leprous individuals. Leprosy is one of the endemic diseases of tropical and sub-tropical countries, to the risk of contracting which Europeans who settle on the plains of India, and their offspring from unions with the inhabitants of the land, as well as the descendants of the latter, become exposed, since, by the force of circumstances, they are thrown into intimate contact with the Native population. The Eurasian community furnishes a considerable number of lepers, and the disease, once introduced into a family, has a tendency to attack several of its members, and to reappear in successive generations, occasionally skipping one — a ​feature akin to the biological phenomenon known as atavism, but of perhaps doubtful analogy, for the possibility of a fresh infection or inoculation has always to be borne in mind. There are numerous instances of such hereditary transmission among the patients, both Native and Eurasian, in the Leper Hospital. The spread of the disease by contagion is slow, the most intimate contact even, such as that between parent and child, often failing to effect Inoculation. Still there is much evidence in support of Its being inoculable by cohabitation, prolonged contact, wearing the same clothing, sharing the dwelling, using the same cooking and eating utensils, and even by arm-to-arm vaccination. Influenced by a belief in the last mentioned cause, vaccination was formerly regarded with much suspicion and dislike by Eurasians In Madras. But their apprehensions on this score have abated since animal vaccine was substituted for the humanised material. It has also for long been a popular belief among the same class that the suckling of their infants by infected Native wet-nurses is a common source of the disease. Attempts to reproduce leprosy from supposed pure cultures of the leprosy bacillus have Invariably failed, and this strengthens the belief that the disease would die out if sufferers from the tubercular or mixed forms were segregated, and intermarriage with members of known leprous families interdicted. Experience shows that, where such marriages are freely entered into, a notable prevalence of the disease results, as at Pondicherry for example, where the so-called Creole population is said to contain a large proportion of lepers from this cause."
Writing concerning the prevalence of insanity in different classes, the Census Commissioner, 1891, states ​that "it appears from the statistics that insanity is far more prevalent among the Eurasians than among any other class. The proportion is 1 insane person in every 410. For England and Wales the proportion is 1 in every 307, and it is significant that the section of the population of Madras, which shows the greatest liability to insanity, is that which has an admixture of European blood. I have no information regarding the prevalence of insanity among Eurasians for any other province or State in India except Mysore, and there the proportion is 1 in 306."
For the following tabular statement of admissions into the Government Lunatic Asylum, Madras, I am indebted to Captain C. H. Leet-Palk, I.M.S.: —
| ——— | Eurasians. | Eurasians. | Natives. | Natives. | Europeans. | Europeans. |
| ——— | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. |
| 1893 | 6 | 7 | 110 | 55 | 15 | 4 |
| 1894 | 8 | 6 | 104 | 28 | 19 | 1 |
| 1895 | 10 | 6 | 113 | 18 | 11 | 4 |
| 1896 | 2 | 4 | 82 | 17 | 5 | - |
| 1897 | 3 | 3 | 84 | 18 | 14 | 1 |
Leaving out of question the Europeans, in whom, owing to the preponderance of the male sex in Madras, a greater number of male than female lunatics is to be expected, and considering only Eurasians and Natives, the far higher proportion of female as compared with male lunatics in the Eurasian than in the Native community, is very conspicuous. Taking, for example, the numbers remaining in the Asylum in 1894. Whereas the proportion of Eurasian males to females was 33:31, that of Natives was 30.6: 6.8; and the high proportion ​of female Eurasian inmates was visible in other years. The subject seems to be one worthy of further study by those competent to deal with it.
* ↑ * Yule and Burnell, 2nd ed., 1903.
* ↑ * Handbook of British India, 1854.
* ↑ † Cyclopaedia of India.
* ↑ * Journ. Anth. Inst., XX, 1891.
* ↑ † Danvers. The Portuguese in India, 1894.
* ↑ * Manual of Malabar.
* ↑ • See Madras Museum Bulletin, II, 2, Table XXVI, 1898
* ↑ † Elephantiasis and allied disorders, Madras, 1891.
* ↑ ‡ Veterinarian, June, 1879.
* ↑ • Endemic Skin and other Diseases of India. Fox and Farquhar,