The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-09 00:00:00

ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Yesterday evening the members of this society resumed
their ordinarypresent, meetings at their rooms in St. Martin's-place
—the
Mr Lubbock, in the chair.
id
Mr T. Wnrowr, one of the hon, secretaries, read a brief
report of the ethnological proceedings in section E of the
British Association at Bath. The papers read there were
very numerous, and the president stated that they had ex-
cited much attention.
Some skulls were exhibited, sent by Mr P, Egerton, of
the Bengal Civil Scrvice, which had been excavated in the
province of Spiti, in Chinese Thibet, and Mr Markie, exhi-
bited a series of flint instruments collected from the gravel
drift of Bedford, one of which was of unusually large size.
A note from Count Marhall, of Vienna, was read, giving an
account of some works of art and some human bones found
near what were supposed to have been ancient lake dwell-
ings, and it was stated that explorations ace now being
made in the lakes of Southern Austriaand Hungary for the
further discovery of remains of the inhabitants in lacustrine
habitations.
The first paper read was " an account of some rude
tribes, the supposed aborigines of Southern India," by
Dr Shortt. Several tribes were described, including the
Yenadies, the Villers, the Irvolers, and the Dombers. The
on the the Coromandel coast; the
outskirts of every village in
Y
fiVt
hriseiti edrosifs attrrhiecetteoerboieunnfhodaubndt
outskirts of the village of Negala-
chiefly by gathering herbs and medicinal drugs, which they
; and the Irvolers reside for
thebtharetenarewstitphart
on theother people
pooram. The people are all in the rudest possible state,
and nearly resemble each other in general appearance and
character. They eat all kinds of food, with the exception
of the cow. The Dombers are acrobats; they are to be
found in almost every district, and are reeognised as the
Domber caste all over Southern India. These tribes have
, no knowledge where they came from, and have no history.
Most of them speak the Teloogoo language, with various

corruptions.
Mr CRINSTIIRD thought these tribes had no claim to be
considered the aborigines of India. They were merely poor
Hindoos of the lowest caste, and were the class of people
formerly called Gentoos, from the word Gentil or Gentile.
Sir CHARLES NICHOLSON regretted more attention had
not been paid by Dr Shortt to the language of these tribes,
for language was now recognised as the best test of dis-
tinction of race. He inclined to the opinion that they were
the aborigines of India, and he thought they exhibited de-
cided marks of the Mongolian type.
Some further discussion took place on the subject, in which
Mr Craufurd dissented altogether from Sir C. Nicholson's
opinion, and observed that if these tribes were of Mongolian
origin they would be yellow, and not black.
Another paper " On fixity of type" was read by the Rev
F. W. FARRAR. The object of the paper was to show that
the races of man under all forms have from the earliest dawn
maintained an absolute an unalterable fixity, not changed
by climate or circumstances. He contended that, so far as
is known, there is no single race of pure blood which, when
traced back to its earliest origin, does not present the same
traits it now exhibits. Mr Farrar proceeded to support this
opinion by numerous illustrations. He showed that darkness
of colour was not produced by a tropical climate, and that
white and black people live in the same latitudes and beside
each other. Ho adverted to several supposed instances of
change, such as black Jews and black Portuguese, but he
maintained that those anomalies were produced by mixture
of race, He adduced the fixity of type in negroes, gipsies,
and Jews under all circumstances and in all climates as
examples, and he stated, in confirmation of his argument,
that in the oldest Egyptian monuments, Jews, Arabs,
negroes, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Europeans, were do•
pitted with a fidelity as to colour and features hardly to be
surpassed by a modern artist.
Mr PHILLIPS, R.A., exhibited a series of Eketches and
paintings of various persons in Egypt, Assyria, and
Greece, exhibiting their characteristic differences. One
portrait of a modern Copt was especially pointed out as
exhibing the exact features of an ancient Egyptian as seen
in the monuments in the British Museum; and to show the
resemblance more strongly a head-dress similar to that
worn by the ancient Egyptians was thrown over it.
A very animated discussion took place on the paper, in
which Mr Crawfurd, Sir C. Nicholson, Mr Luke Bufke,
Mr Galtos, and the president took part. Sir C. Nicholson
differed from the author of the paper, and alluded to the
marked changes which have taken place within the last
100 years in the external character of the original English
settlers in North America. He believed that there were
undoubted instances of black Jews, and he contended that
change of climate and of circumstances prodnee a decided