The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-15 00:00:00

ETHNOL.O(4-ICAL- SoCIETY.

This Spelety met- last Wednesday ; Mr: Greenough,
V.P. in the chair.

Messrs. J. Fletcher, F. Lloyd, R. W. Rothman,
Brown. •J. S. Bucicingharn, T. Page, 0.
Jacky n, an 1 B. Vlliliamy were elected ni.-trAvrs.
short paper on the natives of the Ilareuas was
first read; n.nd then, the prin;.•;ioal sultjeCt for the
ivening, "On the Biluchi Inhabiting Sinde in
the lower rdley of the Indic{, and Cutehi, by Captain-
Postmv," the author of " Penonal-ObF•ervations on
Sinde."

The inhabitants of the Marquesan Group, a cluster
of small rocky islands with no extent of soil for culti-
vation, and a climate very enervating to white men,
do not number more than 25,000 or 30,000.
Yet, notwithstanding the enervating climate, .
in physical conf?rmation, they will bear a comparison
with any race belonging to the great human family.
The women are peculiarly handsome both in form
and features, and as the people generally live in
the deep valleys, among forests of the bread fruit
end cocoa nut, where there is a perpetual moisture,
as well as a seclusion from the rays of the sun, their
complexion is much fairer than that of the inhabit-
ants of any other grOup in the Pacific. -• The Mar-
quesans differ from the other nations of Polynesia
in not showing • a tendency to corpulence ; their
frames are slender, they are nimble and active •in
their movements, their features are sharp, and the
expression of their eyes is keen arid brilliant.
Captain Pestans informs us, that the general term
of Biluchi is applied to a race professing the Maho-
medan religion, whose country is hence called Bela-
christen, which may he described as the • whole of
that mountainous and desert region stretching west-
ward of the Indus, from Cape Monze to the valley of
Shawl, and of which Helat may be considered as the
capital. This people thus form a connecting link, as
it were, between the Persians and Afighan tribes be-
yond and the mixed Raj put races who occupy the
nortsern and north-western portion of Guzerat, in
India. It may be conjectured, remarks Captain Pos-
tans, that the Biluchis are of au Arabain stock, and,
in all probability, came to the neighbourhood of the
Indus either shortly prior to, or at the period of, the
first Mahomedan conquest eastward, under the Khali-
fat of Walid. Their own traditions vaguely ascribe their
original listality Jo Sham or Damascus, though they
have no date er record,-oral or, inscribed, to attest it.
The true Bauch', or as he styles himself, proudly; the
Usul (pure) Beluch of the desert, is decidedly a particulur
and distinct class, and possesses peculiarities apart
from his geographical pasition, which would appear
to mark him as having considerable claim to an ori-
ginal offshoot from the Arabian family. The history
of the Biluchi is. much involved in obscurity as their
origin, until . a certain period, when they appear to
have constituted themselves, with the Brahors, under
Nasir Khan, about the middle of last century, an in-
dependent people; and Kelat became, if not the seat
of regal power. at least of a powerful chieftainship,
which the various tribes duly ackowledged and main-
tained by a complete system of feudalism. There
are no less than fifty-eight distinct tribes' of Biluchis;
branching from three great heads, the number of
whom remains in doubt ; but those locited itnmedi•
ately about the banks of the Indus, it has been pretty
well ascertained, amount to 40,000 fighting men. In
person they may ke considered as a fine race of men,
and are decidedly handsome ; those living in the hotter
climate of the plains have somewhat deteriorated from
the unusually large size and muscular strength for
Asiatics, peculiar" to the mountaineers, but they
are still a portly people. Amongst all classes. corpu-
lence is considered a great mark of beauty, and is en-
couraged to a ridiculous extent. Nasir Khan, the
late head of the Hyderabad family, though only in
the very prime of life, and a strikingly handsome, fair-
complexioned man, was so unwieldy with obesity that
it was with difficulty he could walk across his hall of
audience; and on rising, or attempting to rise, from his
seat, was obliged to be assisted by his courtiers. The
Sindian Biluchis are of very dark complexion, with
fine oval contours of countenance. acquiline nose, and
large expressive eyes. Unliko Mabomedanegenerally,
they cultivate the growth of the hair on the head,
as well as the beard. With the Cutchi tribes the
women hold .a
.higher rank than in Sinde. They
are admitted to. council, and in warfare share the
dengers with their husbands and relations. On
several occasions, Captain -Postans remarks, these
heroines presented their own bodies as shields to
protect their countrymen • from the fire of our troops.
As a military man, Captain Postage considers " the
Biluchi to be brave when occasion calls for the dis-
play of bravery, as late and many previous events
have testified ; and when with his rude arms and
total ignorance of any other principle than •that the
best swordsinan and strongest man is the best soldier,
he meets a disciplined force and falls at the muzzle
of our guns or points of our bayonets, we must, in
justice, pronounce him a warrior worthy of our
steel." The language of the Biluchis is distinct from
that of their immediate neighbours, and in sound as-
similates to bad Persian. lt, is not a written lans
' guage and is altogether. so barbarous-that the.Biluchi
is said to have learnt it of his goats when he was a
shepherd in the mountains.
After this paper, which, from the able manner in
which it was written, received the marked attention
of the members present (upwards of one hundred),
the. President announced the formation of an Ethnos
logical Society at New York, which was communi-
cated in the following words, in a letter addressed to Dr.
King, the founder and secretary of the London Ethnolo-
gical Society :—" I have had the honour of proposing
your name to our Ethnological Society, and now send
you a notice of your election as one of its members. As
we shall soon publish a volume, I shall deer giving
you a more particular account of our organization
until that appears
; except that I will state the fact
of the Society's enrolling some of our ablest scholars
among its members..
Of this number is. the-President,
Mr. Gallatin, formerly Minister Plenipoteptiary to
England from our Government, and known to
American students as the author of a very valuable
essay on the Ethnography of the Indian Languages
of North America. Professor Robinson, the author
of Travels in Palestine, and Mr. Schooleraft,. for-
merly of Detroit, are our Vice-Presidents."
Some Isiluchi portraits, and a collection of beauti-
fully executed Persian and Indian draaiings by
nativebles o
fthe
artists,s Society
in Persia by the Baron de
Bode, were, among other novelties, lying upon the
a

BURNING OF A COTTON FACTORY AT HA.CRNEY.—
On Saturday, at about hull- past twelve o'clock, a great
deal of alarm and excitement was manifested' amongst
the inhabitants of Hackney and its suburbs, by the
cotton and wadding manufactory belonging to Mr.
Duprey (of No. 60, Aldgate. and also No. 23, Norman-
street, • St. Luke's), situated in Weymouth-terrace, in
the Hackney-road, being . discovered on fire. The
factory stood by itself, in the rear of the houses in
Weymouth-terrace; and was in extent between 56 and 60
feet in length, 30in depth, and about the same in height, the
building, - haying formerly comprised three dwelling-
houses. There was a great quantity of machinery in
different parts, which was propelled by a ten-horSe
ateam•engine on the basement of the factory, and at the
outbreak Of the flames the works were in full operation.
As regards the origin, it is impossible to form the
slightest idea, for it appears the workmen were sud-
denly alarmed by a body of smoke issuing forth from
one of the machine rooms, and before there was
sufficient time to ascertain the cause,. the flames
rote with extraordinary violence, ;and all were
necessitated to effect an instant escape ; many, in fact,
hid to leap out' of the first story. window. The alarm
having been giVen to the police, immediate intelligence
was sent off to the various.stations of the brigade in the
east end of the metropolis, and in the City, but before any
engines reached the -spot the fire bad burnt throughout
the factory,,and was in .a vivid blaze from the lower floors
and got into play from a supply of
to the roof~ Qa the arrival of the first engine, which
was that of the parish of Hackney, it was conveyed up
twolorse- engines
of. the brigade, from Jeffrey-square and Whitecross-
eennrtrtahnecpe,remis
es.
Soon
after,
street stations came, and were' subsequently followed
ti
water the
near
by eight other engines and about • forty firemen ;
many of them were directly got into operation; the
plugs of the East London and New River Compa-
nies- emitting en excellent supply of venter, but
notwithstanding the, efficient exertions, of the fire-
&en, who were under the charge of Mr. Braidwood, the
superintendent, the flames were not subdued until
the factory 'and . its contents were all but burnt to the
ground. On the ruins undergoing inspeation, the folly
or catering wood with sheets of. iron, to prevent the ex-
tension of fire, was 'fully exemplified. One of the prin-
cipal rooms on the ground floor had been lined with iron
throughout, even the doors and ceiling included, yet,'
strange to say, the damage here, though the fire com-
menced in another part of the factory, .was greater than
in any other portion of the, ruins; '1 he loss is stated to
be very heavy. •
THE ARCIIBISUOP OF CANTERBURY'S STATE DIN.
NERS.--.11 is understood that the Reverend Primate has.
so far recovered ;in health and ,vigour as to be capable of
presiding at the State dinners, Which will, consequently,
be resumed this season.
In order to expedite the completion of the two
experimental.l2-gnn brigs, building at Chatham-yard,
an order has been received for the men employed on
them to work from six o'clock in the morning until dark
at night.—Dover Chronicle. •
CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE IN NATURAL HISTORY.—
A few days ago a pine marten was discovered on
one of the beautiful but solitary Wands which adorn
Loch Maree. The animal could only have reached
the spdt by swimming a very considerable dis-
tance, and it is thought that, as the sea mews and
wild fowl, have ceased to resort to it during the,
last two years, 'they must have done so in con-
sequence of the Fates having by some means im-
ported 'tt bad neighbour, in the form ,of`, the 'pine
marten, which, by continually- burrowing. after them in
their holes &on! to shore, and securing- many as his
:victims, induce the birds generally. to forsake the' lo-
cality in which he had established his domain. Some
. time previously a wild eat, and a number of young ones,
were found on a little bush covered islet, on Loch Tolly,
affording refuge,-but no supply of food whatever, so that
the animal must have continuel swam very consider-
able distance to' supply itself an young at necessary in-
te4'vals with food.--Inverness Rerad,

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