ANTHROPOLOGY LIBRARY 
 
 r 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Rev* Frederic S, Bamford, 
 
 i 
 
 L. , 
 
 ,J 
 

 s 
 
~ f 
 
 o * I 
 
THE 
 
 ETHNOLOGY 
 
 THE BRITISH COLONIES 
 
 DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 R. G. LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S., 
 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER TO THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, NEW YORK, 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 
 M.DCCC.LI. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by SAMUEL BENTLEY and Co. 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane. 
 
CONTENTS. ^. 
 
 " ; 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN EUROPE. 
 
 Heligoland and the Frisians. Gibraltar and the Spanish 
 Stock. Malta. The Ionian Islands. The Channel Islands . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN AFRICA. 
 
 The Gambia Settlements. Sierra Leone The Gold Coast. 
 
 The Cape. The Mauritius. The Negroes of America . 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES IN ASIA. 
 
 Aden. The Mongolian Variety. The Monosyllabic Lan 
 guages. Hong Kong. The Tenasserim Provinces; Maulmein, 
 Ye, Tavoy, Tenasserim, the Mergui Archipelago. The M6n, 
 Siamese, Avans, Kariens, and Silong. Aracan. Mugs, 
 Khyens. Chittagong, Tippera, and Sylhet. Kuki. Kasia. 
 
 Cachars. Assam. Nagas. Singpho. Jili. Kamti 
 
 Mishimi. Abors and Bor-Abors. Dufla. Aka. Muttuks 
 
 and Miri, and other Tribes of the Valley of Assam. The Garo. 
 
 Classification. Mr. Brown s Tables. The Bodo. Dhimal. 
 Kocch. Lepchas of Sikkim. Rawat of Kumaon. Poly- 
 andria. The Tamulian Populations. Rajmahali Mountaineers. 
 Kulis, Khonds, Goands, Chenchwars. Tudas, &c. Bhils. 
 Waralis. The Tamul, Telinga, Kanara, and Malayalim 
 Languages 92 
 
 399709 
 
Vl CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Sanskrit Language. Its Relations to certain Modern 
 Languages of India ; to the Slavonic and Lithuanic of Europe. 
 Inferences. Brahminism of the Puranas Of the Institutes 
 of Menu. Extract. Of the Vedas. Extract. Inferences. 
 The Hindus. Sikhs. Biluchi. Afghans. Wandering 
 Tribes. Miscellaneous Populations. Ceylon. Buddhism. 
 Devil-worship. Vaddahs. . . . . 150 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 British Dependencies in the Malayan Peninsula. The 
 Oceanic Stock arid its Divisions. The Malay, Semang, and 
 Dyak Types. The Orang Binua. Jakuns. The Biduanda 
 
 Kallang. The Orang Sletar. The Sarawak Tribes The New 
 
 Zealanders. The Australians. The Tasmanians. . . 203 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN AMERICA. 
 
 The Athabaskans of the Hudson s Bay Country. The 
 Algonkin Stock. The Iroquois. The Sioux. Assineboins. 
 The Eskimo. The Koluch. The Nehanni. Digothi. The 
 Atsina. Indians of British Oregon, Quadra and Vancouver s 
 Islands. Haidah. Chimshehan. Billechula. Hailtsa. 
 Nutka. Atna. Kitunaha Indians. Particular Algonkin 
 Tribes. The Nascopi. The Bethuk. Numerals from Fit/ 
 Hugh Sound. The Moskito Indians. South American In 
 dians of British Guiana. Caribs. Warows. Wapisianas. 
 Tarumas. Caribs of St. Vincent. Trinidad. , 224 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE following pages represent a Course of 
 Six Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution, 
 Manchester, in the months of February and 
 March of the present year; the matter being 
 now laid before the public in a somewhat fuller 
 and more systematic form than was compatible 
 with the original delivery. 
 
ETHNOLOGY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE BRITISH DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN EUROPE. 
 
 HELIGOLAND AND THE FRISIANS. GIBRALTAR AND THE SPANISH 
 
 STOCK. MALTA. THE IONIAN ISLANDS. THE CHANNEL 
 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 Heligoland. We learn from a passage in the 
 Germania of Tacitus, that certain tribes agreed 
 with each other in the worship of a goddess who 
 was revered as Earth the Mother; that a sacred 
 grove, in a sacred island, was dedicated to her ; 
 and that, in that grove, there stood a holy wagon, 
 covered with a pal], and touched by the priest 
 only. The goddess herself was drawn by heifers ; 
 and as long as she vouchsafed her presence among 
 men, there was joy, and feasts, and hospitality; 
 and peace amongst otherwise fierce tribes instead 
 of war and violence. After a time, however, the 
 goddess withdrew herself to her secret temple 
 satiated with the converse of mankind ; and then 
 
 B 
 
2 EUROPE. 
 
 the- wagoti, ii e : pall, and the deity herself were 
 bathed -m 1 th* holy 1 , lake.. The administrant slaves 
 : were" sue ked : tiri by its waters. There was terror 
 and there was ignorance ; the reality being re 
 vealed to those alone who thus suddenly passed 
 from life to death. 
 
 Now we know, by name at least, five of the 
 tribes who are thus connected by a common 
 worship mysterious and obscure as it is. They 
 are the Reudigni, the Aviones, the Eudoses, the 
 Suardones, and the Nuithones. 
 
 Two others we know by something more than 
 name the Varini and the Langobardi. 
 
 The eighth is our own parent stock the Angli. 
 
 Such is one of the earliest notices of the old 
 creed of our German forefathers ; and, fragment 
 ary and indefinite as it is, it is one of the fullest 
 which has reached us. I subjoin the original 
 text, premising that, instead of Herthum, certain 
 MSS. read Nertlmm. 
 
 Langobardos paucitas nobilitat : plurimis 
 
 ac valentissimis nationibus cincti, non per obse- 
 quium sed proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt. Reu 
 digni deinde, et Aviones, et Angli, et Varini, et 
 Eudoses, et Suardones, et Nuithones, fluminibus 
 aut silvis muniuntur: nee quidquarn notabile in 
 singulis, nisi quod in commune Herthum, id est, 
 Terrain matrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus 
 hominum, invehi populis, arbitrantur. Est in 
 
HELIGOLAND. 3 
 
 insula Oceani Castum nemus, dicatuinque in eo 
 vehiculum, veste contectum, attingere uni sacer- 
 doti concessum. Is adesse penetrali deam intelli- 
 git, vectamque bobus feminis multa cum vene- 
 ratione prosequitur. Laeti tune dies, festa loca, 
 quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non 
 bella ineunt, non arma sumunt, clausum omne 
 ferrum; pax et quies tune tantum nota, tune 
 tantum amata, donee idem sacerdos satiatam con- 
 versatione mortalium deam templo reddat ; mox 
 vehiculum et vestes, et, si credere velis, numen 
 ipsum secreto lacu abluitur. Servi ministrant, 
 quos statim idem lacus haurit. Arcanus hinc 
 terror, sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit id, quod 
 tantum perituri vident." " De Moribus Germa- 
 norum," 40. 
 
 What connects the passage with the ethnology 
 of Heligoland ? Heligoland is, probably, the 
 island of the Holy Grove. Its present name indi 
 cates this the holy land. Its position in the 
 main sea, or Ocean, does the same. So does its 
 vicinity to the country of Germans. 
 
 At the same time it must not be concealed from 
 the reader that the Isle of Rugen off the coast of 
 Pomerania, has its claims. It is an island but 
 not an island of the Ocean. It is full of religious 
 remains but those remains are Slavonic rather 
 than German. 
 
 I believe, for my owii part, that the seat of the 
 
4 EUROPE. 
 
 worship of Earth the Mother, was the island which 
 we are now considering. 
 
 In respect to its inhabitants, it must serve as a 
 slight text for a long commentary. A population 
 of about two thousand fishers ; characterized, like 
 the ancient Venetians, by an utter absence of 
 horses, mules, ponies, asses, carts, wagons, or any 
 of the ordinary applications of animal power to 
 the purposes of locomotion, confined to a small 
 rock, and but little interrupted with foreign ele 
 ments, is, if considered in respect to itself alone, 
 no great subject for either the ethnologist or the 
 geographer. But what if its relations to the popu 
 lation of the continent be remarkable ? What if 
 the source of its population be other than that 
 which, from the occupants of the nearest portion 
 of the continent, we are prepared to expect ? In 
 this case, the narrow area of an isolated rock as 
 sumes an importance which its magnitude would 
 never have created. 
 
 The nearest part of the opposite continent is 
 German Cuxhaven, Bremen, and Hamburg, 
 being all German towns. And what the towns 
 are the country is also or nearly so. It is 
 German which Heligoland is not. 
 
 The Heligolanders are no Germans, but Fri 
 sians. I have lying before me the Heligoland 
 version of God save the Queen. A Dutchman 
 would understand this, easier than a Low German, 
 
HELIGOLAND. 5 
 
 a Low German easier than an Englishman, and 
 (I think) an Englishman easier than a German of 
 Bavaria. The same applies to another sample of 
 the Heligoland muse the contented Heligolander s 
 wife (Dii tofreden Hjelgelunneriri), a pretty 
 little song in Hettema s collection of Frisian 
 poems ; with which, however, the native literature 
 ends. There is plenty of Frisian verse in general; 
 but little enough of the particular Frisian of 
 Heligoland. 
 
 A difference like that between the Frisians of 
 Heligoland and the Germans of Hanover, is 
 always suggestive of an ethnological alternative ; 
 since it is a general rule, supported both by 
 induction and common sense, that, except under 
 certain modifying circumstances, islands derive 
 their inhabitants from the nearest part of the 
 nearest continent. When, however, the popula 
 tions differ, one of two views has to be taken. 
 Either some more distant point than the one 
 which geographical proximity suggests has sup 
 plied the original occupants, or a change has taken 
 place on the part of one or both of the popula 
 tions since the period of the original migration. 
 
 Which has been the case here? The latter. 
 The present Germans of the coast between the 
 Elbe and Weser are not the Germans who peo 
 pled Heligoland, nor yet the descendants of 
 them. Allied to them they are ; inasmuch as 
 
6 EUROPE. 
 
 Germany is a wide country, and German a 
 comprehensive term ; but they are not the 
 same. The two peoples, though like, are dif 
 ferent. 
 
 Of what sort, then, were the men and women 
 that the present Germans of the Oldenburg and 
 Hanoverian coast have displaced and superseded ? 
 Let us investigate. Whoever rises from the 
 perusal of those numerous notices of the ancient 
 Germans which we find in the classical writers, 
 to the usual tour of Rhenish Germany, will find 
 a notable contrast between the natives of that 
 region as they were and as they are. His mind 
 may be full of their golden hair, expecting to find 
 \tflaxen at least. Blue and gray eyes, too, he will 
 expect to preponderate over the black and hazel. 
 This is what he will have read about, and what 
 he will not find at least along the routine lines 
 of travel. As little will there be of massive mus 
 cularity in the limbs, and height in the stature. 
 Has the type changed, or have the old records 
 been inaccurate? Has the wrong part of Ger 
 many been described? or has the contrast be 
 tween the Goth and the Italian engendered an 
 exaggeration of the differences ? It is no part 
 of the present treatise to enter upon this ques 
 tion. It is enough to indicate the difference 
 between the actual German of the greater part 
 of Germany in respect to the colour of his 
 
HELIGOLAND. 7 
 
 hair, eyes, and skin, and the epithets of the 
 classical writers. 
 
 But all is not bare from Dan to Beersheba. 
 The German of the old Germanic type is to be 
 found if sought for. His locality, however, is 
 away from the more frequented parts of his coun 
 try. Still it is the part which Tacitus knew best, 
 and which he more especially described. This is 
 the parts on the Lower rather than the Upper 
 Rhine ; and it is the parts about the Ems and 
 Weser rather than those of the Rhine at all 
 sacred as is this latter stream to the patriotism of 
 the Prussian and Suabian. It is Lower rather than 
 Upper Germany, Holland rather than Germany 
 at all, and Friesland rather than any of the other 
 Dutch provinces. It is Westphalia, and Olden 
 burg, as much, perhaps, as Friesland. The 
 tract thus identified extends far into the Cimbric 
 Peninsula, so that the Jutlander, though a Dane 
 in tongue, is a Low German in appearance. 
 
 The preceding observations are by no means 
 the present writer s, who has no wish to be 
 responsible for the apparent paradox that the 
 Germans in Germany are not Germanic. It is 
 little more than a repetition of one of Prichard s,* 
 in which he is supported by both Niebuhr and 
 the Chevalier Bunsen. The former expressly 
 
 * "Natural History of Man," p. 197. 
 
8 EUROPE. 
 
 states that the yellow or red hair, blue eyes, 
 and light complexion has now become uncommon, 
 whilst the latter has " often looked in vain for the 
 auburn or golden locks and the light cerulean 
 eyes of the old Germans, and never verified the 
 picture given by the ancients of his countrymen, 
 till he visited Scandinavia ; there he found him 
 self surrounded by the Germans of Tacitus." 
 
 For Scandinavia, I would simply substitute the 
 fen districts of Friesland, Oldenburg, Hanover, 
 and Holstein all of them the old area of the 
 Frisian. 
 
 Such is the physiognomy. What are the other 
 peculiarities of the Frisian? His language, his 
 distribution, his history. 
 
 The Frisian of Friesland, is not the Dutch of 
 Holland ; nor yet a mere provincial dialect of it. 
 Instead of the infinitive moods and plural numbers 
 ending in -n as in Holland, the former end in -a, 
 the latter in -ar, And so they did when the 
 language was first reduced to writing, which it 
 has been for nearly a thousand years. So they 
 did when the laws of the Old Frisian republic 
 were composed, and when the so-called Old 
 Frisian was the language of the country. So 
 they did in the sixteenth century, when the po 
 pular poet, Gysbert Japicx, wrote in the Middle 
 Frisian ; and so they do now when, under the 
 auspices of Postumus and Hettema, we have 
 
HELIGOLAND. 
 
 Frisian translations of Shakespear s " As You 
 Like it," " Julius Csesar," and " Cymbeline." 
 
 Now the oldest Frisian is older than the oldest 
 Dutch ; in other words, of the two languages it 
 was the former which was first reduced to writing. 
 Yet the doctrine that it is the mother-tongue of 
 the Dutch, is as inaccurate as the opposite notion 
 of its being a mere provincial dialect. I state 
 this, because I doubt whether the Dutch forms in 
 -w, could well be evolved out of the Frisian in 
 -r, or -a. The -n belongs to the older form, 
 which at one time was common to both languages, 
 but which in the Frisian became omitted as early 
 as the tenth century ; whereas, in the Dutch, it 
 remains up to the present day. 
 
 If the Frisian differ from the Dutch, it differs 
 still more from the proper Low German dialects 
 of Westphalia, Oldenburg, and Holstein ; all of 
 which have the differential characteristics of the 
 Dutch in a greater degree than the Dutch 
 itself. 
 
 The closest likeness to the Frisian has ceased 
 to exist as a language. It has disappeared on 
 the Continent. It has changed in the island which 
 adopted it. That island is Great Britain. 
 
 No existing nation, as tested by its language, 
 is so near the Angle of England as the Frisian of 
 Friesland. This, to the Englishman, is the great 
 element of its interest. 
 
10 EUROPE. 
 
 The history of the Frisian Germans must begin 
 with their present distribution. They constitute 
 the present agricultural population of the pro 
 vince of Friesland ; so that if Dutch be the lan 
 guage of the towns, it is Frisian which we find in 
 the villages and lone farm-houses. And this is the 
 case with that remarkable series of islands which 
 runs like a row of breakwaters from the Helder to 
 the Weser, and serves as a front to the continent 
 behind them. Such are Ameland, Terschelling, 
 Wangeroog, and the others each with its dialect 
 or sub-dialect. 
 
 But beyond this, the continuity of the range of 
 language is broken. Frisian is not the present 
 dialect of Groningen. Nor yet of Oldenburg 
 generally though in one or two of the fenniest 
 villages of that duchy a remnant of it still con 
 tinues to be spoken ; and is known to philologists 
 and antiquarians as the Saterland dialect. 
 
 It was spoken in parts of East Friesland as late 
 as the middle of the last century but only in 
 parts ; the Low German, or Platt-Deutsch, being 
 the current tongue of the districts around. 
 
 It is spoken as already stated in Heligoland. 
 
 And, lastly, it is spoken in an isolated locality 
 as far north as the Duchy of Sleswick, in the 
 neighbourhood of Husum and Bredsted. 
 
 It was these Frisians of Sleswick who alone, 
 during the late struggle of Denmark against Ger- 
 
HELIGOLAND. 11 
 
 many, looked upon the contest with the same in 
 difference as the frogs viewed the battles of the 
 oxen. They were not Germans to favour the 
 aggressors from the South, nor Danes to feel the 
 patriotism of the Northmen. They were neither 
 one nor the other simply Frisians, members of 
 an isolated and disconnected brotherhood. 
 
 The epithet free originated with the Frisians of 
 Friesland Proper, and it has adhered to them. 
 With their language they have preserved many of 
 their old laws and privileges, and from first to 
 last, have always contrived that the authority 
 of the sovereigns of the Netherlands should sit 
 lightly on them. 
 
 Nevertheless, they are a broken and disjointed 
 population; inasmuch, as the natural inference 
 from their present distribution is the doctrine 
 that, at some earlier period, they were spread 
 over the whole of the sea-coast from Holland 
 to Jutland, in other words, that they were the 
 oldest inhabitants of Friesland, Oldenburg, Lower 
 Hanover, and Holstein. If so, they must have 
 been the Frisii of Tacitus. No one doubts this. 
 They must also have been the Chauci of that 
 writer, the German form of whose names, as we 
 know from the oldest Anglo-Saxon poems, was 
 Hoeing. This is not so universally admitted ; 
 nevertheless, it is difficult to say who the Chauci 
 were if they were not Frisians, or why we find 
 
12 EUROPE. 
 
 Frisians to the north of the Elbe, unless the po 
 pulation was at one time continuous. 
 
 When was this continuity disturbed ? From the 
 earliest times the sea-coast of Germany seems to 
 have been Frisian, and from the earliest times the 
 tribes of the interior seem to have moved from 
 the inland country towards the sea. Their faces 
 were turned towards Britain ; or, if not towards 
 Britain, towards France, or the Baltic. I be 
 lieve, then, that as early as 100 B.C. the displace 
 ment of some of the occupants of the Frisian area 
 had begun ; this being an inference from the 
 statement of Csesar, that the Batavians of Hol 
 land were, in his own time, considered to have 
 been an immigrant population. From these 
 Batavians have come the present Dutch, and as 
 the present Dutch differ from the Frisians of 
 A.D. 1851, so did their respective great ancestors 
 in B.C. 100 there, or thereabouts. But the en 
 croachment of the Dutch upon the Frisian was but 
 slow. The map tells us this. Just as in some parts 
 of Great Britain we have Shiptons and Charltons, 
 whereas in others the form is Skipton and Carlton ; 
 just as in Scotland they talk of the kirk, and in 
 England of the church;* and just as such differences 
 are explained by the difference of dialect on the 
 
 * The form in c and sJc (Skipton and Carlton) being of 
 Danish, whilst those in ch and sh are of Anglo-Saxon origin. 
 See " Quarterly Review," No. CLXIV. 
 
HELIGOLAND. 13 
 
 part of the original occupants, so do we see in 
 Holland that certain places have the names in a 
 Dutch, and others in a Frisian form. The Dutch 
 compounds of man are like the English, and end 
 in -n. The Frisians never end so. They 
 drop the consonant, and end in -a ; as Hettema, 
 Halberts-ma, &c. Again all three languages 
 English, Dutch, and Frisian have numerous 
 compounds of the word ham-=home, as Three- 
 kingham, Eastham, Petersham, &c. In English 
 the form is what we have just seen. In Holland 
 the termination is -hem, as in Arn-hem, Berg-hem. 
 In Frisian the vowel is u, and the h is omitted 
 altogether, e.g., Dokk-um, Borst-um, &c. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, we may take up a map of 
 the Netherlands. Nine places out of ten in 
 Friesland end in -um, and none in -hem. In 
 Groningen the proportion is less ; and in Guel- 
 derland and Overijssel, it is less still. Nevertheless, 
 as far south as the Maas, and in parts of the true 
 Dutch Netherlands, where no approach to the 
 Frisian language can now be discovered, a certain 
 per-centage of Frisian forms for geographical 
 localities occurs.* 
 
 The remainder of the displacement of the Fri 
 sians was, most probably, effected by the intro- 
 
 * The details of this investigation are given in full in the 
 present writer s " Taciti Germania with Ethnological notes," 
 now in course of publication. 
 
14 EUROPE. 
 
 duction of the Low Germans of the empire of 
 Charlemagne, into the present countries of Olden 
 burg and Hanover ; and I believe that the same 
 series of conquests, which then broke up the 
 speakers of the Frisian, annihilated the Germanic 
 representatives of the Anglo-Saxons of England; 
 since it is an undeniable fact that of the numer 
 ous dialects of the country called Lower Saxony, 
 all (with the exception of the Frisian) are forms of 
 the Platt-Deutsch, and none of them descendants 
 of the Anglo-Saxon. Hence, as far as the lan 
 guage represents the descent, whatever we Anglo- 
 Saxons may be in Great Britain, America, Hin- 
 dostan, Australia, New Zealand, or Africa, we 
 are the least of our kith and kin in Germany. 
 And we can afford to be so. Otherwise, if we 
 were a petty people, and given to ethnological sen 
 timentality, we might talk about the Franks of 
 Charlemagne, as the Celts talk of us ; for, with 
 out doubt, the same Franks either exterminated 
 or denationalized us in the land of our birth, and 
 displaced the language of Alfred and ^Elfric in the 
 country upon which it first reflected a literature. 
 
 There are no absolute descendants of the ances 
 tors of the English in their ancestral country of 
 Germany ; the Germans that eliminated them 
 being but step-brothers at best. But there is 
 something of the sort. The conquest that de 
 stroyed the Angles, broke up the Frisians. Each 
 
HELIGOLAND. 1 5 
 
 shared each other s ruin. This gives the common 
 bond of misfortune. But there is more than this. 
 It is quite safe to say that the Saxons and Frisians * 
 were closely very closely connected in respect 
 to all the great elements of ethnological affinity 
 language, traditions, geographical position, his 
 tory. Nor is this confined to mere generalities. 
 The opinion, first, I believe, indicated by Arch 
 bishop Usher, and recommended to further con 
 sideration by Mr. Kemble, that the Frisians took 
 an important part in the Anglo-Saxon invasion 
 of Great Britain is gaining ground. True, in 
 deed, it is that the current texts from Beda and 
 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle make no mention 
 of them. They speak only of Saxons, Angles, 
 and Jutes. And true it is, that no provincial 
 dialect has been discovered in England which 
 stands in the same contrast to the languages of 
 the parts about it, as the Frisian does to the 
 Dutch and Low German. Yet it is also true 
 that, according to some traditions, Hengist was a 
 Frisian hero. And it is equally true that, in the 
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, we find more than one 
 incidental mention of Frisians in England their 
 presence being noticed as a matter of course, and 
 without any reference to their introduction. This 
 is shown in the following extract : " That same 
 
 * I include in this term the so-called old Saxons of West 
 phalia. 
 
16 EUROPE. 
 
 year, the armies from among the East-Anglians, 
 and from among the North-Humbrians, harassed 
 the land of the West-Saxons chiefly, most of all 
 by their cescs, which they had built many years 
 before. Then king Alfred commanded long ships 
 to be built to oppose the aescs ; they were full- 
 nigh twice as long as the others ; some had sixty 
 oars, and some had more ; they were both swifter 
 and steadier, and also higher than the others. 
 They were shapen neither like the Frisian nor 
 the Danish, but so as it seemed to him that they 
 would be most efficient. Then some time in the 
 same year, there came six ships to Wight, and 
 there did much harm, as well as in Devon, and 
 elsewhere along the sea-coast. Then the king 
 commanded nine of the new ships to go thither, 
 and they obstructed their passage from the port 
 towards the outer sea. Then went they with 
 three of their ships out against them ; and three 
 lay in the upper part of the port in the dry ; the 
 men were gone from them ashore. Then took 
 they two of the three ships at the outer part of 
 the port, and killed the men, and the other ship 
 escaped ; in that also the men were killed except 
 five ; they got away because the other ships were 
 aground. They also were aground very disad- 
 vantageously, three lay aground on that side of 
 the deep on which the Danish ships were aground, 
 and all the rest upon the other side, so that no 
 
THE FRISIANS. 17 
 
 one of them could get to the others. But when 
 the water had ebhed many furlongs from the 
 ships, the Danish men went from their three ships 
 to the other three which were left by the tide on 
 their side, and then they there fought against 
 them. There was slain Lucumon the king s 
 reeve, and Wulfheard the Frisian, and ^Ebbe the 
 Frisian, and ^Ethelhere the Frisian, and ^Ethel- 
 ferth the king s geneat, and of all the men, Frisians 
 and English, seventy-two ; and of the Danish men 
 one hundred and twenty." 
 
 Lastly, we have the evidence of Procopius that 
 " three numerous nations inhabit Britain, the 
 Angles, the Frisians, and the Britons." * 
 
 Whatever interpretation we may put upon the 
 
 * The original passage is as follows : " Bptrriai/ Se TTJV 
 VTJO-OV Wvr] rpia 7roXuai/0pa>7rorara e^ovcn, /Sao-iXevy re els 
 cLVT&v Kaar(o ffaorrjKcv, ovopara 8e Kflrai rols tBvecn 
 TOVTOIS AyyiXoi re KOL Qpiacroves KOL oi rfj vijcroy 6p.<avvp,oi 
 EpiTTwves. ToaavTr) de rj ravde rc5j/ e6vwv 7ro\vav6pa>7ria 
 (f)aiveraL ovcra coVre ava TTUV eros /caret TroXXovs 1 
 /ieravtcrra/Lievoi vv yvvai^l KOL naiarlv es &pdyyovs 
 Procop. B. G. iv. 20. 
 
 Reasons which have induced me to go farther than any pre 
 vious writer in respect to the importance of the Frisian element 
 in the Anglo-Saxon invasion, and to believe that instead of 
 Saxon being a native German name for any portion of the 
 Germanic population, it was only a Celtic and Roman term for 
 the Germans of the sea-coast, and (amongst these) for the 
 Frisians most especially, are given, at large, in my ethnological 
 edition of the " Germania of Tacitus." 
 
18 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 preceding extracts, it is certain that the Frisians 
 are the nearest German representatives of our 
 Germanic ancestors; whilst it is not uninterest 
 ing to find that the little island of Heligoland, 
 is the only part of the British Empire where the 
 ethnological and political relations coincide. 
 
 Gibraltar. This isolated possession serves as 
 a text for the ethnology of Spain; and there 
 is no country wherein the investigation is more 
 difficult. 
 
 It is difficult, if we look at the analysis of the 
 present population, and attempt to ascertain the 
 proportion of its different ingredients. There is 
 Moorish blood, and there is Gothic, Roman, 
 and Phoenician ; some little Greek, and, older 
 than any, the primitive and original Iberic. Per 
 haps, too, there is a Celtic element, at least such 
 is the inference from the term Celtiberian. Yet 
 it is doubtful whether it be a true one ; and, 
 even if it be, there still stands over the question 
 whether the Celtic or the Iberic element be the 
 older. 
 
 When this is settled, the hardest problem of all 
 remains behind ; viz., the ethnological position of 
 the Iberians. What they were, in themselves, 
 we partially know from history ; and what their 
 descendants are we know also from their lan 
 guage. But we only know them as an isolated 
 branch of the human species. Their relation to 
 
THE IBERIC STOCK. 19 
 
 the neighbouring families is a mystery. Reasons 
 may be given for connecting them with the Celts 
 of Gaul ; reasons for connecting them with the 
 Africans of the other side of the Straits ; and 
 reasons for connecting them with tribes and 
 families so distant in place, and so different in 
 manners as the Finns of Finland, and the Laps of 
 Lapland. Nay more, affinities have been found 
 between their language and the Hebrew, Arabic, 
 and Syriac ; between it and the Georgian; be 
 tween it and half the tongues of the Old World. 
 Even in the forms of speech of America, analogies 
 have been either found or fancied. 
 
 Be this, however, as it may, the oldest inha 
 bitants of the Spanish peninsula were the dif 
 ferent tribes of the Iberians proper, and the 
 Celtiberians ; the first being the most easily 
 disposed of. They it was, whose country was 
 partially colonized by Phoenician colonists ; either 
 directly from Tyre and Sidon, or indirectly from 
 Carthage. They it was who, at a somewhat later 
 period, came in contact with the Greeks of Mar 
 seilles and their own town of Emporia. They 
 it was who could not fail to receive some inter 
 mixture of African blood ; whether it were from 
 Africans crossing over on their own account, or 
 from the Libyans, Gaetulians, and Mauritanians 
 of the Carthaginian levies. 
 
 And now the great western peninsula becomes 
 
20 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 the battle-ground for Rome and Carthage ; the 
 theatre of the Scipios on the one side, and the 
 great family of the Barcas on the other. On 
 Iberian ground does Hannibal swear his deadly 
 and undying enmity to Rome. At this time, 
 the numerous primitive tribes of Spain may boast 
 a civilization equal to that of the most favoured 
 spots of the earth, Greece, and the parts between 
 the Nile, the Euphrates and the Mediterranean 
 alone being excepted. As tested by their agri 
 cultural mode of life, their commercial and mining 
 industry, their susceptibility of discipline as 
 soldiers, and, above all, by the size and number 
 of their cities, the Iberian of Spain is on the same 
 level with the Celt of Gaul, and the Celt of Gaul 
 on that of the Italian of Italy, i. e. t as far as the 
 civilization of the latter is his own, and not of 
 Greek origin. But this is a point of European 
 rather than Spanish ethnology. 
 
 That the obstinate spirit of resistance to or 
 ganized armies by means of a guerilla warfare, 
 the savage patriotism which suggests such expres 
 sions as war even to the knife, and the endurance 
 behind stone walls, which characterizes the 
 modern Spaniards, is foreshadowed in the times 
 of their earliest history, has often been remarked, 
 and that truly. Numantia is an early Saragossa, 
 Saragossa a modern Numantia. Viriathus has 
 had innumerable counterparts. Where the indo- 
 
THE IBERIC STOCK. 21 
 
 irritable Cantabrian held out against the power of 
 Rome, the Biscayan of the year 1851 adheres to 
 his privileges and his language ; and what the 
 Cantabrian was to the Roman, the Asturian was 
 to the Moor. Both trusted their freedom to 
 their impracticable mountains and stubborn 
 spirits and kept it accordingly. It is an easy 
 matter to refer the peculiarities of the Spanish 
 character to the infusion of Oriental blood ; and 
 with some of them it may be the case. But with 
 many of them, the reference is a false one. Half 
 the Spanish character was Iberic and Lusitanian 
 before either Jew or Saracen had seen the Rock 
 of Gibraltar. 
 
 Of the early Spanish religion, we know but 
 little. A remarkable passage in Strabo speaks 
 to their literature. They had an alphabet. This 
 is known from coins and inscriptions. And it 
 was of foreign origin Greek or Phoenician. 
 This nothing but the most inconsiderate and un 
 critical patriotism can deny. Denied, however, 
 it has been ; and the indigenous and independent 
 evolution of an alphabet has been claimed ; the 
 particular tribe to which it has more especially 
 been ascribed being the Turdetani. These and 
 the passage I am about to quote is the passage of 
 Strabo just alluded to are " put forward as the 
 wisest of the Iberi, and they have the use of 
 letters ; and they have records of ancient history : 
 
22 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 and poems, and metrical laws for six thousand 
 years as they say." * 
 
 Now, whatever may be the doubts implied by 
 the last three words of this extract, the evidence 
 is to the effect that the old Iberians were a let 
 tered nation; the antiquity of their civiliza 
 tion being another question. To modify our 
 scepticism on the point, the text has been 
 tampered with, and it has been proposed to read 
 poems (gTrwv) instead of years (Irwv). The change, 
 to be sure, is slight enough that of a single 
 letter from p (TT) to t (T); nevertheless, as it is 
 more than cautious criticism will allow, the reading 
 must stand as it is, and the claim of the Turde- 
 tanians must be for a literature nearly as old as the 
 supposed age of the world in the current century, 
 a long date, and a date which would be impro 
 bable, even if we divided it by twelve, and 
 rendered STOS by month instead of year. It de 
 notes either some shorter period (perhaps a day) 
 or nothing at all. 
 
 So much for the Iberians ; of which the Lusi- 
 tanians of Portugal were a branch ; and of which 
 there were several divisions and subdivisions in 
 volving considerable varieties both of manners 
 
 So^xorarot 6 egf 
 
 Kal rrjs TraXaias p,vr)p.r)S e^ovtrt ra 
 KOI 7roirjfj.aTa KOI vop.ovs e/M/zerpovs e^aicicr^iXta)!/ ereoi , tos 
 
THE IBERIC STOCK. 23 
 
 and language. In respect to the latter there is 
 the special evidence of Strabo that their tongues 
 and alphabets differed. And so did their my 
 thologies. The Callaici had the reputation of 
 being atheists; whilst the Celtiberi worshipped 
 an anonymous God,* at the full of the moon, 
 with feasts and dances. 
 
 But who were the Celtiberi ? I have already 
 said that there were difficulties upon this point. 
 The name makes them a mixed people ; half Celt 
 and half Iberic. If so, the French influence in 
 the Spanish Peninsula was as great in the time of 
 Hannibal, as it was wished to be in the time of 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 With the exception of Niebuhr, the chief 
 authorities have considered the Iberi as the abo 
 rigines, and the Celts as emigrants from Gaul. 
 To this, however, Niebuhr took exceptions. He 
 considered the warlike character of the Iberians ; 
 and this made him unwilling to think that any 
 invader from the north had displaced them. And 
 he considered the geographical distribution of the 
 Celtiberi. This was not in the fertile plains nor 
 along the banks of fertilizing rivers, nor yet in 
 the districts of the golden corn and the precious 
 wool of Hispania, but in the rougher mountain 
 tracts, in the quarters whereto an aboriginal in 
 habitant would be more likely to retire, than an 
 * This was probably the case with the Callaici. 
 
24 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 invading conqueror to covet. I admit the diffi 
 culty implied in his objection; but I admit it 
 only as a presumption against which there is a 
 decided preponderance of material facts. 
 
 In the first place, there are the oldest names 
 of the geographical localities throughout Spain. 
 These, as shown by the well-known monograph 
 of Humboldt, are not Celtic, and are Iberic. 
 
 In the next place, the Celtic frontier was by no 
 means so near the geographical boundary of the 
 Peninsula as it is often supposed to have been. 
 Instead of the Celtic of Gaul reaching the 
 Pyrenees, the Iberic of Spain reached the Loire 
 so that the province of Aquitania, although 
 Gallic in politics, was Iberic in ethnology. This, 
 again, is shown by Humboldt. 
 
 For my own part, instead of discussing the re 
 lation of the Celts of Celtiberia to the other 
 inhabitants of Spain, I would open a new ques 
 tion, and investigate the grounds upon which we 
 believe in an intermixture at all. Whatever 
 respect we may pay to the statements of the 
 classical writers, the name itself is not conclusive ; 
 since it would be just as likely to be given from 
 an approach on the part of an Iberic population 
 to the Celtic manners, or from the adoption of 
 any supposed Celtic characteristic, as from absolute 
 ethnological intermixture. Like modern observ 
 ers, the ancient writers were too fond of gra- 
 
IBERIANS. 25 
 
 tuitously assuming an intermixture of blood for 
 the explanation of the results of common physical 
 or social conditions. Hence without pressing 
 my opinion on the reader I confine myself to an 
 expression of doubt as to the existence of Celts 
 amongst the Celtiberi at all. 
 
 But this only simplifies the question as to the 
 ethnological position of the Iberic variety of the 
 human species. It does not even suggest an 
 answer. They were the aborigines of Spain. 
 They are the ancestors of the present Biscayans. 
 Their tongue survives in the north-west pro 
 vinces of Spain, and in the north-east corner 
 of France. It has no recognised affinity with 
 any known tongue and it has undeniable points 
 of contrast with all the languages of the countries 
 around. 
 
 Yet it is only by means of the Basque language 
 that the problem can be attempted. The physical 
 conformation of the still extant Iberians, has 
 nothing definitely characteristic about it. The 
 ancient mythology has died away. The tribes 
 most immediately allied have ceased to be other 
 than unmixed. So the language alone remains 
 and that has yet to find its interpreter. 
 
 An Iberic basis Greek, Phoenician, and Mauri- 
 tanian intermixtures possibly a Celtic element 
 Roman sufficient to change the language through 
 four-fifths of the Peninsula Gothic blood in- 
 
26 MALTA. 
 
 troduced by the followers of Euric Arabian 
 influences, second in importance to those of 
 Rome only such is the analysis of ethnological 
 elements of the Spanish stock. The proportions, 
 of course, differ in different parts of the Peninsula, 
 and, although they are nowhere ascertained, it is 
 reasonable to suppose that the Arab blood in 
 creases as we go southwards, and the Gothic and 
 Iberic as we approach the Pyrenees. This makes 
 Gibraltar the most Moorish part of Europe ; and 
 such I believe it to be. 
 
 Malta. When we have subtracted the Eng 
 lish, Italians, Greeks, and other nations of the 
 Levant from the population ef Malta, there still 
 remain the primitive islanders, with their peculiar 
 language. 
 
 Now this language is a form of the Arabic ; 
 and, with the exception of some of the dialects 
 of Syria, it is the only instance of that language 
 in the mouth of a Christian population. So 
 thoroughly are the language and the religion of 
 the Koran co-extensive. 
 
 At what period this tongue found its way to 
 Malta is undetermined. As compared with any 
 of the present languages of the island it is ancient. 
 But it is not certain that, though old, it is 
 the earliest. Carthaginians may have preceded 
 the Arabs ; Greeks the Carthaginians ; and, 
 possibly, Sicanians, or the earliest occupants of 
 
THE IONIAN ISLANDS. 27 
 
 Sicily, the Greeks. I am unable, however, to 
 carry my reader beyond the simple fact of the 
 language being Arabic. 
 
 The only other Arabic dependency of Great 
 Britain is Aden.* 
 
 The Ionian Islands. The reader may have re 
 marked the peculiar character of European eth 
 nology. It consists chiefly in the analysis of the 
 component parts of particular populations ; and 
 this it investigates so exclusively as to leave no 
 room for the description of manners, customs, 
 physiognomy, and the like paramount in import 
 ance as these matters are when we come to the other 
 quarters of the world. There are two reasons for 
 this difference. First the peculiarities of the 
 European nations are by no means of the same 
 extent and character with those of the ruder 
 families of mankind. A similar civilization, and 
 a similar religion, have effected a remarkable 
 amount of uniformity ; and, hence, the differences 
 are those that the historian deals with more ap 
 propriately than the ethnologist. Secondly 
 such external and palpable differences as exist 
 are generally known and appreciated. The ana- 
 
 * The famous Knighthood of Malta without fear, but 
 (though, perhaps, the best of its class) not without reproach, 
 has no place here. Its ethnology belongs to the different 
 countries which it dignified by its valour, or dishonoured by 
 its profligacy. 
 
28 THE IONIAN ISLANDS. 
 
 lysis of blood, or stock, which, partially, accounts 
 for them, is less completely understood. 
 
 Hence, in treating of the Maltese, there was no 
 description of the Arabic stock at all. All that 
 was stated was a reason for believing that the 
 Maltese belonged to it. Such also, to a great 
 degree, was the case with the Gibraltar population, 
 and the Heligolanders. And such will be the case 
 with the Ionian Islanders. It will not be thought 
 necessary to enlarge upon the Greeks; it will 
 only be requisite to ask how far the group in 
 question is Grecian. 
 
 The very oldest population of the Ionian Islands 
 I believe to have been barbarous a term which, in 
 the present classical localities, is convenient. 
 
 In the smaller islands, such as Ithaca and Za- 
 cynthus, the population had become Hellenized at 
 the time of the composition of the Homeric poems. 
 In Corcyra, on the other hand, the original 
 barbarism lasted longer. Such, at least, is the 
 way in which I interpret the passages in the 
 Odyssey concerning the Phaeacians (who were 
 certainly not Greek), and the later language of 
 Thucydides respecting the relations of the Corin 
 thian colonies of Epidamnus, and Corcyra. The 
 whole context leads to the belief that, originally, 
 the OTTOJXOJ were Greeks in contact with a popu 
 lation which was not Greek. 
 
 In respect to the stock to which these early 
 
THE IONIAN ISLANDS. 29 
 
 and ante- Hellenic islanders belonged, the pre 
 sumption is in favour of its having been the Illy- 
 rian ; a stock known only in its probable remains 
 the Skipitar (Albanians, or Arnaouts) of Al 
 bania. 
 
 Time, however, made them all equally Hel 
 lenic, a result which was, probably, completed 
 before the decline of Greek independence ; since 
 which epoch there have been the following ele 
 ments of intermixture : 
 
 1. Albanian blood, from the opposite coast. 
 
 2. Slavonic, from Dalmatia. 
 
 3. Italian, from Italy. 
 
 4. Turk I have no pretence to the minute 
 ethnological knowledge which would enable me 
 even to guess at the proportions. 
 
 Upon the whole, however, I believe the Ionian 
 islanders to be what their language represents 
 them Greek. At the same time they are Greeks 
 of an exceedingly mixed blood.* 
 
 Again of the foreign elements I imagine the 
 Italian to be the chief. This, however, is an im 
 pression rather than a matured opinion. 
 
 The Slavonic element, too, is likely to be con 
 siderable. The Byzantine historians speak of 
 numerous and permanent settlements, during the 
 
 * This I believe to have been the case with the ancient 
 Greeks also ; though the proof would require an elaborate 
 monograph. 
 
30 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries, both in Thessaly, 
 and in the Morea; statements which the fre 
 quency of Slavonic names for Greek geographical 
 localities confirms.* Neither, however, outweighs 
 the undoubted Hellenic character of the language, 
 which is still the representative of the great me 
 dium of the fathers of literature and philosophy. 
 
 The Channel Islands. As Guernsey, Jersey, 
 Alderney, and Sark, are no parts of Great Bri 
 tain, and are, nevertheless, European, I make a 
 brief mention of them ; although they are neither 
 colonies nor dependencies : indeed, in strict his 
 tory, Great Britain is a dependency of theirs. 
 
 They are Norman rather than French, and the 
 illustration of this distinction, which will re-appear 
 when we come to the Canadas concludes the 
 chapter. 
 
 The earliest population of France was twofold 
 Celtic for the north, Iberic for the south. 
 
 Its second population was Roman. 
 
 Its language is Roman all that remains of 
 the old tongues of the tribes which Caesar con 
 quered being (1) certain words in the present 
 
 * The two together have led to a doctrine which has been 
 best developed by Fallermayer. It is this that the modern 
 Greeks are Sdavonians. The Russian school are the chief 
 believers of this. In the few countries where ethnology is 
 scientific rather than political, the more moderate opinion of 
 the modern Greeks being a mixed stock prevails. 
 
THE NORTHMEN. 31 
 
 French, (2) the Breton of Britany, which is closely 
 akin to the Welsh Celtic, and (3) the Basque dia 
 lects of Gascony, which is Iberic. 
 
 Now whether the old Gallic blood be as fully 
 displaced by that of the Roman conquerors, as 
 the old Gallic language has been displaced by the 
 Latin is uncertain. It is only certain that the old 
 and indigenous elements of the French nation, 
 however indeterminate in amount were not of a 
 uniform character, i. <?., neither wholly Celtic, nor 
 wholly Iberic ; but Celtic for one part of the 
 country, and Iberic for another. 
 
 The ancient tribes of Normandy were Celtic. 
 Hence, when the third element of the present 
 Norman population was introduced, all that was 
 not Italian was Welsh just as it was in Picardy 
 and Orleans, and just as it was not in Gascony 
 and Poitou. There the old element was Iberic. 
 
 The third element just alluded to was Ger 
 manic ; Germanic of different kinds, but chiefly 
 Frank or Burgundian. 
 
 The fourth great element was the Norse or 
 Scandinavian ; introduced by the so-called Sea- 
 kings of Denmark and Norway in the ninth and 
 tenth centuries. These, as the empire of Charle 
 magne declined, insulted and dismembered it. 
 They converted Neustria in Normandy = the 
 country of the Northmen. The exact amount 
 of their influence has not been ascertained ; nor is 
 
32 THE NORTHMEN. 
 
 the investigation easy. The process, however, by 
 which we measured the original extent of the 
 Frisian area is applicable to that of the North 
 men. There are Norse names for French locali 
 ties. Of these the most important are the com 
 pounds of -tot, -fleur, and -bee ; like Yve-o, Har- 
 fleur, and Caude-foc. 
 
 FRENCH. NORSE. ENGLISH. 
 
 -tot toft village. 
 
 -fleur flb t stream. 
 
 -bee beck brook.* 
 
 Names of places thus ending are almost exclu 
 sively limited to Normandy ; occurring, even there, 
 most numerously within a few miles of either the 
 sea or the Seine. 
 
 Furthermore, there is a fresh element suggested 
 by a term of the " Notitiae Utriusque Imperii," a 
 document of the latter end of the fourth cen 
 tury. This is Litus Saxonicum per Britannias, a 
 tract extending from the Wash to Portsmouth. 
 Now the opposite shore of the continent was a 
 litus Saxonicum also; within which lay Nor 
 mandy. I believe that these Saxons were part of 
 the same branch of Germans which invaded Eng 
 land ; in other words, that portions of France, like 
 portions of England, were Anglicized; the two 
 processes differing in respect to their extent and 
 duration. What was general and permanent on 
 * Or beck. 
 
THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 33 
 
 the island, was partial and temporary on the con 
 tinent. That there were Saxons at Bayeux in 
 the tenth century is asserted by express evidence. 
 
 Taking in the account the preceding invasions, 
 and remembering that, both from Germany and 
 Italy, Normandy is one of the most distant of the 
 French provinces, we arrive at the following 
 analysis. 
 
 The Channel Islanders are what the Normans 
 are. 
 
 The Normans are Romanized Celts ; the Roman 
 element being somewhat less than it is elsewhere. 
 
 The Frank and Burgundian elements are also 
 less. 
 
 But a Saxon element is greater. 
 
 And a Norse element is pre-eminently Nor 
 man. 
 
AFRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN AFRICA. 
 
 THE GAMBIA SETTLEMENTS. SIERRA LEONE. THE GOLD COAST. 
 THE CAPE. THE MAURITIUS. THE NEGROES OF AMERICA. 
 
 The Gambia. All our settlements on the 
 Gambia are in the Mandingo country. 
 
 Of all the true and unequivocal Negroes, the 
 Mandingos are the most civilized; the basis ^ of 
 their civilization being Arab, and their religion 
 that of the Koran. Hence, they have priests, or 
 Marabouts, the use of the Arabic alphabet, and a 
 monotheistic creed. 
 
 Of all the Negroes, too, the Mandingos are the 
 most commercial, not as mere slave-dealers, but 
 as truly industrial merchants. 
 
 Of all the families of the African stock, with 
 the exception of the Caffres, the Mandingo is the 
 most widely spread. It also falls into numerous 
 divisions and subdivisions. Hence the term has 
 a twofold power. Sometimes it is a generic 
 name for a large group ; sometimes the designa 
 tion of a particular section of that group. The 
 
THE GAMBIA. SIERRA LEONE. 35 
 
 Mandingos of the Lower Gambia are Mandingos 
 in the restricted meaning of the word. 
 
 For the Mandingo tribes, when we use the term 
 in a general sense, the most convenient classifica 
 tion is into the Mahometan and the Pagan. 
 That this division should exist is natural ; since, 
 with the exception of the Woloffs, the Mandin 
 gos are the most northern of all the western 
 Negroes, and, consequently, those who are most 
 in contact with the Mahometan Arabs, and the 
 equally Mahometan Cabyles of Barbary and the 
 Great Desert, a fact sufficient to account for the 
 monotheistic creeds of the northern tribes. 
 
 As for the Paganism of the others, we must 
 remember how far southwards and inland the 
 same great stock extends indefinitely towards 
 the interior, and as far as the back of the Ashanti 
 country, in the direction of the equator. 
 
 This prepares us for finding Mandingos at our 
 next settlement. 
 
 Sierra Leone. The native populations which 
 encircle this settlement are two the Timmani 
 towards the north, and Eullom towards the 
 south. 
 
 Both are Negroes of the most typical kind, in 
 respect to their physical conformation. 
 
 Both are Pagans. 
 
 Both speak what seem to be mutually unintelli 
 gible languages, but which have an undoubted 
 
36 AFRICA. 
 
 relationship to each other, and to the numerous 
 Mandingo dialects as well. It is this which in 
 duces me to place them in the same section with 
 the more civilized Africans of the Gambia. 
 
 It is safe to say that they are amongst the 
 rudest members of the stock ; indeed it is only in 
 the eyes of the etymologist that they are Man- 
 dingo at all. Practically, they, and several 
 tribes like them, are Mandingo, in the way that 
 a wolf is a dog, or a goat a sheep. 
 
 The Bullom and Timmani are the frontagers to 
 Sierra Leone ; and it was with Bullom and Tim 
 mani potentates that the land of the settlement 
 was bargained for. The settlers themselves are 
 of different origin. Mixed beyond all other popu 
 lations of Africa, the occupants of Free Town 
 are in the same category with the Negroes of 
 Jamaica and St. Domingo ; concerning whom we 
 can only predicate that they have dark skins, and 
 that they come from Africa. The analysis of 
 their several origins, and their distribution amongst 
 the separate branches of the African family, would 
 be one of the most difficult feats in minute ethno 
 logy ; and this would be but a fraction of the 
 investigation. When the several countries which 
 supplied the several victims of the slave-trade had 
 been ascertained, the complicated question of 
 intermixture would stand over; and there we 
 should find lineages of every degree of hybridism 
 
SIERRA LEOtfE. 37 
 
 children, whose ancestors originated on different 
 sides of Africa, themselves the parents of a lighter- 
 coloured offspring, the effect of European inter 
 course. 
 
 At present it is sufficient to state that the 
 nucleus of the Free Town population consists of 
 what is called the Maroon Negroes. These were 
 slaves of Jamaica, who, having recovered their 
 freedom during the Spanish dominion in the 
 island, were removed, by the English, in the first 
 instance to Nova Scotia, and afterwards to their 
 present locality. 
 
 Round this has collected an equally miscel 
 laneous population of rescued slaves ; and, besides 
 these, there are immigrants, labourers, and bar- 
 terers from all the neighbouring parts of the 
 Continent Krumen more especially. 
 
 A writer who, when we come to the Negroes of 
 the Gold Coast, will be freely quoted, calls the 
 Krumen the Scotchmen of Africa, since, with 
 unusual industry, enterprise, and perseverance, they 
 leave, without reluctance, their own country to 
 push their fortunes wherever they can find a wider 
 field. They are ready for any employment 
 which may enable them to increase their means, 
 and ensure a return to their own country in a 
 state of improved prosperity. There the Kru- 
 man s ambition is to purchase one or two head of 
 cattle, and one or two head of wives, to enjoy the 
 
38 THE KRUMEN. AFRICA. 
 
 luxuries of rum and tobacco, and pass the re 
 mainder of his days as 
 
 " A gentleman of Africa who sits at home at ease." 
 
 Half the Africans that we see in Liverpool are 
 Krumen, who have left their own country when 
 young, and taken employment on board a ship, 
 where they exhibit a natural aptitude for the sea. 
 Without being nice as to the destination of the 
 vessel in which they engage, they return home as 
 soon as they can ; and rarely or never contract 
 matrimony before their return. In Cape Coast 
 Town, as well as in Sierra Leone, they form a 
 bachelor community quiet and orderly ; and in 
 that respect stand in strong contrast to the other 
 tribes around them. Besides which, with all their 
 blackness, and all their typical Negro character, 
 they are distinguishable from most other western 
 Africans ; having the advantage of them in make, 
 features, and industry. 
 
 A Kruman is preeminently the free labourer of 
 Africa. In the slave trade he has engaged less 
 than any of his neighbours, attaches himself 
 readily to the whites, and, in his native country, 
 as well as in Sierra Leone, Coast Town, and 
 other places of his temporary denizenship, is 
 quick of perception and amenable to instruction. 
 His language is the Grebo tongue, and it has been 
 reduced to writing by the American missionaries 
 
SIERRA LEONE. 39 
 
 of Cape Palmas. It has decided affinities with 
 those of the Man din go tongues to the north, 
 the Fanti dialects of the Gold Coast, and, in all 
 probability, still closer ones with those of the 
 Ivory coast. These last, however, are but im 
 perfectly known ; indeed, a single vocabulary of 
 the Avekoom language, in the " American Orien 
 tal Journal," furnishes nine-tenths of our philolo 
 gical data for the parts between Cape Palmas 
 and Cape Apollonia. 
 
 The best measure of the heterogeneousness of 
 the Sierra Leone population is to be found in 
 Mrs. Kilham s vocabularies. That lady collected 
 it Free Town, specimens of thirty-one African 
 tongues, from Negroes then and there resident. 
 Of these 
 
 A. Eight belonged to the Man dingo group, 
 riz., Maridingo Proper, Susu, Bambarra, Kossa, 
 Pessa, Kissi, Bullom, and Timmani. 
 
 B. Two were dialects of the Grebo (Kru), the 
 XJTU, and the Bassa. 
 
 C. Two were Fanti: the Fanti and the 
 Ashanti, closely allied dialects. 
 
 D. Two were Dahoman : the Fot, and the 
 Popo. 
 
 E. Two Benin : the Benin Proper, and the 
 Moko, languages of a tract but little known. 
 
 F. One Woloff, from the Senegal. 
 
 G. Eight from the parts between the rivers 
 
40 AFRICA. 
 
 Formosa and Loango, viz., the Bongo, the Ako, 
 the Ibu, the Rungo, the Akuonga, the Karaba, 
 the Uobo, the Kouri. 
 
 H. One from the river Kongo, i.e., the Kongo 
 properly so-called. 
 
 I. Two from the Lower Niger, but, still sepa 
 rated from the coast the Tapua (Nufi) and 
 Appa. 
 
 K. Three from the widely-spread nations of 
 the interior the Fulah, the Haussa, and ;he 
 Bornu. 
 
 I do not say that all Mrs. Kilham s specimens 
 represent mutually unintelligible tongues ; pro 
 bably they do not. At the same time, as several 
 decidedly different languages are omitted, the list 
 understates, rather than exaggerates, the numbei 
 of the divisions and subdivisions of the westerr. 
 African populations, as inferred from the divi 
 sions and subdivisions of the language. 
 
 Thus, no samples are given of the 
 
 1. Sereres. Pastoral tribes about Cape Verde, 
 
 2. Serawolli. On the Middle Senegal, dif 
 ferent, in many respects, from the Sereres, the 
 Woloffs, and the Fulahs ; nations with which 
 they are in geographical contact. 
 
 3. The Feloops. Between the Gambia and 
 Cacheo, along the coast. 
 
 4. The Papels. South of the Cacheo ; and also 
 coastmen. 
 
WESTERN" COAST. 41 
 
 5. The Balantes. Coast-men to the south of 
 the Papels. 
 
 6. The Bagnon. Conterminous with the Fe- 
 loops of the river Cacheo. 
 
 7. The Bissago. Fierce occupants of the islands 
 so-called. 
 
 8. The Naloos. On the Nun and river Grande. 
 
 9. The Sapi. Conterminous with the Naloo, 
 and like all the preceding tribes, from the Feloops 
 downwards, preeminently rude, fierce, intractable, 
 and imperfectly known. 
 
 Southward, the unrepresented languages are 
 equally numerous especially for the Ivory Coast, 
 and for the Delta of the Niger. Of these I shall 
 only notice one the Vey. 
 
 The settlement with which the tribes speaking 
 the Vey language is in contact is one of which the 
 tongue is English, but not the political relations. 
 It is the American free Negro settlement of 
 Liberia. 
 
 In the Vey language, it had been known for 
 some time to the American missionaries, that 
 there were written books, a fact not likely to be 
 undervalued by those who felt warmly on the 
 social and civilizational prospects of the coloured 
 divisions of our species. One of these books was 
 discovered by Lieutenant Forbes, of H.M.S. 
 the Bonetta ; local inquiry was further made 
 by the Rev. W. S. Koelle; and the MS. was 
 
42 AFRICA. 
 
 critically analyzed by Mr. Norris, of the Asiatic 
 Society.* 
 
 The phenomenon, if properly measured, is by 
 no means a very significant one; since, although the 
 Vey alphabet, the invention of a man now living, 
 so far differs from the Mandingo, as to be spelt by 
 the syllable rather than the letter, it is anything 
 but an independent creation of the Negro brain. 
 Doala Bukara, its composer, an imperfect Ma 
 hometan, had seen Mahometan books, and, al 
 though he was no Christian, had seen an English 
 Bible also. He knew, then, what spelling or 
 writing was. He knew, too, the phonetic analysis 
 of the Mandingo, a tongue closely allied to his 
 own. And this is nine parts out of ten in the 
 so-called invention of alphabets. 
 
 The true claims of Doala, in this way, are those 
 of the phonetic reformers in England, as com 
 pared with those of Toth or Cadmus real but 
 moderate. His own account of the matter, as he 
 gave it to Mr. Koelle, was, that the fact of sounds 
 being written) haunted him in a dream, wherein 
 he was shown a series of signs adapted to his 
 native tongue. These he forgot in the morning ; 
 but remembered the impression. So he consulted 
 his friends ; and they and he, laying their heads to 
 gether, coined new ones. The king of the country 
 made its introduction a matter of state, and built 
 * " Journal of the Geographical Society," 1850. 
 
THE VEY ALPHABET. 43 
 
 a large house in Dshondu, as a day-school. But 
 a war with the Guru people disturbed both the 
 learners and teachers, so that the latter removed 
 to Bandakoro, where all grown-up people, of both 
 sexes, can now read and write. 
 
 This alphabet is a syllabarium. 
 
 The books written in it are essentially Ma 
 hometan ; the Koran appearing in them much in 
 the same way as the Bible appears in the more 
 degenerate legends of the middle ages. 
 
 How far the Vey alphabet will be an instrument 
 of civilization, is a difficult question. For my 
 own part, I half regret its evolution; since the 
 Arabic that served for the Mandingo, would have 
 served for the Vey as well or if not the Arabic, 
 the English. 
 
 As a measure of African capacity it is of some 
 value ; and in this respect, it speaks for the Negro 
 just as the Cherokee alphabet speaks for the 
 American Indian. This latter was invented by 
 a native named Sequoyah. Like Doala, he knew 
 what reading was. Like Doala, too, he had 
 a language adapted to a syllabarium. Hence, 
 both the Vey and the Cherokee, the two latest 
 coinages in the way of alphabets, are both syllabic. 
 
 We now move southwards to the 
 
 Gold Coast Settlements. The climate of Wes 
 tern Africa requires notice. It suits the native, 
 but destroys the European. Of the two settle- 
 
AFRICA. 
 
 ments, already mentioned, the Gambia is the 
 most deadly ; though Sierra Leone has the worst 
 name. Both are on the coast ; both, consequently, 
 on the lower courses of the rivers, and both on 
 low levels. The import of these remarks applies 
 to the Negroes of America. At present, it 
 ushers in a brief notice of the climate of the 
 Gold Coast; this district being chosen for the 
 purpose of description because it makes the 
 nearest approach to the equator of any English 
 settlement in Africa. Consequently, it may 
 serve as a typical sample of the malarious parts 
 of the coast in question. 
 
 From April till August is the rainy season, 
 which gradually passes into the dry ; heavy fogs 
 forming during the transition. These last till the 
 end of September. Occasional showers, too, con 
 tinue till November. Then the weather becomes 
 really clear and dry, until, towards the end of 
 January, the dry parching wind, called the Har- 
 mattan, sets in, with its over-stimulant action 
 upon the human system, and clouds of penetrating 
 impalpable sand. If this is not blowing, the 
 atmosphere is loaded with moisture ; and this it 
 is, combined with the heat of an intertropical sun, 
 and the effluvia engendered by the decay of an 
 over-luxuriant vegetation, which makes Western 
 Africa the white man s grave. Not that the soil, 
 even on the coast, is always swampy and alluvial. 
 
THE GOLD COAST. 45 
 
 About Cape Coast it is rocky and undulating. 
 Still, it is inordinately wooded, as well as full of 
 spots where water accumulates and exhalations 
 multiply. Yet the thermometer ranges between 
 78 and 86 Fahrenheit a low maximum for the 
 neighbourhood of the equator ; a high one, how 
 ever, to feel cold in. Nevertheless, such is the 
 case. " From this peculiarity of the atmosphere, 
 the sensations of an individual almost invariably 
 indicate a degree of cold, especially when sitting 
 in a room, or not taking bodily exercise ; so that, 
 to ensure a feeling of comfortable warmth, it be 
 comes necessary to dress in a thicker material than 
 what is usually considered best adapted for tropi 
 cal wear, and to have a fire lighted in one s bed 
 room for some time before one retires to rest."* 
 
 The chief Africans of these parts and we now 
 approach the great officina servorum alone tole 
 rant of the heats, and droughts, and rains, and 
 exhalations are 
 
 1. The Fantis. 
 
 2. The Ghans. 
 
 3. The Avekvom (?) 
 
 A. The Fantis. Of the true natives of the 
 country these are the chief. 
 
 The term Fanti, like the term Mandingo, has a 
 double sense a general and a specific significa 
 tion. 
 
 * " United Service Magazine," Dec. 1850. 
 
46 AFRICA, 
 
 The particular population of the parts about 
 Cape Coast is Fan ti in the limited sense of the term. 
 
 The great section of the Negro family, which 
 comprises, besides the Fantis Proper, the Ashanti, 
 Boroom, and several other populations, is Fanti in 
 the wide sense of the term. 
 
 The Fanti, Ashanti, and Boroom forms of 
 speech are merely dialects of one and the same 
 language, 
 
 A great proportion of the vocabularies of " Bow- 
 dich s Ashanti " are the same. 
 
 So are the Fetu, Affotoo, and other vocabu 
 laries of the "Mithridates." 
 
 The inhabitants of the Native Town of Cape 
 Coast, a mixed population of Krumen, Fantis, and 
 Mulattoes, amounting to as many as 10,000, are 
 no true specimens of the African of the Gold 
 Coast. European influences have too long been 
 at work on them. Before the town was English 
 it was Dutch ; and it was English as early a 1601. 
 
 More than this. It is not certain that their 
 fathers fathers were the exact aborigines ; in 
 other words, a tribe akin to, but slightly different 
 from them, seems to have been the earlier pos- 
 sessors. These were the Fetu the remains of 
 which can doubtless be met with among the po 
 pulations of the neighbourhood; since we find 
 in the " Mithridates " a Fetu vocabulary and an 
 one as well. 
 
AST. - FASTIS. 
 
 Xoir the F*mi* that d 
 wore themselves fugitive 
 Ashantis ; all, however, be 
 
 of the interior towards the lowlands of the coast. 
 
 All three Are truly Negro in conformation, ai 
 miserably Pagan in creed, the best measure of 
 their political capacity being the organised king 
 dom of the Ashantis : nd the lowest form of iu the 
 system of clanships, chiefu-inships, or capmnsbips 
 of the pr\>per Fi\tis of the coast* The details of 
 these are of importance. 
 
 I cannot ascertain upon what principle those 
 diffe.re.nt divisions which are sometimes called 
 trifofi sometimes d<a*t* are fonmxi; since it is 
 by no moans safe to assume that they necessarily 
 consist of descendants from one common ancestor, 
 The investigations concerning the toikfif of a~ 
 cient Rome show this. 
 
 It is easier to enumerate their cxtcnial charac 
 teristics. and material elements of their union* 
 In the "Native. Town there arc four Barters, each 
 occupied by A separate section of the population. 
 This section has its own proper hoad, its own 
 projver standards, and it^ own pfidjpef band <df 
 music. 
 
 \Vhat follows seems to apply to tite tudte state 
 v^f society in the country around. Rack divi- 
 sioix Has its bad<? or device ; so that we have 
 
48 AFRICA. 
 
 the tribe, or clan, of the leopard, the cat, the 
 dog, the hawk, the parrot, &c. On certain days 
 there are certain festivals and processions, when 
 the chief is carried in a long basket on the 
 heads of two men, with umbrellas above him, and 
 attendants around proportionate to his rank. 
 When in distress, the Fanti has a claim upon the 
 good offices of his tribe. 
 
 When a Fanti government becomes extensive 
 enough to require organization, we find absolute 
 monarchs with satraps (caboceers) under them ; 
 under these the heads of the different villages or 
 towns, and under these captains of hundreds, 
 fifties, and tens an organization which is, per 
 haps, of military rather than social origin. The 
 Ashanti kingdom gives us the best measure of 
 extent to which a branch of the Fanti stock has 
 developed itself into a political influence. As 
 for the Constitution, it is a simple and unmitigated 
 despotism ; of which the most remarkable point is 
 the law of succession. This follows the female 
 lines, so that the heir-apparent is the eldest son of 
 the reigning king s eldest sister. The same ap 
 plies to the caboceers ; except that, in cases of 
 mental or physical incapacity, the rightful heir is 
 set aside, and a path opened to the ambition of 
 private adventurers. 
 
 Slavery is what we expect; and on the coast 
 of Guinea it meets us at every turn, though not 
 
THE GOLD COAST. 49 
 
 in the worst forms of the Trade. This flourishes 
 in Dahomey, and along the whole of the Bight of 
 Benin. In the Fanti countries, however, the 
 milder form of domestic servitude preponderates ; 
 and along with it a chronic state of warfare. 
 These two evils are connected with one another, 
 as cause and effect. The conquest supplies the 
 slaves ; the slaves provoke the conquest. 
 
 Besides this there is a sort of temporary servi 
 tude, which reminds us of the Next of the 
 Romans. This occurs when " a person, in order 
 to raise a particular sum of money, voluntarily 
 sells himself for a certain period, or until such 
 time as he is enabled to pay the amount so bor 
 rowed, together with whatever interest may have 
 been agreed upon. This is called the system of 
 pawning, and the people so sold, pawns. Thus 
 a native, in order to make a great display on any 
 particular occasion, as on his marriage, or to have 
 a grand custom for a deceased relative, will 
 forfeit his labour for a definite time, or give one 
 of his slaves for a period agreed upon. Neither 
 these pawns, however, nor the domestic slaves, 
 entertain any feeling of disgrace, but on the 
 contrary are happy and contented." * 
 
 Everything connected with the administration 
 of justice is rude and savage ; the severity of the 
 punishment upon detection being the chief pre- 
 * " United Service Journal/ Nov., 1850. 
 
 E 
 
50 AFRICA. 
 
 ventive. The awards, of course, depend much 
 upon the individual character of the chiefs ; and 
 there are but few who have not exhibited horrible 
 proofs of cruelty. These, however, are no measures 
 of the temper of the people at large. The legi 
 timate, normal, established, and familiar forms of 
 torture give us this. It may just be a shade or 
 two better than that of the autocrats though 
 bad at best. I still draw upon the writer already 
 quoted. " The most common mode of torture is 
 what is termed tying Guinea-fashion. In this 
 the arms are closely drawn together behind the 
 back, by means of a cord tied tightly round 
 them, about midway between the elbows and 
 shoulders. A piece of wood to act as a rack, 
 having been previously introduced, is then used so 
 as to tighten the cord, and so intense is the agony 
 that one application is generally sufficient to 
 occasion the wretch so tortured to confess to any 
 thing that is required of him. There are various 
 other modes of torture in common use among the 
 natives of Guinea. One is tying the head, feet, 
 and hands, in such a way that by turning the 
 body backwards, they may be drawn together by 
 the cords employed. Another is securing a 
 wrist or ankle to a block of wood by an iron 
 staple. By means of a hammer any degree of 
 pressure may thus be applied, while the suffering 
 so produced is continuous, only being relieved by 
 
THE GOLD COAST FANTIS. 51 
 
 the wood being split, and the staples removed, 
 but this may not be done until a crime has been 
 confessed by a person who never committed it, 
 and even then his limb has generally been de 
 stroyed. It would not be interesting to here 
 enumerate the various tortures employed by a 
 barbarous people, but when we recollect the 
 refinement of the art of torture in our own 
 country in the days of the maiden, the boot, 
 and thumb-screws, we will cease to wonder that 
 substitutes for these should be used in a country 
 where civilization has not yet begun to elevate 
 a people who are generally allowed to be the 
 lowest of the human race. 
 
 " There are some superstitious rites employed 
 by Fetish-men for the detection of crime ; and 
 whether it is that these people really possess 
 such powerful influence over their wretched 
 dupes, as to frighten into confession of his 
 guilt the perpetrator of crime, or whether it is 
 that they manage by their numerous spies to 
 obtain a clue sufficient in most cases to lead to 
 the detection of the person, is more than I can 
 venture to assert; but, be the means employed 
 what they may, a Fetish-man will assuredly very 
 often bring a crime home to the right person, 
 even after the most patient investigation in the 
 ordinary way has failed to elicit the slightest 
 clue. 
 
52 AFRICA. 
 
 " There is also what is called Trial by 
 Dhoom. This consists in whoever are suspected 
 of having committed a crime being made to swal 
 low a decoction of dhoom wood of the country, 
 and it is believed that whoever is innocent will 
 immediately eject the deleterious draught, but the 
 guilty person will die. This, however, is not 
 much to be depended upon ; for while it causes 
 death in one instance, it may do so in all 
 who partake of it ; or on the other hand, from 
 some accident in its preparation, it may be 
 productive of no effect either upon the guilty 
 or the innocent. 
 
 " The Rice test, although practised in this 
 part of Africa, is, I believe, not peculiar to it, 
 being also employed in the West Indies, and 
 South America. Although no doubt originally 
 introduced by a people in a low state of civiliza 
 tion, it is interesting in so far that it exemplifies 
 the powerful influence which the mind possesses 
 over the corporeal functions, and as it appears 
 to have been in use among the blacks for cen 
 turies, we may give them the credit of having 
 been practically aware that * conscience doth make 
 cowards of us all, long before the Bard of Avon 
 chronicled the fact. In the employment of this 
 test in Guinea, those who are suspected of hav 
 ing committed a crime are assembled, and to each 
 
THE GOLD COAST FASTIS. 53 
 
 a small portion of rice is given, which they 
 are required to masticate, and afterwards pro 
 duce on the hand ; and it is invariably the case 
 that while all but the real culprit will produce 
 their rice in a soft pulpy mass, his will be as 
 dry as if ground in a mill, the salivary glands 
 having, under the influence exerted upon the 
 nervous system by fear, refused to perform their 
 ordinary functions." 
 
 Something like this is common in many sa 
 vage countries. In the shape of the dhoom test, 
 it reappears in Old Calabar, and, probably, else 
 where. There, the " king and chief inhabitants 
 ordinarily constitute a court of justice, in which 
 all country disputes are adjusted, and to which 
 every prisoner suspected of capital offences is 
 brought, to undergo examination and judgment. 
 If found guilty, they are usually forced to swal 
 low a deadly potion made from the poisonous 
 seeds of an aquatic leguminous plant, which 
 rapidly destroys life. This poison is obtained by 
 pounding the seeds, and macerating them in 
 water, which acquires a white milky colour. 
 The condemned person, after swallowing a cer 
 tain portion of the liquid, is ordered to walk 
 about, until its effects become palpable. If, 
 however, after the lapse of a definite period, the 
 accused should be so fortunate as to throw the 
 poison from off his stomach, he is considered as 
 
54 AFRICA. 
 
 innocent, and allowed to depart unmolested. In 
 native parlance this ordeal is designated as chop 
 ping nut. 1 " * 
 
 The hardest workers amongst the Fantis are 
 the fishers, who use a canoe of wood of the 
 bombax, from ten to twelve feet in length, and 
 strengthened by cross timbers. The net a 
 casting net is made from the fibres of the 
 aloe or the pine-apple, and is about twenty feet 
 in diameter (?). 
 
 Next to these come the farmers, whose rough 
 agriculture consists in the cultivation of maize, 
 bananas, yams, and pumpkins; and lastly, the 
 gold-seekers. Of this there is abundance; and 
 where the European coin of the coast ceases, 
 the native currency of gold-dust begins. Sums 
 of so small a value as three half-pence are thus 
 paid; smaller ones being represented by cow 
 ries. 
 
 The highest of their arts is that of manufac 
 turing gold ornaments, and this is the hereditary 
 craft of certain families. These transmit the 
 secret of their skill from father to son, and keep 
 the corporation to which they belong up to a due 
 degree of closeness, by avoiding intermarriage 
 with any of the more unskilled labourers. A 
 little weaving, and a little potting, constitute the 
 
 * Daniell in " Transactions of the Ethnological Society." 
 
THE GOLD COAST FANTIS. 55 
 
 remaining arts of the Fanti as far, at least, as 
 they are either jine or useful. 
 
 The craft of the Fetish-man comes under 
 none of the preceding categories. He is the 
 priest, sorcerer, or medicine man ; the repre 
 sentative of " Paganism, in its lowest and most 
 hideous form, the objects of their worship 
 being the most repulsive reptiles, and their 
 ceremonies the most degrading. They certainly 
 have some idea of the existence of a First 
 Cause, and believe themselves to be in the 
 power of the Great Fetish, their protection or 
 destruction being dependent upon the will of this 
 power, of whose attributes they know nothing 
 further. They also believe in the existence of a 
 spirit of evil, and on some parts of the coast con 
 sider his power over them so great, that they ad 
 dress their supplications, and erect, for his especial 
 service, small mud huts, usually of a conical 
 shape, built under the shade of some stately palm 
 or wild fig-tree, in one of the most inviting spots 
 to be found. These huts bear the unattractive 
 name among Europeans of devil s temples. It 
 will be seen thus, that this belief in the existence 
 of the Great Fetish professed by the Fantees, is a 
 faint glimmering of that natural religion which all 
 nations possess. Of the creation of our species, 
 they do not appear to entertain very correct ideas, 
 unless it be that they owe their being to this 
 
56 AFRICA. 
 
 Fetish, who, they say, in the beginning made two 
 people, one of whom was black, the other white, 
 and that both originally occupied the Fantee 
 country. It would seem, however, from their 
 account, that, after these two men were brought 
 into existence, the Fetish was at a loss to know 
 how to dispose of them, and in order to prevent 
 any jealousy arising between them, had recourse to 
 a sort of lottery, where there were all prizes and 
 no blanks. Two packets were accordingly placed 
 before them, and the black man drew first ; nor 
 was he disappointed with his prize, for it con 
 sisted of such a quantity of gold-dust, that it has 
 not been taken out of the country yet. The 
 remaining packet was of course the lawful pro 
 perty of the white man, and in the long run he 
 had no cause to complain for, on being opened, 
 it was found to contain a book which taught him 
 everything ; and so do the poor wretches account 
 for the superior intellect of whites, and the inex 
 haustible treasures of their own country. 
 
 " In the neighbourhood of Cape Coast, the 
 natives seem to believe that this Fetish occupies 
 more especially particular localities, and exists in 
 the form of a particular animal, so that an isolated 
 portion of rock is frequently called a Fetish-stone, 
 and snakes even of the most poisonous description, 
 in a certain locality, are preserved and allowed to 
 propagate, undisturbed, their venomous species. 
 
THE GOLD COAST FASTIS. 57 
 
 In some places on the coast, temples dedicated to 
 snake-worship are built, and the Fetish men, or 
 priests, connected with them are frequently 
 esteemed particularly holy, no doubt from the 
 familiar terms upon which they, in course of 
 time, become with the horrid reptiles, upon which 
 the people look as the personification of their 
 Fetish. The offerings made at these temples are 
 often very valuable, the cupidity of the deities 
 within not being easily satisfied. Gold-dust and 
 clothes are the most acceptable offerings ; but when 
 these are not to be obtained, it is perfectly wonder 
 ful how large a quantity of rum and tobacco the 
 snakes will consume before they vouchsafe their 
 good offices for the removal of a disease from a 
 cow, a wife, a child, or the detection of a thief, 
 who, not unlikely, has been employed by them 
 selves. 
 
 " These Fetish men and women, too, for there 
 are Fetish women, and, consequently Fetish 
 children, have spies in different directions, form 
 ing as many links of communication between the 
 priesthood in various parts of the country, so 
 that very few occurrences take place of which 
 they have not the means of making themselves 
 acquainted."* 
 
 The same writer continues, " Religious ob 
 servances, properly so called, the Fantees have 
 * " United Service Journal," Nov. 1850. 
 
58 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 none, but each particular class has a certain day 
 of the week upon which they cease from follow 
 ing their ordinary avocations thus, a fisherman 
 will not go to sea on a Tuesday ; nor will a 
 bushman enter the forest on a Friday these 
 days being dedicated to the Fetish, and thus, 
 in some degree, representing the Sabbath of 
 Christian nations. There are, in addition, several 
 days throughout the year apparently occur 
 ring at the desire of the Fetish men in which 
 the Fantees abstain from work, and during a 
 period of war, it often happens that the move 
 ments of the opposing armies are much inter 
 fered with by the numerous occasions upon 
 which it becomes necessary to propitiate the 
 Fetish. One of these especial Fetish days may 
 be here noticed, it being, apparently, the most 
 important of those that occur during the whole 
 year, and its object no less important than driving 
 the devil out of the village. The period when 
 this desirable object is effected, occurs during the 
 month of December, the night-time being chosen 
 as the most fitting for the ceremony. As soon as 
 darkness has closed in, the inhabitants of a village 
 collect at an appointed rendezvous, with sticks 
 and staves, and under the directions of a leader, 
 sally out, entering every house in their way, 
 through the various apartments of which they 
 knock about, and yell and howl with such violence 
 
THE GOLD COAST FANTIS. 59 
 
 that they would actually scare any devil but a 
 most impertinent one. Having, as they think, 
 completely rid the town of him, they pursue the 
 retreating enemy for some distance into the 
 bush, after which they return and spend the re 
 mainder of the night in carousals. 
 
 " There is another festival, which, as it partakes 
 somewhat of a religious nature, may also be 
 noticed here, viz. 9 the yam-custom, which is held 
 in September, to celebrate the goodness of the 
 Fetish, in having granted an abundant harvest. 
 On this occasion, the king of the village and 
 the staff of Fetish men connected with it, take 
 part. All the people who can by any possibility 
 attend, assemble, a procession is formed, and then 
 the most extraordinary mixture of costumes, the 
 noises produced by numerous tom-toms, horns 
 made from elephants tusks, and the still ruder, 
 if possible, rattle of two pieces of wood, or 
 common metal, which the women beat together to 
 a tune similar to what in Ireland is known as the 
 Kentish fire. The constant firing of musketry, 
 and the obscene dances performed by the two sexes 
 form one of the most debasing and savage exhibi 
 tions it is possible to see. In this way does the 
 procession parade the principal streets, the king 
 seated in his basket carried by his slaves, and pro 
 tected by the umbrellas, according to his rank 
 the Fetishmen dressed in white robes, also in 
 
60 AFRICA. 
 
 their baskets. On arriving at the king s house 
 sacrifices are usually offered some fowls or eggs 
 being now substituted in the vicinity of our set 
 tlements for a human being, but we have still too 
 good reasons to believe, that even as near as the 
 capital of Ashantee many human lives are sacri 
 ficed on this particular occasion, as well as in 
 other festivals of various descriptions. The offer 
 ings being made, the Fetish-man partakes of the 
 yam ; the king then eats of the valued root ; and 
 after these two have pronounced them ripe and fit 
 for food, the people consider themselves at liberty 
 to commence digging." 
 
 " A being named Talibil resides in the substance 
 of the rock, upon which Cape Coast is built, and 
 watches the town. Every morning, offerings of 
 food or flowers are left for him on the rock. Most 
 villages have a corresponding deity ; and in earlier 
 times, there is good reason for believing that 
 human beings were sacrificed to him." 
 
 Likely enough as may be seen from the prac 
 tices at Fanti funerals, and as may be inferred 
 from the analogy of the other parts of Western 
 Africa. 
 
 If the survivors of a deceased Fanti be poor, 
 the corpse is quietly interred in one of the denser 
 spots of the jungles ; and if rich, the funeral is at 
 once costly and bloody ; since gold and jewels are 
 buried along with the dead body, and human 
 
THE GOLD COAST FANTIS. 61 
 
 victims as well. The ceremonial is as follows. 
 The coffin is carried to the grave by slaves, 
 when the retainers and friends press forwards, 
 fix the number required (in general four), stun 
 the selected individuals by a sudden blow on 
 the head, throw the still breathing bodies into the 
 grave of their master, and, whilst life yet remains, 
 cover in the earth. 
 
 This horrible custom is truly West-African. 
 How near we must approach the Mandingo fron 
 tier, before we get rid of it on the north, or how 
 far south it extends, I am not exactly able to say. 
 In Dahomey, where it attains its maximum deve 
 lopment, it is worse than amongst the Ashantis, and 
 amongst the Ashantis worse than in the proper 
 Fanti districts. It certainly reaches as far south 
 wards as Old Calabar, where, upon the death of 
 Ephraim, a well-known Caboceer, " some hundreds 
 of men, women, and children were immolated to his 
 manes, decapitation, burning alive, and the admi 
 nistration of the poison-nut, being the methods 
 resorted to for terminating their existence. When 
 King Eyeo, father of the present Chief of Creek 
 Town, died, an eyewitness, who had only arrived 
 just after the completion of the funeral rites, 
 informed me that a large pit had been dug, in 
 which several of the deceased s wives were bound 
 and thrown in, until a certain number had been 
 procured ; the earth was then thrown over them, 
 
62 AFRICA. 
 
 and so great was the agony of these victims, that 
 the ground for several minutes was agitated with 
 their convulsive throes. So fearful, in former 
 times, was the observance of this barbarous custom, 
 that many towns narrowly escaped depopulation. 
 The graves of the kings are invariably concealed, 
 so as, it is stated, to prevent an enemy from 
 obtaining their skulls as trophies, which is not the 
 case with those of the common people." * 
 
 I have said that it is in Dahomey, where the 
 immolation of human beings is the bloodiest ; and 
 I now add that it is in Dahomey where those 
 who look for the more characteristic peculiarities 
 of the Negro stock, must search. But it is the 
 bad side which will preponderate; it is the 
 darkest practices which will develop themselves 
 most typically. What we find in germs and rem 
 nants elsewhere, grow, in Dahomey, to inordinate 
 and incredible proportions. 
 
 The sacro-sanctitude of the snake is doubled 
 in Dahomey. 
 
 Slavery, bad along the whole Bight of Benin, 
 is worse, still, in Dahomey. 
 
 In Akkim we find a female colonel. In Da 
 homey there is an army of Amazons, as indicated 
 by Mr. Duncan, and as described in detail by 
 Captain Forbes. 
 
 * Dr. Daniell on the Natives of Old Calabar, " Transactions 
 of the Ethnological Society." 
 
THE GOLD COAST ACCRA. 63 
 
 The Gha Accra, and the forts lately purchased 
 from the Danes Christians!) org and others, are 
 the localities of the Gha nation. I say Gha (or 
 Ghan) because the author of a paper soon about 
 to be noticed states, that this is the indigenous 
 name of the people which we call Acra, Akra, 
 Accrah, or In/era and it is always best to give 
 the native name if we can. 
 
 Adelung, on the authority of Romer and Isert, 
 gives the following account of the Negroes speak 
 ing the Gha language. He calls it Akra. 
 
 They began with conquering and reducing to a 
 state of servitude the Adampi, or Tambi, Negroes 
 of the hill country ; these being a portion of 
 their own stock, and speaking a mutually intelli 
 gible language. 
 
 But, in time, they were themselves conquered 
 by the Akvambu, and broke up into two parts. 
 One of these remained in situ, and is represented 
 by the present Gha of Christiansborg. The other 
 fled to the Little Popo, an island off the coast of 
 Dahomey, and there settled. 
 
 What remained then on the Gold Coast were 
 the Gha and Akvambu ; and these were afterwards 
 conquered by the Akkim Fantis, themselves 
 eventually reduced by the Ashantis. 
 
 In no more than nine or ten villages, lying 
 within nine or ten miles of Fort St. James and 
 Christiansborg, was the Akra language spoken in 
 
64 AFRICA. 
 
 the time of Protten (A.D. 1794), and of the Ghas 
 thus speaking it each understood the Fanti. 
 
 This makes the Grha a decreasing, and, for prac 
 tical purposes, an unimportant population. At the 
 same time I should be glad to direct the attention 
 of some investigator to their ethnology. Their 
 exact relations to the Akvambu are uncertain. 
 The only work known to me where specimens 
 of the latter language are to be found is out of 
 reach.* 
 
 Then as to the Adampi. Bowdich states that 
 it radically differs from the Gha ; the numerals, 
 which agree, being borrowed from the one tongue 
 into the other. But his collation rests on only 
 seven words. 
 
 Again, Adampi, Tembi, and Tambu are words 
 so much alike as to pass for the same. Yet a 
 Tembu vocabulary in the " Mithridates " differs 
 from a Tambu one in the same work 
 
 ENGLISH. TEMBU. TAMBU. 
 
 Sky so giom. 
 
 Sun wis pum. 
 
 Moon igodi horamb. 
 
 Man naa nyummu. 
 
 ibalu numero. 
 
 * Rask. Vejledning telAcra-sproget, paa KystenGinea, 
 med et Tillaeg om Akvambuisk. Copenhagen, 1828. Intro 
 duction to the Acra Language, on the Coast of Guinea, with 
 an Appendix on the Akvambu. 
 
TAMBU, TEMBTJ, AND KOURI. 65 
 
 ENGLISH. TEMBU. TAMBU. 
 
 Woman alo in. 
 
 Head knynoo ii. 
 
 Foot navorree nandi. 
 
 One kuddum kaki. 
 
 Two noalee ennu. 
 
 Three nodoso ettee. 
 
 Again the Tembu is related to the vocabulary 
 of a languge called Kouri, which the Tambu is 
 not. 
 
 ENGLISH. TEMBU. KOURI. 
 
 Sun wis nosi. 
 
 Man ibalu abalu. 
 
 Woman alo alu. 
 
 One kuddum kotum. 
 
 Two noalee nalee. 
 
 Three nodoso natisu. 
 
 Thirdly, the Tjemba of Balbi s " Atlas Ethno- 
 logique " is called Kassenti. 
 
 Lastly, the Gha, as far as very short compari 
 son goes, is neither Tambu nor Tembu : nor yet 
 Kouri though it has a few resemblances to 
 all. 
 
 The author of the paper alluded to above is the 
 Rev. Mr. Hanson himself a Gha by birth. It 
 was laid before the British Association in 1849. 
 Two points characterise the theory that it exhi 
 bits ; but as the publication of the paper in 
 extenso, is contemplated, I merely state what they 
 are. 
 
66 THE GHA. 
 
 1. A remarkable number of customs common 
 to the Jews and the Gha. 
 
 2. The probable origin of the latter population 
 in some part of the interior of Africa, north of 
 their present locality, and, perhaps, in the parts 
 about Timbuktu. 
 
 The Quaquas. I am not sure that this name is 
 the best that can be given to the class in question. 
 Hence, it is merely provisional. The language 
 that is spoken by them is called the Avekvom. 
 They constitute the chief population of the Ivory 
 just as the Krumen do that of the Grain and 
 the Fantis that of the Gold Coast. Apollonia is 
 the English dependency where we find members 
 of the Quaqua stock. 
 
 The Avekvom dialects of the Quaqua tribes 
 seem to belong to a different tongue from that 
 of the Krumen and Fantis; and I imagine that 
 the three are mutually unintelligible. Still, it 
 is difficult to predicate this from the mere in 
 spection of vocabularies ; the more so, as no lan 
 guage of the western coast of Africa is less known 
 than the Avekvom the only specimen of any 
 length being one in the last number of the "Jour 
 nal of the American Oriental Society." With 
 numerous miscellaneous affinities, it is more 
 Fanti and Grebo than aught else ; and, per 
 haps, is transitional in character to those two 
 languages. 
 
AVEKVOM. 
 
 67 
 
 At any rate it is no isolated tongue, as may 
 be seen from the following table, where Yebu 
 means the language of the Yorriba country, at 
 the back of Dahomey, and Efik that of Old Cal- 
 labar I 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 Arm 
 
 Blood 
 
 Bone , 
 
 Box 
 
 Canoe 
 
 Chair 
 
 Dark 
 
 Dog 
 
 Door 
 
 Ear 
 
 Fire 
 
 Fish 
 
 Fowl 
 
 Ground-nut. 
 
 Hair 
 
 Honey 
 
 House , 
 
 Moon .. 
 
 Oil 
 
 season.. 
 
 Salt 
 
 Sand 
 
 Sea 
 
 Stone 
 
 Thread .. 
 
 AVEKVOM. 
 
 . ebo 
 
 . evie 
 
 . ewi 
 
 . ebru 
 
 . edie 
 
 . fata 
 
 . eshim 
 
 . etye 
 
 . eshinavi 
 
 eshibe , 
 
 eya 
 
 etsi 
 
 esu 
 
 ngeti 
 
 emu 
 
 ajo 
 
 eva 
 
 efc 
 
 efo 
 
 inyu 
 
 efuzumo-sohn 
 
 eshi 
 
 etsa 
 
 esian-na 
 
 etyu 
 
 desi 
 
 jesi 
 
 OTHER IBO-ASHANTI LANGUAGES. 
 
 . ubok, Efik. 
 
 . eyip, Efilc; eye, Yebu. 
 
 . beu, Fanti. 
 
 . branh, Grebo. 
 
 . tonh, Grebo. 
 
 . bada, Grebo. 
 
 . esum, Fanti; ekim, Efik. 
 
 . aja, ayga, Yebu. 
 
 . usuny, Efik. 
 
 . esoa, Fanti. 
 
 ija, Fanti. 
 
 eja, eya, Fanti. 
 
 suseo, Mandingo ; edia, Yebu. 
 
 nkatye, Fanti. 
 
 ihwi, Fanti. 
 
 ewo, Fanti; oyi, Yebu. 
 
 ifi, Fanti; ufog, Efik. 
 
 habo, Grebo; ofiong, 
 
 obong, Fanti. 
 
 ingo, Fanti. 
 
 sanjio,, Mandingo. 
 
 ojo, rain, Yebu. 
 
 ta, Grebo. 
 
 utan, Efik. 
 
 idu, Grebo. 
 
 sia, shia, Grebo. 
 
 gise, Grebo. 
 
68 QUAQUAS. 
 
 ENGLISH. AVEKVOM. OTHER IBO-ASHANTI LANGUAGES. 
 
 Tooth ......... enena ......... ny eng, Mandingo ; gne, Grebo. 
 
 Water ......... esonh ......... nsu, Fanti. 
 
 Wife ............ emise ......... nrnso,Mandingo;mbesia.,Fanti. 
 
 Cry ............ yam ......... isu, Fanti. 
 
 Give, ............ nae ............ nye, Grebo; i\o,Efik. 
 
 Go ............ le ............... olo, Yebu. 
 
 ............ bai ............ fa, Mandingo; pa, Yebu. 
 
 There has been war and displacement here as 
 well as in the Gha country. In the seventeenth 
 century the parts about Cape Apollonia were 
 contended for by two tribes called the Issini (or 
 Oshin) and the Ghiomo. The former gave way 
 to the latter, and having retreated to the country 
 of the Veteres, were joined by that tribe against 
 the Esiep. 
 
 A Quaqua prayer is given in the " Mithridates." 
 It is uttered every morning by the tribes on the 
 Issini, after a previous ablution in that river 
 Anghiume mame maro, mame orie, mame shikke e 
 okkori, mame akaka, mamefrembi, mame anguan e 
 awnsan0 Anghiume! give rice, give yams, give 
 gold, give aigris,give slaves, give riches, give (to be) 
 strong and swift. 
 
 What is here written about the ethnology of 
 Apollonia is written doubtfully ; since here, as at 
 Acra, the simple ethnology of the pure and proper 
 Fantis becomes complicated. 
 
 The Cape of Good Hope. The aboriginal popu- 
 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 69 
 
 lation of the Cape is divided between two great 
 families : 
 
 1. The Hottentot. 
 
 2. The Kaffre. 
 
 1. The Hottentots. Of the two families this is 
 the most western ; it is the one which the colonists 
 came first in contact with, and it is the one which 
 has been most displaced by Europeans. The 
 names of fourteen extinct tribes of Hottentots are 
 known ; of which it is only necessary to mention 
 the Gunyeman and Sussaqua the nearest the 
 Cape, and the Heykom, so far eastwards and 
 northwards as Port Natal. The displacement of 
 these last has not been effected by Europeans. 
 African subdued African ; and it was the Kaffres 
 who did the work of conquest here. 
 
 Of the extant Hottentots, within the limits of 
 the colony of the Cape, the most remote are the 
 Gonaqua, on the head-waters of the Great Fish 
 River ; or rather on the water-shed between it 
 and the Orange River. They are fast becoming 
 either extinct, or amalgamated with the Kaffres ; 
 inasmuch as they are the Hottentots of the Ama- 
 kosa frontier, and suffer, at least, as much from 
 the Kaffres as from their white neighbours. 
 
 The Namaquas occupy the lower part of the 
 Orange River, the Great and Little Namaqua- 
 land. 
 
 The Koranas. This branch of the Hottentots 
 
70 KORANA HOTTENTOTS. 
 
 has its locality on the middle part of the Gariep, 
 with the Griquas to the north, the Bechuana 
 Kaffres to the east, and the Saabs in the middle 
 of them. Their number is, perhaps, 10,000. 
 Their exact relation to the other Hottentots is 
 uncertain. They are a better formed people than 
 the Gonaqua and Nam aqua, but whether they be 
 the best samples of the Hottentot stock altogether 
 is uncertain. Probably a tribe far up in the 
 north-western parts of South Africa, and beyond 
 Namaqualand, may dispute the honour with them. 
 These are the Dammaras themselves disputed 
 Hottentots. Their country lies beyond the Bri 
 tish colony, but it must be noticed for the sake of 
 taking in all the branches of the stock in question. 
 It is the tract between Benguela and Namaqua 
 land, marked in the maps as sterile country ; in 
 the northern parts of which we sometimes find 
 notices of a fierce nation called Jagas. Walvisch 
 Bay lies in the middle of it. Now some writers 
 make the Dammaras of this country Hottentot ; 
 others Kaffre ; and that both rightly and wrongly. 
 They are both partly one, partly the other; 
 since Dammara is a geographical term, and some 
 of the tribes to which it applies are Kaffre, some 
 Hottentot. The Dammaras of the plains, or the 
 Cattle Dammaras are the former; the Damma 
 ras * of the hills, the latter. Between the Dam- 
 * "Journal of the American Oriental Society," vol.i. no. 4. 
 
SAABS OR BUSHMEN. 71 
 
 mara and the Koran a a much nearer approach to 
 Kaffre type is made than is usually supposed. 
 
 A branch of the Koranas those of the valley of 
 the Hartebeest River deserves particular atten 
 tion. They caution us against overvaluing differ 
 ences ; and Dr. Prichard has quoted the evidence 
 of Mr. Thompson with this especial object. They 
 are Koranas who have suffered in war, lost their 
 cattle, and been partially expatriated by the 
 more powerful sections of their stock. Hence, 
 want and poverty have acted upon them ; and the 
 effect has been that they have become hunters 
 instead of shepherds, have been reduced to a pre 
 carious subsistence, and as the consequence of 
 altered circumstances, have receded from the level 
 of the other Koranas, and approached that of 
 tie 
 
 Saabs or Bushmen. These belong to the parts 
 between the Roggeveld and Orange River ; parts 
 which rival the sterile country of the map in barren 
 ness. As is the country so are the inhabitants ; 
 starved, miserable hunters hunters rather than 
 shepherds or herdsmen. 
 
 The Lap is not more strongly contrasted with 
 the Finlander, than the Korana with the Saab ; 
 and the deadly enmity between these two popu 
 lations is as marked as the differences in their 
 physical appearances. I think, however, that 
 undue inferences have been drawn from the dif- 
 
72 THE SAABS. 
 
 ference ; in other words, that the distance between 
 the Korana and the Saab has been exaggerated. 
 The languages are unequivocally allied. 
 
 I think, too, that a similarly undue inference 
 has been drawn from the extent to which the 
 Kaffre and the Korana are alike ; inasmuch as an 
 infusion of Kaffre has been assumed for the sake 
 of accounting for it. Of this, however, no proof 
 exists. 
 
 The Saabs are described as having constitutions 
 " so much enfeebled by the dissolute life the) 
 lead, and the constant smoking of dacha, tha: 
 nearly all, including the young people, look old 
 and wrinkled ; nevertheless, they are remarkable 
 for vanity, and decorate their ears, legs, and arms 
 with beads, and iron, copper, or brass rings. The 
 women likewise stain their faces red, or paint 
 them, either wholly or in part. Their clothing 
 consists of a few sheepskins, which hang about 
 their bodies, and thus form the mantle or cover 
 ing, commonly called a kaross. This is their only 
 clothing by day or night. The men wear old hats, 
 which they obtain from the farmers, or else caps 
 of their own manufacture. The women wear caps 
 of skins, which they stiffen and finish with a high 
 peak, and adorn with beads and metal rings. The 
 dwelling of the Bushman is either a low wretched 
 hut, or a circular cavity, on the open plain, into 
 which, at night, he creeps with his wife and 
 
THE SAABS. 73 
 
 children, and which, though it shelters him from 
 the wind, leaves him exposed to the rain. In 
 this neighbourhood, in which rocks abound, they 
 had formerly their habitations in them, as is 
 proved by the many rude figures of oxen, horses, 
 serpents, &c. still existing. It is not a little inter 
 esting to see these poor degraded people, who 
 formerly were considered and treated as little 
 better than wild beasts in their rocky retreats. 
 Many of those who have forsaken us live in such 
 cavities not far from our settlement, and we have 
 thus an opportunity of observing them in their 
 natural condition. Several who, when they came 
 to us from the farmers, were decently clothed and 
 possessed a flock of sheep, which they had earned, 
 in a short time returned to their fastnesses in a 
 state of nakedness and indigence, rejoicing that 
 they had got free from the farmers, and could live 
 as they pleased in the indulgence of their sensual 
 appetites. Such fugitives from civilised life, I 
 have never seen otherwise occupied than with 
 their bows and arrows. The bows are small, but 
 made of good elastic wood ; the arrows are formed 
 of small reeds, the points furnished with a well- 
 wrought piece of bone, and a double barb, which 
 is steeped in a potent poison of a resiny appear 
 ance. This poison is distilled from the leaves of 
 an indigenous tree. Many prefer these arrows to 
 fire-arms, under the idea that they can kill more 
 
74 THE SAABS. 
 
 game by means of a weapon that makes no report. 
 On their return from the chase, they feast till 
 they are tired and drowsy, and hunger alone 
 rouses them to renewed exertion. In seasons of 
 scarcity they devour all kinds of wild roots, ants, 
 ants eggs, locusts, snakes, and even roasted skins. 
 Three women of this singular tribe were not long 
 since met with, several days journey from this 
 place, who had forsaken their husbands, and lived 
 very contentedly on wild honey and locusts. As 
 enemies, the Bushmen are not to be despised. 
 They are adepts in stealing cattle and sheep ; 
 and the wounds they inflict when pursued, are 
 ordinarily fatal if the wounded part is not imme 
 diately cut out. The animals they are unable to 
 carry off, they kill or mutilate. 
 
 " To our great comfort, even some of these 
 poor outcasts have shown eagerness to become 
 acquainted with the way of salvation. The 
 children of such as are inhabitants of the set 
 tlement, attend the school diligently, . and of them 
 we have the best hopes. 
 
 " The language of the Bushman has not one 
 pleasing feature ; it seems to consist of a collec 
 tion of snapping, hissing, grunting, sounds; all 
 more or less nasal. Of their religious creed it is 
 difficult to obtain any information ; as far as I 
 have been able to learn, they have a name for the 
 Supreme Being; and the Kafire word tixo is 
 
THE SAABS GRIQUAS KAFFRES. 75 
 
 derived from the tixme of the Bushmen. Sor 
 cerers exist among them. One of the Bushmen 
 residing here being sick, a sorceress was sent for 
 before we were aware of it, who pretended, by 
 the virtue of mystic dance, to extract an antelope 
 horn from the head of the patient." * 
 
 Tlie Griquas. The Griquas, called also Baas- 
 taards, are a pastoral population, upwards of 
 15,000 in number, on the north side of the 
 great bend of the Orange River. They are the 
 descendants of Dutch fathers and Hottentot 
 mothers. 
 
 A mixture of Griquas and Hottentots .occurs 
 also on the Kat River, a feeder of the Great 
 Fish River, in the district of Somerset, and on 
 the Kafir e frontier. Here they are distributed in 
 a series of district locations, amid the dales and 
 fastnesses of the eastern frontier. A great pro 
 portion of them are discharged soldiers so that 
 in reality, like the borderers of old, they form 
 a sort of military colony. 
 
 2. The Kaffres. The British districts in con 
 tact with the Kaffre populations are the eastern, 
 and of these Albany and Somerset most especially. 
 The Kaffre nation in most immediate contact with 
 Albany and Somerset is 
 
 The Amokosa. This is the population which 
 constituted the authority of Hintza, and to which 
 * British Colonies." By M. Martin. 
 
76 THE KAFFRES. 
 
 Pato, Gaika, and the other chiefs of the last war 
 belonged. To this, too, belong the troublesome 
 chiefs of the present. Next to the Amakosa, and 
 in alliance with them, come 
 
 The Amatembu, or Tambuki (Tambookies), oc 
 cupants of the upper part of the river Kei, as 
 the Amakosa are of the lower Keiskamma. 
 
 Between the Amatembu and Port Natal lie the 
 Amaponda, or Mambuki (Mambookies), the northern 
 extremity of which reaches the country of 
 
 The Amazulu, or Zulu (Zooloos), the chief 
 frontagers (conjointly with the Mambuki) of Port 
 Natal. 
 
 The last division of the Kaifres of the coast is 
 that of 
 
 The Firtgos. In 1835, a numerous population, 
 called Fingos, was found by Sir B. D Urban in 
 the Kaffre chief Hintza s country, and in a state 
 of abject servitude to the Amakosas. They 
 were from different tribes ; darker and shorter 
 than the Amakosas but still true Kaifres. 
 They were offered land between the lower Keis 
 kamma and the Great Fish River, and were 
 emancipated and brought safe into the colony to 
 the amount of 17,000.* Since then, they have 
 served as a sort of military police on the Kaffre 
 frontier ; and as shepherds in Australia whither 
 they have been advantageously introduced. 
 
 * " Journal of Geographical Society," vol. v. p. 319. 
 
THE KAFFRES. 77 
 
 But, besides the Kaffres of the coast there are 
 those of the interior. These speak a modified 
 form of the Kosa (or Amakosa), called Si-chuana, 
 the name of the people being T$i-chuana. They lie 
 due north of the Koranas ; beyond the boundaries 
 of the colony ; but not beyond the influence of 
 its missionaries, or the range of its explorers. 
 Litaku, Kurrichani, and other similar towns are 
 Sichuana; the Kaffre civilization being said to 
 attain its maximum hereabouts. 
 
 There are plenty of points of contrast between 
 the Kaffre and the typical Negro ; so many in 
 deed as to have suggested the doctrine that the 
 former class belongs to some division of the 
 human species other than the African. And 
 these points of contrast are widely distributed, i.e., 
 they appear and re-appear, whatever may be the 
 view taken of the Kaffre stock. They appear in 
 the descriptions of their skin and skeletons ; they 
 appear in the notice of their language ; and they 
 appear in the history of the Kaffre wars of the 
 Cape frontier wars more obstinate and trouble 
 some than any which have been conducted by the 
 true Negro ; and which approach the character of 
 the Kabyle struggle for independence in Algeria. 
 In investigating these differences we must guard 
 against the exaggeration of their import. 
 
 Physically, the Kaffre has the advantage of the 
 Negro in the conformation of the face and skull. 
 
78 THE KAFFRES. 
 
 His forehead betokens greater capacity ; being 
 more prominent, more vaulted, and with a greater 
 facial angle. His teeth, too, are more vertically 
 inserted, and the nasal bones less depressed. I 
 have not heard of aquiline noses in Caffraria ; but 
 should not be surprised if I did. 
 
 The cheek-bones of the Kaffre project out 
 wards ; and where the cheek-bones so project 
 beyond a certain limit, the chin appears to taper 
 downwards, and the vertex upwards. When this 
 becomes exaggerated we hear of lozenge-shaped 
 crania; the Malay skulls being currently quoted 
 as instances thereof. Be this as it may, the 
 breadth in the malar portion of the face is a 
 remarkable feature in the Kaffre physiognomy. 
 This he has in common with the Hottentot. 
 His hair is also tufted like the Hottentot s : while 
 his lips are thick like the Negro s. Tall in stature, 
 wiry and elastic in his muscles, the Kaffre varies 
 in colour, through all the shades of black and 
 brown ; being, in some portions of his area nearly 
 as dark as the Negro, in others simply brown 
 like the Arab. The eye is sometimes oblique ; 
 the opening generally narrow. 
 
 An opinion often gives a better picture than a 
 description. Kaffres, that have receded in the 
 greatest degree from the Negro type, have been 
 so likened to the more southern Arabs as to have 
 
THE KAFFRES. 79 
 
 engendered the hypothesis of an infusion of Arab 
 blood. 
 
 The manners of the Kaffres of the Cape are 
 those of pastoral tribes under chieftains ; tribes 
 which, from their habits and social relations, are 
 naturally active, locomotive, warlike, and jealous 
 of encroachment. Next to marauding on the 
 hunting-grounds of an American Indian, inter 
 ference with the pasture of a shepherd population 
 is the surest way to warfare. 
 
 It would be strange indeed if the Kaifre life 
 and Kaffre physiognomy had no peculiarities. 
 However little in the way of physical influence 
 we may attribute to the geography of a country, 
 no man ignores them altogether. Now Kaffreland 
 has very nearly a latitude of its own ; inhabited 
 lands similarly related to the southern tropic 
 being found in South America and Australia 
 only. And it has a soil still more exclusively 
 South-African. We connect the idea of the 
 desert with that of sand ; whilst steppe is a term 
 which is limited to the vast tracts of central Asia. 
 Now the Kaffre, and still more the Hottentot, 
 area, dry like the desert, and elevated like the 
 steppe, is partially a karro. Its soil is often a 
 hard, cracked, and parched clay rather than a waste 
 of sand, and it constitutes an argillaceous table 
 land. Its vegetation has strongly marked cha 
 racters. Its Fauna has the same. 
 
80 THE KAFFRES. 
 
 The language is peculiar. If English were 
 spoken on Kosa or Sichuana principles we should 
 
 say 
 
 6un beam instead of sun beam. 
 Zoon light ... moonlight, 
 srand-son ... ^rand-son, &c., 
 
 since, in the Kaffre languages throughout, subor 
 dinate words in certain syntactic combinations, 
 accommodate their initial letter to that of the 
 leading word of the term. 
 
 Their polity and manners, too, are peculiar. 
 The head man of the village settles disputes ; his 
 tribunal being in the open air. From him an 
 appeal lies to a chief of higher power; and from 
 him to some superior, higher still. In this way 
 there is a long chain of feudal or semi-feudal de 
 pendency. 
 
 But the power of the chief is checked by that 
 of the priest. A supposed skill in medicine, 
 imaginary arts of divination, and an accredited 
 power over the elements are the prerogatives of 
 certain witches and wizards. Thus, when a mur 
 rain among the cattle, or the death of an impor 
 tant individual has taken place, the blame is laid 
 upon some unfortunate victim whom the witch 
 or wizard points out. And the ordeal to which 
 he must submit, is equal in cruelty to those of 
 the Gold Coast. He is beaten with sticks, and 
 then pegged down to the ground. Whilst thus 
 
KAFFKES. 81 
 
 helpless, a nest of venomous bush-ants is broken 
 over his racked and quivering body. If this fail 
 to extort a confession, he is singed to death with 
 red-hot stones. 
 
 This tells us what is meant by KafFre chiefs 
 and Kaffre wizards. 
 
 The wife is the slave to the husband ; and he 
 buys her in order that she should be so. The 
 purchase implies a seller. This is always a 
 member of another tribe. Hence the wish 
 of a Kaffre is to see his wife the mother of 
 many children, girls being more valuable than 
 boys. 
 
 Why a man should not sell his offspring to the 
 members of his own tribe is uncertain. It is 
 clear, however, that the practice of doing so makes 
 marriage between even distant relations next to 
 impossible. To guard against the chances of this, 
 a rigid and suspicious system of restraint has 
 been developed in cases of consanguinity; and 
 relations must do all they can to avoid meeting. 
 To sit in the same room, to meet on the same 
 road, is undesirable. To converse is but just 
 allowable, and then all who choose must hear what 
 is said. So thorough, however, has been the 
 isolation in many cases, that persons of different 
 sexes have lived as near neighbours for many 
 years without having conversed with each other ; 
 and such communication as there has been, has 
 
 G 
 
82 KAFFRE CUSTOMS. 
 
 taken place through the medium of a third person. 
 No gift will induce a Kaffre female to violate 
 this law. 
 
 Is the immolation of human beings at the 
 death of chieftains a Kaffre custom, as it was 
 one of western Africa? The following extract 
 gives an answer in the affirmative, the only dif 
 ference being the pretext of the murders. On 
 the " death of the mother of Chaka, the great 
 Zulu chief, a public mourning was held, which 
 lasted for the space of two days, the people being 
 assembled at the kraal of the chief to the number 
 of sixty or eighty thousand souls. Mr. Fynn, who 
 was present, describes the scene as the most ter 
 rific which it is possible for the human mind to con 
 ceive. The immense multitude were all engaged 
 in rending the air with the most doleful shrieks, 
 and discordant cries and lamentations ; whilst, in 
 the event of their ceasing to utter them, they 
 were instantly butchered as guilty of a crime 
 against the reigning tyrant. It is said that no 
 less than six or seven thousand persons were 
 destroyed on this occasion, charged with no other 
 offence than exhausted nature in the performance 
 of this horrid rite, their brains being mercilessly 
 dashed out amidst the surrounding throng. As a 
 suitable finale to this dreadful tragedy, it is said 
 that ten females were actually buried alive with 
 the royal corpse ; whilst all who witnessed the 
 
MIXED POPULATIONS OF THE CAPE. 83 
 
 funeral were obliged to remain on the spot for a 
 whole year." 
 
 Details of Kaffre manners may be multiplied 
 almost ad infmitum; and as their history and 
 habits are likely to fill a Blue Book, a short treatise 
 can only notice their more prominent peculiarities. 
 
 However, lest an undue inference be drawn 
 from their contrast to the Hottentot, we must 
 remember that the former has encroached upon 
 the latter, and that such transitional populations 
 as existed have been swept away. 
 
 Now comes a coloured population not indi 
 genous, but the descendants of the slaves of the 
 colony. This consists of 
 
 1. Negroes. 
 
 2. Malays from the Indian Archipelago. 
 
 3. Malagasi from Madagascar. 
 
 To which we must add, as of mixed blood, the 
 offspring of 
 
 1. Negroes and Dutch, English, &c. 
 
 2. Malays and Dutch, English, &c. 
 
 3. Malagasi and Dutch, English, &c. 
 
 This seems to be the limit of the intermix 
 ture ; since, between the Malays and Negroes, 
 &c., there is but little intermarriage. The possi- 
 ble elements, however, of hybridity are numerous, 
 e.g., Griquas and Negroes, Griquas and Malays, 
 Malays and Kaffres, &c. 
 
 The so-called yellow men. On the 4th of 
 
84 SUPPOSED WHITE MEN. 
 
 August, 1782, the "Grosvenor" Indiaman was 
 wrecked on the coast of Natal. Of the crew 
 who escaped, some reached the Cape and others 
 remained amongst the natives. In 1790, an expe 
 dition was undertaken in search of them. 
 
 In this expedition, Mr. Van Reenens, consi 
 dered that he had discovered a village where the 
 people were descended fnom the whites, and in 
 which there were three old women who had 
 been wrecked when very young. They could not 
 tell to what country they belonged ; were treated 
 as superior beings ; and, when offered a safe 
 convoy to the Cape, were at first pleased with the 
 prospect, but eventually refused to leave their 
 children and grandchildren. Now, whatever these 
 old women were, they were not of the crew of 
 the " Grosvenor," and I doubt whether they were 
 Europeans at all. 
 
 Again Mr. Thomson, when at Litaku, heard 
 of yellow cannibals, with long hair, whose inva 
 sions were the dread of the country ; a statement 
 which merely means that some tribes of South 
 Africa, are lighter coloured, and more savage in 
 their appetite than others. 
 
 Lastly, Lieutenant Farewell saw one of these 
 yellow men at Natal, who was described as a can 
 nibal, and who shrunk abashed from the lieutenant. 
 
 Be it so. The evidence that " there are de 
 scendants of Europeans and Africans now widely 
 
THE MAURITIUS. 85 
 
 diffusing their offspring throughout the country ; 
 whose services might be turned to good account in 
 civilising the native tribes/ is still incomplete. 
 
 Mauritius. The coloured population, which is 
 far greater than that of the white, consists in the 
 Mauritius of 
 
 1. True Africans chiefly from the east coast, 
 and, consequently, of the Kaffre stock ; the word 
 being used in its most general sense. Darker 
 than the Kaffres of the Cape, they, nevertheless, 
 recede from the Negro type in the shape of the 
 jaw, lips, and forehead. The hair also is less 
 woolly. They are strong and powerful indi 
 viduals. 
 
 2. Malagasi, or natives of Madagascar. These 
 are not Africans to the same extent as the 
 Kaffres of the coast. As far back as the time of 
 Reland it was known that the affinities of the 
 Malagasi language were with the Malay and Poly 
 nesian tongues of Asia ; but it was also known 
 that the similarity in physiognomy was less than 
 that of language. Hence came a conflict of dif 
 ficulties. The speech indicated one origin, the 
 colour another whilst the fact of an island so 
 near to Africa, and so far from Malacca, as Mada 
 gascar, being other than what its geographical posi 
 tion indicated, is, and has been, a mystery. Some 
 writers have assumed an intermixture of blood; 
 others have limited the Malay element to the 
 
86 THE MAURITIUS. 
 
 dominant population. Lastly, Mr. Crawford has 
 denied the inferences from the similarity of lan 
 guage in toto ; considering that there is " nothing 
 in common between the two races, and nothing in 
 common between the character of their languages." 
 The comparative philologist is slow to admit this 
 indeed, he denies it. 
 
 The blacks form the great majority of the 
 coloured population. Besides these, however, 
 there are 
 
 3. Arabs. 
 
 4. Chinese. 
 
 5. Hindus, from the continent of India; con 
 victs being transported to the Mauritius for life, 
 and worked on the roads of the colony. 
 
 6. Cingalese from Ceylon the Kandian chiefs 
 whose presence in their native country was thought 
 likely to endanger the tranquillity of the island, 
 were sent hither. 
 
 The whites of the Mauritius are chiefly French; 
 though not wholly of pure blood. The first set 
 tlers took their wives from Madagascar. The 
 English form the smallest part of the population. 
 
 Rodrigues occupied by a few French colonists 
 from the Mauritius. 
 
 The Seychelles The same ; the coloured popu 
 lation outnumbering the white in the proportion 
 of ten to one. Here there is a Portuguese ad 
 mixture. From Maha, the chief town of the Sey- 
 
WEST INDIAN AFRICANS. 87 
 
 chelles, to Madagascar, is five hundred and seventy- 
 six miles a fact to be borne in mind when we 
 speculate upon the origin of the population of 
 that island. 
 
 The Africans of British America. Honduras, 
 Belize, the West India Islands, and Demerara. 
 The usual distribution of the population of these 
 parts is 
 
 WHITE. 
 
 1. European whites, born in Europe. 
 
 2. Creoles, or whites born in the island. 
 
 COLOURED. 
 a. Pure Blood. 
 
 1. Mandingos, from the river-systems of the 
 Senegal and Gambia. 
 
 2. Coromantines from the Ivory and Gold 
 Coast. 
 
 3. Whydahs from Dahomey. 
 
 4. Ibos from the Lower Niger. 
 
 5. Congos from Portuguese Africa. 
 
 b. Mixed Blood. 
 
 1. Sambos, intermixture of the Negro and Mu 
 latto. 
 
 2. Mulattos Negro and white. 
 
 3. Quadroons Mulatto and white. 
 
 4. Mestis Quadroon and white. 
 
88 WEST INDIAN AFRICANS. 
 
 Such is what I find in Mr. Martin s valuable 
 work on the Colonies, and it is, undoubtedly, a 
 convenient and practical classification. Yet for the 
 purposes of ethnology, it is deficient in detail. 
 Without even guessing at the proportion of 
 American slaves which the different parts of the 
 western coast of Africa may have supplied, I sub 
 join a brief notice of tract between the Senegal 
 and Benguela. 
 
 1. First come the Wolof, between the Sene 
 gal and Cape Verde. To the back of these 
 lie 
 
 2. The Serawolli and around Cape Verde 
 
 3. The Sereres none of these are truly 
 Mandingo ; nor is it certain that many slaves 
 have come from them ; such as do, however, 
 are probably Mandingos in the current classifica 
 tion. 
 
 4. The Fulahs of Fouta-Torro and Fouta-Jallo 
 possess the higher part of the Senegambian system. 
 Imperfect Mahometans, they are lighter-coloured 
 than either the "Wolof or the Mandingo. Not 
 withstanding the great Fulah conquests for 
 under a leader named Danfodio this has been 
 one of the encroaching and subjugating families 
 of Africa there are still American slaves of 
 Fulah blood though, perhaps, but few. Mr. 
 Hodgson procured his vocabulary from a Fulah 
 slave of Virginia; and what we find in the 
 
WEST INDIAN AFRICANS. 89 
 
 United States, we may find in the British posses 
 sions also. 
 
 5. The Mandingos Proper are the Negroes of 
 the Gambia; but the following Africans, all 
 within the range of the old slave trade, belong to 
 the same class. 
 
 a. The Susu; whose language is spoken from 
 the River Pongos to Sierra Leone. 
 
 b. The Timmani. 
 
 c. The Bullom each in contact with that set 
 tlement. 
 
 d. The Vey -the written language already 
 noticed. 
 
 e. The Mendi conterminous with the Vey. 
 
 /. The Kissi like the last two, spoken in the 
 country behind Cape Mount, and on the bounda 
 ries of Liberia. 
 
 South of the Gambia and north of the Pongos, 
 the Mandingo tongues, though spoken in the in 
 terior, do not reach the coast. On the contrary, 
 they encircle the populations on the mouths of 
 the Cacheo, Rio Grande, and Nun and truly 
 barbarous populations these are. Of these the 
 most northern are 
 
 6. The Felup (Feloops) between the Gambia 
 and Cacheo. 
 
 7. The Papel south of the Cacheo. 
 
 8. The Balantes south of the Papel. 
 
 9. The Bagnon on the Lower Cacheo. 
 
90 WEST INDIAN AFRICANS. 
 
 10. The Bissago islanders off the Cacheo. 
 
 11. Nalu (Naloos) on the Lower Nun. 
 
 12. Sapiibid. 
 
 After these come the Susu, &c. ; down to the 
 tribes about Cape Mount and Cape Mesurado. 
 
 Between Cape Mesurado and Cape Palmas 
 come 
 
 13. The Krumen. Next to them 
 
 14. The Quaquas, of the Ivory Coast ; speak 
 ing different Avekvom dialects. 
 
 Somewhere hereabouts come the 
 
 15. 16, 17. Kanga, Mangree, and Gien; three 
 undetermined vocabularies of the " Mithridates." 
 Then 
 
 18, 19, 20. The Fanti, Gha, and Adampi (?) of 
 the Gold Coast. We now approach the great 
 marts 
 
 21, 22. Benin and Dahomey; and almost 
 equal in infamous notoriety the countries of the 
 Delta, of the Niger, or of the 
 
 23, 24>, 25. Ibu, Bonny, and Efik (Old Calabar) 
 Africans ; at the back of which lie 
 
 26, 27. Yarriba, and the Nufi country. In 
 Fernando Po the population is 
 
 28. Ediya. About the Bimbia river and moun 
 tain 
 
 29. Isubu. 
 
 30. 31, 32. The kanaka (or Hatanga), the 
 Panwi, and the Mpoongwe take us from the 
 
WEST INDIAN AFRICANS. 91 
 
 Gaboon to Loango ; forming a transition from the 
 true Negroes to the Kaffres. 
 
 33, 34 3 35, 36. Loango, Congo, Angola, and 
 Benguela the Kaffre type, both in form and lan 
 guage, is now more closely approached. Below 
 Benguela there has been little or no exportation. 
 
92 ASIATIC DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES IN ASIA. 
 
 ADEN. THE MONGOLIAN VARIETY. THE MONOSYLLABIC LAN 
 GUAGES. HONG KONG. THE TENASSERIM PROVINCES; MAUL- 
 
 MEIN, YE, TAVOY, TENASSERIM, THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO. 
 
 THE MON, SIAMESE, AVANS, KARIENS, AND SILONG. ARACAN. 
 
 MUGS, KHYENS. CHITTAGONG, TIPPERA, AND SYLHET. KUK1. 
 
 KASIA. CACHARS. ASSAM. NAGAS. SINGPHO. JILI. 
 
 KAMTI. MISHIMI. ABORS AND BOR-ABORS. DUFLA. AKA. 
 
 MUTTUKS AND MIRI, AND OTHER TRIBES OF THE VALLEY 
 
 OF ASSAM. THE GARO. CLASSIFICATION. MR. BROWN^S 
 
 TABLES. THE BODO. DHIMAL. KOCCH. LEPCHAS OF SIK- 
 
 KIM. RAW AT OF KUMAON. POLYANDRIA. THE TAMtLIAN 
 
 POPULATIONS. RAJMAHALI MOUNTAINEERS. KULIS, KHONDS, 
 GOANDS, CHENCHWARS. TUDAS, ETC. BHILS. WARALIS. THE 
 TAMUL, TELINGA, KANARA AND MALAYALIM LANGUAGES. 
 
 Aden. The ethnology of the Arab stock would 
 fill a volume. It is sufficient to state that the 
 British political dependency of Aden is, ethnolo- 
 gically, an Arab town. 
 
 Far more important possessions direct our at 
 tention towards India. Nevertheless, there are 
 certain preliminaries to its ethnology. 
 
MONGOLIAN FORM. CHINESE LANGUAGE. 93 
 
 Mongolia and China each of these countries 
 illustrates an important ethnological phenomenon. 
 
 The first is a physical one. Cheekbones that 
 project outwards, a broad and flat face, a depressed 
 nose, an oblique eye, a somewhat slanting inser 
 tion of the teeth, a scanty beard, an undersized 
 frame, and a tawny or yellow skin, characterise 
 the Mongol of Mongolia. 
 
 The second is a philological one. A com 
 parative absence of grammatical inflexions, and a 
 disproportionate preponderance of monosyllabic 
 words, characterise the language of China. 
 
 So much for the simple elementary facts ; the 
 former of which will be spoken of under the de 
 signation of Mongolian conformation; the second 
 under that of monosyllabic language. 
 
 Neither term is limited to the nation by which 
 it has been illustrated. Plenty of populations 
 besides those of Mongolia Proper are Mongol in 
 physiognomy. Plenty of nations besides the 
 Chinese are monosyllabic in language. 
 
 All the nations speaking monosyllabic tongues 
 are Mongol in physiognomy ; though all the 
 nations which have a Mongol physiognomy do not 
 speak monosyllabic tongues. This makes the 
 latter group, which for shortness will be called 
 that of the monosyllabic nations or tribes a sec 
 tion, or division, of the former. 
 
 Little Tibet, Ladakh, Tibet Proper, Butan, and 
 
94 THE BURMESE PROVINCES. 
 
 China, are all Mongol in form, and monosyllabic 
 in language. So are Ava, Pegu, Siam, Cambojia, 
 and Cochin China, the countries which constitute 
 the great peninsula, sometimes called Indo-Chinese, 
 and sometimes Trangangetic. 
 
 The extremity however the Malayan penin 
 sula is not monosyllabic. 
 
 The British possessions of Hindostan are mono 
 syllabic on their Tibetan and Burmese frontiers. 
 
 Hong-Kong, Aden was disposed of briefly. So 
 is Hong-Kong; and that for the same reason. 
 Politically, British, it is ethnologically Chinese. 
 
 Maulmein, Ye, Tavoy, Tenasserim, and the 
 Mergui Archipelago. These constitute what are 
 sometimes called the ceded, sometimes the Tenas 
 serim provinces. They came into possession of 
 the British at the close of the Burmese war of 
 1 825. Unlike our dependencies in Hindostan, they 
 are cut off from connection with any of the great 
 centres of British power in Asia in which respect 
 they agree with the smaller and still more isolated 
 settlements of the Malaccan Peninsula. The 
 power that ceded them was the Burmese, so that 
 it is with the existing subjects of that empire that 
 their present limits are in contact ; though only 
 for the northern part. To the south they abut 
 upon Siam. 
 
 The population throughout is monosyllabic ; 
 except so far as it is modified by foreign inter- 
 
THE MOtf. 95 
 
 mixture of which by far the most important ele 
 ment is the Indian. Everything in the way of 
 religious creed which is not native and pagan is 
 Indian and Buddhist. The alphabets, too, of the 
 lettered populations are Indian in origin. 
 
 The population of the continental part of these 
 British dependencies is referable to four divisions 
 of unequal and imperfectly ascertained value. 
 1. The Mon. 2. The Siamese. 3. The Avans. 
 4. The Kariens. 
 
 1. The Mon. Mon is the native name of the 
 indigenous population of Pegu, so that the Mon 
 of Maulmein, or Amherst, the most northern of 
 the provinces in question, on the left bank of the 
 lower Salwin, are part and parcel of the present 
 occupants of the delta of the Irawaddi, and the 
 country about Cape Negrais. The Burmese call 
 them Talieng, and under that designation they are 
 described in Dr. Heifer s Report.* The Siamese 
 appellation is Ming-mon ; apparently the native 
 name in a state of composition. In the early 
 Portuguese notices a still more composite form 
 appears and we hear of the ancient empire of 
 Kalamenham, supposed to have been founded by 
 the Pandalus of Mon or Pegu. 
 
 None of the lettered languages of the Indo- 
 Chinese peninsula are less known than that of 
 
 * "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. viii. 
 
96 THE THA Y. 
 
 Pegu. At the same time its unequivocally mono 
 syllabic character is beyond doubt. The alphabet 
 is a slight variation of the Avan. 
 
 The geographical position of the Mon at the 
 extremity of a promontory, and on the delta of 
 a river, taken along with their philological isola 
 tion, is remarkable. They have evidently been 
 encroached upon by the Avans in latter times ; 
 whilst, at an earlier period, they themselves pro 
 bably encroached upon others. Whether they 
 are the oldest occupants of Maulmein is uncer 
 tain ; it is only certain that they are older than 
 their conquerors. 
 
 To the Mon of Pegu the exchange of Avan for 
 British rule, has been a great and an appreciated 
 advantage. 
 
 2. The Siamese. The native name for the 
 Siamese language is Thcty, and Tha y is the 
 national and indigenous denomination of the 
 Siamese. It is the Avans who call them Sian or 
 Shan ; from whence the European term has been 
 derived through the Portuguese. 
 
 The Siamese population is of course greatest 
 on the Siamese frontier; so that, increasing as 
 we go south, it attains its maximum in Tenasserim 
 just as the Mon did in Maulmein. It seems, 
 also, to have been introduced at different times ; a 
 fact which gives us a distinction between the 
 native Siamese and the recent settlers. 
 
THE MOX. 97 
 
 Like the Mon, the Tha y, at least in its more 
 classical dialect, is a lettered language ; the alpha 
 bet, like the Buddhist religion, being Indian. 
 Unlike, however, the Mon, which is the only 
 representative of the family to which it belongs, 
 the Tha y tribes constitute a vast class, falling 
 into divisions and subdivisions, and exceedingly 
 remarkable in respect to its geographical distribu 
 tion. 
 
 The Siamese of Siam, the kingdom of which 
 Bankok is the capital, form but a fraction of this 
 great stock. The upper half of the river Menam 
 is occupied by what are called the Lau, or 
 Laos. These are partly wholly independent, and 
 partly in nominal dependence upon China; and 
 proportionate to their independence is the un 
 lettered character of their language, and the ab 
 sence of Indian influences. Nor is this all. The 
 Menam is preeminently the river of the Tha y 
 stock, and along the water-system of the Menam 
 its chief branches are to be found ; their position 
 being between the Burmese populations of the 
 west, and the Khomen of Cambojia on the east. 
 This distribution is vertical, i.e., it is characterized 
 by its length, rather than its breadth, and runs 
 from south to north. So far does it reach in this 
 direction that, as high as 28 North lat., in upper 
 Assam we find a branch of it. This is the Khamti. 
 In a valuable comparison of languages, well-known 
 
98 THE THA Y. 
 
 as "Brown s Tables,"* the proportion of the 
 Khamti words to the South Siamese is ninety-two 
 per cent. 
 
 Of the physical appearance of the Siamese, we 
 find the best account in " Crawford s Embassy," the 
 classical work for the ethnology of the southern 
 part of the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Their sta 
 ture is low ; the tallest man out of twenty having 
 been five feet eight inches, the shortest five feet 
 three. The complexion, darker than that of the 
 Chinese, is lighter than that of the Malay ; the 
 eye oblique ; the jaw square ; and the cheek 
 bones broad. 
 
 Thciy is an ethnological term, and denotes all 
 the nations and tribes akin to the Siamese of the 
 southern, the Khamti of the northern, or the Lau 
 of the intermediate area. The difference between 
 the first and the last of these three should be 
 noticed. Some members of the family are In- 
 dianized in religion, and organized in politics. 
 Such are the Siamese of Bankok. Others retain 
 both their independence and their original Pa 
 ganism. Such are some of the Lau. Mutatis 
 mutandis, the same applies to the next family. 
 
 This is the Burmese, to which both the Avans 
 and the Kariens belong ; but as it has been al 
 ready stated that the divisions under consideration 
 
 * " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. vi. 
 part 2. See also pp. 112, 113 of the present volume. 
 
THE A VANS. 99 
 
 are by no means of equal value, the two branches 
 will be considered separately. 
 
 3. The Avans. Avan is a more convenient 
 term than Burmese, inasmuch as it is more defi 
 nite ; the Burmese Empire containing not only 
 very distant members of the great Burmese family, 
 but also populations which belong to other 
 groups. Ava, on the other hand, is the centre 
 of the dominant division, 
 
 Whether the Mon, or a family yet to be men 
 tioned, represent the aborigines of Maulmein, it 
 is certain that the Avans of that country are of 
 comparatively recent introduction. 
 
 Again, whether the Tfia y, or a family yet to 
 be mentioned represent the aborigines of Tenas- 
 serim, it is certain that the Avans of that country 
 are of comparatively recent origin. 
 
 Nevertheless, there are Avans in each ; and in 
 Maulmein, although the Mon preponderate in 
 number, they all are able to speak the language 
 of their conquerors. I say conquerors, because 
 the Avans are for all the parts south of 18 
 North lat., an intrusive population : the end of 
 the eighteenth century being the date, when, 
 under Alompra, an Avan or Umerapura dynasty 
 broke up and subjected, in different degrees, the 
 Mon and Tha y populations to the south, as well 
 as several others more akin to itself on the east, 
 west, and north. 
 
100 THE KARIEff. 
 
 The kingdom of Ava, next to those of China 
 and Siam, best represents the civilization of those 
 families whose tongue is monosyllabic. This im 
 plies that it has an organized polity, a lettered 
 language, and a Buddhist creed ; in other words 
 that the influences of either China or India have 
 acted on it. Of these two nations it is the latter 
 which has most modified the Indianized members 
 of the great Burmese stock. In strong contrast 
 with these is the fourth and last branch of the 
 continental population for the provinces in ques 
 tion, the 
 
 4. Karien The Kariens are partially indepen 
 dent ; chiefly pagan ; and their language, belong 
 ing to the same class with the Avan, is unlettered. 
 They are the first of a long list. 
 
 Their geographical distribution is remarkable, 
 like that of the Tha y. Its direction is north and 
 south ; its dimensions linear, rather than broad ; 
 and it bears nearly the same relation to the water- 
 system of the Salwin that that of the Siamese does 
 to the river Menam. There are Kariens as far 
 south as 11 North lat. and there are Kariens as far 
 north as 25 North lat. Hence we have them in 
 Maulmein, and in Tenasserim, and in the inter 
 mediate provinces of Ye and Tavoy as well. All 
 these, like the Mon, have been eased by the trans 
 fer from Avan oppression to British rule ; though 
 this says but little. Hence, with one exception, 
 
THE KARIEN. , 10J, 
 
 the other members of their family a^e decrying \ 
 the exception being the so-called Red Karien. 
 
 This epithet indicates a change in physiognomy; 
 and, indeed, the physical conformation of the 
 Burmese tribes requires attention. It is Mongo 
 lian in the way that the Siamese is Mongolian ; 
 but changes have set in. The beard increases ; 
 the hair becomes crisper ; and the complexion 
 darkens. The Kyo,* the isolated occupants of a 
 single village on the river Koladyng, are so much 
 darker than their neighbours as to have been 
 considered half Bengali ; and, as a general rule, 
 the nearer we approach India, the deeper be 
 comes the complexion. The Mon, too, of Pegu, 
 are very dark. What is this the effect of ? Cer 
 tainly not of latitude, since we are moving north 
 ward. Of intermarriage ? There is no proof of 
 this. The greater amount of low alluvial soils, 
 like those of the Ganges and Irawaddi, is, in 
 my mind, the truer reason. But this is too 
 general a question to be allowed to delay us. 
 The Red Kariens are instances of an Asiatic tribe 
 with an American colour ; just as the Red Fulahs 
 were in Africa. Such are the occupants of the 
 continent. 
 
 5. The Silong. In the islands of the Mergui 
 Archipelago, there is another variety ; but whether 
 
 * Described by Lieutenants Phayre and Latter in " Journal 
 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal." 
 
102 THE SILOtfG. 
 
 it foim aclass rtself, or belong to any of the pre 
 vious ones, is uncertain. Their language is said 
 to be peculiar;* but of this we have no speci 
 men. As it is probably that of the oldest inha 
 bitants of the continent opposite, this is to be 
 regretted. 
 
 They are called Silong, are a sort of sea-gipsy ; 
 and amount to about one thousand. Of all the 
 creeds of either India or the Indo-Chinese penin 
 sula theirs is the most primitive ; so primitive as 
 to be characterized by little except its negative 
 characters. They believe that the land, air, trees, 
 and waters are inhabited by Nat, or spirits, who 
 direct the phenomena of Nature. How far they 
 affect that of man, except indirectly, is unascer 
 tained. " We do not think about that," was the 
 invariable answer, when any one was questioned 
 about a future state. Too vague for monotheism, 
 the Silong creed is also said to be too vague for 
 idolatry, too vague for sacrifices. 
 
 The Kariens, also, believe in Nat, but, as they 
 believe in their influence on human affairs, they 
 sacrifice to them accordingly. 
 
 Little, then, as we know, respecting these 
 two families, we know that the common practice 
 of Nat worship connects them; and this wor 
 ship connects many other members of the Bur 
 mese stock. Consequently it helps us to place 
 * Dr. Heifer, " Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. viii. 
 
AKAKHAtf. 103 
 
 the Silong in that group. It also favours the 
 notion of the Tenasserim aborigines being Bur 
 mese. 
 
 It is the delta of the Irawaddi which isolates 
 the Tenasserim provinces ; and the British depen 
 dency from which it separates them is 
 
 Arakhan. We are prepared for the ethno 
 logical position of the Arakhan populations. 
 They are Burmese. 
 
 We are likewise prepared for a division of 
 them; there will be the Indianized and the 
 Paganpaganism and political independence go 
 ing, to a certain degree, together. 
 
 We are prepared for even minuter detail ; the 
 paganism will be Nat-worship ; the Indian creed 
 Buddhism : the alphabet also, where the lan 
 guage is written, will be Indian also. In Captain 
 Tower s vocabulary,* only seven words out of 
 fifty differ between the Burmese of Arakhan, and 
 the Burmese of Ava ; and some of these are mere 
 differences of pronunciation. 
 
 The language itself is called Rukheng by those 
 who use it; but the Bengali name is Mug. 
 
 This applies to the Indianized part of the popu 
 lation, the analogues of the Avans and Siamese 
 of Tenasserim, and of the Mon of Maulmein. 
 What are the Arakhan equivalents to the Karien ? 
 
 The Khyen. These inhabit the Yuma moun- 
 * " Asiatic Researches," vol. v. 
 
104 KHYEN KUKI. 
 
 tains between Arakhan and Ava. A full notice of 
 them is given by Lieutenant Trant, in the six 
 teenth volume of the "Asiatic Researches." But 
 as they are chiefly independent tribes, it is enough 
 to state that they form the Anglo-Burmese 
 frontier. It is also added that there are numerous 
 Khyen slaves in Arakhan. 
 
 Farther notice of them is the less important, 
 because a closely allied population will occur 
 amongst the hill-tribes of 
 
 Chittagong. Hindu elements now increase. 
 Even in Arakhan, Buddhism had ceased to be the 
 only creed of western origin. There were Ma 
 hometans who spoke a mixed dialect called the 
 Ruinga ;* and Brahminical Hindus who spoke 
 another called the Rosawn. In Chittagong, then, 
 we must look about us for the aborigines ; so in 
 trusive have become the Hindu elements. In 
 trusive, however, they are, and intrusive they will 
 be for some time to come. 
 
 The foot of the hill, and the hill itself, are im 
 portant points of difference in Indian ethnology. 
 On the lower ranges of the mountains on the 
 north-east of Chittagong are the Khumia (Choo- 
 meeas) or villagers; khum (choom) meaning vil 
 lage. These are definitely distinguished from 
 the Hindus, by a flat nose, small eye, and broad 
 round face, in other words by Mongolian charac- 
 * Dr. Buchanan, " Asiatic Researches," vol. v. 
 
KUKI. 105 
 
 teristics in the way of physiognomy. But the 
 Khumia are less perfect samples of their class than 
 the true mountaineers. These are the Kuki,* 
 hunters and warriors, divided into tribes, each 
 under elective chiefs, themselves subordinate to a 
 hereditary Raja, at least such is the Hindu 
 phraseology. 
 
 Their creed consists in the belief of Khogein 
 Pootteeang as a superior, and Sheem Sank as an 
 inferior deity ; the destruction of numerous ene 
 mies being the best recommendation to their 
 favour. A wooden figure, of human shape, repre 
 sents the latter. The skulls of their enemies 
 they keep as trophies. In the month of January 
 there is a solemn festival. 
 
 Language and tradition alike tell us that the 
 Kuki (and most likely the Khumia as well) are 
 unmodified Mugs. The displacement of their 
 family has been twofold first by Hindus, secondly 
 by Buddhist (or modified) Mugs at the time of the 
 Burmese conquest. The Kuki population ex 
 tends to the wilder parts of the district of Tippera. 
 
 Sylhet. On the southern frontier we have 
 Kukis ; on the eastern Cachari ; on the northern 
 Coosyas (Kasia). Due west of these last lie the 
 Garo. I imagine that both these last-named 
 populations are members of the same group but 
 cannot speak confidently. If so, we have departed 
 * Macrae in " Asiatic Researches," vol. vii. 
 
106 VALLEY OF 
 
 considerably from the more typical Burmese of 
 Arakhan and Ava. Still we are within the same 
 great class. The Garo will command a somewhat 
 full notice. 
 
 The Cachars depart still more from the more 
 typical Burmese ; the group to which they most 
 closely belong being one which will also be en 
 larged on. 
 
 North of the Kasia we reach the western por 
 tion of the southern frontier of 
 
 Assam. Here it will be convenient to take the 
 whole of the valley Upper as well as Middle and 
 Lower Assam although parts of the former are 
 independent rather than British and to go round 
 it ; beginning with the Kasia country and the 
 Jaintia mountains on the south-west. I imagine 
 but am not certain that the Kasia and Jaintia 
 mountaineers are very closely allied. 
 
 Next to the Cachars on the southern, or Mani- 
 pur, frontier are 
 
 The Nagas. These are in the same class with 
 the Kuki ; i.e. the wild tribes^of Manipur, speak 
 ing a not very altered dialect of the Burmese. 
 
 The Singpho. This people is said to have come 
 from a locality between their present position and 
 the north-eastern corner of Assam and the Chinese 
 frontier. An imperfect Buddhism, and an unap 
 preciated alphabet of Siamese origin, are the 
 chief phenomena of their civilisation. 
 
ASSAM. 107 
 
 The Jili. These are conterminous with the 
 Singpho; to whom they are closely allied, in 
 language, at least ; seventy words out of one hun 
 dred agreeing in the two vocabularies. 
 
 The Kamti come in now. These have been 
 mentioned as Tha y in their most northern loca 
 lities. They occupy north-eastern Assam, and 
 are conterminous with the Singpho. The Khamti 
 language, with its percentage of ninety -two words 
 common to it and the Siamese of Bankok, ten 
 degrees southwards, has only three out of one 
 hundred that agree with the Singpho, and ten in 
 one hundred with the Jili. This shows the re 
 markable character of their ethnological distribu 
 tion, and, at the same time, suggests the idea of 
 great displacement. 
 
 The Mishimi. These occupy the north-east 
 extremity of Assam. With the Mishimi we turn 
 the corner, and find ourself on the northern or 
 Tibetan frontier. Here it is the most western 
 tribes which come first ; and these are 
 
 The Abors and Padam J3 or- Abors. The first, 
 like the Kuki, on the mountain-tops; the latter, 
 like the Khumia, on the lower ranges. 
 
 The Dufta. Mountaineers west of the Abors, 
 with whom they are conterminous in about 94 
 East Ion. 
 
 The Aka. Mountaineers west of the Dufla, 
 with whom they are conterminous in about 92 
 
108 ASSAM TRIBES. 
 
 East Ion. The Akas bound Lower Assam, the 
 eastern part of which lies between them and the 
 Cachari country. 
 
 The tribes hitherto mentioned, although suffi 
 ciently numerous, represent the mountaineers of 
 the Manipur and Tibetan frontiers only. The 
 native tribes of the valley still stand over. These 
 are 
 
 1. The Muttuck or Moa Mareya, south of the 
 Brahmaputra, and so far Indianized as to be 
 Brahminical in religion. Their locality is the 
 south bank of the Brahmaputra ; opposite to that 
 of 
 
 2. The Miri, on the north. The Miri are 
 backed on the north by the Bor Abors. 
 
 3. The Mikir. Mr. Robertson looks upon these 
 as an intrusive people from the Jaintia hills : 
 their present locality being the district of Now- 
 gong, where they are mixed up with 
 
 4. The Lalong. I cannot say whether the 
 Lalong speak their originally monosyllabic 
 tongue, or have learnt the Bengali a phenomenon 
 which does much to disguise the true ethnology of 
 more than one of the forthcoming tribes; one of 
 which is certainly 
 
 5. The Dhekra, occupants of Lower Assam and 
 Kamrup, where they are mixed up with other 
 sections of the population. 
 
 6. The RaWia Like the Dhekra, these are 
 
ASSAM TRIBES. 109 
 
 Hindus. Like the Dhekra they speak Bengali. 
 Hence, like the Dhekra, their true affinities are 
 disguised. It is, however, pretty generally ad 
 mitted by the best authorities that what may be 
 predicated of the Garo and Bodo two families 
 of which a fuller notice will be given in the sequel 
 may be predicated of the sections in question, 
 as also of 
 
 7. The Hajong or Hojai Hindus, speaking a 
 form of the Bengali at the foot of the Garo hills ; 
 and who join the Rabha, whose locality is between 
 Gwahatti and Sylhet, i.e., at the entrance of the 
 Assam valley. 
 
 The Garo of the Garo hills to the north-east of 
 Bengal now require notice. A mountaineer of 
 these parts has much in common with the Coosya ; 
 yet the languages are, perhaps, mutually unin 
 telligible. In form they are exceedingly alike. 
 
 Now, a Garo * is hardy, stout, and surly -looking, 
 with a flattened nose, blue or brown eyes, large 
 mouth, thick lips, round face, and brown com 
 plexion. Their buniahs (booneeahs) or chiefs, are 
 distinguished by a silken turban. They have a 
 prejudice against milk; but in the matter of 
 other sorts of food are omnivorous. Their houses, 
 called chaungs, are built on piles, from three to 
 four feet from the ground, from ten to forty in 
 breadth, and from thirty to one hundred and fifty 
 * Eliot, in "Asiatic Transactions," vol. iii. 
 
110 THE GARO. 
 
 in length. They drink, feast, and dance freely ; 
 and, in their matrimonial forms, much resemble 
 the Bodo. The youngest daughter inherits. The 
 widow marries the brother of the deceased ; if he 
 die, the next ; if all, the father. 
 
 The dead are kept for four days ; then burnt. 
 Then the ashes are buried in a hole on the place 
 where the fire was. A small thatched building is 
 next raised over them ; which is afterwards railed 
 in. For a month, or more, a lamp is lit every 
 night in this building. The clothes of the de 
 ceased hang on poles one at each corner of the 
 railing. When the pile is set fire to, there is 
 great feasting and drunkenness. 
 
 The Garo are no Hindus. Neither are they 
 unmodified pagans. Mahadeva they invoke 
 perhaps, worship. Nevertheless, their creed is 
 mixed. They worship the sun and the moon, 
 or rather the sun or the moon ; since they ascer 
 tain which is to be invoked by taking a cup of 
 water and some wheat. The priest then calls on 
 the name of the sun, and drops corn into the 
 water. If it sink, the sun is worshipped. If not, 
 a similar experiment is tried with the name of the 
 moon. Misfortunes are attributed to superna 
 tural agency : and averted by sacrifice. 
 
 Sometimes they swear on a stone ; sometimes 
 they take a tiger s bone between their teeth and 
 then tell their tale. 
 
THE GARO. Ill 
 
 Lastly, they have an equivalent to the Lycan- 
 thropy of the older European nations : 
 
 " Among the Garrows a madness exists, which 
 they call transformation into a tiger, from the 
 person who is afflicted with this malady walking 
 about like that animal, shunning all society. It 
 is said, that, on their being first seized with this 
 complaint they tear their hair and the rings from 
 their ears, with such force as to break the lobe. 
 It is supposed to be occasioned by a medicine 
 applied to the forehead ; but I endeavoured to 
 procure some of the medicine thus used, without 
 effect. I imagine it rather to be created by fre 
 quent intoxications, as the malady goes off in the 
 course of a week or fortnight. During the time 
 the person is in this state, it is with the utmost 
 difficulty he is made to eat or drink. I ques 
 tioned a man, who had thus been afflicted, as to 
 the manner of his being seized, and he told me 
 he only felt a giddiness without any pain, and 
 that afterwards he did not know what happened 
 to him."* 
 
 In a paper of Captain C. S. Reynolds, in the 
 " Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, "f we 
 have the notice of a hitherto undescribed super 
 stition ; that of the Korah. A Korah is a dish of 
 bell-metal, of uncertain manufacture. A small 
 kind, called Deo Korah, is hung up as a house- 
 * Eliot, ut supra. f For Jan. 1849. 
 
112 THE GARO. 
 
 hold god and worshipped. Should the monthly 
 sacrifice of a fowl be neglected, punishment is ex 
 pected. If " a person perform his devotion to the 
 spirit which inhabits the Korah with increasing 
 fervour and devotion, he is generally rewarded by 
 seeing the embossed figures gradually expand. 
 The Garos believe that when the whole household 
 is wrapped in sleep, the Deo Korahs make expedi 
 tions in search of food, and when they have satis 
 fied their appetites return to their snug retreats 
 unobserved." 
 
 The Miri are supposed to believe the same of 
 what are called Deo Guntas, brought from Tibet. 
 
 Now what is the classification of all these 
 tribes ? Preliminary to the answer on this point, 
 there are eleven dialects spoken in the parts 
 about Manipur besides the proper language of 
 Manipur itself to be enumerated. These are 
 as follows: 1. Songpu. 2. Kapwi. 3. Koreng. 
 4. Maram. 5. Champhung. 6. Luhuppa. 7, 8, 
 
 9. Northern, Central, and Southern Tangkhul. 
 
 10. Khoibu; and 11. Maring. Now these twelve 
 (the Manipur being included) have been tabulated 
 by Mr. Brown, in such a way as to show the per 
 centage of words that each has with all the others ; 
 and not only these, but nearly all the tongues 
 which we have had to deal with, are similarly put 
 in order for being compared. The part of the 
 table necessary for the present use is as follows : 
 
BROWN S TABLES. 
 
 113 
 
 1 
 
 < 
 
 j 
 <; 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Burmese, 
 
 M 
 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 s. 
 
 -: 
 
 
 i" 
 
 Manipuri, 
 
 1; 
 
 
 
 f/j 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 trj 
 
 
 z 
 X 
 
 a 
 
 -r: 
 
 = 
 
 ^ 
 
 Champliung, 1 
 
 Luhuppa, 
 
 N. Tangkhul, 
 
 =: 
 H 
 
 o* 
 
 S. Tangkhul, 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 : (, 
 ~ 
 
 | 
 
 A bor 
 
 47 
 Jn 
 17 
 
 15 
 15 
 5 
 1 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 (i 
 8 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 20 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 1 
 6 
 5 
 6 
 1 
 5 
 8 
 6 
 8 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 u 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 lo 
 10 
 10 
 1:; 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 i) 
 
 ! 
 
 8 
 G 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 11 
 
 1( 
 
 >< 
 
 ;;. 
 
 2( 
 1(1 
 
 8 
 2n 
 6 
 
 11 
 11 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 lo 
 
 l(i 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 
 21 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 8 
 2 
 4 
 
 2 
 8 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 18 
 10 
 
 23 
 17 
 
 70 
 16 
 
 25 
 10 
 18 
 11 
 11 
 18 
 15 
 !.", 
 25 
 13 
 20 
 18 
 
 15 
 11 
 
 2i 
 21 
 
 70 
 
 22 
 it; 
 
 10 
 
 21 
 13 
 
 11 
 1 
 8 
 
 20 
 2o 
 
 3 
 20 
 20 
 
 
 
 10 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 22 
 
 10 
 5 
 6 
 5 
 8 
 5 
 8 
 13 
 11 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 
 11 
 15 
 11 
 16 
 15 
 25 
 16 
 
 
 21 
 41 
 
 8 
 25 
 2s 
 {) 
 
 28 
 
 .5 
 !3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 
 S 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 5 
 
 21 
 
 i5 
 50 
 
 53 
 20 
 
 23 
 15 
 5 
 13 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 15 
 18 
 21 
 6 
 41 
 35 
 
 30 
 33 
 20 
 35 
 3(i 
 40 
 45 
 > 
 4ii 
 
 c 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 13 
 5 
 18 
 
 50 
 
 io 
 
 41 
 
 IS 
 21 
 2(1 
 20 
 11 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 8 
 3 
 11 
 
 12 
 11 
 11 
 
 8 
 25 
 -,3 
 
 ;;; 
 H 
 
 21 
 
 28 
 25 
 20 
 1G 
 23 
 20 
 
 8 
 6 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 13 
 11 
 5 
 
 28 
 20 
 20 
 8 
 21 
 
 10 
 20 
 20 
 6 
 5 
 25 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 G 
 11 
 12 
 15 
 18 
 8 
 31 
 23 
 35 
 21 
 28 
 40 
 
 G:; 
 
 55 
 3G 
 33 
 
 40 
 
 5 
 8 
 8 
 
 10 
 8 
 
 13 
 20 
 18 
 
 28 
 
 15 
 
 50 
 20 
 25 
 20 
 !3 
 
 85 
 30 
 31 
 31 
 
 G 
 8 
 6 
 
 13 
 12 
 25 
 20 
 11 
 55 
 15 
 40 
 20 
 20 
 20 
 55 
 85 
 
 41 
 45 
 41 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 18 
 
 13 
 12 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 $ 
 
 16 
 
 1C, 
 
 36 
 80 
 
 41 
 
 43 
 43 
 
 8 
 10 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 20 
 5 
 40 
 
 8 
 !8 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 15 
 
 -13 
 il 
 45 
 43 
 
 n 
 
 10 
 18 
 8 
 1G 
 15 
 18 
 20 
 
 50 
 15 
 10 
 15 
 2G 
 25 
 40 
 il 
 41 
 43 
 "8 
 
 A ka 
 
 Mishimi.. 
 
 Bunnese 
 
 Karen 
 Singpho . . , 
 
 Jili 
 
 Garo . . 
 
 Manipuri 
 
 Songpii 
 Kapwi . . 
 
 Koreng 
 
 Maram . . 
 
 Champhung 
 Luhuppa. . 
 
 N. Tangkhul . . . 
 C. Tangkhul .... 
 S. Tangkhul .... 
 Khoibu 
 Maring 
 
 
 The last eleven dialects are not spoken in 
 any British dependency; and they have only 
 been mentioned for the sake of explaining the 
 table. 
 
 All belong to one and the same class ; a point 
 upon which I see no room for doubt ; although 
 respecting the value of that class I admit that 
 some exists. 
 
 For this, the term Burmese is as good as any 
 other without professing to be better; yet, 
 should it seem too precise, there is no objection to 
 the sufficiently general term of monosyllabic being 
 substituted for it. 
 
 The reader, however, may doubt the fact of the 
 
 i 
 
114 THE KOCCH, 
 
 affinities. This has been done. Long before the 
 present writer knew of such dialects as the Jili, 
 Mishimi, Aka, Abor, Singpho, and the like, he had 
 satisfied himself that the Garo was monosyllabic, 
 and had so expressed himself in 1844,* when 
 Brown s Tables had been published, though not 
 seen by him. It was with surprise, then, that he 
 found the author of them writing, that " it would 
 be difficult to decide from the specimens before 
 us, whether it is to be ranked with the mono 
 syllabic or polysyllabic languages. It probably 
 belongs to the latter." 
 
 Again, Mr. Hodgson makes the Garo Tamulian, 
 i.e., polysyllabic; a fact which will be noticed 
 again when the Bodo, Dhimal, and Kocch have 
 been disposed of. 
 
 The Kocch, Bodo, and Dhimal is the title of 
 one of that writer s works a model of an ethno 
 logical monograph. This gives us a new class. 
 The Bodo of Hodgson are the wild tribes that 
 skirt the Himalayas, from Assam to Sikkim. 
 West of these, between the river Konki and the 
 river Dhorla are the Dhimal, a small tribe mixed 
 with Bodo ; and, southwards, in Kocch Behar, 
 are the Kocch. The two former are so much 
 described together that a separation is difficult. 
 This leaves us at liberty to follow the details of 
 
 * " Transactions of the British Association for the Ad 
 vancement of Science," 1844. 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 115 
 
 either one population or of both. The history of 
 a Bodo from his cradle to his grave is as follows. 
 The birth is attended with a minimum amount 
 of ceremonies. Midwives there are none ; but 
 labours are easy. Neither has the priest much to 
 do with ushering-in the new-comer to the world. 
 A short period of uncleanness is recognized, but 
 it is only a short one ; the purification consisting 
 in the acts of bathing and shaving performed by 
 the parties themselves. Four or five days after 
 delivery, the mother goes out into the world ; and 
 at that time, the child is named. Any passing 
 event determines this ; as there are no family 
 names, and no names taken from their mythology. 
 The account, however, of Mr. Hodgson, in this 
 respect is somewhat obscure, " A Bhotia chief 
 arrives at the village, and the child is named 
 Jinkhap; or a hill peasant arrives, and it is 
 named Gongar, after the titular, or general de 
 signation of the Bhotias." 
 
 As long as a mother can suckle a child (or 
 children) she continues to do so, sometimes for so 
 long a period as three years, when the last and 
 last but one may be seen sucking together. 
 
 The period of weaning is thus delayed; and, 
 notwithstanding the current notion as to the 
 prematurity of marriages in warm climates, that 
 of wedlock is delayed as well : the male waits till 
 he is twenty or twenty -five, the female till be- 
 
116 THE KOCCH, 
 
 tween fifteen and twenty. The parties least con 
 cerned are the bride and bridegroom ; the parents 
 do the courtship. Those of the lady take a pay 
 ment. This is called a Jan amongst the Bodo, 
 and varies from ten to fifteen rupees. With the 
 Dhimal it is a Gandi, and amounts to a higher 
 sum, ranging from fifteen to forty-five. Failing 
 this, service must be done by the youth ; and a 
 wife be earned as Jacob earned Leah and Rachel. 
 This is the Gabor of the Bodo, and the Gharjya 
 of the Dhimal. 
 
 Such marriages are easily dissolved, i.e., at 
 the option of either party. In case, however, 
 of infidelity on the part of a wife having caused 
 a divorce, the wedding-money is repaid. Adop 
 tion is common, concubinage rare ; each being 
 on a level with marriage in respect to the status 
 of the children. Of these, all males inherit alike ; 
 but the rights of the female are limited. 
 
 The ceremony itself begins with a procession 
 on the part of the bridegroom s friends to the 
 bride s house, two females accompanying them. 
 Of these, it is the business to put red-lead 
 and oil on the bride elect s hair. A feast fol 
 lows ; after which the husband takes his wife 
 home. Thus far the Bodo forms agree with 
 the Dhimal ; but they differ in what fol 
 lows. 
 
 The Bodo sacrifices a cock and a hen in the 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 117 
 
 names of the bridegroom and the bride, respec 
 tively to the Sun. 
 
 The Dhimal propitiate Data and Bedata by 
 presents of betel-leaf and red-lead. 
 
 Both bury their dead, and purify themselves 
 by ablution in the nearest stream when the 
 funeral procession is over. The family, how 
 ever, of the deceased is considered as unclean 
 for three days. 
 
 A feast with sacrifices attends the purifica 
 tion. Before sitting down, they repair once 
 more to the grave, and present the dead with some 
 of the food from the banquet ; " take and eat, 
 heretofore you have eaten and drunk with us; 
 you can do so no more ; you were one of us, 
 you can be so no longer ; we come no more to 
 you ; come you not to us." After this each 
 member of the party takes from his wrist a 
 bracelet of thread, and throws it on the grave. 
 
 A ceremonial implies a priesthood. Under 
 this class come the Deoshi, the Dhami, the 
 Ojha, and the Phantwal. 
 
 The first of these is the village, the second 
 the district priest. 
 
 The Ojha is the village exorcist ; and the 
 Phantwal a subordinate of the Deoshi. The 
 influence of this clerical body, although proba 
 bly higher than Mr. Hodgson places it, is, evi 
 dently, anything but exorbitant. 
 
118 THE KOCCH, 
 
 I cannot find anything in the Bodo and Dhimal 
 superstitions higher than what was found in Africa. 
 Nor yet is anything essentially different. Similar 
 intellectual conditions develop similar creeds, in 
 dependent of intercourse ; a fact which, the 
 more we go into the natural history of religions, 
 the more we shall verify. We read indeed of 
 oaths and ordeals ; but oaths and ordeals are by 
 no means, what they have too loosely been sup 
 posed to be, appeals to the moral nature of the 
 Divinity. The dlwom test, in Old Calabar, is an 
 ordeal. The criminal tests of the Fantis are the 
 same. Indeed, few, if any tribes, are without 
 them. What the real ideas are which determine 
 such and such-like ceremonies is difficult for in 
 tellectual adults to understand. The way towards 
 their appreciation lies in the phenomena of a 
 child s mind ; the true clue to the psychology of 
 rude populations. 
 
 If we take the Bodo and Dhimal religions in 
 detail we find ourselves in a familiar field, with 
 well-known forms of superstition around us. 
 
 Diseases are attributed to supernatural agency ; 
 and the medicine-man, exorcist, or Ojha, is more 
 priest than surgeon. 
 
 The feticism of Africa reappears ; at least such 
 is my inference from the following extract. " Ba- 
 tho is clearly and indisputably identifiable with 
 something tangible, viz., the Sij or Euphorbia; 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 119 
 
 though why that useless and even exotic plant 
 should have been thus selected to type the God 
 head, I have failed to learn." 
 
 Euhemerism, or the worship of dead men 
 deified, is to be found either in its germs or its 
 rudiments ; at any rate, one of their deities bears 
 the name of Hajo, a known historic personage. 
 But this may be referable to Hindu influences 
 unequivocally traceable in other parts of the 
 Pantheon. 
 
 It is the rites and ceremonies of a country 
 that give us its religion in the concrete. All 
 beyond is an abstraction. These, with the Bodo 
 and Dhimal, are numerous. Invocations, depre 
 cations, and thanksgivings are all mentioned by 
 Mr. Hodgson ; and they are all attended by offer 
 ings or sacrifices ; libations attend the sacrifices, 
 and feasting follows the libations. 
 
 The great festivals of the year are four for 
 the Bodo, three for the Dhimal. 
 
 a. In December or January, when the cotton- 
 crop is ready, the Bodo hold their Shurkhar, the 
 Dhimal their Harejata. 
 
 b. In February or March, the Bodo hold the 
 Wagaleno. 
 
 c. In July or August, the rice comes into ear. 
 This brings on the Bodo Phulthepno, and the 
 Dhimal Gavipuja. 
 
120 THE KOCCH, 
 
 All these are celebrated out of doors, and on 
 agricultural occasions. 
 
 d. The fourth great festival is held at home ; 
 its time being the month of October ; its name 
 Aihuno in Bodo, and Pochima paJca in Dhimal. 
 Here, in the Aihuno at least, the family assem 
 bles, the priest joins it, and the Sij, or Euphor 
 bia, represents Batho. This is placed in the 
 middle of the room, has prayers offered to it, 
 and a cock as a sacrifice ; whilst Mainou s of 
 fering is a hog ; Agrang s a he-goat, and so on, 
 through the whole list of the nine nooni madai, 
 or deities thus worshipped. As for the sym 
 bols which represent them, besides the Sij, which 
 stands for Batho, there is a bamboo post about 
 three feet high, surmounted by a small cup of 
 rice, denoting Mainou ; but the equivalents of 
 the other seven are somewhat uncertain. 
 
 The Wagaleno festival was witnessed by Mr. 
 Hodgson and Dr. Campbell. The account of it 
 is something lengthy. I mention it, however, 
 for the sake of one of its principal actors the 
 Deoda. This is the possessed, who, " when filled 
 with the god, answers by inspiration to the ques 
 tion of the priest as to the prospects of the 
 coming season. When we first discerned him, he 
 was sitting on the ground, panting, and rolling 
 his eyes so significantly that I at once conjec 
 tured his function. Shortly afterwards, the rite 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 121 
 
 still proceeding, the Deoda got up, entered the 
 circle, and commenced dancing with the rest, 
 but more wildly. He held a short staff in his 
 hand, with which, from time to time, he struck 
 the bedizened poles, one by one, and lowering it 
 as he struck. The chief dancer with the odd- 
 shaped instrument waxed more and more vehe 
 ment in his dance ; the inspired grew more and 
 more maniacal ; the music more and more rapid ; 
 the incantation more and more solemn and earnest ; 
 till, at last, amid a general lowering of the heads 
 of the decked bamboo poles, so that they met and 
 formed a canopy over him, the deoda went off 
 in an affected fit, and the ceremony closed with 
 out any revelation." This self-excited state of 
 ecstacy is an element of most religions in the 
 same stage of development ; and a low level it 
 indicates. In Greece, in Africa, and in Northern 
 Asia, we find it as regularly as we find a coarse 
 and material creed ; and to the coarseness of the 
 materialism of such a creed it is generally pro 
 portionate. 
 
 Witches, and the discovery of them, and the 
 influence of the evil eye are part and parcel of the 
 Bodo and Dhimal superstitions. 
 
 Kocch means a population, which possibly 
 amounts to as much as a million souls, extended 
 from about 88 to 93i East long., and 25 to 27 
 North lat., and of which Kocch Behar is the poli- 
 
122 THE KOCCH, 
 
 tical centre. The term is ethnological not poli 
 tical. It is ethnological, and not political, because, 
 although originally native, it has since been par 
 tially abandoned. All the inhabitants of the parts 
 in question once called themselves Kocch ; and 
 Kocch they were called by their neighbours the 
 Mech. At this time the country was unequivocally 
 other than Indian ; i.e., in the same category 
 with that of the Garo and Bodo. Since then, 
 however, great changes have taken place ; so that, 
 just as Wales is partially Anglicized, the Welsh 
 language being replaced by the English, the 
 Kocch the native tongue is under the process 
 of being replaced by a Hindu dialect. Never 
 theless, just as many a Welshman who speaks 
 nothing but English is still a Welshman, so are 
 the Kocch, who have changed their languages, 
 Bodo, Garo, or something closely akin, in eth 
 nological position. 
 
 The extent to which different portions of the 
 once great Kocch nation have abandoned or re 
 tained their original characteristics is easily mea 
 sured. 
 
 1. Those who have changed most speak a form 
 of the Bengali, and are imperfect Mahometans ; 
 imperfect, because their creed is strongly tinc 
 tured with Hinduism. Thus the very epithet 
 which they apply to themselves is Brahminical ; 
 Rajbansi=Suryabansi= Sun-lorn. The converted 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 123 
 
 Kocch of the Mahometan creed are chiefly of the 
 lower order of the province of Behar. 
 
 2. Those who have changed, but changed less 
 than the Mahometans of Behar, are either Brah- 
 minists or Buddhists speaking the same Bengali 
 dialect as the last. These are chiefly the higher 
 classes of the population of Behar. They are 
 Kocch in the way that the Cornishmen are Welsh. 
 They consider them Rajbansi also. Doubtless, 
 their Hinduism is imperfect ; i.e., tinctured with 
 the original paganism. 
 
 3. The primitive, unconverted, or Pani Kocch, 
 have either not changed at all, or changedbut little. 
 They retain the original name of Kocch ; which 
 is not endured by the others. They retain their 
 original tongue, which, according to Buchanan, 
 has no affinity with any of the Hindu tongues. 
 They retain their original customs ; and they re 
 tain their original paganism. Lastly, Mr. Hodg 
 son attests the " entire conformity of the phy 
 siognomy of all with that of the other aborigines 
 around them." He adds that he cannot improve 
 on Buchanan s account of them, which is as fol 
 lows : " The primitive or Pani Kocch live amid 
 the woods, frequently changing their abode in 
 order to cultivate lands enriched by a fallow. 
 They cultivate entirely with the hoe, and more 
 carefully than their neighbours who use the 
 plough, for they weed their crops, which the others 
 
124 THE KOCCH, 
 
 do not. As they keep hogs and poultry they 
 are better fed than the Hindus, and as they make 
 a fermented liquor from rice, their diet is more 
 strengthening. The clothing of the Pani Kocch 
 is made by the women, and is in general blue, 
 dyed by themselves with their own indigo, the 
 borders red, dyed with Morinda. The material is 
 cotton of their own growth, and they are better 
 clothed than the mass of the Bengalese. Their 
 huts are at least as good, nor are they raised 
 on posts like the houses of the Indo-Chinese, 
 at least, not generally so. Their only arms are 
 spears: but they use iron-shod implements of 
 agriculture, which the Bengalese often do not. 
 They eat swine, goats, sheep, deer, buffaloes, rhi 
 noceros, fowls, and ducks not beef, nor dogs, 
 nor cats, nor frogs, nor snakes. They use tobacco 
 and beer, but reject opium and hemp. They eat 
 no tame animal without offering it to God (the 
 Gods), and consider that he who is least restrained 
 is most exalted, allowing the Garos to be their 
 superiors, because the Garos may eat beef. The 
 men are so gallant as to have made over all 
 property to the women, who in return are most 
 industrious, weaving, spinning, brewing, planting, 
 sowing ; in a word, doing all work not above 
 their strength. When a woman dies the family 
 property goes to her daughters, and when a man 
 marries he lives with his wife s mother, obeying 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 125 
 
 her as his wife. Marriages are usually arranged 
 by mothers in nonage, but consulting the destined 
 bride. Grown up women may select a husband 
 for themselves, and another, if the first die. A 
 girl s marriage costs the mother ten rupees a 
 boy s five rupees. This sum is expended in a 
 feast with sacrifice, which completes the ceremony. 
 Few remain unmarried, or live long. I saw no 
 grey hairs. Girls, who are frail, can always 
 marry their lover. Under such rule, polygamy, 
 concubinage, and adultery are not tolerated. The 
 last subjects to a ruinous fine, which if not paid, 
 the oifender becomes a slave. No one can marry 
 out of his own tribe. If he do, he is fined. Sut- 
 ties are unknown, and widows always having pro 
 perty can pick out a new husband at discretion. 
 The dead are kept two days, during which the 
 family mourn, and the kindred and friends as 
 semble and feast, dance and sing. The body is then 
 burned by a river s side, and each person having 
 bathed returns to his usual occupation. A funeral 
 costs ten rupees, as several pigs must be sacrificed 
 to the manes. This tribe has no letters ; but a 
 sort of priesthood called Deoshi, who marry and 
 work like other people. Their office is not here 
 ditary, and everybody employs what Deoshi he 
 pleases, but some one always assists at every sacri 
 fice and gets a share. The Kocch sacrifice to the 
 sun, moon, and stars, to the gods of rivers, hills 
 
126 THE KOCCH, 
 
 and woods, and every year, at harvest-home, they 
 offer fruits and a fowl to deceased parents, though 
 they believe not in a future state ! Their chief 
 gods are Rishi and his wife Jago. After the 
 rains the whole tribe make a grand sacrifice to 
 these gods, and occasionally also, in cases of dis 
 tress. There are no images. The gods get the 
 blood of sacrifices ; their votaries, the meat. Dis 
 putes are settled among themselves by juries of 
 Elders, the women being excluded here, however 
 despotic at home. If a man incurs a fine, he 
 cannot pay with purse, he must with person, be 
 coming a bondman, on food and raiment only, 
 unless his wife can and will redeem him." 
 
 I must now request particular attention on the 
 part of the reader to the terms which Mr. Hodg 
 son applies to the physical conformation of these 
 northern, or sub-Himalayan tribes ; and still closer 
 attention must be given to his nomenclature. He 
 calls the stock in question Tamulian. This con 
 nects it with the South Indian. He contrasts it 
 with the Hindu. By this he means the Brah- 
 minical elements of the Indian populations. 
 
 Let us then see what points he considers to be 
 Tamulian. 
 
 1. There is " less height, less symmetry, more 
 dumpiness and flesh." 
 
 2. There is " a somewhat lozenge contour (of 
 face) caused by the large cheek bones." 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 127 
 
 3. There is " less perpendicularity of features 
 in the front a larger proportion of face to head 
 a broader flatter face a shorter wider nose, 
 often clubbed at the end, and furnished with 
 round nostrils." 
 
 4. There is a smaller eye, " less fully opened, 
 and less evenly crossing the face by their line of 
 aperture." In other words, there is the oblique 
 eye, so much considered in the Chinese phy 
 siognomy. 
 
 5. Lastly, there are larger ears, thicker lips, 
 and less beard. 
 
 I submit that all these points are Mongolian ; 
 and this is what Mr. Hodgson evidently thinks 
 also. 
 
 The whole class has passed beyond the hunter 
 state, if ever such existed. It has passed beyond 
 the pastoral or nomadic state also ; if such existed. 
 It is at present and, perhaps, has always been 
 an agricultural state of society. On the other hand 
 the industrial state, the development represented 
 by towns and commerce, has not been attained. 
 
 The whole stock is essentially agricultural. 
 Likewise, the agriculture is peculiar. We may 
 explain it by the term erratic. They " never 
 cultivate the same field beyond the second year, 
 or remain in the same village beyond the fourth 
 to sixth year. After the lapse of four or five 
 years they frequently return to their old fields 
 
128 THE KOCCH, 
 
 and resume their cultivation, if in the interim the 
 jungle has grown well, and they have not been 
 anticipated by others, for there is no pretence of 
 appropriation other than possessory, and if, there 
 fore, another party have preceded them, or, if the 
 slow growth of the jungle give no sufficient pro 
 mise of a good stratum of ashes for the land when 
 cleared by fire, they move on to another site, new 
 or old. If old, they resume the identical fields 
 they tilled before, but never the old houses or 
 site of the old village, that being deemed unlucky. 
 In general, however, they prefer new land to old, 
 and having still abundance of unbroken forest 
 around them, they are in constant movement, 
 more especially as, should they find a new spot 
 prove unfertile, they decamp after the first harvest 
 is got in." 
 
 Arva in annos mutant et superest ager. This 
 passage is explained by their customs. 
 
 In respect to their social constitution, they 
 dwell in small communities of from ten to forty 
 houses ; each of which community is under a 
 gra or head. This is Hindu except that as the 
 Hindu villages are both larger and more per 
 manent, the functionaries, in addition to the head 
 man, are more numerous. This is noted, because 
 the difference in the two sorts of village go 
 vernment seems to be one of degree rather than 
 
BODO, AND DHIMAL. 129 
 
 And now comes more in the way of classifica 
 tion. The Bodo are Kachars, or the Kachars are 
 Bodo. Their languages are the same, so are 
 their gods, so is their name ; since Kachar is a 
 Hindu, and no native term the native name 
 (i.e., of the Kachars) being Bodo. On the other 
 hand, the Hindu name of the Bodo is Mech. 
 Whoever looks to a map will find that the outline 
 of the Bodo area is very deeply indented ; imply 
 ing either a great original irregularity of area, or 
 great subsequent displacement. 
 
 Now follow the Garo. One fourth fifteen out 
 of sixty of the words of Mr. Brown s Garo 
 vocabulary is Bodo. The inference ? That the 
 Bodo and Garo are in the same category. What 
 is this ? Mr. Hodgson makes both Tamulian or 
 Indian. In my own mind both are Burmese. 
 But be this as it may, one fact is certain ; viz., 
 that a transition between the tongues of the Indian 
 and the tongues of the Indo-Chinese peninsula 
 exists, and that the lines of demarcation which 
 divide them are less broad and trenchant than is 
 generally supposed. 
 
 The Dhimal bring us to Sikkim. The domi 
 nant nation of Sikkim are 
 
 The^LepcJias. Their language also is mono 
 syllabic ; but it is Tibetan rather than Burmese. 
 They are a Sikkim rather than a British Indian 
 population. 
 
130 KUMAON. 
 
 When we have passed the rajahship of Sikkim, 
 we reach that of Nepal. This, again, is inde 
 pendent. Such being the case, the line of fron 
 tier between the Hindu populations and the popu 
 lations of the Bodo and Garo character lies beyond 
 the pale of the British dependencies. 
 
 But in proceeding westward, we pass Nepal, 
 and reach Kumaon. 
 
 This is British, and, as it extends as far north 
 as the Himalayas, it may contain monosyllabic 
 languages, and tribes speaking them. It may 
 present also instances of intermixture like those 
 which we have already found in Behar the line 
 of demarcation being equally difficult and unde 
 fined. Difficult and undefined it really is be 
 cause, although it is an easy matter to take a 
 portion of the Sirmor, Gurhwal, or Kumaon 
 population, and say, " this is Hindu because both 
 language and creed make it so," it is by no means 
 so easy to prove that the blood, pedigree, or de 
 scent is Hindu also. To repeat an illustration 
 already in use many such populations may be 
 Hindu only as the Cornishmen are English. 
 
 Now the populations of the Tibetan stock to 
 the west of Nepal, so little known in detail, must 
 be illustrated by means of our knowledge of the 
 tribes of Nepal and Tibet most closely related to 
 them by those of Nepal on the east, and those 
 of Tibet on the north. 
 
XEPAL. 131 
 
 For neither of these areas are there any very 
 minute data. For the aborigines of eastern and 
 central Nepal, we have plenty of information. 
 They are tribes speaking monosyllabic languages, 
 and tribes in different degrees of intercourse 
 with the Hindus; being byname 1. The Ma- 
 gars. 2. The Gurungs. 3. The Jariyas. 4. The 
 Newars. 5. The Murmis. 6. The Kirata. 7. The 
 Limbu ; and 8. The Lepchas, common to the 
 eastern boundary of Nepal, to the western part 
 of Butan, and to Sikkim. This, however, will 
 not bring us far west enough for the Kumaon 
 frontier ; indeed, for the forests of Nepal west of 
 the Great Valley, we have the notice of one 
 family only the Chepang. For this, as for so 
 much more, we are indebted to Mr. Hodgson. It 
 falls into three tribes ; the Chepang proper, the 
 Kusunda, and the Haju. Its language (known 
 to us by a vocabulary) is monosyllabic ; its 
 physical conformation, that of the unmodified 
 Indian. 
 
 So much for analogy. In the way of direct 
 information we simply know that the Pariahs, or 
 outcasts, of Kumaon * are called Doms. These 
 have darker skins and curlier hair than the 
 Hindus. Are these enslaved and partially amal- 
 
 * " Statistical Sketch of Kumaon," by G. W. Traill, Asiatic 
 Researches, vol. xvi. 
 
132 KUMAOK. 
 
 gamated aborigines ? Probably. Nay more ; in 
 the eastern part of the province, amidst the 
 forests at the foot of the Himalayas, a community 
 of about twenty families, pertinaciously adheres 
 to the customs of their ancestors, resembles the 
 Doms in looks, and is called Rawat or Raji. 
 Though I have seen no specimen of their lan 
 guage, I have little doubt as to the Rawat of 
 Kumaon being the equivalents to the Chepang of 
 Nepal. 
 
 From Konawur we have three monosyllabic 
 vocabularies, the Sumchu, the Theburskud, and 
 the Milchan ; but the exact amount to which the 
 Tibetan and the Hindu populations indent each 
 other along the western Himalayas is more than I 
 can give. 
 
 Here end the monosyllabic tongues spoken in 
 British India. But they fringe the Himalayas 
 throughout, and occur in the country of Gholab 
 Singh, as well as in the independent rajahships 
 between the Sutlege and Cashmeer. My latest 
 researches have carried them even further west 
 ward than Little Tibet ; as far as the Kohistan, 
 or mountain country, of Cabul the Der, Lugh- 
 mani, Tirhai, and other languages, known, wholly 
 or chiefly, through the vocabularies of Lieutenant 
 Leach, being essentially monosyllabic in struc 
 ture, and definitely connected with the tongues of 
 Tibet, and Nepal in respect to their vocables. 
 
POLYANDRIA. 133 
 
 But this is episodical to the subject a subject 
 still requiring the notice of a very important 
 phsenomenon. 
 
 Polyandria* is a term in ethnology, even as 
 it is in botany. Its meaning, however, is diffe 
 rent. Etymologically, it denotes a form of poly 
 gamy. Polygamy, however, being restricted to 
 that particular form of marriage which consists in 
 a multiplicity of wives, polyandria expresses the 
 reverse, viz., the plurality of husbands. 
 
 At the first glance, the word polyandria looks 
 like a learned name for a common thing ; and 
 suggests the inquiry as to how it differs from 
 simple promiscuity of intercourse ; or, at least, 
 how far the Tibetan wife differs from the fair frail 
 one who was always constant to the 85th regi 
 ment. The answer is not easy. Still it is certain 
 that some difference exists if not in form, at 
 least, in its effects. One of these, in certain 
 countries where polyandria prevails, is the law of 
 succession to property. This follows the female 
 line, rather than the male. 
 
 Again the marriage of the widow with the 
 surviving brother of her husband, is polyandria 
 under another form. 
 
 What the exact polyandria of Tibet is, is un 
 certain. I am not prepared to deny its existence 
 even in so extreme a form as that of one woman 
 * From the Greek polys = many, and ancer = man. 
 
134 POLYANDRIA. 
 
 being married to several husbands, all alive at once. 
 Still, I think it more likely that either the circle 
 of community was limited to certain degrees of 
 relationships, or else that the multiplied husbands 
 were successive, rather than simultaneous. Still, 
 the facts of the Tibetan polyandria require further 
 investigation. 
 
 One thing, only, is certain viz., that as an 
 ethnological criterion the practice is of no great 
 value. Capable, as it has been shown to be, of 
 modification in form, it is anything but limited to 
 either Tibet, or the families allied to the Tibetan. 
 It occurs in many parts of the world. It is a 
 Malabar practice ; where it is, probably, as truly 
 Tibetan as in Tibet itself. But it is also Jewish, 
 African, Siberian, and North American ; so that 
 nothing would more mislead us in the classifica 
 tion of the varieties of man than to mistake it for 
 a phenomenon per se, and allow it to separate 
 allied, or to connect distinct populations. 
 
 Necdum finitus Orestes. There are several po 
 pulations which, on fair grounds, have been be 
 lieved to be in the same category with the Dhekra, 
 i.e., which are Hindu in language and creed, 
 though monosyllabic in blood. The Kudi, Batar, 
 Kebrat, Pallah, Gangai, Maraha, Dhanak, Kichak, 
 and Tharu, are oftener alluded to than described 
 though, doubtless, a better-informed investi 
 gator in such special matters than the present 
 
TAMULIAtf STOCK. 135 
 
 writer could find several definite details concern 
 ing them. They seem chiefly referable to Behar 
 and north-eastern Bengal. The D hungers in 
 the same class the husbandmen of South Behar, 
 bring us down to the vicinity of the population 
 next to be noticed ; a population which is gene 
 rally considered with reference to the nations, 
 tribes, and families of Southern rather than North 
 ern India. 
 
 The name of this family has already been men 
 tioned. It is Tamulian ; and the Tamulian phy 
 siognomy has been described. It has been seen 
 to extend as far north as the Himalayas. If so, 
 the nations already enumerated have been Tamu 
 lian ; and no new class is now approaching. This 
 may or may not be the case. Another change, 
 however, is more undeniable. This is that of 
 language. It is no longer referable to the 
 Chinese type; since separate monosyllables have, 
 more or less perfectly, become agglutinated into 
 inflected forms, and the speech is as^>0/y-syl]abic 
 as the other tongues of the world in general. 
 As we approach the south this abandonment 
 of the monosyllabic character increases, and from 
 the Tamul language spoken between Pulicat and 
 Cape Comorin, the term Tamulian applicable in 
 a general ethnological sense is derived. Agglu 
 tinated (or agglutinate) is also a technical term. 
 It means languages in the second stage of their 
 
136 TAMULIAN STOCK. 
 
 development ; when words originally separate, 
 such as adverbs of time, prepositions, and personal 
 pronouns, have become permanently connected 
 with the root, so as to form tenses, cases, and 
 persons the union of the two parts of an in 
 flected word being still sufficiently recent and 
 imperfect to leave their original separation and 
 independence visible and manifest. When the 
 incorporation or amalgamation, has become more 
 complete ; so complete, as in most cases to have 
 obliterated all vestiges of an original indepen 
 dence ; the agglutinate character has departed, the 
 second stage of development has been passed, 
 and the language is in the same class with 
 those of Greece, Rome, and Germany, rather than 
 in that of the tongues in question, and of many 
 others. 
 
 To return, however, to the Tamulian family, 
 meaning thereby a branch of the great Mongolian 
 stock, speaking, either now or formerly , a lan 
 guage more or less allied to the Tamul of the 
 Dekhan. 
 
 The first members of the class, as we proceed 
 southwards from Behar, are certain hill-tribes 
 of the Rajmahali Mountains the Rajmahali 
 mountaineers. Their Mongolian physiognomy is 
 unequivocal ; a Mongolian physiognomy but 
 conjoined with a dark skin. They have " broad 
 faces, small eyes, and flattish or rather turned-up 
 
TAMULIAN STOCK. 137 
 
 noses. Their lips are thicker than those of the 
 inhabitants of the plain." * 
 
 The flattened nose reminded the writer of the 
 Negro, and the general character of the features 
 of the Chinese or Malay ; though it is added that 
 the resemblance is in a great degree lost on closer 
 inspection. At the same time it has been suffi 
 ciently recognised to have originated the hypo 
 thesis of a descent from one of those nations as 
 a means of accounting for it. 
 
 With a slight tincture of Brahminic Hinduism, 
 the Rajmahali mountaineers are Pagans. Bedo is 
 one of their gods ; doubtless the Pottaing of the 
 Kuki, and the Batho of the Bodo. Gosaik, too, 
 is either the name of a god, or a holy epithet ; 
 this, also, being a mythological term current 
 amongst many other tribes of India. Other ele 
 ments in their imperfectly-known mythology 
 deserve notice. Their priesthood contains both 
 Demauns and Dewassis ; the latter form being the 
 Bodo Deoshi. As the names are alike, so are 
 the functions. The Dewassi is an oracular seer. 
 When he vouchsafes to give answers, his inspira 
 tion takes the form of frenzy but he neither 
 hurts nor speaks to any one. He makes signs for 
 a cock, and for a hen s egg as well. The cock s 
 head he wrenches off, and sucks the bleeding 
 neck. The egg he eats. After this he seeks the 
 * Eliot in " Asiatic Researches," vol. iv. 
 
138 RAJMAHALI MOUNTAINEERS, 
 
 solitude of the wood or stream ; and is fed by the 
 deity. Sometimes he has ridden a snake ; some 
 times put his hands in the mouth of a tiger with 
 impunity. Trees too large to move, or too thorny 
 to touch, he places on the roofs of houses. He 
 sees Bedo Gosaik in visions ; and, in the sacrifices 
 therein enjoined, red paint, rice, and pigeons 
 make a part. From the touch of women he 
 abstains; so he does from the taste of flesh. 
 Either would make his prophecies false. 
 
 There are also certain sacrifices that the Maungy 
 (chief ?) of each village makes, and in which threads 
 of red silk play a part. 
 
 One of their gods an elemental one is the 
 god of rain, and the dangers of a drought are 
 averted by praying to him. A ceremony called 
 the Satane determines the chief who takes the 
 office of invoker. 
 
 A black stone, called Ruxy, is much of the 
 same sort of fetish with these mountaineers as 
 the Sij with the Bodo. The name, too, Ruxy 
 Nad, suggests the Nat worship of the Silong, 
 Kariens, and others. 
 
 The northern half of the Tamulian families 
 are, like the Welsh, the Cornish, and the Bretons 
 of France, members of the same ethnological 
 group, but not in geographical contact with each 
 other. Or, rather, they are, like the Celtic popu 
 lation of Wales and the Scottish Highlands, cut 
 
KHONDS, ETC. 139 
 
 off from one another by a vast tract of intervening 
 Anglo-Saxons. Yet the time was when all was 
 Celtic, from Cape Wrath to the Land s End; 
 and when the original population extended, in 
 its full integrity, over York and Nottingham, 
 as well as over Merioneth and Argyleshire. And 
 so it is with the populations in question. They 
 stand apart from each other, like islands in an 
 ocean ; the intervening spaces being filled up by 
 Hindus. At the same time the isolation has 
 been much overvalued, and, I imagine that when 
 greater attention shall have been bestowed upon 
 this important subject, connecting links which 
 have hitherto been unnoticed will be detected. 
 
 The next locality where we find a population 
 akin to the Rajmahali mountaineers, is the moun 
 tain system of Orissa. These are called by the 
 Hindus Kols (Coolies), Klwnds and Surs. Such, 
 however, are no native designations no more 
 than the classical term Barbarian, or the English 
 word Tartar. The people themselves have no 
 collective name ; but, being divided into tribes, 
 have a separate one for each. 
 
 I say that this branch of Tamulians is isolated, 
 because I am not able to show its continuity ; the 
 range of hill-country which gives rise to the 
 rivers between the Ganges and Mahanuddy being 
 but imperfectly known. 
 
 In Orissa, the most northern of the hill-tribes 
 
140 KHONDS. 
 
 are the K61 of Kuttak. South of these come the 
 Khonds best studied in the neighbourhood of 
 Goomsoor. The following is a list of their gods, 
 and as n seems to stand for d, Penna is but 
 another name for Bedo, and Gossa Penna for 
 Bedo Gosaik : 
 
 1. Bera Pennu, or the earth god. 
 
 2. Bella Pennu, the sun god, and Danzu 
 
 Pennu, the moon god. 
 
 3. Sandhi Pennu, the god of limits. 
 
 4. Loha Pennu, the iron god, or god of arms. 
 
 5. Jugah Pennu, the god of small-pox. 
 
 6. Madzu Pennu, or the village deity, the 
 
 universal genius loci. 
 
 7. Soro Pennu, the hill god. 
 
 8. Jori Pennu, the god of streams. 
 
 9. Gossa Pennu, the forest god. 
 
 10. Munda Pennu, the tank god. 
 
 11. Sugu Pennu, or Sidruja Pennu, the god 
 
 of fountains. 
 
 12. Pidzu Pennu, the god of rain. 
 
 13. Pilainu Pennu, the god of hunting. 
 
 14. The god of births.* 
 
 The most southern of the Orissa hill-tribes are 
 the Sur; connected by language with the pre 
 ceding tribes ; as they were with each other and 
 the Rajmahali mountaineers. 
 
 * Captain S. C. Macphcrson, " Journal of Asiatic Society, 
 vol. xiii. 
 
CHENCHWARS. 141 
 
 These stand in remarkable contrast with the 
 rest of the population of Orissa ; whose language 
 is the Udiya, a tongue which, according to many, 
 belongs to a wholly different class, or, at least, 
 to a different division of the present. 
 
 South of Cicacole, however, the Tamul tongues 
 are spoken continuously. I cannot say where the 
 southern limits of the Sur population come in 
 contact with the northern ones of the 
 
 Chenckwars who occupy the same range of 
 mountains, in the parts between the rivers Kistna 
 and Pennar, and, probably, extending as far 
 south as the neighbourhood of Madras. Their lan 
 guage is the Telugu, the language of the parts 
 around, and of Tamul origin.* The contrast be 
 tween the Chenchwars of the hills, and the Telin- 
 gas of the lower country lies in their my thologies ; 
 the former retaining much of the original creed of 
 their country, the latter being Brahminists. 
 
 Below Madras, the mountain range changes its 
 direction, and the next locality under notice is 
 the Neilgherry hills. 
 
 The families here are 
 
 1. The Cohatars so little Indianized as to eat 
 of the flesh of the cow, amounting to about two 
 thousand in number, and occupants of the highest 
 part of the range. 
 
 * See Lieut. Newbold, " Journal of Asiatic Society," vol. 
 
142 TUDAS, ETC. 
 
 2. The Tudas. An interesting monograph by 
 Captain Harkness has drawn unusual attention to 
 these mountaineers, the chief points of importance 
 being the comparative absence of all elements of 
 Brahminism, and the occurrence in their physi 
 ognomy of the most favourable points of Hindu 
 beauty regular and delicate features, oval face, 
 and a clear brunette skin. Free from the other 
 religious and social characteristics of Hinduism as 
 the Tudas may be, they still admit a sort of caste ; 
 e.g., whilst t\iePeiki, or Tor alii, may perform any 
 function, the Kuta, or Tardas, are limited. 
 Neither did they always intermarry, though they 
 do now ; their offspring being called Mookh, or 
 descendants. 
 
 3. The Curumbas, called by the Tudas Curbs, 
 inhabit a lower level than the preceding popula 
 tions, but a higher one than 
 
 4. The Erulars at the foot of the hills ; falling 
 into two divisions , the Urali (a name to be 
 noticed), and 6, the Curutali. 
 
 Between the Neilgherries and Cape Comorin, 
 the hill-tribes are worth enumerating, if only for 
 the sake of showing their complexity. According 
 to Lieutenant Conner in the " Madras Journal," 
 they are 1, Cowders; 2, Vaishvans ; 3, Muda- 
 venmars ; 4, Arreamars, or Vailamers ; 5, Ural- 
 Uays. Besides these, there is a population of 
 predial slaves, divided and subdivided. 
 
TRAVANCORE MOUNTAINEERS. 143 
 
 1. Vaituvan, Koriaken. 
 
 2. Polayers 
 
 a. Vulluva. 
 
 b. Kunnaka. 
 
 c. Morny Pulayer. 
 
 3. Pariahs. 
 
 4. Vaidurs. 
 
 5. Ulanders and Naiadi. 
 
 To return to the Neilgherries, and follow the 
 western Ghauts upwards, a population more 
 numerous than any hitherto mentioned is that 
 of the 
 
 Buddugurs, called also Marves. This name 
 takes so many forms that Berdar may be one of 
 them. One division of Buddugurs is called 
 Ling ait. 
 
 I cannot follow the Ghauts consecutively ; how 
 ever, when we reach the southern portion of the 
 Mahratta country, we find in the rajahship of 
 Satarah, two predatory tribes : 
 
 The Berdars, supposed to be closely allied to 
 Ramusi. The 
 
 Ramusi themselves connected by tradition and 
 creed, with the Lingait Buddugurs. But not by 
 language ; or at any rate not wholly so. The 
 Ramusi dialect is a mixture of Tulava and 
 Marathi the former being undoubted Tamul, 
 but the latter in the same category with the 
 Udiya. 
 
144 WARALIS. KULIS. 
 
 The continuous Tamul languages are now left 
 to the south of us, and the hill-tribes next in 
 order, will have unlearnt their native tongues, 
 and be found speaking the Hindu dialects of the 
 countries around them. Hence, the evidence of 
 their Tamulian descent will be less conclusive. 
 
 War all of the Konkan. Mountaineers of the 
 northern Konkan. We have seen this name 
 twice already, and we shall see it again. The 
 evidence of their Tamulian extraction is imper 
 fect. Their language is Marathi and their creed 
 an imperfect Brahminism. Their mountaineer 
 habits separate them from 
 
 The Katodi outcasts, who take their name 
 from preparing the hat, or cat-echu, and who hang 
 about the villages of the plains. 
 
 TJie Kuli. From Poonah to Gujerat, the occu 
 pants of the range of mountains parallel to the 
 coast are called Kuli (Coolies), the same in the 
 eyes of the Hindus of the western coast, as the Kol 
 were in those of the Bengalese and Orissans ; and 
 similarly named. Their language is generally (per 
 haps always) that of the country around them, viz., 
 Marat hi amongst the Mahrattas, and Gujerat- 
 f hi in Gujerat. However, difference of habits 
 and creed sufficiently separate them from the 
 Hindus. 
 
 The Bhils. These are generally associated with 
 the Kulis ; from whom they chiefly differ geogra- 
 
BHILS. 145 
 
 phically, belonging, as they do to the transverse 
 ranges the Satpura and Yindhia mountains 
 rather than to the main line of the Ghauts with 
 its due north-and-south direction, and with its 
 parallelism to the coast. 
 
 The Paurias. Hill-tribes in Candeish, belong 
 ing to the Satpura range, and conterminous with 
 the Bhil tribes, and with 
 
 The Wurali of the Satpura range. The Wurali 
 re-appear for the fourth time. In the parts in 
 question they are in contact with the Bhils and 
 Paurias; from whom they keep themselves dis 
 tinct ; and from whom they differ in dialect. 
 Still their language is Marathi. Pre-eminent as 
 they are for their Paganism, their country con 
 tains ruins of brick buildings, and considerable 
 excavations.* 
 
 These three are the hill-tribes of the watershed 
 of the rivers Tapti and Nerbudda. The water- 
 system of the south-western feeders of the Ganges 
 is more complex. Along the mountains between 
 Candeish and Jeypur come 
 
 Certain Bhil tribes. 
 
 The Mewars under the Grasya chiefs of Joora, 
 Meerpoor, Oguna, and Panurwa. The political 
 relations of these tribes in some cases of an un 
 determined nature are with the Rajput govern- 
 
 * Lieut. C. P. Rigby, in "Transactions of the Bombay 
 Geographical Society," May to August 1850. 
 
146 MINAS, ETC. 
 
 ments ; in other words, we are now amongst the 
 aborigines of Rajasthan. 
 
 The Minas. These, like the Mewars, are in 
 geographical contact with certain Bhil tribes ; in 
 political contact with the Rajputs the Mewars 
 with those of Udipur ; the Minas with those of 
 Ajmer, Jeypur, and Kota. 
 
 The Moghis.At present, a free company rather 
 than a population ; although the representatives 
 of what was once one viz., the aborigines of 
 Jodpure. So little Brahminists are they that they 
 eat of the flesh of the jackall and the cow, and 
 indulge freely in fermented drinks. 
 
 The hills that separate Malwah from the Haroti 
 country, and from the south-eastern boundary of 
 the valley of the River Chumbul are occupied 
 by- 
 
 The Saireas. This is a name which has oc 
 curred before and elsewhere ;* and is almost cer 
 tainly, anything but native. Tribes, under this 
 name, extend into Bundelcund.f 
 
 The Goands. The central parts between Can- 
 deish and Orissa, the head-waters of the Ner- 
 budda and Tapti on the west, and of the Godavery 
 on the east, still require notice. Here the hill 
 population is at its maximum, both in point of 
 numbers and characteristics ; and the Khond forms 
 
 * The Soars of Orissa. 
 
 f Col. Todd, " Travels in Western India." 
 
GOAffDS. 147 
 
 of the Tamul re-appear under the name Goand. 
 Of these we have specimens from 
 
 a. The Gawhilghur mountains near Ellich- 
 poor. 
 
 b. Chupprah. 
 
 c. Mundala in Gundwana, or the Goand country. 
 Such are the chief hill-populations ; which, 
 
 although they belong to Tamulian stock, differ as 
 to the extent to which they carry outward and 
 visible signs of their origin. Some, like the Raj- 
 mahali, are merely separated geographically ; and, 
 perhaps, not even that. Others, like the Khonds 
 of Orissa, are contrasted with the Tamuls of the 
 south, by their inferior and social condition, and 
 their non-Brahminical creeds. The Minas and 
 Bhils differ in language ; whilst the Ramusis 
 and Berdars, probably, exhibit transitional forms 
 of speech. The Tudas and Chenchwars sur 
 rounded by Telingas and Tamuls, as the Khonds 
 and Goand s are by Udiyas and Mahrattas, are 
 merely the population of the parts around them 
 with a primitive polity and religion. 
 
 The lettered languages of the Dekhan, where 
 the Tamul character is unequivocal, but where the 
 civilizational influences have chiefly been Hindu, 
 are spoken in continuity from Chicacole, east, and 
 the parts about Goa, west, to Cape Comorin, i.e., 
 in the Madras Presidency, and in the countries of 
 Mysore, Travancore, and the coasts of Malabar 
 
148 TAMULIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 and Coromandel. Of these, the most northern 
 beginning on the eastern coast is 
 
 The Telinga or Telugu. Spoken from the 
 parts about Chicacole to Pulicat, where it is suc 
 ceeded by 
 
 The Tamul Proper. The language of the Co 
 romandel coast and the parts of the interior as 
 far as Coimbatore. Each of these tongues has a 
 double form, one for literature, and one for 
 common use ; the former being called the High, 
 the latter the Low, Tamul or Telugu, as the case 
 may be, and the creed which it embodies being 
 either Brahminism, or some modification of it. 
 
 In Travancore and on the Malabar coast the 
 language is 
 
 The Malayalma or Malayalam and in the 
 greater part of Mysore 
 
 The Kanara which, like the Tamul and Te 
 linga, is both High and Low literary or 
 vulgar. 
 
 Amongst these four well-known forms of the 
 South Tamulian tongue, may be distributed 
 several dialects and sub-dialects. Such as the 
 Tulava for the parts between Goa and Mangalore, 
 and the Coorgi of the Rajaship of Coorg, not to 
 mention the several varieties in he language of 
 the hill-tribes. 
 
 Now all the populations of the present chapter 
 agree in this particular their language is generally 
 
TAMULIAN LANGUAGES. 149 
 
 admitted to be Tamulian at the present moment, 
 or if not, to have been so at some earlier period. 
 With the languages next under notice, the ori 
 ginal Tamulian character is not so admitted 
 indeed, it is so far denied as to make the affirma 
 tion of it partake of the nature of paradox. 
 
 The distinction then is raised on the existence 
 of the doubt in question, or rather on the dif 
 ferences that such a doubt implies. Hence the 
 division of the languages of India into the Hindu 
 and the Tamulian is practical rather than scientific 
 the Hindu meaning those for which a Sanskrit, 
 rather than a Tamul affinity is claimed. 
 
 Sanskrit is the name of a language ; a name 
 upon which nine-tenths of the controversial points 
 in Indian ethnology and in Indian history turn. 
 
150 THE SANSKRIT 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE. ITS RELATIONS TO CERTAIN MODERN 
 LANGUAGES OF INDIA; TO THE SLAVONIC AND LITHUANIC OF 
 
 EUROPE. INFERENCES. BRAHMINISM OF THE PURANAS OF 
 
 THE INSTITUTES OF MENU. EXTRACT. OF THE VEDAS. 
 
 EXTRACT. INFERENCES. THE HINDUS. SIKHS. BILUCHI. 
 
 AFGHANS. WANDERING TRIBES. MISCELLANEOUS POPULA 
 TIONS. CEYLON. BUDDHISM. DEVIL-WORSHIP. VADDAHS. 
 
 THE language called Sanskrit has a peculiar 
 alphabet. It has long been written, and embodies 
 an important literature. It has been well studied ; 
 and its ethnological affinities are understood. 
 They are at least as remarkable as any other of 
 its characters. 
 
 Like most other tongues, it falls into dialects ; 
 just like the ancient Greek. Like the Doric, 
 Molic, and Ionic, these dialects were spoken over 
 distant countries, and cultivated at different pe 
 riods. Like them, too, each is characterized by 
 its peculiar literature. 
 
 The Sanskrit itself, in its oldest form, is the 
 Vedaic dialect of the religious hymns called 
 Vedas of great, but of exaggerated, antiquity. 
 
 Another form of equal antiquity is the Ian- 
 
LANGUAGE. 151 
 
 guage of the Persepolitan and other arrow-headed 
 inscriptions. These are of a known antiquity, 
 and range from the time of Cambyses to that of 
 Artaxerxes. 
 
 By old is meant old in structure, i.e., betraying 
 by its archaic forms, an early stage of develop 
 ment. It is by no means old in chronology. In 
 the way of chronology, the English of Shakespeare 
 is older than the German of Goethe ; yet the 
 German of Goethe is the older tongue, because it 
 retains more old inflections. 
 
 The third form is called Pali. In this is 
 written the oldest Indian inscription; one con 
 taining the name of Antiochus, one of Alex 
 ander s successors. It is also the dialect of the 
 chief Buddhist works. 
 
 A fourth form is the Bactrian. This occurs in 
 the coins of Macedonian and other Indianized 
 kings of Bactria, and is best studied in the 
 " Ariana Antiqua," of Wilson. 
 
 A fifth is the Zend of the Zendavesta, the 
 Scriptures of the followers of Zoroaster. 
 
 Others are called Pracrit. Some of the San 
 skrit works are dramatic. In the modern come 
 dies of Italy we find certain characters speaking 
 the provincial dialects of Naples, Bologna, and 
 other districts. The same took place here. In 
 the Sanskrit plays we find deflexions from the 
 standard language, put into the mouths of some of 
 
152 THE SANSKRIT 
 
 the subordinate characters. It is believed that these 
 Pracrits represented certain local dialects, as op 
 posed to the purer and more classical Sanskrit. 
 
 Every spoken dialect of Hindostan has a per 
 centage of Sanskrit words in it ; just as every 
 dialect of England has an amount of Anglo-Nor 
 man. What does this prove ? That depends upon 
 the per-centage ; and this differs in different 
 languages. In a general way it may be stated 
 that, amongst the tongues already enumerated, it 
 is smallest in the isolated Tamulian tongues ; 
 larger in the Tamul of the Dekhan ; and largest 
 in the tongues about to be enumerated; these 
 being the chief languages of modern Hindostan. 
 
 1. The Marathi of the Mahrattas. Here the 
 Sanskrit words amount to four-fifths in the Ma 
 rathi dictionaries. 
 
 2. The Udiya, of Cuttack and Orissa, with a 
 per-centage of Sanskrit greater than that of the 
 Marathi, but less than that of 
 
 3. The Bengali. Here it is at its maximum, 
 and amounts to nine-tenths. 
 
 4. The Hindu, of Oude, and the parts between 
 Bengal and the Punjab, falling into the sub 
 ordinate dialects of the Rajput country. 
 
 5. The Gujerathi of Gujerat. 
 
 6. The Scindian of Scinde. 
 
 7. The Multani of Multan ; probably a dialect 
 of either the Gujerathi or 
 
LANGUAGE. 153 
 
 8. The Punjabi of the Punjab. 
 
 By going into minor differences this list might 
 be enlarged. 
 
 None of the previous languages were men 
 tioned in the last chapter ; in fact, they were those 
 different Hindu tongues which were contrasted 
 with the Tamulian, and which, in the northern 
 part of the Peninsula had effected those displace 
 ments which separated, or were supposed to 
 separate, the Rajmahali, Kol, and Khond 
 dialects from each other. They formed the sea of 
 speech, in which those tongues were islands. 
 
 Now what is the inference from these per 
 centages ? from such a one as the Bengali, of 
 ninety out of one hundred ? What do they prove 
 as to the character of the language in which they 
 occur ? Do they make the Sanskrit the basis of the 
 tongue, just as the Anglo-Saxon is of the English, 
 or do they merely show it as a superadded foreign 
 element, like the Norman like that in kind, but 
 far greater in degree ? The answer to this will 
 give us the philological position of the North- 
 Indian tongues. It will make the Bengali either 
 Tamul, with an unprecedented amount of foreign 
 vocables, or Sanskrit, with a few words of the 
 older native tongue retained. 
 
 If the question were settled by a reference to 
 authorities, the answer would be that the Ben 
 gali was essentially Sanskrit. 
 
154 THE SANSKRIT 
 
 It would be the same if we took only the primd 
 facie view of the matter. 
 
 Yet the answer is traversed by two facts. 
 
 1. In making the per-centage of Sanskrit words 
 it has been assumed that, whenever the modern 
 and ancient tongues have any words in common, 
 the former has always taken them from the latter, 
 an undue assumption, since the Sanskrit may 
 easily have adopted native words. 
 
 2. The grammatical inflections are so far from 
 being as Sanskritic as the vocables, that they ajre 
 either non-existent altogether, unequivocally Ta- 
 mul, or else controverted Sanskrit. 
 
 Here I pause, giving, at present, no opinion 
 upon the merits of the two views. The reader 
 has seen the complications of the case ; and is 
 prepared for hearing that, though most of the 
 highest authorities consider the languages of 
 northern India to be related to the Sanskrit, just 
 as the English is to the Anglo-Saxon, and the 
 Italian to the Latin ; others deny such a con 
 nexion, affirming that as the real relations of the 
 Sanskrit are those of the Norman-French to our 
 own tongue, and of the Arabic to the Spanish, 
 there is no such thing throughout the whole length 
 and breadth of Hindostan as a dialect descended 
 from the Sanskrit, or a spot whereon that famous 
 tongue can be shown to have existed as a spoken 
 and indigenous language. 
 
LANGUAGE. 155 
 
 But, perhaps, we may find in Persia what we lack 
 in India ; and as the modern Persian is descended 
 from the Zend, and as the Zend is a sister to the 
 Sanskrit, Persia may, perhaps, supply such a lo 
 cality. The same doubts apply here. 
 
 Such are the doubts that apply to an important 
 question in Asiatic ethnology. I am not, at 
 present, going beyond the simple fact of their 
 existence. Rightly or wrongly, there is an opinion 
 that the Sanskrit never was indigenous to any part 
 of India, not even the most north-western; and 
 there is an extension of this opinion which 
 rightly or wrongly similarly excludes it from 
 Persia. So much doubt should be relieved by 
 the exhibition of some universally admitted fact 
 as a set-off. 
 
 Such a contrast shall be supplied, in the shape 
 of a comment on the following tables.* It is one 
 of Dr. Trithem s. 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 Father . . . 
 
 LITHUANIC. 
 
 tewas .... 
 
 RUSSIAN. 
 
 otets . 
 
 SANSKRIT. 
 
 .... pitr 
 
 ]\f Other . . . 
 
 motina . . 
 
 mat 
 
 . ... matr 
 
 Son . . 
 
 sunai . ... 
 
 suin .. 
 
 sunu 
 
 Brother 
 
 brolis ... 
 
 brat . . 
 
 . . . bhratr 
 
 Sister .. . 
 
 sessu . 
 
 scstra.. 
 
 ... svasr. 
 
 Daughter-in-law 
 Father-in-law ... 
 
 
 snokha 
 svekorj 
 
 snusha.f 
 s vasura. 
 
 * " Transactions of Philological Society/ No. 94. 
 t Latin nurus, from snurus. 
 % Latin socer, Greek 
 
156 
 
 THE SANSKRIT 
 
 ENGLISH. LITHUANIC. 
 
 Mother-in-laiv ... 
 
 Brother-in-law ... 
 
 RUSSIAN. 
 
 SANSKRIT. 
 
 svekrov * . . . s vas ru. 
 dever f devr. 
 
 One wienas odin 
 
 Two du dva.. 
 
 eka. 
 dva. 
 tri. 
 
 chatvarah. 
 
 pancha. 
 
 shash. 
 
 tn 
 
 chetuirc 
 
 piat 
 
 shest 
 
 sedm saptan. 
 
 osm ashtan. 
 
 deviat navan. 
 
 desiat .. dasa . 
 
 Three trys 
 
 Four keturi .... 
 
 Five penki ..., 
 
 Six szessi .... 
 
 Seven septyni . 
 
 Eight asstuni 
 
 Nine dewyni.. 
 
 Ten dessimtis , 
 
 The following similarities go the same way, 
 viz., towards the proof of a remarkable affinity 
 with certain languages of Europe, there being 
 none equally strong with any existing and un 
 doubted Asiatic ones. 
 
 ENGLISH. LITHUANIC. SANSKRIT. ZEND. 
 
 /. ass aham azem. 
 
 Thou tu twam turn. 
 
 Ye yus yQyam yus. 
 
 The$.... tas .. ta-d tad. 
 
 szi sah ho. 
 
 LITHUANIC. 
 
 Laups, inni = / praise. 
 Present. 
 
 1. Laups 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 -mnu 
 -inni 
 -inna 
 
 -innawa -innamc. 
 -innata -innata. 
 -inna -inna. 
 
 Latin socrus, Greek 
 
 Latin levir (devir\ Greek Sar/p. J Or that, this. 
 
LANGUAGE. 
 
 157 
 
 SANSKRIT. 
 
 Jaj-ami = I conquer. 
 Present. 
 
 1. Jaj -ami -avail -amah. 
 
 2. - -asi -athah -atha. 
 
 3. -ati -atah -anti. 
 
 LITHUANIC. 
 Esmi = / am. 
 
 1. Esmi eswa esme. 
 
 2. Essi esta esti. 
 
 3. Esti esti esti. 
 
 SANSKRIT. 
 
 Asmi = / am. 
 
 1. Asmi swah small. 
 
 2. Asi stliah stha. 
 
 3. Asti stah santi. 
 
 The inference from the vast series of philological 
 facts, of which the following is a specimen, has, 
 generally perhaps universally been as follows, 
 viz., that the Lithuanic, Slavonic, and the allied 
 languages of Germany, Italy, and Greece nu 
 merous, widely-spread, and unequivocally Eu 
 ropean are Asiatic in origin ; the Sanskrit being 
 first referred to Asia, and then assumed to repre 
 sent the languages of that Asiatic locality. I 
 merely express my dissent from this inference ; 
 adding my belief that the relations of the Sanskrit 
 to the Hindu tongues are those of the Anglo- 
 Norman to the English, and that its relation to 
 
158 BRAHMINISM. 
 
 those of the south-eastern Slavonic area, is that 
 of the Greek of Bactria, to the Greek of Macedon 
 greater, much greater in degree, but the same 
 in kind.* 
 
 The Brahminic creed of Hindostan is the next 
 great characteristic. Brahminism may be viewed 
 in two ways. We may either take it in its later 
 forms, and trace its history backwards, or begin 
 with it in its simplest and most unmodified stage, 
 and notice the changes that have affected it as 
 they occur. At the present its principles are to 
 be "found in the holy book called Puranas ; the 
 Brahminism of the Puranas standing in the same 
 relation to certain earlier forms, as the Rabbinism 
 of the Talmud, or the Romanism of the fathers 
 does to primitive Judaism and Christianity. The 
 pre-eminence of a sacred caste the sanctitude of 
 the cow an impossible cosmogony the worship 
 of Siva and Vishnu and an indefinite sort of 
 recognition of beings like Rama, Krishna Kali, 
 and others, are the leading features here ; the 
 recognition of the Ramas and Krishnas being 
 of an indefinite and equivocal character, be 
 cause the extent to which the elements of their 
 divine nature are referable to the idea of dead 
 men deified, or the very opposite notion of Gods 
 
 * The full exposition of this doctrine is in the present 
 writer s ethnological edition of the " Germania " of Tacitus ; 
 
 V. 
 
BRAHMINISM. 159 
 
 become incarnate, are inextricably mixed together. 
 The Puranas are referable to different dates 
 between the twelfth and sixth centuries A.D. 
 
 The germs of the Brahminism of the Puranas 
 are the two great epics, the Ramayana, or the 
 conquest of Hindostan by Rama, and the Mahab- 
 harata, or great war between the Sun and Moon 
 dynasties. If we call the worship of dead men 
 deified, Euhemerism, it is the Ramayana and the 
 Mahabharata, to which the Euhemerist elements 
 of the present Brahminism are to be attributed. 
 They increased the personality of the previous reli 
 gion. This is the natural effect of narrative poetry, 
 and one of which we may measure the magnitude 
 by looking at the influence and tendencies of the 
 great Homeric poems of Greece. It is these 
 which give us Kali, Rama, Krishna, Siva, and 
 Vishnu, and which helped to determine the pre 
 ponderance of the two last over Brahma Brahma 
 being the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; and 
 Siva, the Destroyer. The highest antiquity 
 which has been given to the epics is the second 
 century B.C. ; and this is full high enough. 
 
 The Brahminism of the " Institutes of Menu," 
 the oldest Indian code of laws, is simpler than 
 that of the epics. Its Euhemerism is less. Never 
 theless, it contains the great text on the caste- 
 system, the fulcrum of priestly pre-eminence. 
 
160 EXTRACT. 
 
 INSTITUTES OF MENU. 
 
 Sir Graves Haughtorfs Translation. 
 
 1. For the sake of preserving this universe, the Being, 
 supremely glorious, allotted separate duties to those who 
 sprang respectively from his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and 
 his foot. 
 
 2. To Brdhmins he assigned the duties of reading the 
 Veda, of teaching it, of sacrificing, of assisting others to sacri 
 fice, of giving alms, if they be rich, and, if indigent, of re 
 ceiving gifts. 
 
 3. To defend the people, to give alms, to sacrifice, to read 
 the Veda, to shun the allurements of sensual gratification, are, 
 in a few words, the duties of a Cshatriya. 
 
 4. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses, to sacrifice, 
 to read the scripture, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, and 
 to cultivate land, are prescribed or permitted to a Vaisya. 
 
 5. One principal duty the Supreme Ruler assigns to a 
 Siidra ; namely, to serve the before-mentioned classes, with 
 out depreciating their worth. 
 
 6. Man is declared purer above the navel ; but the Self- 
 Creating Power declared the purest part of him to be his 
 
 mouth. 
 
 7. Since the Brahmin sprang from the most excellent part, 
 since he was the first born, and since he possesses the Veda, 
 he is by right the chief of this whole creation. 
 
 8. Him, the Being, who exists of himself, produced in the 
 beginning, from his own mouth, that having performed holy 
 rites, he might present clarified butter to the gods, and cakes 
 of rice to the progenitors of mankind, for the preservation of 
 this world. 
 
 9. What created being then can surpass Him, with whose 
 
BRAHMIfflSM. 161 
 
 mouth the gods of the firmament continually feast on clarified 
 butter, and the manes of ancestors, on hallowed cakes ? 
 
 10. Of created things, the most excellent are those which 
 are animated ; of the animated, those which subsist by intelli 
 gence ; of the intelligent, mankind ; and of men, the sacer 
 dotal class. 
 
 11. Of priests those eminent in learning; of the learned, 
 those who know their duty; of those who know it, such as 
 perform it virtuously ; and of the virtuous, those who seek 
 beatitude from a perfect acquaintance with scriptural doctrine. 
 
 12. The very birth of Brdhmins is a constant incarnation 
 of DHERMA, God of Justice ; for the Brahmin is born to pro 
 mote justice, and to procure ultimate happiness. 
 
 13. When a Brdhmin springs to light, he is borne above 
 the world, the chief of all creatures, assigned to guard the 
 treasury of duties, religious and civil. 
 
 14. Whatever exists in the universe, is all in effect, though 
 not inform, the wealth of the Brdhmin; since the Brdhmin 
 is entitled to it all by his primogeniture and eminence of 
 birth. 
 
 15. The Brdhmin eats but his own food; wears but his 
 own apparel ; and bestows but his own in alms : through the 
 benevolence of the Brdhmin, indeed, other mortals enjoy 
 life. 
 
 16. To declare the sacerdotal duties, and those of the other 
 classes in due order, the sage MENU, sprung from the self- 
 existing, promulged this code of laws. 
 
 17. A code which must be studied Avith extreme care by 
 every learned Brdhmin, and fully explained to his disciples, 
 but must be taught by no other man of an inferior class. 
 
 18. The Brdhmin who studies this book, having performed 
 sacred rites, is perpetually free from offence in thought, in 
 word, and in deed. 
 
 19. He confers purity on his living family, on his ancestors, 
 
 M 
 
162 EXTRACT 
 
 and on his descendants, as far as the seventh person ; and He 
 alone deserves to possess this whole earth. 
 
 Subtract from the Brahminism of the Institutes, 
 the importance assigned to caste ; substitute 
 for the Euhemerism of the Epics, an elemental 
 religion, and we ascend to the religion of the 
 Vedas ; the nominal, but only the nominal basis, 
 of all Hinduism. In the following Vedaic hymns, 
 Agni is fire ; Indra, the sky, firmament^ or at 
 mosphere ; and Marut, the cloud. 
 
 RIGVEDA SANIIITA. 
 
 Wilson s Translation. 
 I. 
 
 1. I glorify AGNI, the high priest of the sacrifice, the 
 divine, the ministrant, who presents the ohlation (to the 
 gods), and is the possessor of great wealth. 
 
 2. May that AGNI, who is to he celebrated hy both ancient 
 and modern sages, conduct the gods hither. 
 
 3. Through AGNI the worshipper obtains that affluence, 
 which increases day by day, which is the source of fame and 
 the multiplier of mankind. 
 
 4. AGNI, the unobstructed sacrifice of which thou art on 
 every side the protector, assuredly reaches the gods. 
 
 5. May AGNI, the presenter of oblations, the attainer of 
 knowledge; he who is true, renowned, and divine, come 
 hither with the gods ! 
 
 6. Whatever good thou mayest, AGNI, bestow upon the 
 giver (of the oblation), that verily, ANGIRAS, shall revert to 
 thee. 
 
FROM THE RIGVEDA. 163 
 
 7. We approach thee, AGNI, with reverential homage in 
 our thoughts, daily, both morning and evening. 
 
 8. Thee, the radiant, the protector of sacrifices, the constant 
 illuminator of truth, increasing in thine own dwelling ! 
 
 9. AGNI, be unto us easy of access, as is a father to a son ; 
 be ever present with us for our good ! 
 
 II. 
 
 1. AS WINS, cherishers of pious acts, long-armed, accept 
 with outstretched hands the sacrificial viands ! 
 
 2. AS WINS, abounding in mighty acts, guides (of devotion), 
 endowed with fortitude, listen with unaverted minds to our 
 praises ! 
 
 3. AS WINS, destroyers of foes, exempt from untruth, 
 leaders in the van of heroes, come to the mixed libations 
 sprinkled on the lopped sacred grass ! 
 
 4. INDRA, of wonderful splendour, come hither ; these liba 
 tions, ever pure, expressed by the fingers (of the priests), are 
 desirous of thee ! 
 
 5. INDRA, apprehended by the understanding and appre 
 ciated by the wise, approach and accept the prayers (of the 
 priest), as he offers the libation ! 
 
 6. Fleet INDRA with the tawny coursers, come hither to the 
 prayers (of the priests), and in this libation accept our (prof 
 fered) food. 
 
 7. Universal Gods ! protectors and supporters of men, be- 
 stowers (of rewards), come to the libation of the worshipper ! 
 
 8. May the swift-moving universal Gods, the shedders of 
 rain, come to the libation, as the solar rays come diligently 
 to the days ! 
 
 9. May the universal Gods, who are exempt from decay, 
 omniscient, devoid of malice, and bearers of riches, accept the 
 sacrifice ! 
 
 10. May SARASWATI , the purifier, the bestower of food, the 
 
164 EXTRACT 
 
 recompenser of worship with wealth, be attracted by our 
 offered viands to our rite ! 
 
 11. SARASWATI , the inspirer of those who delight in truth, 
 the instructress of the rightminded, has accepted our sacri 
 fice ! 
 
 12. SARASWATI makes manifest by her acts a mighty river, 
 and (in her own form) enlightens all understandings. 
 
 III. 
 
 1. Come, INDRA, and be regaled with all viands and liba 
 tions, and thence, mighty in strength, be victorious (over thy 
 foes) ! 
 
 2. The libation being prepared, present the exhilarating 
 and efficacious (draught) to the rejoicing INDRA, the accom- 
 plisher of all things. 
 
 3. INDRA, with the handsome chin, be pleased with these 
 animating praises : do thou, who art to be reverenced by all 
 mankind, (come) to these rites (with the gods) ! 
 
 4. I have addressed to thee, INDRA, the showerer (of bless 
 ings), the protector (of thy worshippers), praises which have 
 reached thee, and of which thou hast approved ! 
 
 5. Place before us, INDRA, precious and multiform riches, 
 for enough, and more than enough, are assuredly thine ! 
 
 6. Opulent INDRA, encourage us in this rite for the acquire 
 ment of wealth, for we are diligent and renowned ! 
 
 7. Grant us, INDRA, wealth beyond measure or calculation, 
 inexhaustible, the source of cattle, of food, of all life. 
 
 8. INDRA, grant us great renown and wealth acquired in a 
 thousand ways, and those (articles) of food (which are brought 
 from the field) in carts ! 
 
 9. We invoke, for the preservation of our property, INDRA, 
 the lord of wealth, the object of sacred verses, the repairer (to 
 the place of sacrifice), praising him with our praises ! 
 
 10. With libations repeatedly effused, the sacrificer glorifies 
 
FROM THE RIGVEDA. 165 
 
 the vast prowess of INDRA, the mighty, the dweller in (an 
 eternal mansion) ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 1. The MARUTS who are going forth decorate themselves 
 like females : they are gliders (through the air), the sons of 
 RUDRA, and the doers of good works, by which they promote 
 the welfare of earth and heaven : heroes, who grind (the solid 
 rocks), they delight in sacrifices ! 
 
 2. They, inaugurated by the gods, have attained majesty, 
 the sons of RUDRA have established their dwelling above the 
 sky : glorifying him (!NDRA) who merits to be glorified, they 
 have inspired him with vigour : the sons of PRISNI have ac 
 quired dominion ! 
 
 3. When the sons of the earth embellish themselves with 
 ornaments, they shine resplendent in their persons with (bril 
 liant) decorations ; they keep aloof every adversary: the waters 
 follow their path ! 
 
 4. They who are worthily worshipped shine with various 
 weapons : incapable of being overthrown, they are the over- 
 throwers (of mountains) : MARUTS, swift as thought, intrusted 
 with the duty of sending rain, yoke the spotted deer to your 
 cars ! 
 
 5. When MARUTS, urging on the cloud, for the sake of (pro 
 viding) food, you have yoked the deer to your chariots, the 
 drops fall from the radiant (sun), and moisten the earth, like 
 a hide, with water ! 
 
 6. Let your quick-paced smooth-gliding coursers bear you 
 (hither), and, moving swiftly, come with your hands filled 
 with good things : sit, MARUTS, upon the broad seat of sacred 
 grass, and regale yourselves with the sweet sacrificial food ! 
 
 7. Confiding in their own strength, they have increased in 
 (power) ; they have attained heaven by their greatness, and 
 have made (for themselves) a spacious abode : may they, for 
 
166 THE VEDAS. 
 
 whom VISHNU defends (the sacrifice) that bestows all desires 
 and confers delight, come (quickly) like birds, and sit down 
 upon the pleasant and sacred grass ! 
 
 8. Like heroes, like combatants, like men anxious for food, 
 the swift-moving (MARUTS) have engaged in battles : all beings 
 fear the MARUTS, who are the leaders (of the rain), and awful 
 of aspect, like princes ! 
 
 9. INDRA wields the well-made, golden, many-bladed thun 
 derbolt, which the skilful TWASHTRI has framed for him, that 
 he may achieve great exploits in war. He has slain VRITRA, 
 and sent forth an ocean of water ! 
 
 10. By their power, they bore the well aloft, and clove 
 asunder the mountain that obstructed their path : the muni 
 ficent MARUTS, blowing upon their pipe, have conferred, 
 when exhilarated by the soma juice, desirable (gifts upon 
 the sacrifice!-) ! 
 
 11. They brought the crooked well to the place (where the 
 Muni was), and sprinkled the water upon the thirsty Go- 
 TAMA : the variously-radiant (MARUTS) come to his succour, 
 gratifying the desire of the sage with life-sustaining waters ! 
 
 12. Whatever blessings (are diffused) through the three 
 worlds, and are in your gift, do you bestow upon the donor (of 
 the libation), who addresses you with praise ; bestow them, 
 also, MARUTS, upon us, and grant us, bestowers of all good, 
 riches, whence springs prosperity ! 
 
 If we investigate the antiquity of these hymns 
 we shall find no definite and unimpeachable date. 
 Their epoch is assigned on the score of internal 
 evidence. The language is so much more ar 
 chaic than that of the Institutes, and the my 
 thology so much simpler; whilst the Institutes 
 themselves are similarly circumstanced in respect 
 
THE VEDAS. 167 
 
 to the Epics. Fixing these at about 200, B.C. ; 
 we allow so many centuries for the archaisms 
 of Menu, and so many more for those of the 
 Vedas. For the whole, eleven hundred has not 
 been thought too little, which places the Vedas in 
 the fourteenth century, B.C., and makes them the 
 earliest, or nearly the earliest records in the 
 world. 
 
 It is clear that this is but an approximation, 
 and, although all inquirers admit that creeds, 
 languages, and social conditions present the 
 phenomena of growth, the opinions as to the rate 
 of such growths are varied, and none of much 
 value. This is because the particular induction 
 required for the formation of anything better than 
 a mere impression has yet to be undertaken till 
 when, one man s guess is as good as another s. 
 The age of a tree maybe reckoned from its concen 
 tric rings, but the age of a language, a doctrine, 
 or a polity, has neither bark nor wood, neither 
 teeth like a horse, nor a register like a child. 
 
 Now the antiquity of the Vedas, as inferred 
 from the archaic character of their language, has 
 been shaken by the discovery of the structure of 
 the Persepolitan dialect of the arrow-headed in 
 scriptions. It approaches that of the Vedas ; 
 being, in some points, older than the Sanskrit of 
 Menu. Yet its date is less than 500, B.C. Again, 
 the Pali is less archaic than the Sanskrit ; yet the 
 
168 RATE OF CHANGE. 
 
 Pali is the language of the oldest inscriptions in 
 India, indeed, of the oldest Indian records of any 
 sort, with a definite date. 
 
 One of the few cases where the phenomena of 
 rate have been studied with due attention, is in 
 the evolution of the three languages of Denmark, 
 Norway, and Sweden out of the Icelandic. What 
 does this tell us ? The last has altered so slowly 
 that a modern Icelander can read the oldest works of 
 his language. In Sweden, however, the speech has 
 altered. So it has in Denmark ; whilst both these 
 languages are unintelligible to the Icelander, 
 and vice versa. As to their respective changes, 
 Petersen shows that the Danish was always 
 about a hundred years forwarder than the Swedish, 
 having attained that point at (say) 1200, which 
 the Swedish did not reach till 1300. Both, how 
 ever, changed ; and that, at a uniform rate ; the 
 Danish having, as it were, the start of a century. 
 The Norwegian, however, comported itself differ 
 ently. Until the Reformation it hardly changed 
 at all; less than the stationary Icelandic itself. 
 Fifty years, however, of sudden and rapid trans 
 formation brought it, at once, to the stage which 
 the Danish had been three hundred years in reach 
 ing. How many times must the observation of 
 such phenomena be multiplied before we can 
 strike an average as to the rate of change in lan 
 guages, creeds, and polities ? 
 
RATE OF CHANGE. 169 
 
 Again it is by no means certain that the 
 Institutes and the Vedas represent a contem 
 porary state of things. All doctrinal writings 
 contain something appertaining to a period older 
 than that of their composition. 
 
 Lastly, the proof that all the writings in 
 question belong to the same linear series, and 
 represent the growth of the same phenomena in the 
 same place is deficient. The ^Egyptologist be 
 lieves that contemporary kings are mistaken for 
 successive ones ; the philologist, that difference 
 of dialects simulates a difference of age. Doubts 
 of a more specific nature dawn upon us when we 
 attempt to realize the alphabet in which an 
 Indian MS. of even only eight hundred years 
 B.C., was written. No Indian MS. is fifteen 
 hundred years old ; no inscription older than 
 Alexander s time. Nevertheless, though I write 
 upon this subject with diffidence the Devana- 
 gari characters of the Sanskrit MSS. can be de 
 duced from the alphabet of the inscriptions ; 
 whilst these inscriptions themselves approach the 
 alphabets of the Semitic character in propor 
 tion to their antiquity : so that the oldest al 
 phabet of the Vedas is referable to that of the 
 inscriptions, and that of the inscriptions betrays 
 an origin external to India. Its introduction 
 may be very early ; nevertheless its epoch must 
 be investigated with a full recognition of the 
 
170 RATE OF CHANGE. 
 
 comparatively modern date of even the earliest 
 alphabets of Persia, and the parts westward ; early 
 as compared with such a date as 1400, B.C., the 
 accredited epoch of the Vedas ; an epoch, per 
 haps, a thousand years too early. 
 
 Nevertheless, the existence of an alphabet, 
 an architecture, a coinage, and an algebra at a 
 period which no scepticism puts much later than 
 250, B.C., is so undoubted, that they may pass as 
 ethnological facts, i. e., facts sufficiently true to 
 be not merely admitted with what is called an 
 otiose belief, but to be classed with the most un 
 exceptionable data of history, and to be used as 
 effects from which we may argue backwards 
 more etlmologico to their antecedent causes ; the 
 appreciation of these requiring a philosophy and 
 an induction of its own. 
 
 We cannot detract from the antiquity of Indian 
 civilization without impugning its indigenous 
 origin, nor doubt this without stirring the ques 
 tion as to the countries from which it was intro 
 duced. These have been Persia, Assyria, Egypt, 
 and Greece ; the introduction being direct or 
 indirect as the case might be. 
 
 In this way are contrasted the views of the 
 general ethnologist, with those of the special orien 
 talist, in respect to the great and difficult question 
 of Indian antiquity. Yet, how far does the scep 
 ticism of the former affect our views concerning 
 
THE SIKHS. 171 
 
 the descent of the Hindus, the Mahrattas, the 
 Bengali, and those other populations, to the 
 languages whereof they applied? Not much. 
 Whichever way we decide, the population may 
 still be Tamulian ; only, in case we make the 
 language Sanskritic, it is Tamulian in the same 
 way as the Cornish are Welsh ; i. e. 9 Tamulian 
 with a change of tongue. 
 
 The doubts, too, as to the antiquity of the 
 Sanskrit literature unsettle but little. They 
 merely make the introduction of certain foreign 
 elements some centuries later. 
 
 Whatever may be the oldest of the great 
 Hindu creeds, that of the Sikhs is the newest. Its 
 founder, Nanuk, in the fifteenth century, was a 
 contemplative enthusiast ; his successor, Govind, 
 a zealous man of action ; himself succeeded by 
 similar gurus, or priests, who eventually, by 
 means of fanaticism, organization, and union 
 with the state raised the power of the Khalsa 
 to the formidable height from which it has so 
 lately fallen. Truth is the great abstraction of the 
 Sikh creeds ; and the extent to which it is at 
 once intolerant and eclectic may be seen from the 
 following extracts.* They certainly present the 
 doctrine in a favourable light. 
 
 * Taken from the Appendix to Captain Cunningham s 
 "History of the Sikhs." 
 
172 EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 I. 
 
 The true name is God ; without fear, without enmity ; 
 the Being without death ; the Giver of salvation ; the Gooroo 
 and Grace. 
 
 Remember the primal truth ; truth which was before the 
 world began. 
 
 Truth which is, and truth, O Nanuk ! which will re 
 main. 
 
 By reflection it cannot be attained, how much soever the 
 attention be fixed. 
 
 A hundred wisdoms, even a hundred thousand, not one 
 accompanies the dead. 
 
 How can truth be told, how can falsehood be un 
 ravelled 1 
 
 O Nanuk! by following the will of God, as by Him 
 ordained. 
 
 II. 
 
 Time is the only God ; the first and the last, the endless 
 Being ; the Creator, the Destroyer ; He who can make and 
 unmake ; God who created angels and demons, who created 
 the east and the west, the north and the south ; How can He 
 be expressed by words ? 
 
 III. 
 
 Numerous Mahemets have there been, and multitudes of 
 Bruhmas, Vishnoos, and Sivas. 
 
 Thousands of Peers and Prophets, and tens of thousands of 
 saints and holy men : 
 
 But the chief of Lords is the one Lord, the true name of 
 God. 
 
 O Nanuk ! of God, His qualities, without end, beyond 
 reckoning, who can understand 1 
 
THE SIKH BOOKS. 173 
 
 IV. 
 
 Many Bruhmas wearied themselves with the study of the 
 Veds, but found not the value of an oil seed, 
 
 Holy men and saints are sought about anxiously, but they 
 were deceived by Maya. 
 
 There have been, and there have passed away, ten regent 
 Owtars, and the wondrous Muhadeo. 
 
 Even they, wearied with the application of ashes, could not 
 find Thee. 
 
 V. 
 
 He who speaks of me as the Lord, him will I sink into the 
 pit of hell ! 
 
 Consider me as the slave of God ; of that have no doubt in 
 thy mind. 
 
 I am but the slave of the Lord, come to behold the wonders 
 of creation. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Dwell thou in flames uninjured, 
 Remain unharmed amid ice eternal, 
 Make blocks of stone thy daily food, 
 Spurn the earth before thee with thy foot, 
 Weigh the heavens in a balance, 
 And then ask of me to perform miracles. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Since he fell at the feet of God, no one has appeared great 
 in his eyes. 
 
 Ram and Ruheem, the Poorans, and the Koran, have many 
 votaries, but neither does he regard. 
 
 Simruts, Shasters, and Veds, differ in many things ; not one 
 does he heed. 
 
174 THE SIKHS. 
 
 O God ! under Thy favour has all been done, nought is of 
 myself. 
 
 VIII, 
 
 All say that there are four races, 
 
 But all are of the seed of Bruhm. 
 
 The world is but clay, 
 
 And of similar clay many pots are made. 
 
 Nanuk says man will be judged by his actions, 
 
 And that without finding God there will be no salvation. 
 
 The body of man is composed of five elements ; 
 
 Who can say that one is high and another low ? 
 
 IX. 
 
 There are four races and four creeds in the world among 
 Hindoos and Mahometans ; 
 
 Selfishness, jealousy, and pride drew all of them strongly; 
 
 The Hindoos dwelt on Benares and the Ganges, the 
 Mahometans on the Kaaba ; 
 
 The Mahometans held by circumcision, the Hindoos by 
 strings and frontal marks. 
 
 They each called on Ram and Ruheem, one name, and 
 yet both forgot the road. 
 
 Forgetting the Veds and the Koran, they were inveigled 
 in the snares of the world. 
 
 Truth remained on one side, while Moollas and Brah 
 mins disputed, 
 
 And salvation was not attained. 
 
 X. 
 
 God heard the complaint (of virtue or truth), and Nanuk 
 was sent into the world. 
 
 He established the custom that the disciple should wash 
 the feet of his Gooroo, and drink the water ; 
 
PARTS BEYOND THE INDUS. 175 
 
 Par Bruhm and Poorun Bruhm, in his Kulyoog, he showed 
 were one. 
 
 The four feet (of the animal sustaining the world) were 
 made of faith ; the four castes were made one ; 
 
 The high and the low became equal : the salutation of 
 the feet (among disciples) he established in the world ; 
 
 Contrary to the nature of man, the feet were exalted 
 above the head. 
 
 In the Kulyoog he gave salvation ; using the only true 
 name, he taught men to worship the Lord. 
 
 To give salvation in the Kulyoog, Gooroo Nanuk came, 
 
 PARTS BEYOND THE INDUS. 
 
 The Punjab is the most western locality of the 
 Indian stock, whether we call the members of it 
 Hindu or Tamulian. On crossing the Indus we 
 reach a new ethnological area, only partially, 
 and only recently British ; viz., the country of the 
 Biluch, and the country of the Afghans. And 
 here we must prepare for new terms ; for hearing 
 of tribes rather than castes; and for finding a 
 polity more like that of the Jews and Arabs than 
 the institutions of the Brahmins. 
 
 The Biluch. Biluchi-stan means the country of 
 the Biluch, just as Hindo-stan and Afghani-stan 
 mean that of the Hindus and Afghans. It is the 
 south-western quarter of Persia, that is the chief 
 area of the tribes in question. Hence, however, 
 they extend into Kutch Gundava, Scinde, and 
 Multan, and the northern parts of Gujerat. 
 
176 THE BILUCH. 
 
 Between Kelat, the Indus, and the sea, they are 
 mixed with Brahui. 
 
 The Biluchi is a dialect of the Persian suffi 
 ciently close to be understood by a Persian 
 proper. 
 
 There are no grounds for believing the Biluch 
 to have been other than the aborigines of the 
 country which they occupy ; as their advent lies 
 beyond the historical period ; beyond the pale of 
 admissible tradition. We may, perhaps, be told 
 that they came from Arabia ; an origin which 
 their Mahometanism, their division into tribes, 
 and their manners, suggest; an origin, too, 
 which their physiognomy by no means impugns. 
 Yet the tradition is not only unsupported, but 
 equivocal. The Arabia that it refers to is, pro 
 bably, the country of the ancient Ardbita;; and 
 that is neither more nor less than a part of the 
 province of Mekran, within or nearly within 
 the present Biluch domain. Hence, they may be 
 Arabite, though not Arabian ; or rather the old 
 ArabitfE of the Arabius fluvius were Biluch. 
 
 But the Arabs are not the only members of the 
 Semitic family with which the Biluch have been 
 affiliated. A multiplicity of Jewish character 
 istics has been discerned. These are all the more 
 visible from their contrast to the manners of the 
 Hindus. Intermediate in appearance to the 
 Hindu and the Persian, the Biluch " cast of 
 
THE BILU CH. 177 
 
 feature is certainly Jewish ; "* his tribual divi 
 sions are equally so ; whilst the Levitican punish 
 ment of adultery by stoning, and the transmission 
 of the widow of a deceased brother to the brothers 
 who survive, have been duly recognised as Hebrew 7 
 characteristics. We know what follows all this ; 
 as surely as smoke shows fire. Levitical pecu 
 liarities suggest the ubiquitous decad of the lost 
 tribes of Israel. We shall soon hear of these 
 again. 
 
 Tribes under chiefs hereditary succession 
 pride of blood clannish sentiments feuds be 
 tween tribe and tribe the sacro-sanctity of re 
 venge as a duty the suspension of private wars 
 when foreign foes threaten greater rudeness 
 amongst the mountains comparative industry in 
 the plains the business of robbery tempered by 
 the duties of hospitality black mail, &c. All 
 this is equally Biluch, Arabian, and Highland 
 Scotch ; and it all shows the similarity of details 
 which accompanies similarity of social institu 
 tions. Ethnological relationship it does not show. 
 The word Biluch is Persian. The bearer of the 
 designation either calls himself .by the name of 
 his tribe, or else glorifies himself by the term 
 Usul or Pure. The tribes or khoums are numer- 
 
 * Captain Postans, in " Transactions of Ethnological 
 Society," who, along with Sir H. Pottinger, is my chief 
 authority. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 AFGHANS. 
 
 ous. Sir H. Pottinger gives the names of no less 
 than fifty-eight ; without going into their subdi 
 visions. 
 
 If, however, instead of details, we seek for 
 classes of greater generality we find that three 
 primary divisions comprise all the ramifications of 
 the Biluch. The first of these is the Rind; the 
 other two are the Nihro and the Mughsi. The 
 daughter of a Rind may be given to a Rind as a 
 wife; but to marry into a tribe of Nihro or 
 Mughsi extraction is a degradation. Here the 
 elements of caste intermix with those of tribe or 
 clan. 
 
 Afghans. Afghanistan means the country of 
 the Afghans, just as Hindo-stan and Biluchi-stan 
 mean that of the Hindus and Biluchi, respec 
 tively. 
 
 In India the Afghans are called Patan. 
 
 Their language is called Pushtu. It is allied 
 to the Persian but less closely than the Biluch. 
 
 Fully and accurately described in the admirable 
 work of Lord Mountstuart Elphinstone, the 
 Afghans have long commanded the attention of 
 the ethnologist ; and all that has been said about 
 the Judaism of the Biluchi has been said in 
 respect to them also, though not by so good a 
 writer as the one just quoted. No wonder. Their 
 tribual organization, if not more peculiar in cha 
 racter, has been more minutely described ; a 
 
AFGHANS. 179 
 
 greater massiveness of frame and feature has been 
 looked upon as eminently Judaic ; and, lastly, an 
 incorrect statement of Sir William Jones s, as to 
 the Hebrew character of the Pushtu language, has 
 added the authority of that respected scholar to 
 the doctrine of the Semitic origin of the Afghans. 
 Against this, however, stands the evidence of their 
 peculiar and hitherto unplaced language. I say 
 unplaced, because the criticism that separates the 
 modern dialects of Hindostan from the Sanskrit, 
 disconnects the Pushtu and the old Persian. 
 Nevertheless, it is anything but either Hebrew or 
 Arabic. 
 
 Similarity of political constitution, and its at 
 tendant spirit of independence, have given a poli 
 tical importance to both the Biluch and the 
 Afghan. Each is but partially very partially 
 British ; and each became dependent upon Bri 
 tain, not because they were the Afghans and 
 Biluch of their own rugged countries, but because 
 they were part and parcel of certain territories 
 in India. It was on the Indus that they were con 
 quered ; and it as Indians that they are British. 
 
 Four great patriarchs are the hypothetical pro 
 genitors of the four primary Afghan divisions 
 though it is uncertain whether any such quater 
 nion be more of an historical reality than the four 
 castes of Brahminism. Subordinate to these four 
 heads is the division called Ulus (Ooloos). 
 
180 AFGHANS THEIR DIVISIONS. 
 
 A minuter knowledge of the Afghan affiliations 
 real or supposed is to be gained by premising 
 that khail has much the same meaning as the 
 Biluch khoum, so that it denotes a division of 
 population which we may call clan, tribe, or sept ; 
 whilst the affix -zye, means sons or offspring. 
 Hence, Eusof-zye is equivalent to what an Arab 
 would call -Bern Yusuf; a Greek, loseph-idfs ; or 
 a Highland Gael, Macfoseph. All this is clear. 
 When, however, we try to give precision to our 
 nomenclature, and ask whether the khail contains 
 a number of -zye, or the -zye a number of khails, 
 difficulties begin. Sometimes the one, sometimes 
 the other is the larger class. And a khail in one 
 case may be divided into groups ending in -zye ; 
 in others, a group denoted by -zye may contain 
 two or more khails. Each is a generic or specific 
 designation as the case may be. 
 
 However, to proceed to instances, the follow 
 ing groups of Afghans may be constituted. 
 
 1. Three sections the Acco-zye, the Mulle- 
 zye, and the Lawe-zye are subdivisions of the- 
 
 2. Eusof. The Eusof and Munder being 
 branches of the 
 
 3. Eusof-zye. Now the Eusof-^e is one out 
 of four divisions of the 
 
 4. Khukkhi.T\\e Guggiani, Turcolani, and 
 Mahomed-zye 9 being the other three. 
 
 5. Lastly, the Khukkhi, the Otman-khail, the 
 
THE AFGHANS OF THE FRONTIER. 181 
 
 Khyberi, the Bungush, the Khuttuk and, pro 
 bably, some others form the Berdurani Af 
 ghans. 
 
 But as Berdurani is a geographical, or political, 
 rather than a tribual designation; as it is the 
 name by which the wor^-eastern Afghans were 
 known to the Moghuls ; and as it is equivalent to 
 such an expression as Western or Eastern High 
 lander, rather than to names so specific as Camp 
 bell or MacDonald, it may be excluded from the 
 true Afghan affiliations. 
 
 With this deduction, however, the classifi 
 cation is sufficiently complex; besides which, it 
 is, probably, much more systematic on paper 
 than in reality. This, however, can only be 
 indicated. 
 
 The valley of Peshawer is the valley of the 
 Guggiani, and Mahomed-zye Afghans. 
 
 The parts round it belong to the Emof-zye, the 
 Otman-khail, the Turcolani, the Momunds, and 
 the Khyberi of the Khyber Range and Pass. 
 These last fall into the Afridi, the Shainwari, 
 and the Uruk-zye. Their country is chiefly to 
 the north of the Salt Range. 
 
 The river Kurum gives us the two valleys of 
 Dowr and Bunnu* the Bunnuchi being as pre- 
 
 * For a description of these parts see Major Edwardes 
 " Year on the Punjab Frontier." 
 
182 AFGHAN AND BILUCH FRONTIER. 
 
 eminently a mixed, as the mountaineers around 
 them the Vizeri are a pure branch. These, 
 and others, appear to belong to the great Khuttuk 
 division. 
 
 The sow^-eastern Afghans are called LoJiani ; 
 and, as a proof of this designation being of the 
 same geographico-political character as Berdurani, 
 the Khuttuk Afghans are divided between the 
 two sections ; at least the particular Khuttuks 
 called Murwuti are mentioned as Lohani, though 
 the Khuttuk class in general is placed in the Ber- 
 durani branch. The chief Lohani Afghans are 
 the Shirani near the Tukt-i-Soliman mountain, 
 and the Storidni (Storeeanees, Oosteraunees) con 
 terminous with the most northern of the Biluch. 
 
 Of these the Bugti and Murri are the chief 
 populations of the frontier ; whilst the Nutkani, 
 Kusrani, Lund, Lughari, Gurkhari, Mudari, and 
 others, help to fill up the Muckelwand (or the 
 parts immediately along the course of the Indus), 
 and the Biluch portions of Multan. 
 
 The Brahui. The Brahui, with whom it has 
 been stated that the Biluch are intermixed, are 
 pastoral tribes, with a coarser physiognomy, and 
 a stouter make than their neighbours. Their lan 
 guage also is different. A specimen of it may be 
 found amongst the well-known and important 
 vocabularies of Lieutenant Leach ; and this forms 
 the subject of a memoir of no less a scholar than 
 
CEYLON. BUDDHISM. 183 
 
 Lassen. Without placing it, he remarks that 
 the numerals are South-Indian (or Tamulian) 
 rather than aught else. He might have said 
 more. The Brahui is a remarkable and unex 
 plained branch of the Tamul ; but whether it be 
 of late introduction or indigenous origin in the 
 parts where it now occurs is uncertain. The 
 mountains between Kutch Gundava and Mekran 
 seem to form the area of the Brahui ; some eastern 
 branches of which population I presume to be 
 British, mixed with Biluch.* 
 
 ***** 
 Ceylon. The inhabitants of the northern part 
 of Ceylon speak the Tamul language, and are 
 Brahminists in creed. They are not, however, 
 the true natives of the island. These latter use a 
 Hindu tongue, called the Singhalese. Its philo 
 logical relations are exactly those of the Mah- 
 ratta, Bengali, and Udiya, neither better nor 
 worse defined, more or less unequivocal. Some 
 make it out to be of Sanskrit, others of Ta 
 mulian origin. All that is certain is, that it is 
 more Sanskritic than the proper Tamul, and 
 more Tamul than the Bengali. It is written; 
 and embodies a copious, but worthless literature, 
 its alphabet being derived from that of the 
 Pali language.; 
 
 * The best account of the Brahui is to be found in Sir H. 
 Pottinger s Travels. 
 
184 CEYLON. BUDDHISM. 
 
 This introduces a new characteristic. The 
 Pali has the same relation to Buddhism, that 
 the Sanskrit has to Brahminism. It is the 
 language of the Scriptures, the priest, and the 
 scholar, and, although, at the present moment, 
 it is as little recognised as a holy tongue on 
 the continent of India, as the Greek of the 
 New Testament is at Rome, it divides with the 
 Arabic and Latin, the honour of being the 
 most widely-spread literary language of the 
 world. All the forms of Buddhism in the trans- 
 gangetic peninsula are embodied in Pali writings. 
 So are those of the Mongols ; and so, to a great 
 extent, those of the Tibetans as well. This makes 
 the language and the creed nearly co-extensive. 
 In China, however, and Japan, where great 
 changes have taken place, and where either the 
 development, or the deterioration of Buddhism 
 has gone far enough to abolish the more palpable 
 characteristics of the original Indian doctrine, the 
 Pali language is no longer the medium. It is so, 
 however, for the vast area already indicated. 
 
 In Buddhism, as opposed to Brahminism, there 
 is a greater tenderness of animal life in general, 
 whilst less respect is paid to the ox-tribe in parti 
 cular. There is less also of the system of caste ; 
 and, in consequence of this, fewer of those ele 
 ments of priestly influence, which originate in the 
 ideas of the hereditary transmission of sacro-sancti- 
 
CEYLOX. BUDDHISM* 185 
 
 tude. Buddhism, too, has the credit of running 
 further in the dream-land of subjective meta 
 physics than Brahminism, though this, as far as 
 my own very imperfect means of judging go, is 
 doubtful. Into practical pantheism, and into the 
 deification of human reason it does run. 
 
 When self-contemplation has reached its highest 
 degree of abstraction, the state of Nirwana is 
 induced. This seems to mean the absorption 
 of the spirit within itself; a condition which at 
 once suggests adjectives like impassive, subjec 
 tive, exalted, and supra- sensual, or substantives like 
 transcendentalism, egoism, &c., and the like ; in 
 some cases with definite ideas to correspond with 
 the term ; oftener as mere meaningless words. 
 Such, however, is the nomenclature which is re 
 quisite ; a nomenclature to which I have recourse, 
 not for the sake of illustrating my subject, but 
 with the view of giving a practical notion of its 
 indistinctness. 
 
 Buddha himself is a specimen and model of 
 self-absorption, consummation, perfection, or ex 
 altation rather than a deity, or even a prophet. 
 He shows what purity can effect, rather than 
 teaches what purity consists in. He may even 
 have become what he was, by his own unaided 
 powers of supra-sensual abstraction. 
 
 All this is but a series of negations, at least in 
 the way of theology. But his spirit, after the 
 
-186 CEYLON. BUDDHISM. 
 
 departure of his body from the earth,* became 
 incarnate in the body of some successor and so 
 on ad infinitum. This connects Buddhism with 
 the doctrine of metempsychosis ; a doctrine which 
 the incarnations of Brahminism also suggest. 
 
 Such are some of the speculative points of 
 Buddhism. Its morality has been greatly, and, 
 perhaps, unduly extolled. So much contempla 
 tion can scarcely exist without the condemna 
 tion of the more palpable sins of commission. 
 Hence, those vices which are the offspring of 
 passion and ignorance are condemned ; as is but 
 natural. The suspension of exertion precludes 
 active vice. Of the active virtues, however, the 
 recognition is as slight as may be ; so slight as to 
 make it doubtful whether Buddhism be a better 
 rule for the formation of good citizens than Brah 
 minism. Which has been the most resistant to 
 the influences of Christianity is doubtfuLj- 
 
 Just as the Anglo-Saxon language, although it 
 originated in Germany, has survived and deve 
 loped itself in Britain only, the Buddhist creed, 
 once indigenous to the continent of Hindo- 
 stan, is now found nowhere between the Hima 
 layas and Cape Comorin ; whilst beyond the pale 
 
 * In the sixth century, B.C. according to the Buddhist 
 chronology. 
 
 f Such, at least, is the opinion of the author of " Christianity 
 in Ceylon," Sir E. Tennent. 
 
BUDDHISM AND BRAHMINISM. 187 
 
 of India, it is as widely extended as the English 
 language is beyond the limits of Germany. The 
 rival religion of the Brahmins expelled it. Which 
 of the two was the older is uncertain. Still more 
 difficult is it to determine how far each is a sepa 
 rate substantive mythological growth, or merely a 
 modification of the rival creed. 
 
 I lay but little stress upon the internal evi 
 dence derivable from the character of the reli 
 gions themselves. Both are complicated and 
 artificial both, perhaps, equally so. In con 
 trast, however, to the more speculative and 
 transcendental points, suggestive of recent de 
 velopment, there are others indicative of great 
 antiquity. Nevertheless, it is as difficult to affirm 
 that the primitive parts of the one creed are 
 older than the most primitive parts of the other, 
 as it is to affirm that the highest transcendental 
 isms are more recent. 
 
 The fact of the oldest inscriptions being in the 
 Pali dialect, is favourable to the greater antiquity 
 of Buddhism, but it is not conclusive. The 
 notion that Sanskrit itself is comparatively recent, 
 of course subtracts from that of Brahminism. 
 But this is far from being admitted. Besides 
 which, it by no means follows, that because Brah 
 minism is, comparatively speaking, recent, Buddh 
 ism must be ancient. 
 
 The best clue in this labyrinth of conflicting 
 
188 BUDDH. BEDO. POTTEANG, ETC. 
 
 opinions is the study of the superstitions of the 
 ruder tribes of the hill-ranges of India itself, of 
 the sub-Himalayas, and of the Indo-Chinese pen 
 insula ; the result of which investigation will be 
 that that creed which has most points in common 
 with the primitive and unmodified mythologies of 
 the Tamulian stock, and of those branches of the 
 monosyllabic populations nearest akin thereto, 
 has also the best claim to be considered as the 
 older. 
 
 In my own mind, I believe that the Bedo of 
 the Rajmahali mountaineers, is the Batho of the 
 Bodo, the Pennu of the Khonds, and the Potteang 
 of the Kukis,* name for name. I believe this 
 without doubt or hesitation. But if I ask myself 
 the import of this identity, the answer is un 
 satisfactory. There is doubt and hesitation in 
 abundance. Bedo, Batho, Petto, and Potteang, 
 may represent the germ of what afterwards became 
 Buddli-ism. They may exhibit the Indian creed 
 in its rudiments. True. But they may also re 
 present it in its fragments, so that Bedo and Batho 
 may be but Buddh, distorted in form, and but 
 imperfectly comprehended in import. In our 
 own Gospel, the name for the place of punish 
 ment, which the Greeks called Hades, and the 
 Hebrews typified by Gehenna, is the name of a 
 Saxon goddess Hela ; and, in this particular in- 
 * Names explained in Chapter iii. 
 
DEVIL-WORSHIP. 189 
 
 stance, a point of our original paganism has been 
 taken up into our present Christianity. The 
 same is the case with the Finnic nation, where 
 Yumala signifies God,- Yumala being as truly 
 heathen as Jupiter. On the other hand we find 
 amongst the genuine pagan Gallas of Africa, an 
 object of respect or worship called Miriam. 
 What is this? No true piece of heathendom at 
 all. Dr. Beke has given good reasons for believ 
 ing that it means the Virgin Mother of the Saviour, 
 the only extant member of the Christian Revela 
 tion now known to that once imperfectly Chris 
 tianized community. 
 
 Buddhism, then, may claim a higher antiquity 
 than Brahminism under the two following condi 
 tions. 
 
 1. That the names Batho, &c., be really a 
 form of Buddh. 
 
 2. That they have belonged to superstitions in 
 which they occur from the beginning; and are 
 not in the same category with the Miriam of the 
 Gallas, i.e., recent introductions from a wholly 
 different religion grafts rather than embryos. 
 
 How far this latter is the case must be ascer 
 tained by a wide and minute inquiry, foreign to 
 the present work. 
 
 It is no wonder that, side by side with a semi- 
 philosophical creed like Buddhism, we should 
 have such a phenomenon as Devil-worship. When 
 
190 DEVIL-WORSHIP. 
 
 the spirit falls short of its due degree of self- 
 sustained hardihood, fear finds its way to the 
 heart. The evil powers are then propitiated; 
 sometimes in a manner savouring of dignity, 
 sometimes with groveling and grotesque cowardice. 
 The Yezid of Mesopotamia, whose belief in the 
 power of an evil spirit is derived from the Mani- 
 cheism of old, shows his fear of the arch-enemy 
 by simple and not unreasonable acts of negation. 
 He does nothing that may offend ; never men 
 tions his name ; and dwells on his attributes as 
 little as possible. The devil-worshipper of 
 Ceylon uses such invocations as the follow 
 ing : 
 
 I. 
 
 Come, thou sanguinary Devil, at the sixth hour. Come, 
 thou fierce Devil, upon this stage, and accept the offerings 
 made to thee ! 
 
 The ferocious Devil seems to be coming measuring the 
 ground by the length of his feet, and giving warnings of his 
 approach by throwing stones and sand round about. He looks 
 upon the meat-offering which is kneaded with blood and 
 boiled rice. 
 
 He stands there and plays in thf shade of the tree called 
 Demby. He removes the sickness of the person which he 
 caused. He will accept the offerings prepared with blood, 
 odour, and reddish boiled rice. Prepare these offerings in the 
 shade of the Demby tree. 
 
 Make a female figure of the planets with a monkey s face, 
 and its body the colour of gold. Offer four offerings in the 
 four corners. In the left corner, place some blood, and for 
 
DEVIL-WORSHIP. 191 
 
 victims a fowl and a goat. In the evening, place the scene 
 representing the planets on the high ground. 
 
 The face resemhles a monkey s face, and the head is the 
 colour of gold. The head is reddish, and the hunch of hair is 
 black and tied. He holds blood in the left-hand, and rides on 
 a bullock. After this manner make the sanguinary figure of 
 the planets. 
 
 II. 
 
 O thou great devil Maha-Sohon, preserve these sick persons 
 without delay ! 
 
 On the way, as he was going, by supernatural power he 
 made a great noise. He fought with the form of Wessamoony, 
 and wounded his head. The planet Saturn saw a wolf in the 
 midst of the forest, and broke his neck. The Wessamoony 
 gave permission to the great devil called Maha-Sohon. 
 
 O thou great devil Maha-Sohon, take away these sicknesses 
 by accepting the offerings made frequently to thee. The 
 qualities of this devil are these : he stretches his long chin, 
 and opens wide his mouth like a cavern : he bears a spear in 
 his right-hand, and grasps a great and strong elephant with his 
 left-hand. He is watching and expecting to drink the blood 
 of the elephant in the place where the two and three roads 
 meet together. 
 
 Influenced by supernatural power, he entered the body of 
 the princess called Godimbera. He caused her to be sick 
 with severe trembling sickness. Come thou poor and power 
 less devil Maha-Sohon to fight with me, and leave the prin 
 cess, if thou hast sufficient strength. 
 
 On hearing these sayings, he left her, and made himself 
 like a blue cloud, and violently covered his whole body with 
 flames of fire. Furiously staring with his eyes, he said, 
 " Art thou come, blockhead, to fight with me who was born in 
 the world of men ? I will take you by the legs, and dash you 
 
192 DEVIL-WORSHIP. 
 
 upon the great rock Maha~meru< and quickly bring you to no 
 thing." 
 
 Thou wast born on Sunday, the first day of the month, and 
 didst receive permission from the King of Death, and didst 
 brandish a sword like a plantain-leaf. Thou comest down at 
 half-past seven, to accept the offerings made to thee. 
 
 If the devil Maha-Sodon cause the chin-cough, leanness of 
 the body, thirst, madness, and mad babblings, he will come 
 down at half-past seven, and accept the offerings made to him. 
 
 These are the marks of the devil Maha-Sohon: three marks 
 on the head, one mark on the eye-brow and on the temple ; 
 three marks on the belly, a shining moon on the thigh, a light 
 ed torch on the head, an offering and a flower on the breast. 
 The chief god of the burying-place will say, May you live 
 long ! 
 
 Make the figure of the planets called the emblem of the 
 great burying-place, as follows : a spear grasped by the right- 
 hand, an elephant s figure in the left-hand, and in the act of 
 drinking the blood of the elephant by bruising its proboscis. 
 
 Tip the point of the spear in the hand with blood, pointed 
 towards the elephant s face in the left-hand. These effigies 
 and offerings take and offer in the burying-place, discerning 
 well the sickness by means of the devil-dancer. 
 
 Make a figure of the wolf with a large breast, full of hairs 
 on the body, and with long teeth separated from each other. 
 The effigy of the Maha-Sohon was made formerly so. 
 
 These are the sicknesses which the great devil causes by 
 living among the tombs : chin-cough, itching of the body, dis 
 orders in the bowels ; windy complaints, dropsy, leanness of 
 the body, weakness and consumptions. 
 
 He walks on high upon the lofty stones. He walks on the 
 ground where three ways meet. Therefore go not in the 
 roads by night : if you do so, you must not expect to escape 
 with your life. 
 
THE VADDAHS. 193 
 
 Make two figures of a goose, one on each side. Make a 
 lion and a dog to stand at the left-leg, bearing four drinking- 
 cups on four paws and make a moon s image, and put it in 
 the bury ing-place. 
 
 Comb the hair, and tie up a large bunch with a black string. 
 Put round the neck a cobra-capella, and dress him in the gar 
 ments by making nine folds round the waist. He stands on a 
 rock eating men s flesh. The persons that were possessed 
 with devils are put in the burying-place . 
 
 Put a corpse at the feet, taking out the intestines through 
 the mouth. The principal thing for this country, and for the 
 Singalese, is the worship of the planets.* 
 
 In the centre of the island is the kingdom of 
 Kandy ; naturally fortified by impervious forests, 
 and long independent. This creates a variety ; 
 the Kandyans being somewhat ruder than the 
 other Singalese. It is not, however, an impor 
 tant one. The really important ethnology of 
 Ceylon is that of the Vaddahs, in the eastern 
 districts, inland of Battacaloa. They are still 
 unmodified by either the Hindu habits, or the 
 great Indian creeds, the true analogues of the 
 Khonds, and Kols, Snd Bhils, &c. Their lan 
 guage, however, is Singalese ; an important fact, 
 since it denotes one of two phenomena, either 
 the antiquity of the conquest of Ceylon supposing 
 the extension of the Singalese language to have 
 been gradual, or the thorough-going character of 
 it, if it be recent. 
 
 * From Callaway s " Translation of the KoUn Nattan- 
 
 nawa." 
 
 o 
 
194 THE PAD^EI. 
 
 Who were the Padai of the following extract 
 from Herodotus?* "Other Indians there are, 
 who live east of these. They are nomads, eaters 
 of raw flesh ; and called Padsei. They are said 
 to have the following customs. Whenever one of 
 their countrymen is sick, whether man or woman, 
 he is killed. The males kill the males, and 
 amongst these the most intimate acquaintance 
 kill their nearest friends ; for they say that 
 for a man to be wasted by disease is for their 
 own meat to be spoilt. The man denies that he 
 ails ; but they, not letting him have his own way, 
 kill and feast on him. If a female be sick, the 
 women that are most intimate with her treat her 
 as the males do the men. They sacrifice and 
 feast upon all who arrive at old age. Few, how 
 ever, go thus far, since they kill every one who 
 falls sick before he reaches that stage of life." 
 
 Name for name, the Faddahs of Ceylon have a 
 claim to be Padcei. Besides which they are Indian. 
 
 But, name for name, the JBattas if of Sumatra 
 have a claim as well ; and although they are not 
 exactly Indian, they are cannibals of the sort in 
 question or, at any rate, cannibals in a manner 
 quite as remarkable. 
 
 This gives us a conflict of difficulties. The 
 solution of them lies in the fact of neither Vaddah 
 
 * Book iii. 99. 
 
 t The same, probably, is the case with the BIDJ of Java. 
 
WANDERING TRIBES OF INDIA. 195 
 
 nor Batta being native names; a fact which 
 leaves us a liberty to suppose that the Padcei of 
 Herodotus were simply some wild Indian tribe 
 sufficiently allied in manners to the Vaddahs of 
 Ceylon, and the Battas of Sumatra, to be called 
 by the same name, but without being necessarily 
 either the one or the other; or even ethnolo- 
 gically connected with either. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Now look at the gipsies of Great Britain. 
 They are wanderers without fixed habitations; 
 whilst, at the same time, they are more abundant 
 in some parts of the island than others. They 
 have no very definite occupation ; yet they are 
 oftener tinkers and tinmen than aught else equally 
 legal. They intermarry with the English but 
 little. All this is caste, although we may not 
 exactly call it so. Then, again, they have a 
 peculiar language, although it is so imperfectly 
 known to the majority of the British gipsies, as 
 to have become well-nigh extinct.f These gip 
 sies are of Indian origin, and a wandering tribe 
 of Hindustan, called Sikligurs, reminded Mr. 
 Pickering of the European gipsies more than 
 any other Indians he fell in with. Like these, 
 the Sikligurs are coves, or tinkers. 
 
 t From this language, I imagine that the three following 
 words have come into the English two of them being slang 
 and one a sporting term rum, cove, jockey. 
 
196 WANDERING TRIBES OF INDIA. 
 
 This, however, is by the way. Although it is 
 as well to make a note of the Indian extraction 
 of the English and other European gipsies, it is 
 not for this reason that they have been mentioned. 
 They find a place here for the sake of illustrating 
 what is meant by the wandering tribes of India, 
 whilst at the same time they throw a slight 
 illustration over the nature of castes. Lastly, they 
 are essentially parts of an ethnological investiga 
 tion ethnological rather than either social or 
 political. Their characteristics are referable to a 
 difference of descent ; and they are tinkers, wan 
 derers, poachers, and smugglers, not so much 
 because they are either gipsies, or Indians, as 
 because they are of a different stock from the 
 English. They are foreigners in the fullest sense 
 of the term ; and they differ from their fellow- 
 citizens just as the Jew does though less advan 
 tageously. 
 
 Now India swarms with the analogues of the 
 English gipsy ; so much so as to make it likely 
 that the latter is found as far from his original 
 country as Wales and Norway, simply because 
 he is a vagabond, not because he is an Indian. 
 
 Of the chief of the tribes in question a good 
 account is given by Mr. Balfour. This list, 
 however, which is as follows, may be enlarged. 
 
 1. The Gohur are, perhaps, better known 
 under the name of Lumbarri, and better still as 
 
THE GOHURI, ETC. 197 
 
 the Binjarri, the bullock-drivers of many parts of 
 India, but more especially of the Dekhan. They 
 are corn-merchants as well. Their organization 
 consists of divisions called Tandas, at the head 
 of which is a Naek. Two Naeks paramount over 
 the rest, reside permanently at Hyderabad, on 
 the confines of the Mahratta and Telagu coun 
 tries. The bullock, Hatadia, devoted to the God 
 Balajee, is an object of worship. In a long line 
 of Brinjarri met by Mr. Pickering,* one of the 
 females was carrying a dog, which neither a 
 Hindu nor a Parsi would have done. Many of 
 them are Sikhs. There are, certainly, three divi 
 sions of the Gohuri the Chouhane,-)- the Rhatore, 
 and the Powar, and probably 
 
 The Purmans are another branch of them ; con 
 sisting of about seventy-five families of agricul 
 turists on the Bombay islets. 
 
 2. The Bhowri, called also Hirn-shikarri and 
 Hern-pardi, though Bhowri is the native name, 
 are hunters. They also fall into subordinate 
 divisions. 
 
 3. The Tarremuki; so-called by themselves, but 
 known in the Dekhan as Ghissaris, or Bail-Kum- 
 bar, and amongst the Mahrattas, as Lohars, are 
 blacksmiths. 
 
 * " Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," No. 145. 
 t These names introduce a difficulty They are Rajptit 
 as well. 
 
198 THE GOHURI, ETC. 
 
 4. The Korawi, fall in tribes which neither eat 
 with each other, nor intermarry, viz. : 
 
 a. The Bajantri, who are musicians. 
 
 b. The Teling basket-makers and prostitutes. 
 
 c. The Kolla. 
 
 d. The Soli. 
 
 5. The Bhattu y Dummur, or Kollati, are ex 
 orcists and exhibitors of feats of strength. 
 
 6. The Muddikpur, so called by themselves, 
 though known under several other names, follow 
 a variety of employments ; some being ferrymen. 
 
 All these tribes wander about the country with 
 out any permanent home, speak a peculiar dialect 
 with a considerable proportion of Non-Sanskritic 
 words, and preserve certain peculiarities of creed ; 
 though in different degrees- the Muddikpur being 
 wholly or nearly pagan, the Taremuki Brahminic. 
 
 The wandering life of these, and other similar 
 tribes is not, by itself, sufficient to justify us in 
 separating them from the other Hindus. But it 
 does not stand alone. The fragments of an earlier 
 paganism, and the fragments of an earlier lan 
 guage are phenomena which must be taken in 
 conjunction with it. These suggest the likelihood 
 of the Gohuri, the Bhatti, and their like, being 
 in the same category with the Khonds and Bhils, 
 &c., i.e., representatives of the earlier and more 
 exclusively Tamulian populations. If the gipsy 
 language of England had, instead of its Indian 
 
RELIGIOUS SECTS. 199 
 
 elements, an equal number of words from the 
 original British, it would present the same phae- 
 nomena, and lead to the same inference as that 
 which is drawn from the Bhatti, Bowri, Tarre- 
 muki, and Gohuri vocabularies,* viz. : the doc 
 trine that fragments of the original population 
 are to be sought for amongst the wanderers over 
 the face of the country, as well as among the 
 occupants of its mountain strongholds. 
 
 ***** 
 In a country like India, where differences of 
 habit, business, extraction, and creed, are accom 
 panied by an inordinate amount of separation 
 between different sections and sub-sections of its 
 population, and where slight barriers of diverse 
 kinds prevent intermixture, the different sects of 
 its numerous religions requires notice. This, how 
 ever, may be short. As sectarianism is generally 
 in the direct ratio to the complexity of the creed 
 submitted to section, we may expect to find the 
 forms of Brahminism and Buddhism, not less nu 
 merous than those of either Christianity or Maho- 
 metanism. And such is really the case. The sects 
 are too numerous to enlarge upon. The Sikh creed 
 has been noticed from its political importance. 
 That of the Jains is also remarkable, since it most 
 closely resembles Buddhism, without being abso- 
 
 * All of which may be found in the paper already quoted ; 
 and all of which contain numerous Tamul roots. 
 
200 THE JAINS. 
 
 lutely Buddhist in the current sense of the word. 
 It is, possibly, the actual and original Buddh 
 ism of the continent of India supposed to 
 have been driven out bodily by Brahminism, but 
 really with the true vitality of persecuted creeds, 
 still surviving in disguise. Again, in India, 
 though in a less degree than in China, Philosophy 
 replaces belief so much so, that the different 
 forms of one negation Natural Religion must 
 be classed amongst the creeds of Hindostan ; by 
 the side of which there stand many kinds of 
 simple philosophy; just as was the case in ancient 
 Greece, where, in one and the same city, there 
 were the philosophers of the Academy and the 
 believers in Zeus. 
 
 There is, then, creed within creed in the two 
 great religions of India to say nothing about the 
 numerous fragments of modified and unmodified 
 paganism. 
 
 And besides these there are the following in 
 troduced religions each coinciding, more or less, 
 with some ethnological division. 
 
 1. Christianity from, at least, four different 
 sources 
 
 . That of "the Christians of Thomas on the 
 Malabar Coast. Here the doctrine is that of the 
 Syrian Church, and the population being per 
 haps (?) Persian in origin. 
 
 b. The Romanism of the French and Portu- 
 
CREEDS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN. 201 
 
 guese ; the latter having its greatest development 
 in the Mahratta country, about Goa. 
 
 c. Dutch and Danish Protestantism. 
 
 d. English and American Protestantism. To 
 which add small infusions of the Armenian and 
 Abyssinian churches. 
 
 Of these it is only the Christians of St. Thomas 
 that are of much ethnological importance. 
 
 2. Judaism on the coast of Malabar ; or the 
 Judaism of the so-called Black Jews. 
 
 3. Parseeism in Guzerat; of Persian origin, 
 and, probably, nearly confined to individuals of 
 Persian blood. 
 
 4. Mahometanism. 
 
 ***** 
 Of foreign blood there are numerous infusions. 
 
 1. Arab. On the western coast, more especially 
 amongst the Moplahs of the neighbourhood of 
 Goa ; where the stock seems to be Arabian on 
 the father s, and Indian on the mother s side. 
 
 2. Persian. Amongst the Parsees and Saint 
 Thomas Christians (?); and, far more unequi 
 vocally, and in greater proportions, amongst the 
 Mogliul families these being always more or less 
 Persian ; but Persian with such heterogeneous in 
 termixtures of Turk and Mongol blood besides as 
 to make analysis almost impossible. 
 
 3. Afghan. The Rohillas of Rohilcund are 
 Afghan in origin ; so are the Patani indeed, the 
 
202 FOREIGN INTERMIXTURE OF BLOOD. 
 
 term Patan means an Afghan of Hindostan where - 
 ever he may be. 
 
 4. Jewish. 
 
 5, 6, 7. Chinese, Malay, Burmese, &c. 
 8. European. 
 
 Of the Indians out of India, by far the most are 
 
 1. The Gipsies. 
 
 2. The Banians, who are the Hindu traders of 
 Arabia, Persia, Cashmir, and other parts of the 
 East. 
 
 3. The Hill Coolies, individuals of the Khond 
 and Kuli class, upon whom England is trying the 
 experiment of what may end in a revival of the 
 old crimping system, as a substitute for slave- 
 labour in our intertropical colonies. 
 
 ***** 
 Such is a sketch of the ethnology of India ; pre 
 eminently complex, but not pre-eminently mys 
 terious ; its chief problems being 
 
 1. The general ethnological relations of the 
 Tamulian stock. 
 
 2. Those of the intrusive Brahminical Hindus. 
 
 3. The relation of the intrusive population to 
 the aboriginal.* 
 
 * Since this was written Major-General Briggs valuable 
 paper on the Aboriginal Tribes of India, has been published 
 in "Transactions of the British Association," &c., for 1851. 
 Having been seen in MS. by the present writer it has been 
 freely used. 
 
MALAYAN PENINSULA. 203 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BRITISH DEPENDENCIES IN THE MALAYAN PENINSULA. THE 
 
 OCEANIC STOCK AND ITS DIVISIONS. THE MALAY, SEMANG, 
 
 AND DYAK TYPES. THE ORANG BINUA. JAKUNS. THE 
 
 BIDUANDA KALLANG. THE ORANG SLETAR. THE SARAWAK 
 
 TRIBES. THE NEW ZEALANDERS. THE AUSTRALIANS. THE 
 
 TASMANIANS. 
 
 OUR isolated and small settlements in the Ma 
 layan Peninsula,* the depot at Labuan, Sir James 
 Brooke s Rajahship of Sarawak, New Zealand, 
 the joint protectorate of the Sandwich Islands 
 and Tahiti, Australia, and Van Dieman s Land, 
 bring us to a new division of the human species, 
 which is conveniently called the Oceanic. 
 
 Its divisions and subdivisions are as follows : 
 
 f PROTONESIANS f MlCRONESIANS 
 
 /AMPHINESIANS -{POLYNESIANS -{POLYNESIANS 
 
 [MALAGASI [ PROPER. 
 OCEANIC J 
 
 f PAPUANS 
 
 ( KEL.ENONESIANS \ AUSTRALIANS 
 LTASMANIANS. 
 
 * Malacca, Wellesley Province, Penang, and Sincapore. 
 For excellent information about the ethnology of these parts 
 see Newbold s " British Settlements," and the " Journal of the 
 Indian Archipelago." 
 
204 THE OCEANIC STOCK. 
 
 Our settlements are limited to the Protonesian, 
 Proper Polynesian, Australian, and Tasmanian 
 sections : and we have no political authority over 
 any of the Malagasi, Micronesians, or Papuans. 
 
 With the exception of the occupants of the 
 Malayan Peninsula, all the Oceanic population 
 occupy islands. This explains the term Oceanic. 
 
 Their distribution is as remarkable as their ex 
 tension. The Amphinesian* stream of popula 
 tion, originating in the peninsula of Malacca, is 
 continued through Borneo, the Moluccas, and the 
 Philippines, Lord North s Island, Sonsoral, the 
 Pelew group, the Caroline and Marianne Isles, 
 the Ralik and Radack chains, the Kingsmill 
 group and the Gilbert and Scarborough Islands, 
 to the Navigators , Society, friendly, Marquesas, 
 Sandwich, and New Zealand groups ; having be 
 come Micronesian rather than Protonesian, after 
 passing the Philippines, and Proper Polynesian 
 rather than Micronesian, after passing the Scar 
 borough and Gilbert Archipelagoes. In this 
 course it passes round New Guinea and Australia; 
 in each of which islands the population is Kelae- 
 nonesian. 
 
 The Malay of the Malacca peninsula is no 
 longer either monosyllabic or uninflectional, al- 
 
 * From a/x<l (amfi) roundabout, and vrjaros (ncesos) an 
 island. 
 
MALAYS. 205 
 
 though in immediate contact with the southern 
 dialects of the Siamese. Hence, the transition is 
 abrupt ; although by no means conclusive as to 
 any broad and trenchant line of ethnological de 
 marcation. 
 
 The differences of physical form are less than 
 those of language. No one has denied that the 
 Malay configuration is a modification of the Mon 
 golian at least in some of its varieties. 
 
 I say at least in some of its varieties, because 
 within the narrow range of the Malaccan penin 
 sula and the island of Borneo we find no less 
 than three different types. In Polynesia one of 
 these, and in Kel&nonesia another becomes ex 
 aggerated so much so, as to suggest the idea of 
 a different origin for the populations. 
 
 a. The Malays are referable to the first type. 
 Mahometans in religion, they partake of the civi 
 lization of the Arab and Indian, and differ but 
 slightly from the Indo-Chinese nations ; the com 
 plexion being dark and the hair straight. The 
 Mahometan Malays, however, are no true abo 
 rigines. They are not only a new people on the 
 peninsula, but they consider themselves as such ; 
 and those occupants which they recognise as older 
 than themselves, they call Orang Binua, or men 
 of the soil. Of these some have a darker com 
 plexion and crisper hair than the intruding popu- 
 
206 SEMANGS. DYAKS. 
 
 lation : and when we reach a particular section 
 called 
 
 b. The Semang, we find them described as 
 having curly, crisp, matted, and even woolly hair, 
 thick lips, and a black skin. These, like most of 
 the other Orang Binua, are Pagans. Still their 
 language is essentially Malay ; and their physical 
 conformation passes into that of the Malays by 
 numerous transitions. 
 
 c. Thirdly, we find in Borneo the Dyaks. 
 Many of these are as much fairer than the Malays 
 as the Semang are darker. Their language, how 
 ever, belongs to the Malay class; whilst their 
 religion and civilization may reasonably be sup 
 posed to be that of the Malays previous to the 
 influences of Brahminism from India, Mahome- 
 tanism from Arabia, and the changes effected in 
 their habits, language, and appearance effected 
 thereby. 
 
 It is not too much to say that within the penin 
 sula of Malaya, the Johore Archipelago, and the 
 island of Borneo, each of these types, and every 
 intermediate form as well, is to be found. 
 
 Malacca. The town of Malacca is a town of 
 Mahometan Malays, but I believe that the eastern 
 parts of Wellesley province are on the frontier of 
 the Jokong, Jakon, or Jahun. These are Orang 
 Binua, or aborigines at least as compared with 
 the true, Malays. 
 
THE JAKUNS. 207 
 
 In the eighth century I am drawing an illustra 
 tion from the history of our own island, and its 
 relations to continental Germany the Anglo- 
 Saxons of Great Britain, themselves originally 
 Pagan Germans, took an interest in the spiritual 
 welfare of the so-called Old Saxons, a tribe of 
 Westphalia, immediately related to their own 
 continental ancestors, these Old Saxons having 
 retained their primitive Paganism. The mission 
 partly succeeded, and partly failed. 
 
 Now, if in addition to this partial success of 
 the Anglo-Saxon mission, there had been a partial 
 Anglo-Saxon colonization as well, and if, side by 
 side with this, fragments of the old unmodified 
 Paganism had survived amongst the fens and 
 forests up to the present time, we should have had, 
 in the relations of England and Germany, pre 
 cisely what I imagine to have been the case with 
 the Malayan peninsula and the island of Sumatra. 
 Like Germany, the peninsula would have sup 
 plied the original stock to the island ; but, in the 
 island, that stock would have undergone certain 
 modifications. With these modifications it would 
 so to say have been reflected back upon the 
 continent re-colonizing the old mother-country. 
 Now just what the Old Saxons of Westphalia 
 were to the Anglo-Saxons of the eighth century, 
 are the Jakun to the true Malays. They differ 
 from them in being something other than Maho- 
 
208 THE BIDUANDA KALLANG. 
 
 metan ; i.e., in being nearly what the Mahometan 
 Malays were before their conversion. 
 
 The Jakim are Malays, minus those points of 
 Malay civilization which are referable to the 
 religion of the Koran. 
 
 But the Jakun are only a few out of many ; a 
 single branch of a great stem. 
 
 The most convenient term for the members in 
 general of this class is Orang Binua a term 
 already explained. 
 
 The Biduanda Kallang. The next, then, of the 
 Orang Binua that comes in contact with a Bri 
 tish dependency many others not thus politically 
 connected with us being passed over are the 
 Biduanda Kallang of the parts about Sincapore. 
 Their present locality is the banks of the most 
 southern of the rivers of the peninsula, the Pulai. 
 Thither they were removed when the British took 
 possession of the island of Sincapore ; of which 
 they were previously the joint occupants joint 
 occupants, because they shared it with the tribe 
 which will be next mentioned. They were an 
 Orang Laut in one sense of the word, but not 
 in another. Orang means men or people, and laut 
 means sea in Malay ; and the Biduanda Kallang 
 were boatmen rather than agriculturists. But 
 they were only freshwater sailors ; since, though 
 they lived on the water, they avoided the open 
 sea. They formerly consisted of one hundred 
 
ORANG SLETAR. 209 
 
 families ; but have been reduced by small-pox to 
 eight. 
 
 Their priest or physician is called bomo, and he 
 invokes the hantu, or deities, the anito of the 
 Philippine Islanders, the tii of the Tahitians ; 
 and, probably, the Wandong and Vintana of Aus 
 tralia and Madagascar respectively. 
 
 They bury their dead after wrapping the corpse 
 in a mat ; and placing on the grave one cup of 
 woman s milk, one of water, and one of rice; 
 when they entreat the deceased to seek nothing 
 more from them. 
 
 Persons of even the remotest degree of rela 
 tionship are forbidden to intermarry. 
 
 The accounts of their physical appearance is 
 taken from too few individuals to justify any 
 generalization. Two, however, of them had the 
 forehead broader than the cheekbones, so that the 
 head was pear-shaped. In a third, it was lozenge- 
 shaped. The head was small, and the face flat. 
 The lower jaw projected ; but not the upper so 
 that " when viewed in profile, the features seem 
 to be placed on a straight line, from which the pro 
 minent parts rise very slightly."* 
 
 The Orang Sletar. The original joint-occu 
 pants of Sincapore with the Biduanda Kallang, 
 were the Orang Sletar, or men of the river Sletar ; 
 differing but little from the former. Of the two 
 * Logan in," Journal of Indian Archipelago," vol, i. 
 
 P 
 
210 ORANG SLETAR. 
 
 families they are the shyer, and the more squalid ; 
 numbering about two hundred individuals and 
 forty boats. Their dialect is Malay, spoken with 
 a guttural pronunciation, and with a clipping of 
 the words. 
 
 At the birth of a child they have no ceremonies ; 
 at marriage a present of tobacco and rice to the 
 bride s mother confirms the match ; at death the 
 deceased is wrapped in his garments and interred. 
 
 Skin diseases and deformities are common ; 
 nevertheless, many of their women are given in 
 marriage to both the Malays and Chinese ; but I 
 know of no account of the mixed progeny. 
 
 A low retreating forehead throws the face of 
 the Orang Sletar forwards, though the jaw is 
 rather perpendicular than projecting.* 
 
 Such are the Orang Binua originally, or at 
 present, in contact with the small and isolated pos 
 sessions of the British in the Malayan peninsula. 
 
 Of the proper Malays I have said next to 
 nothing. Excellent works give full accounts of 
 them ;f whilst it is not through them that the true 
 ethnological problems are to be worked. 
 
 I believe that when we reach Borneo, the equi 
 valents to the Orang Binua, or the original popu- 
 
 * Logan and Thompson in " Journal of Indian Archi 
 pelago," vol. i. 
 
 t Especially Crawfurd s " Indian Archipelago," Sir Stam 
 ford Raffles " History of Java," and Marsden s "Sumatra." 
 
THE DYAKS. 211 
 
 lations in opposition to the Mahometan Malays, 
 become referable to a fresh type, and that instead 
 of being darker than the true Malays they are 
 often lighter. At any rate, one thing is certain, 
 viz., that, whether the skin be brown, blackish, or 
 fair, the language belongs to the same stock. 
 
 Again although in one area the darker tribes 
 may preponderate, it is not to the absolute ex 
 clusion of the fairer. The Dyaks of Borneo 
 are, generally speaking, light-complexioned ; yet, 
 there is special evidence to the existence of dark 
 tribes in that island. On the other hand there is 
 equal evidence to the existence of families lighter- 
 skinned than the true Malays in the peninsula. 
 Nevertheless, as a general rule, the departure from 
 the type of that population is towards darkness 
 of colour on the continent, and towards lightness 
 in Borneo. 
 
 With what physical conditions these differences 
 coincide is not always easy to be discerned. In 
 the South Sea Islands, where in one and the 
 same Archipelago, we find some tribes tall and 
 fair, whereas others are dark and ill-featured, it 
 has been remarked by Captain Beechy that this 
 contrast of complexion coincides with the geolo 
 gical structure of the soil. The lower and more 
 coralline the island, the blacker the islanders ; 
 the more elevated and volcanic, the lighter. In 
 Africa, it is the low alluvia of rivers that favour 
 
212 THE DYAKS. 
 
 the Negro configuration. Mountains or table 
 lands, on the other hand, give us red or yellow 
 skins, rather than sable. 
 
 The Dyaks, then, are light-coloured Pagans, 
 speaking languages allied to the Malay ; little 
 touched by Arabic, and less by Hindu influences ; 
 with manners and customs that, more or less, 
 re-appear amongst the Battas (or ruder tribes of 
 Sumatra), and the so-called Harafuras of Celebes 
 and not only here but elsewhere. In other 
 words, in all the islands, where Indian and Arabic 
 civilization have not succeeded in wholly chang 
 ing the primitive character, analogues of the 
 Orang Binua are to be found ; their greatest dif 
 ferences being those of stature and complexion 
 differences upon which good judges have laid 
 great stress ; but differences which will probably 
 be found to coincide with certain geological con 
 ditions in the way of physical, and with a lower 
 level of civilization in the way of moral causes 
 these moral causes having indirectly a physical 
 action. 
 
 The Dyaks, in general, use the sumpitan, 
 or blow-pipe, about five feet long; out of 
 which some tribes shoot simple, others poisoned 
 arrows. The utmost distance that the sumpitan 
 carries is about one hundred yards. At twenty it 
 is sure in its aim. The differences between the 
 Dyak weapon, and one in use with the Arawaks 
 
THE DYAKS. 213 
 
 of Gruiana is but trifling perhaps it amounts 
 to nothing at all. 
 
 Some Dyak tribes tattoo their bodies ; others 
 do not. 
 
 Before a Dyak youth marries he must lay at 
 the feet of the bride-elect the head of an enemy. 
 This makes head-hunting a normal item of Dyak 
 courtship. 
 
 Traces of the Indian mythology measures of 
 the Indian influence in other respects just exist 
 amongst the Dyaks e.g. Battara is a name in 
 their Pantheon, and this is an alteration of the 
 Brahminic Avatar. 
 
 The pirates who harass the coasts of Borneo 
 and the Chinese Seas destined, at some future 
 time to be, like the Kaflres, but too well-known 
 to the English tax-payers are Malays rather 
 than Orang Binua, or their equivalents; the 
 navigation of the Dyaks being chiefly confined to 
 rivers. 
 
 The particular tribes of Sarawak are the fol 
 lowing the Lundu, the Sarambo, the Singe, 
 the Suntah, the Sow, and the Sibnow. It is 
 almost unnecessary to name the great fountain- 
 head for all our recent knowledge of Borneo Sir 
 James Brooke. 
 
 The Dyak type predominates amongst the 
 Orang Binua of Borneo. In the Philippines the 
 Semang complexion re-appears. But the prolong- 
 
214 POLYNESIA. NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 ation of the eastward line of migration takes us 
 through the Mariannes and Ladrones to Polynesia; 
 and here the magnitude of the islands decreases ; 
 in other words, the influences of the sea-air 
 become greater. The aliment becomes almost 
 wholly vegetable. The separation from the civi- 
 lizational influences of Asia amounts to absolute 
 isolation. Of the general ethnology of the South 
 Sea Islanders I say nothing. The reasons which 
 took me over China, Arabia, and the Malayan 
 peninsula, sicco pede, spare the necessity of details 
 here. 
 
 In the Sandwich Islands there is a constitution. 
 In Tahiti, a school of native Christian Mis 
 sionaries. 
 
 New Zealand exhibits the contrast between 
 the darker and lighter-coloured Oceanic popula 
 tions in so remarkable a manner as to have en 
 gendered the notion that two stocks occupy the 
 island. If it were so, the fact would be remark 
 able and mysterious. How one population found 
 its way to a locality so distant is by no means an 
 easy question ; whilst the assumption of a second 
 family of immigrants just doubles its difficulty.! 
 ***** 
 
 In Java the proper Malay influences have been 
 
 t Dr. Dieffenbach s work on New Zealand is the repertory 
 of details here a valuable and standard book. 
 
AUSTRALIA. 215 
 
 so great as to leave but few traces of the Orang 
 Binua; and, earlier even than these, those of 
 India were actively at work. 
 
 East of Bali, however, the Orang Binua re 
 appear, and here the type is that of the Seraangs. 
 From Ombay, parts of Ende, and parts of Sum- 
 bawa, we have short vocabularies short, but not 
 too scanty to set aside the hasty, but accredited, 
 assertion of the Australian language, having 
 nothing in common with those of the Indian 
 Archipelago.* 
 
 I feel as satisfied that Australia was peopled 
 from either Timor or Rotti, as I do about the 
 Gallic origin of the ancient Britons. 
 
 I believe this because the geographical posi 
 tions of the countries suggest it. 
 
 I believe it, because the older and more abo 
 riginal populations of Timor and Rotti approach, 
 in physical character, the Australian. 
 
 I believe it, because the proportion of words 
 in the vocabularies alluded to is greater than can 
 be attributed to accident ; whilst the words them 
 selves are not of that kind which is introduced by 
 intercourse. Besides which, no such intercourse 
 either occurs at the present moment, or can be 
 shown to have ever existed. 
 
 Australia agrees with parts of Africa, South 
 
 * The collation of these may be seen in the Appendix to 
 Mr. Jukes " Voyage of the Fly." 
 
216 AUSTRALIA- 
 
 America, and Polynesia, in being partially 
 inter-tropical and wholly south of the equator 
 no part of continental Asia or Europe com 
 ing under these conditions. But it differs 
 from Polynesia in being continental rather than 
 insular in climate ; from South America in the 
 absence of great rivers and vast alluvial tracts ; 
 and from Africa in being wholly isolated from the 
 Northern Hemisphere. It is with South Africa, 
 however, that its closest analogies exist. Both 
 have but small water-systems ; both vast tracts of 
 elevated barren country ; and both a distinctive 
 vegetation. The animal kingdoms, however, of 
 the two areas have next to nothing in common. 
 The comparative non-existence of Australian 
 mammalia, higher in rank than the marsupials, 
 is a subject for the zoologist. Ethnology only 
 indicates its bearing upon the sustenance of man. 
 Poor in the vegetable elements of food, and 
 beggarly in respect to the animal, the vast conti 
 nental expanse of Australia supports the scantiest 
 aboriginal population of the world, and nourishes 
 it worst. The steppes of Asia feed the horse ; 
 the tundras, the reindeer ; the circumpolar ice 
 bergs, the seal ; and each of these comparatively 
 inhospitable tracts is more kindly towards its 
 Mongolian, its Samoeid, and its Eskimo occupant, 
 than Australia with its intertropical climate, but 
 wide and isolated deserts. 
 
AUSTRALIA. 217 
 
 Except that his hair (which is often either 
 straight, or only crisp or wavy) has not attained 
 its maximum of frizziness, and has seldom or 
 never been called woolly, the Australian is a 
 Semang under a South African climate, on a 
 South African soil, and with more than a South 
 African isolation. 
 
 Few Australians count as far as five, and fewer 
 still beyond it. This paucity of numerals is 
 South American as well the Brazilian and Carib, 
 and other systems of numeration being equally 
 limited. 
 
 The sound of s is wanting in the majority of 
 Australian languages. So it is in many of the 
 Polynesian. 
 
 The social constitution is of extreme simplicity. 
 Many degrees removed from the industrial, almost 
 as far from the agricultural state, the Australian 
 is hardly even a hunter except so far as the 
 kangaroo or wombat are beasts of chase. Fami 
 lies scarcely large enough to be called tribes 
 or clans wander over wide but allotted areas. 
 Nowhere is the approach to an organized polity 
 so imperfect. 
 
 This makes the differences between section and 
 section of the Australian population, both broad 
 and numerous. Nevertheless, the fundamental 
 unity of the whole is not only generally admitted, 
 but what is better it has been well illustrated. 
 
218 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The researches of Captain Grey, Teichelmann, 
 Schurrmann, and others, have chiefly contributed 
 to this. 
 
 The appreciation of certain apparent charac 
 teristic peculiarities has been less satisfactory ; 
 differences having been over-rated and points of 
 similarity wondered at rather than investigated. 
 
 The well-known instrument called the boome 
 rang is Australian, and it is, perhaps, exclusively 
 so. 
 
 Circumcision is an Australian practice a prac 
 tice common to certain Polynesians and Negroes, 
 besides- to say nothing of the Jews and Maho 
 metans. 
 
 The recognition of the maternal rather than 
 the paternal descent is Australian. Children 
 take the name of their mother. What other 
 points it has in common with the Malabar poly- 
 andrj# has yet to be ascertained. 
 
 When an Australian dies, those words which 
 are identical with his name, or (in case of com 
 pounds) with any part of it, cease to be used ; 
 and some synonym is adopted instead ; just as if, 
 in England, whenever a Mr. Smith departed this 
 life, the parish to which he belonged should cease 
 to talk of blacksmiths, and say foraemen, forgers, 
 or something equally respectful to the deceased, 
 instead. This custom re-appears in Polynesia, 
 and in South America ; Dobrizhoffer s account of 
 
AUSTRALIA. 219 
 
 the Apibonian custom being as follows : The 
 " Abiponian language is involved in new diffi 
 culties by a ridiculous custom which the savages 
 have of continually abolishing words common to 
 the whole nation, and substituting new ones in 
 their stead. Funeral rites are the origin of this 
 custom. The Abipones do not like that any 
 thing should remain to remind them of the dead. 
 Hence appellative words bearing any affinity with 
 the names of the deceased are presently abo 
 lished. During the first years that I spent 
 amongst the Abipones, it was usual to say 
 Hegmalkam kahamatek, when will there be 
 a slaughtering of oxen ? On account of the 
 death of some Abipon, the word Kahamatek 
 was interdicted, and, in its stead, they were all 
 commanded by the voice of a crier to say, Heg 
 malkam negerkatd ? The word nihirenak, a tiger, 
 was exchanged for apanigehak ; peu, a crocodile, 
 for Kaeprhak, and Kaama, Spaniards, for Rikil, 
 because these words bore some resemblance to the 
 names of Abipones lately deceased. Hence it is 
 that our vocabularies are so full of blots occa 
 sioned by our having such frequent occasions to 
 obliterate interdicted words, and insert new 
 ones." 
 
 The following custom is Australian, and it 
 belongs to a class which should always be noticed 
 when found. This is because it appears and re- 
 
220 THE KOBONG. 
 
 appears in numerous parts of the world, in dif 
 ferent forms, and, apparently, independent of 
 ethnological affinities. 
 
 A family selects some natural object as its 
 symbol, badge, or armorial bearing. 
 
 All natural objects of the same class then 
 become sacred ; i.e., the family which has adopted, 
 respects them also. 
 
 The modes of showing this respect are various. 
 If the object be an animal, it is not killed ; if a 
 plant, not plucked. 
 
 The native term for the object thus chosen is 
 Kobong. 
 
 A man cannot marry a woman of the same 
 Kobong. 
 
 Until we know the sequence of the cause and 
 effect in the case of the Australian Kobong, we 
 have but little room for speculation as to its 
 origin. Is the plant or animal adopted by a par 
 ticular family selected because it was previously 
 viewed with a mysterious awe, or is it invested 
 with the attributes of sacro-sanctity because it 
 has been chosen by the family ? This has yet to 
 be investigated. 
 
 Meanwhile, as Captain Gray truly remarks, the 
 Australian Kobong has elements in common with 
 the Polynesian tabu ! Might he not have added 
 that the names are probably the same ? The 
 change from t to k, and the difference between a 
 
THE KOBOtfG. 221 
 
 nasal and a vowel termination, are by no means 
 insuperable objections. 
 
 He also adds that it has a counterpart with the 
 American system of totem / although the exact 
 degree to which the comparison runs on all fours 
 is undetermined. 
 
 But the disuse of certain words on the death of 
 kinsmen, and the Kobong are not the only cus 
 toms common to the Australian and American. 
 
 The admission to the duties and privileges of 
 manhood is preceded by a probation. What this 
 is in the Mandan tribe of the Sioux Americans, 
 and the extent to which it consists in the inflic 
 tion and endurance of revolting and almost in 
 credible cruelties, may be seen in Mr. Catlin s 
 description the description of an eye-witness. 
 In Australia it is the Eabu that cries for the 
 youths that have arrived at puberty. Suddenly, 
 and at night, a cry is heard in the woods. Upon 
 hearing this, the men of the neighbourhood take 
 the youths to a secluded spot previously fixed 
 upon. The ceremony then takes place. Sham 
 fights, dances, partial mutilations of the body, 
 e.g., the knocking out of a front tooth, are ele 
 ments of it. And this is as much as is known of 
 it ; except that from the time of initiation to the 
 time of marriage, the young men are forbidden to 
 speak to, or even approach a female. 
 
 Surely, it is the common conditions of a hunter 
 
222 PROBATIONARY TRIALS. 
 
 life which determine these probationary prepara 
 tions for the hardships which accompany it in 
 populations so remote as the Australian and the 
 American of the prairie. I say of the prairie, 
 because we shall find that in the proportion as 
 the agricultural state replaces the erratic habits of 
 the hunter, ceremonies of the sort in question 
 decrease both in number and peculiarity of cha 
 racter. 
 
 A third regulation forbids the use of the more 
 enviable articles of diet, like fish, eggs, the emu, 
 and the choicer sorts of opossum and kangaroo 
 to the Australian youth. 
 
 All that is known of the Australian religion is 
 due to the researches of the United States Ex 
 ploring Expedition. The most specific fact in 
 this respect is the name Wandong as applied to the 
 evil spirit. I believe this to be truly a word 
 belonging to the Oceanic Pantheon in general, 
 and as stated above to be the same as Vintana 
 in Malagasi, and as the root anit in many of the 
 Polynesian languages. 
 
 The Tasmanians. A few families, the remains 
 of the aborigines of Van Dieman s Land, occupy 
 Flinder s Island, whither they have been removed. 
 
 I can give but little information concerning 
 them. 
 
 From the Australians they differ but slightly 
 in mental capacity, and civilizational development. 
 
THE TASMANIANS. 223 
 
 Perhaps their very low level in this respect is the 
 lower of the two. 
 
 The language seems to have fallen into not less 
 than four mutually unintelligible forms of speech. 
 
 Their hair constituted their chief physical dif 
 ference. This was curled, frizzy, or mopped. 
 
 The a priori view of their origin is that they 
 crossed Torres Straits from Australia. I have, 
 however, stated elsewhere that a case may be 
 made out for either Timor or New Caledonia 
 being their mother countries ; in which case the 
 stream of population has gone round Australia 
 rather than across it. Certain peculiarities of the 
 Tasmanian language give us the ground for thus 
 demurring to the primd facie view of their descent. 
 The same help us to account for the differences in 
 texture of the hair.* 
 
 * In the Appendix to Jukes " Voyage of the Fly," and 
 in " Man and his Migrations." 
 
224 THE ATHABASKANS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEPENDENCIES IN AMERICA. 
 
 THE ATHABASKANS OF THE HUDSON S BAY COUNTRY. THE AL- 
 
 GONKIN STOCK. THE IROQUOIS. THE SIOUX. ASSINEBOINS. 
 
 THE ESKIMO. THE KOLUCH. THE NEHANN1. DIGOTHI. 
 
 THE ATSINA. INDIANS OF BRITISH OREGON, QUADRA AND 
 
 VANCOUVER S ISLANDS. HAIDAH. CHIMSHEYAN. BILLI- 
 
 CHULA. HAILTSA. NUTKA. ATNA. KITUNAHA INDIANS. 
 
 PARTICULAR ALGONK1N TRIBES. THE NASCOPI. THE 
 
 BETHUK. NUMERALS FROM FITZ-HUGH SOUND. THE MOS- 
 
 KITO INDIANS. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS OF BRITISH 
 
 GUIANA. CARIES. WAROWS. WAPISIANAS. TARUMAS. 
 
 CARIES OF ST. VINCENT. TRINIDAD. 
 
 The Athabaskans.Thc best starting-point for 
 the ethnology of the British dependencies in 
 America is the water-system of the largest of the 
 rivers which empty themselves into the Polar 
 Sea, a system which comprises the Rivers Peel, 
 Dahodinni, and the Riviere aux Liards, tribu 
 taries to the McKenzie, as well as the Great Bear 
 Lake, the Great Slave Lake, and Lake Atha- 
 baska; a vast tract, and one which is almost wholly 
 occupied by a population belonging to one and 
 
THE ATHABASKANS. 225 
 
 the same class; a class sometimes known under 
 the name Chepewyan, or Chepeyan, sometimes 
 under that of Athabaskan. 
 
 The water-system in question forms the centre 
 of the great Athabaskan area the centre, but not 
 the whole. Eastward, there are Athabaskan tribes 
 as far as the coasts of Hudson s Bay ; westwards 
 as far as the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 Pacific ; and southwards as far as the head-waters 
 of the Saskatchewan. Full nineteen-twentieths 
 of the Athabaskan population, in respect to its 
 political relations, is British ; all that is not Bri 
 tish being either Russian or American. To this 
 we may add, that it is the Hudson s Bay territory 
 rather than Canada to which the British Athabas- 
 kans belong. 
 
 The divisions and sub-divisions of the Athabas- 
 kans are as follows : 
 
 1. The Si-isaw-dinni (See-eesaw-dinneJi), or 
 rising -sun-men. These, generally called either 
 Chipewyans, or Northern Indians, are the most 
 eastern members of the family, and extend from 
 the mouth of the Churchill River to Lake Atha- 
 baska. I imagine that the Brushwood, Birch- 
 rind, and Sheep Indians are particular divisions of 
 this branch. 
 
 2. The Beaver Indians. From the Lake Atha- 
 baska to the Rocky Mountain, i.e., the valley of 
 the Peace River. 
 
226 THE ATHABASKANS. 
 
 3. The Daho-dinni. On the head-waters of the 
 Riviere aux Liards. Called also Mauvais Monde. 
 
 4. The Strong-Bows. Mountaineers of the 
 upper part of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 5. The KancJio. Called also Hare and Slave 
 Indians. Starved and miserable occupants of the 
 parts along the River McKenzie between the 
 Slave and Great Bear Lakes. Accused of occa 
 sional cannibalism, justified by the pressure of 
 famine. Due east of these come 
 
 6. The Dog-ribs, and 
 
 7. The Yellow-knives, on the Copper River; 
 these last being also called the Copper Indians. 
 
 8. 9. The Slaous-cud-dinni * of the McKenzie 
 River is, probably, a division of some of the 
 other groups rather than a separate substantive 
 class. 
 
 10. The Takulli.-\- These fall into eleven minor 
 tribes or clans. 
 
 a. The Tail-tin ; probably the same as the 
 Naote-tains. 
 
 b. The Tshilko-tin. 
 
 c. The Nasko-tin. 
 
 d. The Thetlio-tin. 
 
 e. The Tsatsno-tin. 
 
 * Dinni, tinni, din, tin, &c. man in the Athabaskan 
 tongues. 
 
 t Called also Carriers, Nagail, and Chin Indians; though 
 whether the last two names are correct is uncertain. 
 
THE ALGONKIffS. 227 
 
 /. The Nulaau-tin. 
 g. The Ntsaau-tin. 
 h. The Natliau-tin. 
 i. The Nikozliau-tin. 
 j. The Tatshiau-tin. 
 k. The Babine Indians. 
 
 11. The Susi (Sussees). On the head-waters 
 of the Saskatchewan. 
 
 New Caledonia is the chief area of the Takulli. 
 Adjacent to them, but to the east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, lie 
 
 12. The Tsikani (Sicunnies). 
 
 The Athabaskan is the first class in our list ; 
 and, if we look only at the area which its popula 
 tion occupies, it is a great one. All the Athabas 
 kan languages or dialects are mutually intelli 
 gible. 
 
 The Algonkins. The second class is the Algon- 
 kin. It is greater in every way than the Atha 
 baskan greater in respect to the number of its 
 divisions and subdivisions, greater in respect to 
 the ground it covers, and greater in respect to 
 the range of difference which it embraces. All 
 the Algonkin languages are not mutually intel 
 ligible. 
 
 Unlike the Athabaskan the Algonkin stock is 
 nearly equally divided between the United States 
 and Great Britain. 
 
 Unlike, too, the Athabaskan, it . is divided 
 
228 THE ALGONKKfS. 
 
 between the Canadas and our other possessions 
 and the Hudson s Bay territory. 
 
 The whole of the Canadas, with one small but 
 important exception, the whole of New Bruns 
 wick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince 
 Edward s Isle, is Algonkin. Labrador and New 
 foundland are chiefly Algonkin. 
 
 To this stock belonged and belong the extinct 
 and extant Indians of New England, part of New 
 York, part of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Virginia, part of the Carolinas, and part of even 
 Kentucky and Tennessee; a point of American 
 rather than of British ethnology, but a point 
 necessary to be noted for the sake of duly appre 
 ciating the magnitude of this stock. 
 
 Amongst others, the Pequods, the Mohicans, 
 the Narragansetts, the Massachuset, the Mon- 
 taug, the Delaware, the Menomini, the Sauks, 
 the Ottogamis, the Kikkapus, the Potawhot- 
 amis, the Illinois, the Miami, the Piankeshaws, 
 the Shawnos, &c. belong to this stock all 
 within the United States. 
 
 The British Algonkins are as follows : 
 
 1. The Crees; of which the Skqfi and Sheshata- 
 push of Labrador are branches. 
 
 2. The- Ojibways ;* falling into 
 
 a. The Ojibways Proper, of which the Sauteurs 
 are a section. 
 
 * By no means to be confounded with the Chepewyans. 
 
THE IROQUOIS. 229 
 
 b. The Ottawas of the River Ottawa. 
 
 c. The original Indians of Lake Nipissing ; im 
 portant because it is believed that the form of 
 speech called Algonkin, a term since extended to 
 the whole class, was their particular dialect. 
 They are now either extinct or amalgamated with 
 other tribes. 
 
 d. The Messisaugis, to the north of Lake On 
 tario. 
 
 3. The Micmacs of New Brunswick, Gaspe, 
 Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and part of Newfound 
 land ; closely allied to the 
 
 4. Abnaki of Mayne, and the British frontier ; 
 represented at present by the St. John s Indians. 
 
 5. The Bethuck the aborigines of Newfound 
 land. 
 
 6. The Blackfoots, consisting of the 
 
 a. Satsihaa, or Blackfoots Proper. 
 
 b. The Kena, or Blood Indians. 
 
 c. The Piegan, 
 
 To these must be added numerous extinct 
 tribes. 
 
 The Iroquois. The single and important ex 
 ception to the Algonkin population of the Canadas 
 is made by the existence of certain members of 
 the great Iroquois class on the New York fron 
 tier ; a class falling into two divisions. The 
 northern Iroquois belong to New York and Penn 
 sylvania, the southern to the Carolinas. 
 
230 THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 The former of these two falls into two great con 
 federations, and into several unconfederate tribes. 
 
 The chief of the unconfederate tribes are the 
 now extinct Mynkasar and Cochnowagoes ex 
 tinct, unless either or both be represented by a 
 small remnant mentioned by Schoolcraft, in his 
 great work on the Indian tribes, now in the course 
 of publication, under the sanction of Congress, 
 as the St. Regis Indians. 
 
 Of the second confederation the leading mem 
 bers were the Wyandots, or Hurons, of the parts 
 between Lakes Simcoe, Huron, and Erie. 
 
 The first was that of the famous and formidable 
 Mohawks. To these addj the Senekas, the Onon- 
 dagos, the Cayugas, and the Oneidas, and you 
 have the Five Nations. Then add, as a later 
 accession, from the southern Iroquois, the Tus- 
 karoras, and the Six Nations are formed. 
 
 Between these two there was war even to the 
 knife ; the greater portion of the Wyandot league 
 belonging to the Algonkin class. 
 
 Nevertheless, a few representatives of the 
 whole seven tribes* still remain extant, their 
 present locality a reserve being the triangular 
 peninsula which was the original Huron area. 
 
 Again, in the present site of Montreal, the earlier 
 occupants were the Hochelaga ; an Iroquois tribe 
 also. 
 
 * The Mohawks, Senekas, Onondagos, Cayugas, Oneidas, 
 Tuskaroras, and Hurons. 
 
THE SIOUX CLASS. 231 
 
 The Sioux. In tracing the Nelson River from 
 its embouchure in Hudson s Bay, towards its 
 source in the Rocky Mountains, we reach Lake 
 Winnepeg, and the Red River Settlement the 
 Red River rising within the boundary of the 
 United States, flowing from south to north, and 
 receiving, as a feeder, the Assineboin. Now the 
 Valley of the Assineboin is an interesting ethno 
 logical locality. 
 
 Either the river takes its name from the popu 
 lation, or the population from the river; the 
 division to which it belongs being a new one. 
 Different from the Algonkins on the east, dif 
 ferent from the Athabaskans on the north, and (in 
 the present state of our knowledge) different from 
 the Arrapahoes on the west, the Assineboins 
 have all their affinities southwards. In that 
 direction the family to which they belong extends 
 as far as Louisiana. These Indians it is to whom 
 nine-tenths of the Valley of Missouri originally 
 belonged the Indians of the great Sioux class ; 
 Indians whose original hunting-grounds included 
 the vast prairie-country from the Rocky Moun 
 tains to the Mississippi, and who again appear as 
 an isolated detachment on Lake Michigan. These 
 isolated Sioux are the Winebagoes; the others 
 being the Dahcota, the Yankton, the Teton, the 
 Upsaroka, the Mandan, the Minetari, the Mis 
 souri, the Osage, the Konzas, the Ottos, the 
 
232 THE SIOUX CLASS. 
 
 Omahaws, the Puncas, the loways, and the 
 Quappas, all American, i.e., belonging to the 
 United States. 
 
 None of the Sioux tribe come in contact with 
 the sea. None of them belong to the great forest 
 districts of America. Most of them hunt over 
 the country of the buffalo. This makes them 
 warlike, migratory hunters ; with fewer approaches 
 to agricultural or industrial civilization than any 
 Indians equally favoured by soil and climate. 
 
 Of this class the Assineboins are the British 
 representatives. They are the chief Red River 
 aborigines. 
 
 It is the Iroquois, the Sioux, and certain mem 
 bers of the Algonkin stock, upon which the current 
 and popular notions of the American Indian, the 
 Red Man, as he is called 
 
 The Stoic of the woods, the man without a tear, &c., 
 
 have been formed. The Athabaskans, on the 
 other hand, have not contributed much to our 
 notions on this point. In the first place, they 
 are less known ; in the next, they are less typical. 
 
 But this raises their value in the eyes of the 
 ethnologist ; and the very fact of their possessing 
 certain characteristics, in a comparatively slight 
 degree, makes them all the fitter for illustrating 
 the phenomena of transition. 
 
 Previous, however, to this, we must get our 
 
THE ESKIMO. 233 
 
 other extreme. This is to be found in the ethno 
 logy of 
 
 The Eskimo. It is a very easy matter for an 
 artistic ethnologist to make some fine light-and- 
 shade contrasts between two populations, where 
 he has an Iroquois or a Sioux at one end, and an 
 Eskimo of Labrador at the other. An oblique 
 eye, bleared and sore from the glare of the snow, 
 with a crescentic fold overshadowing the caruncula 
 lacrymalis, surmounted by a low forehead and 
 black shaggy locks, with cheek-bones of such 
 inordinate development as to make the face as 
 broad as it is long, are elements of ugliness which 
 catch the imagination, and produce a caricature, 
 where we want a picture. And they are elements 
 of ugliness which can be accumulated. We may 
 add to them, a nose so flat, and cheeks so fleshy, 
 as for a ruler, placed across the latter, to leave the 
 former untouched. We may then notice the state 
 of the teeth, from the mastication of injurious 
 substances; and having thus exhausted nature, 
 we may revert to the deformities of art. We 
 may observe that wherever there is a fleshy portion 
 of the face that can be perforated by a stone knife, 
 or pierced by a whalebone, there will be tatooing 
 and incisions ; and that wherever there are inci* 
 sions, bones, nails, feathers, and such like orna 
 ments will be inserted. All this is the case. 
 What European ladies do with their ears, the 
 
234 THE ESKIMO. 
 
 Eskimo does with the cartilage of his nose, the 
 lips, the corners of his mouth, and the cheeks. 
 More than this in the lower lip, parallel to the 
 mouth, and taking the guise of a mouth additional, 
 a slit is made quite through the lip, large enough 
 to allow the escape of spittle and the protrusion 
 of the tongue. The insertion of a shell or bone, 
 cut into the shape of teeth, completes the adorn 
 ment. 
 
 Then comes the question of colour. The Indian 
 has a tinge of red ; a tinge which enables us to 
 compare his skin to copper. The Eskimo is simply 
 brown, swarthy, or tawny. 
 
 Again, the Eskimo hold periodical fairs. Whales 
 are scarce in the south, and wood in the north of 
 Greenland ; and in consequence of this, there are 
 regular meetings for the business of barter. This 
 gives us the elements of commercial industry; 
 elements which must themselves be taken in con 
 junction with the maritime habits of the people. 
 What stronger contrast can we find to all this than 
 the gloomy isolation of the hunters of the prairie- 
 countries, whether Sioux, Iroquois, or Algonkin ? 
 Again, it is safe, in the way of intellectual 
 capacity, to give the Eskimo credit for ingenuity 
 and imitativeness. The Indian, of the type which 
 we have chosen to judge him by, is pre-eminently 
 indocile and inflexible. 
 
 Yet all this, with much more besides, is capable 
 
THE ESKIMO. 235 
 
 \ 
 
 of great qualification qualification which we find 
 necessary, whether we look to the extent to which 
 the Eskimos approach the Indian, or the Indian 
 the Eskimo each receding from its own more 
 extreme representative. 
 
 The prominence of the nasal bones is certainly 
 common amongst the Red Indian tribes; and 
 rare amongst the Eskimo. Yet it is neither 
 universal in the one, nor non-existent in the other. 
 Oval features, a mixture of red in the complexion, 
 an aquiline nose, have all been observed amongst 
 the more favoured of the Circumpolar men and 
 women. 
 
 In respect, too, to stature, the Eskimo is less 
 remarkable for inferiority than is generally sup 
 posed. His bulky, baggy dress makes him look 
 square and short. Measurements, however, cor 
 rect this impression. Men of the height of five 
 feet ten inches have been noticed as particular 
 specimens better grown individuals than their 
 fellows. And men under five feet have also been 
 noticed for the contrary reasons. Numerous mea 
 surements, however, give about five feet as the 
 height of an Eskimo woman, and five feet six 
 inches as that of a man. This is more than so 
 good an authority as Mr. Crawfurd gives to the 
 Malays ; whose person is squat, and whose average 
 stature does not exceed five feet three or four 
 inches. It is more, too, than Sir R, Schomburgk 
 
236 
 
 THE ESKIMO. 
 
 gives the Guiana Indians, as may be seen from 
 the following table :- 
 
 Wapisianas, 
 
 Tarumas. 
 
 Mawackas, 
 
 Atorais. 
 
 Macusis. 
 
 Aged. ft. in. 
 
 Aged. ft. in. 
 
 Aged. ft. in. 
 
 Aged. ft. in. 
 
 Aged. ft. in. 
 
 12 4 8-& 
 
 14 4 ll-j-^ 
 
 15 4 10 
 
 35 5 1-j^- 
 
 14 ) , o 
 
 15 4 6 
 16 5 1-JL. 
 
 
 17 } 4 9 ^ 
 
 15 5 1 
 
 14 5 
 
 It is more than the average of several other 
 populations. 
 
 Neither is the Eskimo skull so wholly different 
 from the American. It is, probably larger in its 
 dimensions ; so that its cavity contains more cubic 
 inches. The measurements, however, which sug 
 gest this view, are but few. On the other hand, 
 the relations between the width and the depth 
 of the skull, are considered important and dis 
 tinctive. 
 
 By width is meant the number of inches from 
 side to side, from one parietal bone to the other ; 
 in other words, the parietal diameter. 
 
 Depth signifies the length of the occipito -frontal 
 diameter, or the number of inches from the fore 
 head to the back of the skull. 
 
 Now, in one out of four of the Eskimo 
 crania examined by Dr. Morton, the parietal dia 
 meter so nearly approaches the occipito-frontal 
 as for the skull in question to be as much as 
 5 4 inches in width, and as little as 5 7 in depth ; 
 
THE ESKIMO. 237 
 
 a measurement which makes the Eskimo brain 
 almost as broad as it is long. Valeat quantum. 
 It is an extreme specimen. The remainder are 
 as 5-5 to 7-3; as 5 1 to 7*5; and as 5 to 6 7, 
 proportions by no means exclusively Eskimo, 
 and proportions which occur in very many of the 
 undeniably American stocks. 
 
 Likeness there is ; and variety there is ; like 
 ness in physical feature, likeness in language, and 
 likeness in the general moral and intellectual 
 characteristics. And then there is variety variety 
 in all the details of their arts ; variety in their 
 bows, their canoes, their dwellings, their fashions 
 in the way of incisions and tatooings, and their 
 fashions in the dressing of their hair. 
 
 This is as much as can be said about the Eskimo 
 at present. It is, however, preparatory to the 
 general statement that all the remaining Indians of 
 British North America recede from the Sioux and 
 Iroquois type, and approach that of the family in 
 question. Such, indeed, has been the case, though 
 (perhaps) in a less degree, with one of the classes 
 already considered the Athabaskan. 
 
 The Koluch. The extreme west of the British 
 possessions beyond the Rocky Mountains, north 
 of latitude 55 is but imperfectly known. In 
 deed, for scientific, and, perhaps, for political 
 purposes as well, the country is unfortunately 
 divided. The Russians have the long but narrow 
 
238 THE NEHAOIS. 
 
 strip of coast ; and, consequently, limit their in 
 vestigations to its bays and archipelagoes. The 
 British, on the contrary, though they possess the 
 interior, have no great interest in the parts about 
 the Russian boundary. In the way of trade, 
 they are not sufficiently on the sea for the sea- 
 otter, nor near enough the mountains for other 
 fur-bearing animals. 
 
 Now, the mouth of the Stikin River is Rus 
 sian, the head-waters British. Beyond these, we 
 have the water-system of the M Kenzie for 
 that river, although falling into the Arctic Sea, 
 has a western fork, which breaks through the 
 barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and changes in 
 direction from west and south-west to north. Lake 
 Simpson, Lake Dease, and the River Turnagain 
 belong to this branch ; the tract in which they lie 
 being a range of high-lands, if not of mountains. 
 
 This is the country of the Nehannis ; conter 
 minous on the south with that of the Takulli, and 
 on the north-east with that of the Dahodinni. 
 How far, however, it extends towards the Rus 
 sian boundary and in the north-west direction I 
 cannot say. 
 
 The Nehannis are, probably, the chief British 
 representatives of the class called Koluch.* 
 Assuming this although from the want of a 
 
 * See a paper of Mr. Isbester s in the " Transactions of the 
 British Association," 1847, p. 121. 
 
THE NEHANNIS. 239 
 
 special Nehanni vocabulary, the philological evi 
 dence is wanting I begin with the notice of the 
 Nehannis, as known to the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany, and afterwards superadd a sketch of the 
 Sitkans, as known to the Russians of New Arch 
 angel ; the two notices together giving us the 
 special description of a family, and the general 
 view of the class to which that family belongs. 
 
 That the Nehannis are brave, warlike, and tur 
 bulent, is no more than is expected. We are 
 far beyond the latitude of the peaceful Eskimo. 
 That they are ruled by a woman should surprise 
 us. Such, however, is the case. A female rules 
 them and rules them, too, with a rod of iron. 
 Respect for sex has here attained its height. It 
 had begun to be recognized amongst the Atha- 
 baskans. 
 
 The Nehannis are strong enough to rob ; but 
 they are also civilized enough to barter ; buying 
 of the inland tribes, and selling to the Russians a 
 practice which seems to divert the furs of British 
 territory to the markets of Muscovy. But this is 
 no business of the ethnologist s. They are slavers 
 and slave-owners ; ingenious and imitative ; fond 
 of music and dancing ; fish-eaters ; active in body ; 
 bold and treacherous in temper; and with the 
 common Koluch physiognomy and habits. 
 
 These we must collect from the descriptions of 
 the Russian Koluches the locality where they 
 
240 THE KOLU CH. 
 
 have been best studied being Sitka Sound, or 
 New Archangel. We must do it, however, mu 
 tatis mutandis, i.e., remembering that the Sitkans 
 are Koluch of an Archipelago, the Nehanni Ko 
 luch of a continent. 
 
 The Koluch complexion is light ; the hair long 
 and lank ; the eyes black ; and the lip and chin 
 often bearded. 
 
 The Koncegi are the natives of the island 
 Kadiak. Now Lisiansky, from whom the chief 
 details of the Sitkan Koluch are taken, espe 
 cially states that, with few exceptions, their 
 manners and customs are those of these same 
 Konsegi; one of the minor points of difference 
 being the greater liveliness of the Sitkans, and 
 one of the more important ones, their treatment 
 of the dead. They burn the bodies (as do the 
 Takulli Athabaskans) and deposit the ashes in 
 wooden boxes placed upon pillars, painted or 
 carved, more or less elaborately, according to the 
 wealth of the deceased. 
 
 On the death of a toy on, or chief, one of his 
 slaves is killed and burned with him. If, how 
 ever, the deceased be of inferior rank the victim 
 is buried. If the death be in battle, the head, 
 instead of being burned, is kept in a wooden box 
 of its own. But it is not with the shaman as with 
 the warrior. The shaman is merely interred; 
 since he is supposed to be too full of the evil 
 
THE DIGOTHI. 241 
 
 spirit to be consumed by fire. The reason why 
 burning is preferred to burying is because the 
 possession of a piece of flesh is supposed to 
 enable its owner to do what mischief he pleases. 
 
 Now the Koncegi are admitted Eskimo. 
 
 Notwithstanding the similarity between the 
 Sitkans and Konaegi there is no want of true 
 American customs amongst them. Cruelty to 
 prisoners, indifference to pain when inflicted on 
 themselves, and the habit of scalping are common 
 to the Indians of King George s Archipelago, and 
 those of the water-system of the Mississippi. On 
 the other hand, they share the skill in painting 
 and carving with the Chenuks and the aborigines 
 of the Oregon. 
 
 The Digothi. The Dahodinni are Athabaskan 
 rather than Koluch ; the Nehanni Koluch rather 
 than Athabaskan. Now I imagine that the Da 
 hodinni country is partially encircled by Koluch 
 populations, and that a fresh branch of this stock 
 reappears when we proceed northwards. On the 
 Lower McKenzie, in the valley of the Peel River, 
 and at the termination of the great Rocky Range 
 on the shore of the Polar Sea, we find the Digothi 
 or Loucheux ; the only family not belonging to the 
 Eskimo class, which comes in contact with the 
 ocean; and, consequently, the only unequivocally 
 Indian population which interrupts the continuity 
 of the Eskimo fromBehring s Straits to the Atlantic. 
 
242 THE DIGOTHI. 
 
 Perhaps the alluvium of a great river like the 
 McKenzie, has determined this displacement. 
 Such an occupancy would be as naturally coveted 
 by an inland population, as undervalued by a 
 maritime one. At any rate, the Loucheux have 
 the appearance of being an encroaching tenantry ; 
 indeed, few Indians have had their physical ap 
 pearance described in terms equally favourable. 
 Black-haired and fair-complexioned, with fine 
 sparkling eyes, and regular teeth, they approach 
 the Nehanni in physiognomy, and surpass them 
 in stature. The same authority which expressly 
 states that the Nehanni are not generally tall, 
 speaks to the athletic proportions and tall stature 
 of the Loucheux ; adding that their countenances 
 are handsome and expressive. 
 
 Whence came they? From the south-east, from 
 Russian America. Their points of contrast to the 
 Eskimo indicate this. Their points of contrast 
 to the Athabaskans indicate it also. Their points 
 of similarity to the Koluch do more. The Lou 
 cheux possessive pronoun is the same as the 
 Kenay. Thus 
 
 ENGLISH. LOUCHEUX. KENAY. 
 
 My-son se-jaj m -ja. 
 
 J/?/-daughter se-zay ssa-za. 
 
 Fuller descriptions, however, of both the Lou 
 cheux and Nehanni are required before we can 
 decidedly pronounce them to be Koluch ; indeed, 
 
THE FALL INDIANS. 243 
 
 so high an authority as Gallatin places the latter 
 amongst the Athabaskans. 
 
 The Fall Indians. In a MS. communicated by 
 Mr. Gallatin to Dr. Prichard, and, by the latter 
 kindly lent to myself, and examined by me some 
 years back, was a vocabulary of the language of 
 the Indians of the Falls of the Saskachewan. In 
 this their native name was written Ahnenin. Mr. 
 Hale, however, calls them Atsina. Which is cor 
 rect is difficult to say. 
 
 Gros venires is another of their designations ; 
 Minetari of the Prairie another. This last is 
 inconvenient, as well as incorrect, since the true 
 Minetari are a Sioux tribe, different in language, 
 manners, and descent. 
 
 Arrapalio is a third synonym ; and this is im 
 portant, since there are other Arrapahos as far 
 south as the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. 
 
 The identity of name is prima facie evidence of 
 two tribes so distant as those of Arkansas and the 
 Saskachewan being either offsets from one another, 
 or else from some common stock ; but it is not 
 more. Nothing can be less conclusive. This has 
 just been shown to be in the case of the term 
 Minetari. 
 
 The Ahnenin, or Atsina language is peculiar ; 
 though the confederacy to which the Indians who 
 speak it belong, is the Blackfoot. 
 
 Of the southern Arrapaho we have no voca- 
 
244 UGALENTS. TSHUGATSI. 
 
 bulary ; neither do we know whether the name 
 be native or not. 
 
 * 
 
 A tract stiil stands over tor notice. As we 
 have no exact northern limits for the Nehanni, 
 no exact western ones for the Dahodinni, and no 
 exact southern ones for the Loucheux, the parts 
 due east of the Russian boundary are undescribed. 
 I can only contribute to the ethnology here. 
 The Ugalentses. Round Mount St. Elias we 
 have a population of Ugalentses or Ugalyakhmutsi. 
 Though said to consist of less than forty families,* 
 as their manners are migratory, it is highly pro 
 bable that some of them are British. 
 
 The Tshugatsi. In contact with the Ugalents, 
 who are transitional between the true Eskimo and 
 the true Koluch, the Tshugatsi are unequivocally 
 Eskimo. The parts about Prince William s 
 Sound are their locality. 
 
 The Haidah. Queen Charlotte s, and the 
 southern extremity of the Prince of Wales Archi 
 pelago, are the parts to which the Indians speaking 
 the Haidah language have been referred. In case, 
 however, any members of their family extend into 
 the British territory, they are mentioned here. 
 
 Three Haidah tribes are more particularly 
 named 
 
 a. The Skittegat. 
 
 * Thirty-eight. 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN INDIANS. 245 
 
 b. The Cumshahas a name remarkably like 
 that of the Chimsheyan, hereafter to be noticed. 
 
 c. The Kygani. 
 
 The Tungaas. This is the name of the lan 
 guage of the most Northern Indians, with which 
 the Hudson s Bay Company comes in contact. It 
 is Koluch ; and more Russian than British. 
 
 The chief authority is Dr. Scouler. The whole 
 of his valuable remarks upon the North-western 
 Indians, is a commentary upon the assertion 
 already made as to the extent which we have 
 formed our ideas of the Aboriginal American 
 upon the Algonkins and Iroquois exclusively; 
 and his facts are a correction to our inferences. 
 In what way do the moral and intellectual cha 
 racters of the Western Indians differ from those 
 of the Eastern? I shall give the answer in 
 Dr. Scouler s only terms. They are less inflexible 
 in character. Their range of ideas is greater. 
 They are imitative and docile. They are com 
 paratively humane.* No scalping. No excessive 
 torture of prisoners. No probationary inflictions. 
 Now whether negative or positive there is not 
 one of those characteristics wherein the Western 
 American differs from the Eastern, in which he 
 does not, at the same time, approach the Eskimo. 
 In the absence of the scalping-knife, the toma- 
 
 f This requires modification. The Sitkan practices have 
 already been noticed. 
 
246 THE NORTH-WESTERN INDIANS. 
 
 hawk, the council fire, the wampum-belt, the 
 hero chief, and the metaphorical orator, the 
 Eskimo differs from the Ojibway, the Huron, 
 and the Mohawk. True. But the Haidah and 
 the Chimsheyan do the same. 
 
 The religion of the Algonkin and Iroquois is 
 Shamanistic ; like the Negro of Africa they attri 
 bute to some material object mysterious powers. 
 As far as the term has been defined, this is Feti- 
 cism. But, then, like the Finn, and the Samoeid 
 of Siberia, they either seek for themselves or 
 reverence in others, the excitement of fasting, 
 charms, and dreams. As far as the term has 
 been defined this is Shamanism. Now lest our 
 notions as to the religion of the Indians be ren 
 dered unduly favourable through the ideas of 
 pure theism, called up by the missionary term 
 Great Spirit, we must simply remember, in the 
 first place, that the term is ours, not theirs ; and 
 that those who, by looking to facts rather than 
 words, have criticised it, have arrived at the con 
 clusion that the creed of the Indians of the St. 
 Lawrence and Mississippi is neither better nor 
 worse than the creed of the Indians of the Co 
 lumbia. Both are alike, Shamanistic. And so 
 is the Eskimo. 
 
 The names in detail of the Indians of British 
 Oregon, over and above those of the Athabaskau 
 family already enumerated, are as follows; Dr. 
 
THE NORTH-WESTERN INDIANS. 247 
 
 Seoul er still being the authority, and, along with 
 him, Mr. Tolmie and Mr. Hale. 
 
 1 . The Chimsheyan, or Chimmesyan, on the sea- 
 coast and islands about 55 North lat. Their 
 tribes are the Naaskok, the Chimsheyan Proper, 
 the Kitshatlah, and the Kethumish. 
 
 2. The Billichula, on the mouth of the Salmon 
 River. 
 
 3. The HailtscL) on the sea- coast, from Hawkes- 
 bury Island to Broughton s Archipelago, and 
 (perhaps) the northern part of Quadras and Van 
 couver s Island. Their tribes are the Hyshalla, 
 the Hyhysh, the Esleytuk, the Weekenoch, the 
 Nalatsenoch, the Quagheuil, the Ttatla-shequilla, 
 and the Lequeeltoch. The numerals from Fitz- 
 hugh Sound will be noticed in the sequel. 
 
 4. The Nutka Sound Indians occupy the greater 
 part of Quadra s and Vancouver s Island, speak the 
 Wakash language, and fall into the following 
 tribes 
 
 a. The Naspatl. 
 
 b. The Nutkans Proper. 
 
 c. The Tlaoquatsh. 
 
 d. The Nittenat. 
 
 5. The Shushwah, or Atna, are bounded on the 
 north by the Takulli, belong to the interior rather 
 than the coast, are members of a large family, 
 called the Tsihaili-Selish, extending far into the 
 United States. According to Mr. Hale, they pre- 
 
248 THE NASCOPI. 
 
 sent the remarkable phenomenon of an aboriginal 
 stock having increased from about four hundred 
 to twelve hundred, instead of diminishing. 
 
 6. The Kitunaha, Cutanies, or Flat-bows, hardy, 
 brave and shrewd hunters on the Kitunaha, or 
 Flat-bow River, and conterminous with the Black- 
 foots, are the Oregon Indians whose habits most 
 closely approach those of the Indians to the east 
 of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 ***** 
 
 To some of these I now return, since three points 
 of Algonkin ethnology require special notice. 
 
 a. The Nascopi or Skoffi. This is a frontier 
 tribe. Much as we connect the ideas of cold and 
 cheerless sterility with the inclement climate and 
 naked moorlands of Labrador, and much as we 
 connect the Eskimo as a population with a simi 
 larly inhospitable country, it is only the coast of 
 that vast region which is thus tenanted. On 
 Hudson s Straits there are Eskimo ; on the Straits 
 of Belleisle there are Eskimo ; along the inter 
 vening coast there are Eskimo, and as far south 
 as Anticosti there are Eskimo, but in the inte 
 rior there are no Eskimo. Instead of them we 
 find the Skoffi, and the Sheshatapush subsec 
 tions (as stated before) of the same section of the 
 great Algonkin stock. In them we have a mea 
 sure of the effect of external conditions upon 
 different members of the same class. Between 
 
THE NASCOPI. 249 
 
 the Skoffi of Mosquito Bay and the Pamticos 
 of Cape Hatteras we have more than 25 of 
 latitude combined with a difference of other phy 
 sical conditions which more than equals the dif 
 ference between north and south. Yet the con 
 trast between the Algonkin and other inhabitants 
 of Labrador is as evident (though not, perhaps, so 
 great) as that between the Greenlander and the 
 Virginian ; so that just as the Norwegian is dis 
 tinguishable from the Laplander so is the Skoffi 
 from Eskimo. 
 
 Dirtier and coarser than any other Algonkins, 
 the Nascopi hunts and fishes for his livelihood 
 exclusively ; depending most upon the autumnal 
 migrations of the reindeer; and, next to that, 
 upon his net. This he sets under the ice, during 
 the earlier months of the winter. After Decem 
 ber, however, he would set them in vain ; the fish 
 being, then, all in the deep water. Woman, gene 
 rally a drudge in North America, is preeminently 
 so with the Nascopis. All that the man does, 
 is the killing of the game. The woman brings it 
 home. The woman also drags the loaded sledges 
 from squatting to squatting, clears the ground, 
 and collects fuel; whilst the man sits idle and 
 smokes. Of such domestic slaves more than one 
 is allowed ; so that as far as the Nascopi recog 
 nizes marriage at all, he is a polygamist. In this 
 sense the contracting parties are respectively the 
 
250 THE NASCOPI. 
 
 parents of the couple the bride and bridegroom 
 being the last parties consulted. When all has 
 been arranged, the youth proceeds to his father- 
 in-law s tent, remains there a year, and then 
 departs as an independent member of the com 
 munity. Cousins are addressed as brothers or 
 sisters; marriage between near relations is allowed ; 
 and so is the marriage of more than one sister 
 successively. 
 
 The Paganism of the Nascopi is that of the 
 other Cree tribes ; their Christianity still more 
 partial and still more nominal. Sometimes roll 
 ing in abundance, sometimes starving, they are 
 attached to the Whites by but few artificial wants ; 
 the few fur-bearing animals of their country being 
 highly prized, and, consequently, going a long 
 way as elements of barter. Their dress is almost 
 wholly of reindeer skin ; their travelling gear a 
 leathern bag with down in it, and a kettle. In 
 this bag the Nascopi thrusts his legs, draws his 
 knees up to his chin, and defies both wind and 
 snow. 
 
 This account has been condensed from M Lean s 
 " Five and Twenty Years Service in the Hud 
 son s Bay Territory." I subjoin the remainder 
 in his own words : " The horrid practice still 
 obtains among the Nascopis of destroying their 
 parents and relatives, when old age incapacitates 
 them for further exertion. I must, however, do 
 
THE BETHUCK. 251 
 
 them the justice to say, that the parent himself 
 expresses a wish to depart, otherwise the unna 
 tural deed would probably never be committed, 
 for they, in general, treat their old people with 
 much care and tenderness. The son, or nearest 
 relative, performs the office of executioner the 
 self-devoted victim being disposed of by strangu 
 lation." 
 
 b. The Aborigines of Newfoundland. Sebastian 
 Cabot brought three Newfoundlanders to Eng 
 land. They were clothed in beasts skin, and ate 
 raw flesh. This last is an accredited characteristic 
 of the Eskimo ; and, thus far, the evidence is in 
 favour of the savages in question belonging to 
 that stock. Yet it is more than neutralized by 
 what follows ; since Purchas states that two 
 years after he saw two of them, dressed like 
 Englishmen, "which, at that time, I could not 
 discover from Englishmen, till I learned what 
 they were." 
 
 Now as the Bethuck the aborigines in question 
 have either been cruelly exterminated, or exist 
 in such small numbers as not to have been seen 
 for many years, it has been a matter of doubt 
 whether they were Eskimo or Micmacs, the 
 present occupants of the island. Reasons against 
 either of these views are supplied by a hitherto 
 unpublished Bethuck vocabulary, with which I 
 have been kindly furnished by my friend Dr. King, 
 
252 THE MOSKITO INDIANS. 
 
 of the Ethnological Society. This makes them a 
 separate section of the Algonkins. Such I believe 
 them to have been, and have placed them accord 
 ingly. 
 
 c. The Fitzlmgh Sound Numerals. These are 
 nearly the same as the Hailtsa. On the other 
 hand, they agree with the Blackfoot in ending in 
 -scum. 
 
 Now if the resemblance go farther, so as really 
 to connect the Blackfoot with the Hailtsa, it brings 
 the Algonkin class of languages across the whole 
 breadth of the continent, and as far as the shores 
 of the Pacific. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The Moskito Indians are no subjects of England, 
 any more than the Tahitians are of France, or the 
 Sandwich Islanders of America, France, and Eng 
 land conjointly. The Moskito coast is a Protec 
 torate : and the Moskito Indians are the subjects 
 of a native king. 
 
 The present reigning monarch was educated 
 under English auspices at Jamaica, and, upon 
 attaining his majority, crowned at Grey Town. 
 I believe that his name is that of the grandfather 
 of our late gracious majesty. King George, then, 
 king of the Moskitos, has a territory extending 
 from the neighbourhood of Truxillo to the lower 
 part of the River San Juan ; a territory whereof, 
 inconveniently for Great Britain, the United 
 
THE MOSKITO INDIANS. 253 
 
 States, and the commerce of the world at large, 
 the limits and definition are far from being uni 
 versally recognized. Nicaragua has claims, and 
 the Isthmus canal suffers accordingly. 
 
 The king of the Moskito coast, and the emperor 
 of the Brazil, are the only resident sovereigns of 
 the New World. 
 
 The subjects of the former are, really, the 
 aborigines of the whole line of coast between 
 Nicaragua and Honduras there being no Indians 
 remaining in the former republic, and but few in 
 the latter. Of these, too the Nicaraguans we 
 have no definite ethnological information. Mr. 
 Squier speaks of them as occupants of the islands 
 of the lakes of the interior. Colonel Galindo also 
 mentions them ; but I infer, from his account, 
 that their original language is lost, and that 
 Spanish is their present tongue ; just as it is said to 
 be that of the aborigines of St. Salvador and Costa 
 Rica. This makes it difficult to fix them. And 
 the difficulty is increased when we resort to his 
 tory, tradition, and archaeology. History makes 
 them Mexicans Asteks from the kingdom of 
 Montezuma, and colonists of the Peninsula, just 
 as the Phoenicians were of Carthage. Archaeology 
 goes the same way. A detailed description of 
 Mr. Squier s discoveries, is an accession to ethno 
 logy which is anxiously expected. At any rate, 
 stone ruins and carved decorations have been 
 
254 THE MOSKITO INDIANS. 
 
 found ; so that what Mr. Stephenson has written 
 about Yucatan and Guatirnala, may be repeated in 
 the case of Nicaragua. Be it so. The difficulty 
 will be but increased ; since whatever facts makes 
 Nicaragua Mexican, isolates the Moskitos. They 
 are now in contact with Spaniards and English 
 men populations whose civilization differs from 
 their own ; and populations who are evidently 
 intrusive and of recent origin. Precisely the same 
 would be the case, if the Nicaraguans were made 
 Mexican. The civilization would be of another 
 sort ; the population which introduced it would 
 be equally intrusive ; and the only difference 
 would be a difference of stage and degree a little 
 earlier in the way of time, and a little less contrast 
 in the way of skill and industry. 
 
 But the evidence in favour of the Mexican 
 origin of the Nicaraguans, is doubtful ; and so is 
 the fact of their having wholly lost their native 
 tongue; and until one of these two opinions be 
 proved, it will be well to suspend our judgment as 
 to the isolation of the Moskitos. If, indeed, either 
 of them be true, their ethnological position will be 
 a difficult question. With nothing in Honduras 
 to compare them with with nothing tangible, or 
 with an apparently incompatible affinity in Nica 
 ragua with only very general miscellaneous affi 
 nities in Guatemala their ethnological affinities 
 are as peculiar as their political constitution. 
 
THE MOSKITO INDIANS. 255 
 
 Nevertheless, isolated as their language is, it has 
 undoubted general affinities with those of America 
 at large ; and this is all that it is safe to say at 
 present. But it is safe to say this. We have 
 plenty of data for their tongue, in a grammar of 
 Mr. Henderson s, published at New York, 1846. 
 
 The chief fact in the history of the Moskitos, is 
 that they were never subject to the Spaniards. 
 Each continent affords a specimen of this iso 
 lated freedom the independence of some ex 
 ceptional and impracticable tribes, as compared 
 with the universal empire of some encroaching 
 European power. The Circassians in Caucasus, 
 the Tshuktshi Koriaks in North-eastern Asia, 
 and the Kaffres in Africa, show this. Their 
 relations with the buccaneers were, probably, of 
 an amicable description. So they were with 
 the Negroes maroon and imported. And this, 
 perhaps, has determined their differentia. They 
 are intertropical American aborigines, who have 
 become partially European, without becoming 
 Spanish. 
 
 Their physical conformation is that of the 
 South rather than the North American ; and, 
 here it must be remembered, that we are passing 
 from one moiety of the new hemisphere to the 
 other. With a skin which is olive-coloured rather 
 than red, they have small limbs and undersized 
 frames ; whilst their habits are, mutatis mutandis, 
 
256 THE MOSKITO INDIANS. 
 
 those of the inter tropical African. This means, 
 that the exuberance of soil, and the heat of the 
 climate, makes them agriculturists rather than 
 shepherds, and idlers rather than agriculturists; 
 since the least possible amount of exertion gives 
 them roots and fruits ; whilst it is only those wants 
 which are compatible with indolence that they 
 care to satisfy. They presume rather than im 
 prove upon the warmth of their suns, and the 
 fertility of the soil. When they get liquor, they 
 get drunk ; when they work hardest, they cut 
 mahogany. Canoes and harpoons represent the 
 native industry. Wulasha is the name of their 
 Evil Spirit, and Liivaia that of a water-god. 
 
 I cannot but think that there is much intermix 
 ture amongst them. At the same time, the data 
 for ascertaining the amount are wanting. Their 
 greatest intercourse has, probably, been with the 
 Negro ; their next greatest with the Englishman. 
 Of the population of the interior, w r e know next 
 to nothing. Here their neighbours are Spaniards. 
 
 They are frontagers to the river San Juan. 
 This gives them their value in politics. 
 
 They are the only well-known extant Indians 
 between Guatimala and Veragua. This gives 
 them their value in ethnology. 
 
 The populations to which they were most im 
 mediately allied, have disappeared from history. 
 This isolates them ; so that there is no class to 
 
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 257 
 
 which they can be subordinated. At the same 
 time, they are quite as like the nearest known 
 tribes as the American ethnologist is prepared to 
 expect. 
 
 What they were in their truly natural state, 
 when, unmodified by either Englishman or Span 
 iard, Black or Indian, they represented the indi 
 genous civilization (such as it was) of their coast, 
 is uncertain. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 That the difference between the North and 
 South American aborigines has been over-rated, 
 is beyond doubt. The tendency, however, to do 
 so, decreases. An observer like Sir R. Schom- 
 burgk, who is at once minute in taking notice, 
 and quick at finding parallels, adds his suffrage to 
 that of Cicca de Leon and others, who enlarge 
 upon the extent to which the Indians of the New 
 World in general look "like children of one 
 family." On the other hand, however, there are 
 writers like D Orbigny. These expatiate upon the 
 difference between members of the same class, so 
 as to separate, not only Caribs from Algonkins, or 
 Peruvians from Athabaskans, but Peruvians from 
 Caribs, and Patagonians from Brazilians. 
 
 Now it is no paradox to assert that these two 
 views, instead of contradicting, support each 
 other. A writer exhibits clear and undeniable 
 differences between two American tribes in geo- 
 
 s 
 
258 INDIANS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 
 
 graphical juxta-position to one another. But 
 does this prove a difference of origin, stock, or 
 race? Not necessarily. Such differences may 
 be, and often are, partial. More than this they 
 may be more than neutralized by undeniable 
 marks of affinity. In such a case, all that they 
 prove is the extent to which really allied popula 
 tions may be contrasted in respect to certain 
 particular characters. 
 
 Stature is the chief point in which the North 
 American has the advantage of the Southern, e.g., 
 the Algonkin over the Carib. Such is Sir R. 
 Schomburgk s remark ; and such is the general 
 rule. Yet a vast number of the Indians of the 
 Oiegon, are shorter than the South American 
 Patagonian and Pampa tribes. The head is large 
 as compared with the trunk, and the trunk with 
 the limbs; the hands small ; the foot large; the skin 
 soft, though with larger pores than in Europe. 
 
 Indians of British Guiana. These are distri 
 buted amongst four divisions, of very unequal 
 magnitude and importance. 1. The Carib. 
 2. The Warow. 3. The Wapisiana. 4. The 
 Taruma. 
 
 The number of vocabularies collected by Sir R. 
 Schomburgk was eighteen. 
 
 1. The -great Carib group falls into three 
 divisions : 
 
 a. The Caribs Proper. 
 
THE AEAWAKS. 259 
 
 b. The Tamanaks. 
 
 c. The Arawaks. 
 
 Of these, it is only members of the first and 
 last that occupy British Guiana. 
 
 The Arawaks. The Arawaks are our nearest 
 neighbours, and, consequently, the most Euro- 
 peanized. Sir R. Schomburgk says, that they 
 and the Warows amount to about three thousand, 
 and from Bernau we infer, that this number is 
 nearly equally divided between the two ; since he 
 reckons the Arawaks at about fifteen hundred. 
 Each family has its distinctive tatoo, and these 
 families are twenty-seven in number. 
 
 The children may marry into their father s 
 family, but not into that of their mother. Now 
 as the caste is derived from their mother, this is 
 an analogue of the North American totem. Poly 
 gamy is chiefly the privilege of the chiefs. The 
 Pe-i-man is the Arawak Shaman. He it is who 
 names the children /or a consideration, Failing 
 this, the progeny goes nameless ; and to go name 
 less is to be obnoxious to all sorts of misfortunes. 
 
 Imposture is hereditary ; and as soon as the son 
 of a conjuror enters his twentieth year, his right 
 ear is pierced, he is required to wear a ring, and 
 he is trusted with the secrets of the craft. 
 
 In imitating what they see, and remembering 
 what they hear, the Arawak has, at least, an 
 average capacity. Neither is he destitute of 
 
260 THE ACCAWAYS. 
 
 ingenuity. Notation he has none ; and the nu 
 meration is of the rudest kind. 
 
 Aba-da-kabo = once my hand = five. 
 Biama-da-kabo = twice my hand == ten. 
 Aba-olake = one man = twenty. 
 
 Perfect nudity is rare amongst the women ; and 
 some neatness in the dressing of their hair is per 
 ceptible. It is tied up on the crown of the 
 head. 
 
 The nearer the coast the darker the skin; the 
 lightest coloured families being as fair as Span 
 iards. This is on the evidence of Bernau, who 
 adds, that, as children grow in knowledge and 
 receive instruction, the forehead rises, and the 
 physiognomy improves. 
 
 The other Guiana Indians, so far as they are 
 Carib at all, are Caribs Proper, rather than Ara- 
 waks. Of these, the chief are 
 
 The Accaways, occupants of the rivers Maza- 
 runi and Putara, with about six hundred fighting 
 men. They are jealous, quarrelsome, and cruel ; 
 firm friends and bitter enemies. When resisted, 
 they kill ; when unopposed, enslave. 
 
 The law of revenge predominates in this tribe ; 
 for like certain Australians they attribute all 
 deaths to contrivances of an enemy. Workers in 
 poison themselves, they suspect it with others. 
 
 Their skin is redder than the Arawaks , but 
 
THE CARABISI. 261 
 
 then their nudity is more complete ; inasmuch as, 
 instead of clothing, they paint themselves ; arnotto 
 being their red, lana their blue pigment. They 
 pierce the septum of the nose, and wear wood in 
 the holes, like the Eskimo, Loucheux, and others. 
 They paint the face in streaks, and the body 
 variously sometimes blue on one side, and red 
 on the other. They rub their bodies with carapa 
 oil, to keep off insects ; and one of the ingredients 
 of their numerous poisons, is a kind of black ant 
 called muneery. 
 
 Their forehead is depressed. 
 
 They give nicknames to each other and to 
 strangers, irrespective of rank; and the better 
 their authorities take it the greater their in 
 fluence. 
 
 It is the belief of the Accaways that the spirit 
 of the deceased hovers over the dwelling in which 
 death took place, and that it will not tolerate 
 disturbance. Hence they bury the corpse in the 
 hammock, and under the hut in which it became 
 one. This they burn and desert. 
 
 The Carabisi. Twenty years ago the Caribisi 
 (Carabeese, Carabisce) mustered one thousand 
 fighting men. It would now be difficult to raise 
 one hundred. But the diminution of their 
 numbers and importance began earlier still. 
 Beyond the proper Carabisi area, there are nu 
 merous Carabisi names of rivers, islands, and 
 
262 THE CARABISI. 
 
 other geographical objects. Hence, their area 
 has decreased. 
 
 Omnivorous enough to devour greedily tigers, 
 dogs, rats, frogs, insects, and other sorts of food, 
 unpopular elsewhere, they are distinguished by 
 their ornaments as well. The under-lip is the 
 part which they perforate, and wherein they wear 
 their usual pins; besides which they fasten a 
 large lump of arnotto to the hair of the front of 
 the head. 
 
 In ordinary cases the hammock in which the 
 death took place, serves as a coffin, the body 
 is buried, and a funeral procession made once or 
 twice round the grave ; but the bodies of persons 
 of importance are watched and washed by the 
 nearest female relations, and when nothing but 
 the skeleton remains, the bones are cleaned, 
 painted, packed in a basket and preserved. When, 
 however, there is a change of habitation they are 
 burned; after which the ashes are collected, and 
 kept. 
 
 Here we have interment and cremation in one 
 and the same tribe ; a circumstance which should 
 guard us against exaggerating their value as 
 characteristic and distinguishing customs. 
 
 Again. The Macusi is closely akin to the Ca- 
 ribis ; yet the Macusi buries his dead in a sitting 
 posture without coffins, and with but few cere 
 monies. Now the sitting posture is common to 
 
THE CARIB FAMILY. 263 
 
 the Peruvians, the Oregon Indians, and numerous 
 tribes of Brazil; indeed, Morton considers it to 
 be one of the most remarkable characteristics of 
 the Red Man of America in general. 
 
 The Arawak custom is peculiar. When a man 
 of note dies his relations plant a field of cassava ; 
 just as the Nicobar Islanders plant a cocoa-nut 
 tree. Then they lament loudly. But when twelve 
 moons are over, and the cassava is ripe, they 
 re-assemble, feast, dance, and lash each other 
 cruelly, and severely with whips. The whips are 
 then hung up on the spot where the person died. 
 Six moons later a second meeting takes place 
 and, this time, the whips are buried. 
 
 The Waika are a small tribe of the Accaways ; 
 the Zapara of the Macusis. Besides these, the 
 following Guiana Indians are Carib. 
 
 The Arecuna ; of w r hich the Soerikong are a 
 section. 
 
 The Waiyamara. 
 
 The Guinau. 
 
 The Maiongkong. 
 
 The Woyawai. 
 
 The Mawakwa, or Frog Indians a tribe that 
 flattens the head. 
 
 The Piano-ghotto ; of which the Zaramata and 
 jDrio are sections. 
 
 The Tiveri-ghotto. 
 
 2. The Warow, Waraw, Warau, or Guarauno. 
 
264 THE WAROW. 
 
 These are the Indians of the Delta of the Orinoco, 
 and the parts between that river and the Po- 
 maroon. Their language is peculiar, but by no 
 means without miscellaneous affinities. They are 
 the fluviatile boatmen of South America. Their 
 habit of taking up their residence in trees when 
 the ground is flooded, has given both early and 
 late writers an opportunity of enlarging upon 
 their semi-arboreal habits. 
 
 3. The Wapis ianas fall into 
 
 a. The Wapisianas Proper 
 
 b. The Atorai, of which the Taurai, or Dauri 
 (the same word under another form), and the ex 
 tinct, or nearly extinct, Amaripas are divisions. 
 
 c. The Parauana. 
 
 4. The Tarumas, on the Upper Essequibo, 
 have their probable affinities with the uninvesti- 
 gated tribes of Central South America. 
 
 The Indians of Trinidad are Carib. So are 
 those of St. Vincents. In no other West Indian 
 islands are there any aborigines extant. 
 
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