XXIV.-PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF LONDON.

1. ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (4, St. Martin's Place.)

December 27th, 1864.

THE following papers were read:-1. 'On Flint Implements from Salisbury Hill, near Bath.' By Mr. John Evans, F.R.S. During the late meeting of the British Association at Bath, a paragraph appeared in the Bath Chronicle, stating that in the ancient earthworks at Little Salisbury Hill,' numbers of flint arrow-heads had been found. Amongst the additions to Camden's Britannia' (Gough's edition of 1806) is a passage derived from Collinson's History of Somerset,' referring the entrenchment (of an almost circular shape) to Saxon times. Mr. Lubbock, Mr. Galton, and the author paid it a visit. They found it to be an isolated hill of Inferior Oolite, the Fuller's-carth beds being capped by the Great or Bath Oolite, which formed a horizontal plateau some few acres in extent at the top. The vallum had in great part disappeared. On the top a seam of black mould was observed in the cutting of a small quarry worked into the side of the hill, and containing bones of the horse, ox, and pig. There were also several pieces of rude pottery, some of red clay ware, and others of more imperfectly burnt clay containing numerous particles of calcareous matter, and similar in character to the ware which was found a few years ago at Menney near Frome, containing ancient British coins of the first century. On the plateau a search for arrow-heads was made as well as for other objects of flint, which, as the natural soil contains no stones except oolitic débris, were readily observable, and a large number of flint chippings and flakes of various sizes and different degrees of perfection, but mostly small and rude, as well as several cores or nuclei, were collected. Besides the worked flints, several other implements of stone worthy of notice were met with. Of these the most remarkable was a rounded pebble of hæmatitic iron ore, with several deep scorings upon it, found by Mr. Lubbock. A piece of greenstone, apparently originally a smoothed or polished celt, but which had subsequently been used as a hammer, was also met with. Besides these were two stone implements of quartzite, presenting a rather

singular character. They appear to have been formed of rounded pebbles, which had been broken in their longest diameter into rudely-shaped quadrangular prisms, with one end flattened, and the other left with the original contour. From the similarity of the two specimens the author considered it evident they were thus shaped with some design, but what it was difficult to conjecture. The author did not attempt to assign these relics to any definite age, though he considered it would be justifiable to refer them to the pre-Roman period, and that for the first occupation of Salisbury Hill a date might be claimed far earlier than those Saxon times to which Collinson has ascribed the encampment.

2. The Hairy Men of Yesso.' By Mr. W. Martin Wood. It often happens that in the isolated residue of any race its repulsive peculiarities become more strongly marked, and some effort of humane feeling is required in such cases in order to recognise those traits, in virtue of which the perishing fraction may claim its kinship with the great family of mankind. Such an outcast race still lingers in the island of Yesso, the most northern portion of the empire of Japan. These are the 'Ainos' or 'Mosinos'-the allhairy people;' this last word being a Japanese term, marking their chief peculiarity. Yesso is only separated from Niphon by the narrow straits of Tsougar; but the climate of the island is unpropitious and its soil is barren, so that the Japanese have only occupied the southern portion. They number about 100,000, and dwell principally in the cities of Mato-mai and Hakodadi. Timid and shrinking in attitude, the Ainos seem utterly crushed in spirit by their long subjection and isolation. They are short in stature, of thickset figure, and clumsy in their movements. Their physical strength is considerable, but beside that peculiarity there is nothing by which an observer can recognise the possibility of the Ainos ever having possessed any martial prowess. The uncouthness and wildness of their aspect is calculated at first to strike a stranger with dismay or repugnance. Esau himself could not have been more hairy. The hair on their heads forms an enormous bunch, and is thick and matted. Their beards are very thick and long, and the greater part of their face is covered with hair which is generally dark in colour; but they have prominent foreheads and mild dark eyes, which somewhat relieve the savage aspect of their visage. Their hands and arms, and indeed the greater part of their bodies, are covered with an abnormal profusion of hair. The natural colour of their skin is

somewhat paler than that of the Japanese, but it is bronzed by constant exposure. The women, as if in default of the extraordinary endowments of their spouses, have a custom of staining their faces with dark blue for a considerable space around their mouths. The children are lively and intelligent when little, but soon acquire the downcast aspect of their elders. Yet these strange people have a history; and though its details are lost, they cherish the remembrance that their forefathers were once the equals, if not the masters, of the Japanese. This is supposed to have been in the sixth century before Christ at least.

January 10th, 1865.

The following papers were read. 1. "Contributions to the History of the Iranians by M. Khanikof." The author's conclusions were that the origin of this branch of the Aryan family must be sought for in the east of the lands occupied by them; that a difference exists now, as at very remote epochs, in the shape of the head in eastern and western Persians; and that the original Iranian type is best preserved by the Tadjiks. On the derivation of the term Tadjik, the author offered a very ingenious hypothesis, namely, that it means "bearers of tiaras or tadjs," and was used in the remotest periods to designate the Iranians who were fire worshippers, the tadj being a sign of recognition, amongst the followers of Zoroaster, as the turban is amongst Mussulmans. Assuming the Tadjiks to be the aborigines of East Iran, it is natural to search among them for the primitive type of the Iranian family. M. Khanikof does this with much minuteness, the main features being-high stature, black eyes and hair, which is very abundant; head long and oyal like those of the western Persians, but with frontal bone broader between the semicircular lines; the nose, mouth, and eyes very handsome, the first generally straight, rarely bent; the mouth and ears large, as also their feet. They are strong and can work long without weariness, but are not such good walkers as the Persians.

2. "On the Artificial Eyes of certain Peruvian Mummies," by Sir Woodbine Parish. Associated with the interments of ancient Peruvians there have been found certain hemispherical amber coloured objects, which the late Mr. Clifts, of the College of Surgeons determined from some specimens shown him by Dr. Wollaston to be desiccated eyes of cuttlefishes,-an opinion now confirmed by Professor Owen and Mr. Bowman. Lieut. Rising, R.N. who for

warded the present specimens to the author of this paper, found them in the sockets of the eyes of some of the Peruvian mummies at Arica. The purpose to which they were applied is thus definitely settled.

January 24th, 1865.

The paper before the meeting was "On the Progress of Civilization in the Northern Celebes," by Mr. A. R. Wallace. Its principal object was to bring under discussion the system of coffee-culture established since 1822, through the intermediation of the native chiefs, and under the direction of European "controlleurs," by the Dutch government, and the beneficial influences it has had upon the native population. Up to a very recent period these people had been thorough savages, and there were persons still living who remember a state of things identical with that described by the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Now the coffee plantations and rice fields are cultivated in common-men, women, and children working together at weeding and gathering; an account is kept of the work done by each family, and when the crop is gathered each receives a proportionate share. A fixed price is established at which the government buys the coffee, and the village chiefs, who are dignified with the titles of "Mayors," receive 5 per cent. The duty of the "controlleurs" is to visit every village in succession once a month, and to report on their condition to the Government. The coffee plantations were established by the Dutch government at a considerable outlay of skill and capital; roads have been made, and education has been freely given to the people; and if in return the Government claims the monopoly of the produce as the most economical and least oppressive mode of taxation, what right have we to cry out against it whilst we maintain a salt-tax and an opium monopoly in India, neither of which can be shown to have been as directly instrumental in raising and elevating the people as this coffee culture? The author thought that there was great wisdom in treating uncivilized people for a while as children under a system of moderate tutelage, and that indeed it was necessary for their preservation to educate and protect them for a sufficient time before exposing them to the full contact with the wealth and energy of civilized Europeans.

February 7th, 1865.

The paper for the evening was,

"On Human Remains and Works

of Art at Gibraltar," by Professor Busk, F.R.S. These remains and relics were chiefly from two caves, the "Genista" and the "Judges' Cave." The human remains found in the first, together with the implements, articles of earthenware, and certain of the mammalian, fish, and most of the bird-bones, as well as the greater part of the marine shells, were all contained in the highest part of the cave above the uppermost of the several stalagmite floors noticed by Captain Broome. The space thus noticed varied in depth from the roof to the floor from 14 to 18 feet, the greatest depth in it at which human remains have been met with was little more than 10 feet. It would thus seem that the floor of this cavern had been covered to some depth with a deposit before any human bones had gained admission into it. Most of the mammalian bones immediately associated with those of man in it exhibit precisely the same general characters as the human bones themselves, and differ notably in this respect from the older, more fossilized bones procured from beneath the stalagmite floors and in the deeper parts of the fissure. The mammals thus referred to as bearing intrinsic evidence of their close association with man are a species of Bos, of the size and proportion of the common domestic ox, of different sizes; of Capra hircus, Sus domesticus (?) Mus rattus, Lepus timidus, L. cuniculus, Meles taxus, Canis Vulpes, Phocana, sp. &c., whilst of fishes are numerous bones of the Tunny, and of other smaller forms not yet determined, and of several birds, which have also not as yet been gone into sufficiently to allow of the determination of the species. The remains of articles of earthenware are very abundant, though most are in a very fragmentary condition. Amongst them, however, is one quite perfect small urn. A large portion of them appear to have been made without the use of the potter's wheel, and these are also composed of a very coarse and imperfectly burnt black clay, though reddened to a little depth on the surface. Those articles which have been fashioned on the wheel are for the most part of a finer or more carefully prepared material, and they are also more thoroughly burnt. The implements of different kinds found in the cave, though not very numerous, are of considerable interest. With one exception, they are of stone or of bone. Human bones belonging to nearly every region of the body are found; but by far the larger portion of the collection consists of fragments of crania, and of the bones of the upper and lower extremities, the latter predominating. Though hardly any of these fragments can be fitted together, they suffice to show that the skull must have been of a large