Contributions to the craniology of the people of the empire of India / by Sir Wm. Turner.

  • Turner, Wm. (William), Sir, 1832-1916.
Date:
1899-1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to the craniology of the people of the empire of India / by Sir Wm. Turner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    beyond latitude 24°. Owing to depredations committed by the Chins it was found necessary to organise an expedition against them in 1889-90. Surgeon - Lieut.-Col. A. S. Reid has published an interesting account of the expedition, along with maps of the Lushai and Chin hill-tracts.* He regards the Koladyne river as separating the Lushais on the west from the Chins to the east, and he considers that the Burmese word Chin should replace the name Shendu given to these people by those who approached their hills from the Indian frontier. Whilst exhibiting differences in dialect and dress, Dr Reid regards the Lushais and Chins as practically one race. The men, he says, are well built, with strong limbs and good figures. The average height is about 5 ft. 6 in., though individuals approach 6 ft. Like the Lushais, the northern Chins gather the hair in a knot on the nape of the neck, but the tribe of Baungshes \year it on the forehead. The Sokt^s, again, have it short, and outstanding like the tresses of Medusa. The mode of dressing the hair accords with Colonel Woodthorpe’s description. The Chinmen have a small loin-cloth, and a large shawl or blanket thrown loosely over the shoulders; the clothes of the chiefs are in coloured patterns. A haversack of hairy skin is worn on the right side, suspended by a strap from the left shoulder. The women wear a dark cloth jacket and skirt; the latter is sometimes woven in coloured patterns. The tribes w^hich inhabit the Kachin Hills on the borders of Upper Burma and Yunnan are often called Kachins or Kakhyens, though a more appropriate name is Chingpaw or Singpho. They have been described both by Dr John Anderson! and Mr E. C. S. George. | Their ancestral home was apparently the head waters of the Irrawaddy, and they are probably offshoots of the same race as gave origin to the Chins. The men are said to average 5 ft. 4 in. in height, and the women are three or four inches shorter. The oblique eyes widely separated, high cheek-bones, colour of skin from a brunette almost to black, point to their Mongolian afi&nities. The nose, however, varies from aquiline to a broad, squat projection on the face. The hair varies between black and brown ; the eyes between dark and light brown. South-east of Assam and north-west of Burma, and in proximity to the state of Manipur, are ranges of hills which lie between 25° and 28° latitude and 93° to 97° longitude. Our knowledge of the tribes inhabiting them is largely due to Captain Butler, § Colonel Woodthorpe,|| Mr G. H. Damant,1T Dr Brown,** and General Sir James Johnstone.tt The principal tribes inhabiting these mountains are called Ndgds, * Chin-Lushai Land. Calcutta, 1893. t Expedition to Western Yunnan, Calcutta, 1871. J Appendix to Census of Burma, 1892. § Journal Asiatic Soc., Bengal, 1875, vol. xliv. part i. p. 307. II Journal Anthropol. Inst., 1882, vol. xi. pp. 56, 196. IT Journal Royal Asiatic Soc., 1880, vol. xii. ** Statistical Account of the Native State of Manipur, 1873. tt Experiences in Manipur and the Ndgd Hills. London, 1896. An excellent account of the social structure, religion, myths, dances and songs, cultivation, trade and war of the Ndgas has been compiled by Miss Gertrude M. Godden from the above and other authorities. It is published in the Journal Anthropological Inst., vol. xxvi., Nov. 1896, and vol. xxvii., Nov. 1897.