ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES IN SOUTHERN ASIA, JAVA, AUSTRALIA, AND SOUTH AFRICA

'

In October, 1925. Dr. Ales Hrdlicka finished a seven-months' journey of

some

50,000 miles in the interests of Physical Anthro-

*Thanks foreffective aid, financialand otherwise,which made this expedi- tion feasiblearedue toDr. Hermon C. Bumpus, Consuhing Director,and to Mr.SeymourH. Knox, oneof the Trustees, of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.

A

grateful acknowledgmentforvaluableaid with introductions orin theworkitselfisduetotheHon. RobertLansing, formerSecretary of State;

tothe British GovernmentofIndia, tootherofficialauthorities,scientific men and

Museum

officials of India, Java, Australia, and South Africa: to the United States Consulatesinthesecountries,andtomanyscientificand personal friends,thelistof

whom

wouldbe too longtobe enumerated.

NO. I

SMITHSONIAN

EXPLORATIONS, I925 ₅₉

pology, extending through Franceto India, Ceylon. Java, Australia and SouthAfrica,withabrieffinal stopinEngland,underthejoint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. Its objectswere essentiallya survey of whathas been and

what

is being done in those far-off lands in the field of ancient

man

and fossil apes; to look into a

number

of important racial questions; to meet

men

previously

known

only by corres- pondence and establish closer relations;

and

if conditions proved propitious,to laya foundation for futurework.

In the journey through France, it

was

learned that no skeletal remains of great age have recently been encountered.

At

Port Said

and

especially at Aden, it

was

possible to observe

numerous

Arabs.

There

is

more

or less of negro admixture, but evidently pure types are not infrequent and are very interesting.

The

pure

Arab

shows a lively, intelligent, white-man's (Mediter- raneantype) physiognomy,straight to

wavy

blackhair,afineblack ormostly gray

wavy

beard if one is worn, dark

brown

eyes, and ^a body as richly

brown

as that of an average full-blooded

American

Indian. Theseare the workers.

A

higherclass

Arab man

or

woman, who

has always

worn

protection against the sun and lives

much

indoors,

may

be nearly aslight incolor as

many

a southernEuropean.

In India,theproblemsto be studiedwerefirst, theoccurrence of fossil anthropoidapes inthe Siwalik Hills;second, thedistribution, numbers,

and

nature ofIndianpaleolithsandpossible other traces of ancient

man

;third,the question of the^{racialaflfinity}of the "Aryans^''

;

fourth, the occurrence of

American

Indian-like types

among

^the mongolic peoples of theHimalayas^;

and

fifth, traces on the Indian mainland of the Negrito.

Bombay

^' in its living population presents a rich pasture for the anthropologist. Moreover, the city

now

possesses a

handsome new museum

whichincludes ahallof Prehistory. In this hallare several cases of Indian" paleoliths,"mostof

them from

Madras.

The

Siwalik Hills of Northern^{India, it} is

known,

havefor

some

time past beengiving us fossil remains of anthropoid apes. It

was

learned that the hills extend forabout 600 miles along the base of the Himalayas,

from Kashmir

and

Punjab

tonear

Burma.

In these hills have been found, within the last

two

^years, five or six

new

varieties,ifnotspecies,offossilanthropoidapes of theDryopithecus

'Foraidin thiscity,Dr.HrdlickaisespeciallygratefultoMr.A. H.Dracup, Under-Secretaryof theGovernment, andtothelocal U. S.Consulate.

6o SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS

COLLECTIONS VOL. 78

NO. I

SMITHSONIAN

EXPLORATIONS, I925 61

andSivapithecus genera,andthis withbut limitedscientificexplora- tion. In former years remains of fossil anthropoids had been dis- covered in

no

less than eight other well separatedlocalities in these hills,anditisprobablysafetosay that thereisno regionintheworld richer or

more

promising in such remains.

Yet

thisimportantfield

today lies fallow.

The man

who. in recent years,has done mostof the paleontological exploration inthese ^h'lls

—

Dr. Pilgrim, formerly a Superintendent ofthe Geological Survey

—

^isreturningto London,

and

thereisno onetotakehis place.'

Many

other noteworthy Tertiary and Oviaternary fossils besides those of apes are appearingin the Siwaliks, such as those of giant turtles,extinctproboscidea,and otheranimals;andthe further pos- sibilities ofthe regioncanhardly be estimated.'

From

Simla Dr. Hrdlicka proceeded to the Tibetan border, to observe the types of theTibetans

who make

their

homes

inDarjeeling oritsvicinity,or

come

there

from

over themountains,and

who

occa- sionally

show

types that resemblemostcloselythe

American

Indian.

At

Darjeeling, with generous help

from

the Government," it

was

possiblein a shorttimeto see large

numbers

of the native popula- tion, consisting of mongoloid tribes

who

have overflowed into the northernmost parts of India, anda good

many

Til>etans. There is

seen amongst these Tibetans, Chinese admixture^

—

for the Chinese have beenlordsof Tibet for a long time

—

yet frequentlytrueAmeri- can Indiantypes arealsoto be found, so truethatiftheyweretrans- plantedinto

America nobody

could possibly takethemforanythingbut Indian.

They —

^men,

^women

^{and children}

—

^{resemble the Indians in}

behavior,indress,and eveninthe intonations oftheirlanguage.

From

theTil>etanborderDr. Hrdlickareturnedto Calcuttato see theestablishment of the GeologicalSurveyof Indiaandthe

renowned

Indian

Museum,

where

were

found very valuable paleontological andarcheological collections which ought to be better

known

^{.^}

The

'Justas thisgoestopress,itis learnedthat,owingtoadiscovery ofoil in the Punjab, Dr. Pilgrim is to returntothatpart of India, wherehe will be nearwhatareperhapsthemost promisingpartsof the Siwaliks.

*AtSimla, helpwasreceived particularlyfrom Sir FrederickWhite, Presi- dentof the IndianAssembly,fromthe Military SecretarytoH.E. the Viceroy, frommembersof the Cabinet,and fromDr.Pilgrim personally.

'Thanks here are due especially to H. E. Sir John Kerr, Governor of Assam, at that time Acting Governor of Bengal, to Lady Kerr, and to the Governor'sofficial family.

*In Calcuttamanythanks foraidextended are dueparticularlytothelocal publicofficials,to theexcellentstaffof the Geological Survey,toMr. J. Van Mauen,Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,andtothegentlemenof the AmericanConsulate-General.