When Mr. Betts had ended, Mr.
Clarke rose and supported the view that the Chongitia were immigrants anu allied to the Shans. He told an amusing tradition of how they lost their literature. While wandering in search of & new home, the story runs, the tribe came to a vast lake. Ab first they saw now: but one of the party, noticing the waterers running over the surface of the water, suggested that as such puny things could wall: across, the tribe should try the same means of getting forward. His advice was followed, with the result that the party was nearly drowned. All sw lowed a great deal of water, and their ers went down their throats at the mo time.
Capt. Davis stated that the oan wear white robes, and White Chinese by the SI not live in large communities, their vile ses being generally composed of five or houses in a circle. He had met the north as Lat. 28° in Szechuan nest had found them in Amam.
Dr. Edkins stated that he had collected in Peking vocabularies of all the South-Western tribes he could find. From a study of these he came to the conclusion that. the language of the Minotze was closely connected to that of the shans, while the Lolos of Yunnan spoke a dialect: approximating to Tib Mr. T. W. Kingsmill remarked how persistent were racial types and manners. Inthe Shilichi he found that 2,000 years ago some of the tribes had their present names, Miao meant foreign, and corres ponded to the names Welsh," "Walloon," ote.
A gentleman rose to ask about the characters of the aboriginal tribes, stating, that twenty years ago he had' bought Minotze books in Ytinnan.
Mr, Archibald Little spoke of the Mantze of Szechuan, who had been driven to the mountains of the West by the Chinese and robbed of their fertile valleys and paddyfieids. They were Caucasian in type, with erect forehead and prominent nose. Their physique was goo, They were armed, and for the most: part cite gaged in pastoral pursuits. The Llamas Tibet had extended their influence over them, but the people were very arent from the people of either West or bet. How this alien ty encompassed by Mongols on both west, had conte possible to explain present.
Mr. Richard said that twenty years he had a hum of pictiives of Che different cline of Miaotze. Ue drew a comparison between the different dross of ach tribe and the tartans of the Scottish Highlander Tt was of interest to note that long ago emigrants had gone from Chingchouft, in Shantung, to Kueichou, Ho moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Betts, which Dr. Forke seconded.
The Chairman drew a comparison between the customs described by the urcr with those of his native isle. The full point of this could, hawerer, only be appreciated ly those whose recollections had been refreshed by the spectacle of an aboriginal coolie, doubled-up, swaying from side to side, giving utterance to the strains of the Miaotze Balfe.
Mr. Betts briefly responded and the gathering slowly dispersed.
Tu allowing us {0 make liberal uso his manuscript, the author expressed desire that his article should not yider publicity than is afforded by columns.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.