Dear Sir,

I hope you will kindly excuse my troubling you, but I was much interested in reading your “Descent of Man,” while in India,—& thought I might be of assistance.—

I am a Civil Engr. in the Indian Dept. Pub. Works, at present on sick leave, and should be most happy (on my return) to furnish you with any information which might be of use in your investigations.—¹

There are one or two phenomena I observed in the Punjab, which struck me:—

1.— I noted as a singular fact that in families with an admixture of native blood, generally of the 3^d. or 4^th. degree, that while some of the family were as dark as many half-castes, those in which the admixture was not apparent had almost invariably reddish hair and light eyes.— This may (?) be accounted for on the ground that the hair of many dark races is an opaque red, so dark as to seem jet black.—²

2.— I noticed that the feet of most low-caste domestic servants were flat, fan-shaped (from the spreading of the toes); & that the “big toe” was shorter than the next, & semi-prehensile.—³ I have heard it asserted that such w^d. (or ought to) be the classic form of foot, if not distorted by boots!—

3.— Just before reading your “Descent of Man” &c, I was engaged in the country of the so-called “Belooch” tribes of the Derajat,⁴ & noticed that many of the men had long ringlets of light-brown hair, while their beards seemed jet black.—⁵ I regret that I did not procure specimens, to test, as natives are very fond of staining their beards,—even of a blue, purple, or auburn tint.—

4.— Many persons (Europeans & others) have a partial continuation of the hair of the head in the shape of a hairy triangle stretching along part of the neck.— This seems to be similar to a rudimentary form of mane.—

5.— I had in my possession a Cabuli (Persian) cat, pure white with bushy tail, & eyes of different colours,—viz. one light blue & the other of a hazel tint.—⁶ Most cats of this species have both the eyes brown or hazel.—

Excuse my intruding, | Yours truly, | John F. Mackenzie.