Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/248

EURASIAN Madras remain as a memorial. At the present day the conditions of life in India are, as the result of steamer traffic, very different, and far more wholesome. The Eurasian man seeks a wife as a rule among his own community; and, in this manner, the race is mainly maintained. The number of Eurasians within the limits of the Madras Presidency was returned, at the census, 1891, as 26,643. But on this point I must call Mr. H. A. Stuart, the Census Commissioner, into the witness box. "The number of Eurasians," he writes, "is 26,643, which is 20.76 per cent, more than the number returned in 1881." The figures for the last three enumerations are given in the following statement: — "It will be seen that, between 1871 and 1881, there was a great decrease, and that the numbers in 1891 are slightly higher than they were twenty years ago. The figures, however, are most untrustworthy. The cause is not far to seek; many persons, who are really Natives, claim to be Eurasians, and some who are Eurasians return themselves as Europeans. It might be thought that the errors due to these circumstances would be fairly constant, but the district figures show that this cannot be the case. Take Malabar, for example, which has the largest number of Eurasians after Madras, and where the division between Native Christians with European names and people of real mixed race is very shadowy. In 1871 there were in this district 5,413 Eurasians; in 1881 the number had apparently fallen to 1,676; while in 1891 it had again risen to 4,193, or, if we include South-east Wynaad, as we should do, to 4,439.