ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH OUTSIDE AMERICA. 17 



The northern parts of Asia present a very attractive field for .work, but 

 much has been done in this region by Professor Sternberg and the Jesup 

 Expedition; until this work has been fully published it is hardly a region 

 which calls for new work. It is probable, moreover, that the uninviting 

 character of the country will prevent such rapid changes as would make its 

 investigation a matter of any very great urgency. A more urgent problem 

 is presented by the study of the Ainus of northern Japan, with whom little 

 field work of an intensive kind has been done. Central Asia presents a vast 

 field for research, but with one exception it does not seem to be a profitable 

 field for inquiry nor does it probably present any great urgency. The 

 exception to which I refer is that of the peoples of the western border 

 of China, whose culture probably possesses features destined to illustrate 

 many vexed ethnological problems. The investigation, however, would be 

 one of great difficulty, and there is no reason to believe that these people 

 are undergoing such change in culture as makes the problem one of special 

 urgency. 



The same holds good of Tibet and Nepal. Interesting as these countries 

 are, there is little doubt that they will give as fruitful results twenty or even 

 fifty years hence as at the present time. 



A more immediate field for research is presented by British India. 

 Partly through private work, partly through the initiative of the government, 

 a vast mass of survey-work has now been carried out, but there still remains 

 an ample field for intensive work. The governments of India and Ceylon 

 have, however, shown themselves ready to subsidize any private workers 

 who wish to undertake such investigation, and the Indian problem, though 

 urgent, is less so than that of many other parts of the world. Changes 

 are now in progress among many sections of the population, but the more 

 secluded peoples, who are of especial interest to the ethnologist, are not likely 

 to be appreciably affected by a few more years' delay. 



The same may be said of Burma and the other countries of the southeast 

 corner of Asia. We know very little of the more backward elements of the 

 population of these countries and a thorough exploration would certainly 

 lead to the discovery of facts of the greatest interest, but the countries are 

 in a relatively stable condition and there is no prospect of any great changes 

 in the immediate future. 



It will have been noticed that nearly everywhere I have spoken of the 

 ethnological problems of Asia as presenting no special urgency. Before 

 passing on to other regions, it may be well to point out that this is chiefly 

 due to the working of the principle that relatively high cultures are not 

 especially susceptible to external influence. Asia is in general the seat of 

 well-established cultures of a high order and, though these are undoubtedly 

 undergoing modification as the result of western influence, the changes in 

 progress are not of that rapidly disintegrative character which is having such 

 blighting and ever annihilating influences elsewhere. 



