6 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH OUTSIDE AMERICA. 



another century or two. It is only in places such as Egypt, where the buried 

 objects have a great intrinsic value and are thus likely to be the prey of 

 pillagers and amateurs, that the question of urgency arises. Indeed it is 

 possible to go still further; science will gain by delay. No one who com- 

 pares a recent exploration of a Pompeian house or an Egyptian tomb with 

 one of only ten or twenty years ago can fail to see how great has been the 

 positive gain for exact knowledge through the delay. Archaeology is a rela- 

 tively young subject and it is only now that its students are beginning to 

 recognize the need for attention to minute detail and for the systematic 

 record of features and aspects of ancient remains which may seem trivial to 

 us now, but in a more advanced state of knowledge may become of priceless 

 importance. Looking at the subject, not from the narrow point of view of 

 our own scientific and historical curiosity, but from that of the future, I 

 believe science will gain in the long run by delay of archaeological exploration. 



How different is the case with ethnology ! Here we have material, much 

 of it indeed hidden from the ordinary gaze, but yet open to all the influences 

 now being brought to bear upon it by the rapid spread of western culture 

 over the earth's surface. In many parts of the world the customs of savage 

 and barbarous man arc undergoing rapid and destructive change. Even 

 now in many places all religious ceremonies may have disappeared, all the 

 old arts may be neglected, even the niceties of language may be blurred 

 or lost. The brightest side of the matter is the extent and fidelity of the 

 memories of ancient times. Nearly everywhere, among rude peoples whose 

 culture is vanishing, there are to be found old men, often more alert and 

 mentally vigorous than their juniors, who seem to be inspired by a fervor 

 fit to be called religious, as it is found how closely and exactly they have 

 preserved in their memories the minute details of rites and customs which 

 they have had no opportunity of practising for years. Such old men have 

 only to meet one in whom they recognize an interest akin to their own to 

 become fountains of knowledge which seem almost inexhaustible, and yet 

 each case of this kind only brings more forcibly to the mind how great will 

 be the loss when these fountains have been dried by the inevitable conse- 

 quences of a few years' delay. In many parts of the world the death of every 

 old man brings with it the loss of Imowledge never to be replaced. 



The fact that the material of the ethnologist is not stationary, but is 

 continually undergoing change, raises another practical problem. If the 

 material for knowledge is thus undergoing change it becomes our business to 

 inquire closely which period of this change presents the most favorable oppor- 

 tunity for the ethnologist; but before I come to this topic it is necessary to 

 say something about the nature of ethnological investigation. 



Generally speaking, ethnological inquiry has two main varieties, which 

 may be called "survey work" and "intensive work," respectively. By the 

 former is meant work in which much ground is covered, observing and com- 

 paring the customs of different tribes and places. Often the worker is espe- 



