INTRODUCTION 



in 



treatise on Ethnology a science as yet in 

 its infancy, and presenting many problems 

 that can only be solved by long and patient 

 accumulation of facts but a thoroughly 

 popular book, presenting information in a 

 concise and readable form. The subject 

 is so vast that it has been found necessary 

 to exclude very much matter which, how- 

 ever interesting to the student, did not 

 appear to help the end in view. Hence 

 the text which accompanies the large series 

 of illustrations here presented deals chiefly 

 with the physical features of the races of 

 mankind, their clothing, ornaments, food, 

 dwellings, weapons, habits, and customs, 

 especially those connected with birth, 

 marriage, and death; their modes of 

 thought and mental characteristics; not 

 omitting their games, sports, and pastimes. 

 A few statistics of population, race, and 

 religion have been added for the sake of 

 completeness. 



It is not possible to enumerate here 



the many valuable papers in geographical and other journals to which the writers are 

 largely indebted, nor to the many important books of travel by which our knowledge has 

 been so vastly increased of late years. The works of Lieutenant Peary, Dr. Sven Hedin, 

 Dr. Gregory, Sir Harry Johnston, Stanley, Nansen, Youughusband, and others, have been of 

 the greatest service to ethnologists, and the writers have freely drawn upon the latest and 

 fullest sources of information. 



With a view to simplicity, and the avoidance of the difficult problems of race-relation- 

 ship, the various peoples described are treated from a geographical standpoint. To a large 

 extent the geographical arrangement agrees with the purely ethnographical classification. 

 Nearly all races, however, are mixed, there being few pure types anywhere. All the ingenious 

 schemes of classification as yet put forward by ethnologists are provisional and temporary; 

 but it is convenient to retain the use of such familiar terms as Caucasian, Mongolian, 

 Polynesian, Negro, Negrito, and Papuan. 



In the illustration of this subject an entirely new departure has been taken, and the 

 author and publishers claim to have produced a work which is unique. Pictures, or wood- 

 engravings, may sometimes be prettier, but they can never be so absolutely trustworthy as the 

 products of the camera, which show us the natives of other climes as they live in th'eir 



J'/io/o liij H". it 1). Downey. 



