xvn OUR DUTY TO POSTERITY 273 



with all the native populations in various parts of the world 

 which have been, to use a current phrase, " disestablished and 

 disendowed " by our own countrymen. We are, however, now, 

 as I have shown, not altogether unmindful of what is our 

 duty to posterity in this respect, a duty, perhaps, more urgent 

 than that of any other branch of scientific investigation, as it 

 will not wait. It must be done, if ever, before the rapid 

 spread of civilised man all over the world, one of the most 

 remarkable characteristics of the age in which we live, has 

 obliterated what still remains of the original customs, arts, and 

 beliefs of primitive races ; if, indeed, it has not succeeded as 

 it too often does in obliterating the races themselves. 



