514 REPORT — 1895. 



century has not yet completely severed, there we hope still to find sure 

 traces of the past. 



The photographic survey, which has been carried out so well at 

 Birmingham and elsewhere, and has been initiated in our own country, 

 will prove a most valuable aid to the wider work of the Ethnographical 

 Survey. Photographs of the material remains of ancient culture are 

 explicitly asked for in the schedule. In addition to them, photographs of 

 typical inhabitants are urgently desired. Some judgment will, of course, 

 require to be exercised in the selection of types, and a considerable 

 amount of tact in inducing the subjects to allow themselves to be taken. 

 It has been found effective for this purpose, as well as for that of 

 measuring the people, that two persons should go out together, and 

 setting up the camera in the village, or wherever they find a convenient 

 spot, coram poj^ulo, they should then proceed gravely to measure and 

 photograph one another. This will be found to interest the villagers, 

 and some of them will gradually be persuaded to submit to the operation. 

 A little geniality, and sometimes a more tangible gratification of a trifling 

 character, will hardly ever fail in accomplishing the object. The expe- 

 rience of observers who have taken measurements is that it becomes 

 exti'emely fascinating work as the collection increases and the results are 

 compared.' 



This comparison, if the subjects have been selected with judgment, 

 and accurately measured and photographed, should enable us to determine 

 in what proportions the blood of the various races which have from time 

 to time invaded and occupied our soil has been transmitted to the present 

 population of different parts of the United Kingdom. From the ancient 

 remains in barrows and other sepulchral monuments, and from the study 

 of the living peoples of Western Europe, the characteristics of the races 

 in question are known with more or less certainty, and every year adds 

 to our information concerning them. A much more complex problem, 

 and one wherein archaeologists have a more direct interest, is how far the 

 culture of the races in question has descended to us, and how far it has 

 been affected by intruding arts, faiths, and inventions. To solve this, 

 appeal is made first to the historic and prehistoric monuments and other 

 material remains, and secondly to the traditions of many kinds that 

 linger among the peasantry. Here the first business, and that with 

 which the practical work of the survey is immediately concerned, is the 

 work of collection. To photograph, sketch, and accurately describe the 

 material remains ; to note and report the descriptions and drawings 

 already made, and where they are preserved ; to gather and put into 

 handy form the folklore of each country already printed ; and to collect 

 from the surviving depositaries of tradition that which may still be 

 found — namely, tales, sayings, customs, medical prescriptions, songs, 

 games, riddles, superstitions, and all those scraps of traditional lore stored 

 in rustic memories, impervious and strange to the newer lore of tp-day — 

 these are the necessary preliminaries to the study of the civilisation of our 

 ancestors. 



' The Ethnographical Survey Committee has a few sets of instruments for taking 

 the measurements, which can be placed temporarily at the disposal of the local 

 committee. Perhaps I may here also express the opinion that if the personal 

 photographs and measurements called for expenditure beyond what could be met by 

 local enthusiasm, the Committee might not be indisposed to contribute by way of a 

 small payment for each photograph and set of measurements. 



