REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. xc 
delay. With the exception, perhaps, of the negro it would seem that 
none of the lower races are capable of living side by side with whites. 
The usual result of such contact is demoralisation, physical decline, and 
steady diminution of numbers ; in the case of the Tasmanians, entire dis- 
appearance. Such will probably soon be the fate of the Maories, the 
Andamanese, the North American Indians, and the, blacks of Australia. 
While these exist it is possible to preserve their traditions and folk-lore, 
and to record their habits of life, their arts, and the like, and such direct 
evidence is necessarily more valuable than accounts filtered through the 
recollection of the most intelligent white man. 
It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon this point, as no one will 
seriously question the value to science of such information. But it does 
seem necessary to urge that no time be lost. 
2. As to the benefit to the Government of these inquiries, the history 
of our relations with native tribes in India and the Colonies is rich in 
examples. No one who has read of the ways of the African can doubt 
that a thorough study of his character, his beliefs and superstitions, is a 
necessity for those who have to deal with him. And what is true of the 
natives of Africa is also true, in a greater or less degree, of all uncivilised 
races. Their ideas of common things and common acts are so radically 
different from those of civilised man that it is impossible for him to 
understand them without a special training. 
Even in dealing with the highly civilised natives of India it is most 
necessary that an inquirer should be familiar with their religion, and 
with the racial prejudices which the natives of India possess in common 
with other civilised nations. 
A training in knowledge of native habits is now gone through by our 
officers, traders, and missionaries on the spot ; and by experience—some- 
times dearly bought—they, after many failures, learn how te deal with 
the natives. By the establishment of such a Bureau as is here advocated 
much might be done to train our officers before they go out, as is now 
done by the Dutch Government, who have a handbook and a regular 
course of instruction as to the life, laws, religion, &c., of the inhabitants 
of the Dutch Indies. The experience thus gained would then mature 
rapidly, and they would become valuable servants to the State more 
quickly. 
The collecting of the necessary information for the Bureau could be 
done with but little expense und with a very small staff only, if the 
scheme were recognised and forwarded by the Government. If instruc- 
tions were issued, for instance, by the Colonial Office, the Foreign Cflfice, 
the Admiralty, and the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, to the 
officers acting under each of these departments, not only that they were 
at liberty to conduct these inquiries, but that credit would be given to 
them officially for good work in this direction, there is little doubt that 
many observers qualified by their previous training would at once put 
themselves and their leisure at the disposal of the Bureau. 
The Bureau itself, the central office, would be of necessity in London 
—in no other place could it properly serve its purpose—and preferably, 
for the sake of economy and official control, it should be under the 
administration of some existing Government office. But the various 
interests involved make it somewhat difficult to recommend where it 
should be placed. The Colonial Office would obviously present some 
advantages. The British Museum has been suggested, with good reason, 
