INTRODUCTOKY. 31 



mechanics ; so one race has an aptitude for adventure 

 and commerce, and another for the industrial arts ; 

 while a third may be incapable of rising beyond the 

 lowest stages of nomadic existence. Clearly such 

 races cannot be dealt with alike, and the more we 

 know of national characteristics the better will we be 

 prepared to direct our energies and shape our rela- 

 tions towards them. It is greatly for want of this 

 knowledge that missionary and ameUorating schemes 

 so often fail in their efforts, and that nation misunder- 

 standing the character of nation drifts insensibly into 

 contention and warfare. It is also for want of this 

 knowledge that the civilisation and amalgamation of 

 certain races has been tried ia vain, and that the 

 higher race has not unfrequently been absorbed into 

 and debased by that which it sought to improve. In 

 fine, the study of man — call it Ethnology, Anthro- 

 pology, or what you will — is fraught with innumer- 

 able utilities ; and whatever leads to more rational 

 views of the duties and relations of race to race, and 

 of nation to nation, is deserving of our warmest 

 encouragement. 



To some the treatment of the subject, within the 

 limits I have assigned to myself, may seem cursory 

 and inexhaustive ; but to have exceeded these limits 

 would have been to run the risk of defeating my 

 object. It is an old saying that a big book is a great 



