The Living Races of Mankind (2 Volumes)

This monumental work in two Volumes is a veritable treasure- house of vital information, presented in a cogent and concise form, about the physical features of the peoples and races of mankind, their clothing, ornaments, food dwellings, weapons, habits and customs, specially those connected with birth, marriage and death and also their modes of thought and mental characteristics including their games, sports and pastimes. The Volumes also contain some detailed statistics of population, race and religion which add to its completness. The various people described have been treated from a geographical standpoint, based on ethnological classification, avoiding the controversial issues of race and politics. It has been deemed convenient to retain the use of such familiar terms denoting racial classification as Caucasian, Mongolian, Polynesian, Negro, Negrito and Papuan. The plan adopted for the structural lay-out of the two Volumes is to deal first with Polynesia and Australia passing into the East Indies and Malay Peninsula. This affords a convenient bridge to the continent of Asia, each country being dealt, with in turn. The races of Africa have been described next and then Europe and finally North and South America. And then the utility and uniqueness of the volumes is heightened by the collection of a wealth of more than six hundred pictures and illustrations the absolutely trustworthy products of camera which show the natives of all climes and countries as they live in their natural surroundings- some naked some in dress-their weapons, their dwellings and the tatto marks on their bodies or the flesh-wounds and scars of which Australians and some negroes seem so proud. Volume I deals with the peoples and races of Fiji Island, Tonga, Samoa, Hervey Islands and all other neighbouring Islands, New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Borneo, Java, Sumatra. Philippines, Malay Peninsula, Siam, Anam, Combodia, Burma, China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Formosa including neighbouring Islands, Tibet Andaman, Ceylon, Aryans and Aboriginal Races of India commencing from the Aryan Invasion, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Turkestan, Bokhara, Siberia, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Armenia, Africa and Medagascar. Vol. II deals with the African races like the Negro in general, the Bantu Negros, the Soudanese and Guinea Negros, the Abyssenian and Ethiopic Groups, the Hamitic and semitic races of North Africa, and then the various countries of Europe, North America and Central and South America (including Mexico). Such a unique work, containing fabulous wealth of information of human races and the fruit of erudition and indefatigable labour of authors who have spared no pains to make it an enduring work of history, culture, ethnology, anthropology and geography, must be the proud possession of all libraries- public and private and also of the private book-shelves of all book lovers not only in India But throughout the world.