The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies

The work surveys the peoples inhabiting territories under British control and influence, arranged by region—European dependencies, African colonies, Asian provinces, the Malayan peninsula and Oceanic islands, and the Americas. It describes physical types, languages and dialect groups, place-name evidence and migration hypotheses, and compares linguistic families (including discussion of Sanskrit and its relations). Religious beliefs, social customs, classification tables and numerals are examined alongside notes on colonial settlements, indigenous tribes and patterns of cultural contact. The author combines ethnographic description with comparative linguistic and historical observations to offer a systematic, region-by-region account of populations within British political reach.