ETHNOGRAPHY (from Gk. people + -7pacbia, -graplia, descript ion, from pd graphein, to write). That branch of an thropology which is concerned with the syste matic description of races and peoples. Ethnog raphy may be described as the anthropology of those groups of human beings that have separate names—it may be a clan, a totem, a tribe, a na tion, a race, or one of the great fundamental subdivisions of genus horn°. There have been ethnographers front the very earliest times. Herodotus was an ethnographer, and so were :Marco Polo and Mungo Park. A long line of pilgrims to the Holy City duping the first millen nium returned and narrated what they had ex perien•ed among the peoples whom they en countered, to their friends at home, and thus be came ethnographers. The discovery of Amer ica and the exploration of the earth gave a powerful impulse to this branch of anthropology. The result of studies concerning the divisions of mankind in the middle of the last century gave rise to a number of ethnographical societies under different names, the object of which was to introduce system into what had been only des ultory study. In England. France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and other European countries these associations have published journals. trans actions. monographs, and guide-books of instruc tions to travelers and observers, the best of them being a little volume issued by the Anthropo logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, called Notes and Queries for Anthropological Obserrers, containing many sections on ethnog raphy.
The ethnography of peoples embraces first the biology of each group. including observations and measurements of the living and studies of the dead, concerning color of the skin, hair, and eyes, the character of the hair, the form of the head, hands, feet, and other parts, and measure ments of proportion in these parts. These re sults are shown in collections of anatomical specimens, in the gathering of photographs and drawings, and in the amassing of literature. The physiological processes in health and disease anu physiological psychology form a part of this study. The genus /wino may be subdivided on the basis of biology, and many attempts have been made in this direction. The commonest division makes five varieties, or subspecies. or races of man—the white, or Caucasic; the yellow, or 3longolic; the brown, or Malayie; the black, or Negroid; and the red, or American. But it is possible to separate mankind into groups upon. the basis of those artificialities in life which to gether are called culture. Culture includes those activities which relate to food, drinks, narcotics, drugs, medicines, dress and adornment, habita tions, furniture, mechanics, tools, primitive en gineering, machinery. stone-working, ceramic art, metallurgy, wood-carving, textile industries, agriculture, milling arts, hunting, fishing, animal products, transportation by land and water, metrics, and commerce. These arts may all be classed under the general head of industrial, and men may be separated into groups industrially.
Another class of activities is concerned with what all these various groups of mankind do to ex press their thoughts, giving rise to the whole class of languages, including vocal and written and sign language. It would embrace also every invention designed to impress ideas. In the third place, culture includes the purely social activities. In every sense it has been found that it is not good for men to be alone, so they unite their efforts first in the family, second in political organizations or government, third for protection in producing armies and navies, fourth in law-making, fifth in courts of justice, sixth in administration. including charity and pedagogics, and seventh in that unwritten law more potent than any legislation, called customs and conduct toward one another. A fourth class of artificialities is concerned with pleasure, or the aesthetic arts, including fine costume, music, graphic arts, sculpture and carving, ceramic art, textile art, art in metal, and land scape, etiquette or the fine art of behavior, drama, oratory, and literature. A fifth set of artificialities is concerned with the progress of knowledge called sophiology, connneneing with what is handed down by way of tradition, prov erbs, or wisdom, in sayings, hire, and knowledge, the beginning of science and philosophy, or the explanation of all phenomena. The last class of artificialities to he mentioned here refers to the spirit world, what is believed, or creed, and what is done. called cult or worship. Included in this division of vulture are the study of the pantheon. the organization of priesthood, the setting aside of saered places, public worship, private wor ships with spiritual beings, and religious litera ture. Each one of the ditTerent peoples of the earth is sot down in an environment which is, 11 ourt in sense, the occasion of its vulture, ineluding I be celestial environment, geologic environment, meteorologic environment, miner alogic onviromnent, botanic environment, socio logic environment, and ethnic environment.
When a people has been studied in all of these respects the ethnographer hands his material over to the ethnologist, who classifies and ar ranges it in comparison with the same sort of information from other tribes, to formulate a science, just as the zofilogic philosopher works up the material of the naturalist. In each of the great nationalities special bureaus are charged with a study of peoples within their respec tive territories. The Russian Government has done noble work in this direction. The English Survey of India is another triumph of coopera tive ethnography. The Bureau of American Eth nology in Washington, D. C., is specially charged with accumulating ethnographic material with reference to every aboriginal tribe in the Western Hemisphere, especially those within the United States proper and Alaska.