"The vocabularies of Indian languages of British Columbia here printed, were, for the most part, collected by Dr. W.F. Tolmie and the writer [George M. Dawson] in Victoria during the winter of 1875-76. The result aimed at was to obtain a short series of the principal words of all the languages and dialects spoken in the province on a uniform system. ... The map accompanying this publication embraces a large amount of information respecting the distribution of the various tribes, covering an area west of the Rocky Mountains of about 200,000 squre miles, and filling what remained as a gap between Mr. W.H. Dall's ethnological maps of Alaska and Washington Territory. It brings out in a most striking way the singular linguistic diversity which obtains along the coast line of this part of America ..." --