The investigation of the Goldi is far from being complete, but it is, however, sufficient for a comparative sketch and definition of the place of the Goldi in the system of ethnical classification. Not pretending to give here a complete bibliography, I will mention the most important works dealing with the Goldi. In 1861 a dictionary of the Ussuri River Goldi was published by A. Brylkin as an appendix to Vol. I of R. Maack's Journey in the Valley of the Ussuri River, St. Petersburg. In 1868 M. Veniukov published a short dictionary of the same Goldi group in his Travels along the Frontiers of Russian Asia (in Russian), St. Petersburg. In 1900 Professor W. Grube published a Goldi dictionary compared with other Tungus dialects (Goldisch-Deutsches Worterverzeichniss, etc., as Appendix to Vol. III of L. Sehrenck's work: Reisen und Forschungen im Amur-Lande. The material was gathered by a botanist, M.Maksimo vie). A good deal of linguistic material was gathered by missionaries (Orthodox) who studied the Goldi for the practical purpose of propa-paganda of Christianity. Among these, Father Protodiakonov, who preached among the Goldi from 1865 till the nineties, prepared a dictionary which was with a great delay published in 1901 by the Oriental Institute at Vladivostok. In 1909 Professor W. Kotwicz published some specimens of the Sungari River Goldi language gathered by J. A. Dobrolovsky (Material for the Study of the Tungus Dialects, in Zhivaja Starina, in Russian, St. Petersburg). In 1908 Professor P. P. Schmidt gathered some new material and published it together with the material (very limited) gathered by Professor Krasin in a form of a dictionary and some texts: The Language of the Oldias, in Publications of the Latvian University, VIII, 1923, Riga. (Cf. a critical analysis given by me in a paper: The Study of the Tungus Language, in the Journal N.C.B.R.A.S.,Vol.LV,1924). In 1914 Professor S.P. Poniatowski visited Goldi and in 1923 published a short paper: Materials to the Vocabulary of the Amur Goldi, in Bibliotheca Universitatis Liberae Polonse, A. 1923, Fasc. 10, Varsaviae. Professor J. A. Lopatin has also gathered specimens of the Goldi folk-lore, but as far as I know, has not published anything. From the above enumeration of the material it may be seen that the study of Goldi language is relatively advanced, but, as Professor Schmidt says, the material is not always reliable. To the above it may be added that the material dealing with the Spoken Manchu, with which Goldi may be compared, has been gathered by me, but not yet published.
The early information concerning the Goldi is very scarce and confused. In the XVIIth century some Russian adventurers and colonizers visited probably some Goldi and left very short and confuse indications as to the geographical distribution of various groups, including probably the Goldi. About the same time a Chinese writer, Wucheng, also gave a short description of the Goldi. French fathers knew the Goldi and some information given by J. B. du Halde (Description geographiqae, historique chronologique etc. de l' Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie, etc. Vol. IV, Paris, 1735). Several occasional travellers during the XVIIIth century left some information. A Japanese traveller, Mamia Rinso, also gave a description of the Goldi, though he did not visit them personally (translated by Ph. Fr. Siebold, Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, etc. Leiden, 1852, Part VII, pp. 167-196), The first reliable investigation was made by L. Schrenck (op. cit.) who visited them for a short period, but his description was not of a detailed character. So he confined himself to giving only general conclusions as to the Goldi's place among other ethnical groups. Some information was gathered by R.Maack (op. cit.) and several military travellers as M. Veniukov (op. cit.) J. Nadarov (1886 and 1889), Pel-Gorsky (1895), also others. P. Simkevic visited the Goldi several times and published an account on the Goldi shamanism and the contents of some legends and tales: Material for the Study of Shamanism among the Goldi (published in Russian by the Amur Section of the Imp. Russ. Geogr. Soc. Vol II, Fasc. 2, Habarovsk, 1896) and some other papers of a lesser importance. The lack of knowledge of the Goldi language did not permit this investigator to carry out his investigation as it needed. In 1900 Dr. B. Laufer visited the Goldi and published a monograph: The Decorative Art of the Amur Tribes (in Memoirs of the Amer. Mus. of Nat. History, Vol. VII, 1902), dealing with a particular problem. In 1910 L.J. Sternberg, Ethnographer of the Russ. Academy of Sciences, also visited the Goldi, but, as far as I know, has not published any account. Several other travellers and investigators visited the Goldi, but no important publications resulted. So, V. K. Arseniev, originally a military traveller with an inclination to ethnography, paid great attention to the Goldi, but has not published any systematic data. J. A. Lopatin, the most studious and prolix of all his predecessors, has already published ten pamphlets (1914 to 1921) on the Goldi ethnography which, in a partly re-modelled form, are presented in his work which I refer to in the present paper.
The anthropological investigation, or better measurements of the Goldi have been made by L. J. Sternberg whose material has partly been worked out by myself (unpublished), V. N. Vasiliev, of the Russian Museum at St. Petersburg, whose material, as far as I remember, has been worked out, but never published, also Professors S. F. Poniatowski and J. A. Lopatin (unpublished); V.K. Arseniev,I think, has also measured the Goldi. Little material has been published on the craniology of the Goldi (L. Schrenck). The above enumerated series would probably be sufficient for forming an accurate idea as to the physical characteristics of the Goldi and their anthropological affinities with other groups, which, let us add, would considerably simplify my present task.