Kwandes, Kwisses. See [KANAKAS].
Ladakhis. Natives of Ladakh in the Upper Indus Valley, belonging to the Tibetan stock of the Southern Mongolic family, conquered by Kashmir in seventeenth century.
Lake Chad Group. A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, inhabiting the districts round Lake Chad, including Kanembus, Kanuris, Baghirmis (warlike slave-raiders), Mandaras, Yedinas, Logons, Mosgus, Bulalas, Saras, etc.
Lampongs. Malay inhabitants of Southern Sumatra.
Lamuts. See [TUNGUSES].
Landumans. Sudanese Negroes of Senegambia.
Laos. See [SHANS].
Lapps. A branch of the Finno-Ugrian stock of the Northern Mongolic family, inhabiting the parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia collectively known as Lapland. They are the shortest and broadest-skulled people in Europe. Most of them are nomads, who live by their vast reindeer herds, though some have become settled and live by fishing and hunting. They are closely allied to the Baltic Finns, and like them show traces of a mixture of Caucasic blood.
Lascars. A term applied to sailors of Indian and Malay seafaring races, employed on British vessels.
Latins. The ancient inhabitants of Latium, the district of Central Italy which lay between the Tiber and the Liris, and included the Roman Campagna. They absorbed the earlier allied races of Oscans, Sabines, Samnites and Umbrians, and formed a league of thirty cities, which warred for some generations with Rome and then fell under the Roman dominion. Rome itself was originally a Latin city. The ancient population of Italy was divided into three grades: Roman citizens—not necessarily residents in Rome—Latins, and Italians. The Latins are a branch of the Italic stock of the Aryan family.