It Appears, Therefore, That, Whether We Consider Their Physical
Conformation, Their Moral Characteristics, Or Their Intellectual
Capacities, The Malay And Papuan Races Offer Remarkable
Differences And Striking Contrasts.
The Malay is of short
stature, brown-skinned, straight-haired, beardless, and smooth-
bodied.
The Papuan is taller, is black-skinned, frizzly-haired,
bearded, and hairy-bodied. The former is broad-faced, has a small
nose, and flat eyebrows; the latter is long-faced, has a large
and prominent nose, and projecting eyebrows. The Malay is
bashful, cold, undemonstrative, and quiet; the Papuan is bold,
impetuous, excitable, and noisy. The former is grave and seldom
laughs; the latter is joyous arid laughter-loving, - the one
conceals his emotions, the other displays them.
Having thus described in some detail, the great physical,
intellectual, and moral differences between the Malays and
Papuans, we have to consider the inhabitants of the numerous
islands which do not agree very closely with either of these
races. The islands of Obi, Batchian, and the three southern
peninsulas of Gilolo, possess no true indigenous population; but
the northern peninsula is inhabited by a native race, the so-
called Alfuros of Sahoe and Galela. These people are quite
distinct from the Malays, and almost equally so from the Papuans.
They are tall and well-made, with Papuan features, and curly
hair; they are bearded and hairy-limbed, but quite as light in
colour as the Malays. They are an industrious and enterprising
race, cultivating rice and vegetables, and indefatigable in their
search after game, fish, tripang, pearls, and tortoiseshell.
In the great island of Ceram there is also an indigenous race
very similar to that of Northern Gilolo. Bourn seems to contain
two distinct races, - a shorter, round-faced people, with a Malay
physiognomy, who may probably have come from Celebes by way of
the Sula islands; and a taller bearded race, resembling that of
Ceram.
Far south of the Moluccas lies the island of Timor, inhabited by
tribes much nearer to the true Papuan than those of the Moluccas.
The Timorese of the interior are dusky brown or blackish, with
bushy frizzled hair, and the long Papuan nose. They are of medium
height, and rather slender figures. The universal dress is a long
cloth twisted round the waist, the fringed ends of which hang
below the knee. The people are said to be great thieves, and the
tribes are always at war with each other, but they are not very
courageous or bloodthirsty. The custom of "tabu," called here
"pomali," is very general, fruit trees, houses, crop, and
property of all kinds being protected from depredation by this
ceremony, the reverence for which is very great. A palm branch
stuck across an open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is
a more effectual guard against robbery than any amount of locks
and bars. The houses in Timor are different from those of most of
the other islands; they seem all roof, the thatch overhanging the
low walls and reaching the ground, except where it is cut away
for an entrance. In some parts of the west end of Timor, and on
the little island of Semau, the houses more resemble those of the
Hottentots, being egg-shaped, very small, and with a door only
about three feet high. These are built on the ground, while those
of the eastern districts art, raised a few feet on posts. In
their excitable disposition, loud voices, and fearless demeanour,
the Timorese closely resemble the people of New Guinea.
In the islands west of Timor, as far as Flores and Sandalwood
Island, a very similar race is found, which also extends eastward
to Timor-laut, where the true Papuan race begins to appear. The
small islands of Savu and Rotti, however, to the west of Timor,
are very remarkable in possessing a different and, in some
respects, peculiar race. These people are very handsome, with
good features, resembling in many characteristics the race
produced by the mixture of the Hindoo or Arab with the Malay.
They are certainly distinct from the Timorese or Papuan races,
and must be classed in the western rather than the eastern
ethnological division of the Archipelago.
The whole of the great island of New Guinea, the Ke arid Aru
Islands, with Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabited almost
exclusively by the typical Papuans. I found no trace of any other
tribes inhabiting the interior of New Guinea, but the coast
people are in some places mixed with the browner races of the
Moluccas. The same Papuan race seems to extend over the islands
east of New Guinea as far as the Fijis.
There remain to be noticed the black woolly-haired races of the
Philippines and the Malay peninsula, the former called
"Negritos," and the latter "Semangs." I have never seen these
people myself, but from the numerous accurate descriptions of
them that have been published, I have had no difficulty in
satisfying myself that they have little affinity or resemblance
to the Papuans, with which they have been hitherto associated. In
most important characters they differ more from the Papuan than
they do from the Malay. They are dwarfs in stature, only
averaging four feet six inches to four feet eight inches high, or
eight inches less than the Malays; whereas the Papuans are
decidedly taller than the -Malays. The nose is invariably
represented as small, flattened, or turned up at the apex,
whereas the most universal character of the Papuan race is to
have the nose prominent and large, with the apex produced
downwards, as it is invariably represented in their own rude
idols. The hair of these dwarfish races agrees with that of the
Papuans, but so it does with that of the negroes of Africa. The
Negritos and the Semangs agree very closely in physical
characteristics with each other and with the Andaman Islanders,
while they differ in a marked manner from every Papuan race.
A careful study of these varied races, comparing them with those
of Eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, has led me
to adopt a comparatively simple view as to their origin and
affinities.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 106 of 109
Words from 107470 to 108495
of 111511