If The Past History Of These Varied Races Is Obscure And
Uncertain, The Future Is No Less So.
The true Polynesians,
inhabiting the farthest isles of the Pacific, are no doubt doomed
to an early extinction.
But the more numerous Malay race seems
well adapted to survive as the cultivator of the soil, even when
his country and government have passed into the hands of
Europeans. If the tide of colonization should be turned to New
Guinea, there can be little doubt of the early extinction of the
Papuan race. A warlike and energetic people, who will not submit
to national slavery or to domestic servitude, must disappear
before the white man as surely as do the wolf and the tiger.
I have now concluded my task. I have given, in more or less
detail, a sketch of my eight years' wanderings among the largest
and the most luxuriant islands which adorn our earth's surface. I
have endeavoured to convey my impressions of their scenery, their
vegetation, their animal productions, and their human
inhabitants. I have dwelt at some length on the varied and
interesting problems they offer to the student of nature. Before
bidding my reader farewell, I wish to make a few observations on
a subject of yet higher interest and deeper importance, which the
contemplation of savage life has suggested, and on which I
believe that the civilized can learn something from the savage
man.
We most of us believe that we, the higher races have progressed
and are progressing.
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