1014 OF THE BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 



from the proximity between the adjacent coasts of these two islands, it may 

 be surmised that the latter belong to the Alforian race ; but too little is 

 known of the language of either to give this inference a sufficient stability. 

 In the degradation of their condition and manner of life, the savages of New 

 Holland fully equal the Bushmen of South Africa; and it is scarcely possi- 

 ble to imagine human beings existing in a condition more nearly resembling 

 that of brutes. But there is reason to believe, that the tribes in closest con- 

 tact with European settlers are more miserable and savage than those of the 

 interior ; and even with respect to these, increasing acquaintance with their 

 language, and a consequent improved insight into their modes of thought, 

 tend to raise the very low estimate which has been formed and long main- 

 tained, in regard to their extreme mental degradation. The latest and most 

 authentic statements enable us to recognize among them the same principles 

 of a moral and intellectual nature, which, in more cultivated tribes, consti- 

 tute the highest endowments of humanity; and thus to show that they are 

 not separated by any impassable barrier, from the most civilized and elevated 

 nations of the globe. There are many indications, indeed, that the Negrito 

 race is not so radically distinct from the Malayo-Polynesian, as the marked 

 physical dissimilarity of their respective types, and the apparent want of con- 

 formity between their languages, would make it appear. For as, on the one 

 hand, some of the subdivisions of the latter present a decided tendency to- 

 wards that prognathous character and depth of complexion which are typical 

 of the former, so among the former do we not unfrequeutly meet with a 

 lighter shade of skin, a greater symmetry of skull, and a considerable im- 

 provement in form and feature. And although no very close relationship 

 can be discovered between the Negrito and Malayo-Polynesiau languages, 

 yet it has been pointed out by Mr. Norris that a much more decided rela- 

 tionship exists between the Australian and Tamuliau ( 850) ; and remote 

 as this connection seems, the circumstance adds weight to the idea, that the 

 native Australians (with other Negrito tribes) are an offset from that south- 

 ern branch of the great nomadic stock of Central Asia, which seems early 

 to have spread itself through the Indo-Chinese and the Indian Peninsulas, 

 and to have even there shown an approximation to the prognathous type. 



859. Looking, then, to the great diversity which exists among the subor- 

 dinate groups of which both these divisions consist, and their tendency to 

 mutual approximation, it cannot be shown that any sufficient reason exists 

 for isolating them from each other ; and, as already remarked ( 857), there 

 seems no medium between the supposition that each island had its aboriginal 

 pair or pairs, and the doctrine that the whole of .Oceania has been peopled 

 from a common stock. Looking, again, to the very decided approximation 

 which is presented by certain Oceanic tribes to the Mongolian type, and this 

 in localities which, on other grounds, might be regarded as having received 

 the first stream of migration, the possibility, to say the least, can scarcely 

 be denied, that the main laud furnished the original stock, which has under- 

 gone various transformations subsequently to its first dispersion ; these hav- 

 ing been the result of climatic influence and mode of life, and having been 

 chiefly influenced as to degree by the length of time during which the trans- 

 forming causes have been in operation. At any rate, it may be safely 

 affirmed, that the Oceanic races are not entitled by any distinctive physical 

 peculiarity, to rank as a group which must have necessarily had an original 

 stock distinct from that of the Continental nations. 



