SAWAIORI MATERIAL IN INDONESIA. 169 



use in treating of the Melanesian languages. Beyond this record 

 of quality I hesitate to tread upon a field already so well cultivated 

 by its own specialists; yet in so far as this area is involved in the 

 erection of a Malayo- Polynesian speech family it is a fair field for 

 the Sawaiori student. Since we have now brought one ethnic swarm 

 of Polynesian voyagers back to the threshold of Indonesia at two 

 doorways respectively, and have made it plain that the later Tonga- 

 fiti swarm has found its exit elsewhere than at these identified por- 

 tals, we are amply justified in our examination of Indonesia so long 

 as our search is restricted to the replevin of Sawaiori material. 



The prominent numerals in the preceding list make it wholly mani- 

 fest that the Polynesian and the Indonesian have at some place and 

 at some time been in intimate contact. That this place of inter- 

 mingling was not the Pacific is equally manifest, for the Pacific 

 languages contain no elements of Indonesian origin save this scanty 

 collection picked out of Polynesian and Melanesian. A second line 

 of proof lies in the consistent tradition of the Polynesians that they 

 came over seas on a long voyage from the west. 



Restricted, then, to Indonesia as the place of mingling, we must 

 first examine the history of the two races. Of the Malay race we 

 know, for their records of their own history show it, that Indonesia 

 was not the place of their origin. Upon it they are intruders; from 

 the Asiatic main they came by the easy path of the Malay Peninsula. 

 So far as the traditions of Java can be reduced to a measure of 

 synchronism, we can fix Java as uninhabited by Malayans about 

 400 b. c, and a century later settled by 20,000 families emigrating 

 from northwest India under Arishtan Shar and dispersing to Mala- 

 bar, the Maldives and Madagascar; a large emigration from the 

 Pan jab to the archipelago between 200 and 150 b. c. ; and by 125 

 b. c. the archipelago overrun with these races. 



As concerns the Sawaiori we lack all but the most indefinite infor- 

 mation before their sojourn in Indonesia. We do not regard them 

 as autochthons, for their traditions call for a migration yet earlier. 

 But we are fairly entitled to regard them as in possession of the 

 islands from Sumatra to the Philippines at the time of the Malaysian 

 swarm. All indicia point to their retreat before the swarm advanc- 

 ing upon their western flank, the only lines of retreat open to them 

 being in the eastern quadrants. 



It is difficult for us to arrive at the comprehension of the expulsion 

 of a race from its home. We have to go back to rude times to find 

 ground for the belief that such things can be, to the swarming of 

 the Huns upon Europe reported to us in the testimony of eye- 

 witnesses and sufferers at the bloody hands of Attila. Without 

 detail we have accepted, with dull imaginations and no great com- 

 prehension, the westward movement of the Aryan races. 



