In the Malay Archipelago. 587 



have all the quiet ease and dignity of the best-bred Europe- 

 ans. Yet this is compatible with a reckless cruelty and con- 

 tempt of human life, which is the dark sideof their character. 

 It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that diiferent persons 

 give totally opposite accounts of them — one praising them 

 for their soberness, civility, and good-nature; another abusing 

 them for their deceit, treachery, and cruelty. The old trav- 

 eller Nicolo Conti, writing in 1430, says: "The inhabitants 

 of Java and Sumatra exceed every other people in cruelty. 

 They regard killing a man as a mere jest ; nor is any pun- 

 ishment allotted for such a deed. If any one purchase a new 

 sword, and wish to try it, he will thrust it into the breast of 

 the first person he meets. The passers-by examine the wound, 

 and praise the skill of the person who inflicted it, if he thrust 

 in the weaj^on direct." Yet Drake says of the south of Java : 

 " The people (as are their kings) are a very loving, true, and 

 just-dealing j^eople ;" and Mr. Crawfurd says that the Java- 

 nese, whom he knew thoroughly, are " a peaceable, docile, so- 

 ber, simple, and industrious jDeople." Barbosa, on the other 

 hand, w^ho saw them at Malacca about 1660, says : " They are 

 a people of great ingenuity, very subtle in all their dealings ; 

 very malicious, great deceivers, seldom speaking the truth ; 

 prepared to do all manner of wickedness, and ready to sacri- 

 fice their lives." The intellect of the Malay race seems rath- 

 er deficient. They are incapable of any thing beyond the 

 simplest combinations of ideas, and have little taste or ener- 

 gy for the acquirement of knoAvledge. Their civilization, such 

 as it is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it is entirely con- 

 fined to those nations who have been converted to the Mo- 

 hammedan or Brahminical religions. 



I will now give an equally brief sketch of the other great 

 race of the Malay Archipelago, the Papuan. 



The typical Papuan race is in many respects the very op- 

 posite of the Malay, and it has hitherto been very imperfect- 

 ly described. The color of the body is a deep sooty-brown 

 or black, sometimes approaching, but never quite equalling, 

 the jet-black of some negro races. It varies in tint, howev- 

 er, more than that of the Malay, and is sometimes a dusky- 

 brown. The hair is very peculiar, being harsh, dry, and 

 frizzly, gi'owing in little tufts or curls, which in youth are 



