80 WHETHER FROM NEW GUINEA OR TIMOR. 



The two places from one of which the Austrahan 

 population may be supposed to have been more 

 immediately derived, are Timor on the one hand and 

 New Guinea on the other : in the former case the 

 first settlers would probably have landed some- 

 where on the north-west coast, in the latter, at 

 Cape York. 



Mr. Eyre believes that there are '^^ o*rounds suffi- 

 cient to hazard the opinion that Australia was first 

 peopled on its north-western coast, between the 

 parallels of 12° and 16° S. latitude. From whence 

 we mig'ht surmise that three g'rand divisions had 

 branched off from the parent tribe, and that from 

 the offsets of these the whole continent has been 

 overspread."* Proceeding" still further Mr. Eyre 

 has very ing-eniously attempted to explain the 

 g-radual peopling* of Australia, and even indicate 

 the probable routes taken b}'^ the first settlers during" 

 the long* period of years which must have elapsed 

 before the w^hole continent was overrun by the 

 tribes now collectively forming" the Australian race. 

 Dr. Prichard, when alluding- to the probable mode 

 of dispersion of the black tribes of the Indian Ar- 

 chipelag'o, conjectures that one of the branches 

 during- the migratory march probably passed from 

 Java to Timor, and from thence to Australia.f 

 Dr. Latham also inclines to the belief that Australia 



* Journals of Expeditions of Discoveiy into Central Australia, 

 &c. by E. J. Eyre, Vol. ii. p. 405. 



t Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol. v. 

 p. 2M. 



