80 WHETHEE PROM NEW GUINEA OR TIMOR. 



The two places from one of which the Australian 

 population ma}' be supposed to have been more 

 hnmediatcly 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 ^' g-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 

 gTadual peopling" of Australia, and even indicate 

 the probable routes taken by the first settlers during* 

 the long* period of years which must have elapsed 

 before the whole 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 

 dm'ing- the mig-ratory march probably passed from 

 Java to Timor, and from thence to Australia.t 

 Dr. Latham also inclines to the belief that Australia 



* Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, 

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



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

 p. 214. 



