﻿514 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  The 
  Indies 
  also 
  stand 
  out 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  few 
  remaining 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  

   world 
  where 
  actively 
  functioning 
  and 
  relatively 
  intact 
  native 
  cultures 
  

   may 
  still 
  be 
  studied. 
  Most 
  of 
  the 
  interior 
  regions 
  have 
  only 
  recently 
  

   been 
  opened 
  up 
  to 
  outside 
  access, 
  many 
  large 
  districts 
  still 
  remain 
  

   virtually 
  untouched 
  by 
  European 
  influence, 
  and 
  the 
  Dutch 
  colonial 
  

   administration 
  has 
  maintained 
  a 
  beneficent, 
  paternalistic 
  attitude 
  to- 
  

   ward 
  its 
  subject 
  peoples, 
  allowing 
  and 
  even 
  encouraging 
  them 
  to 
  con- 
  

   tinue 
  their 
  traditional 
  ways 
  of 
  life 
  with 
  a 
  minimum 
  of 
  interference. 
  

   Probably 
  the 
  greatest 
  factor 
  in 
  preserving 
  the 
  native 
  cultures 
  relatively 
  

   intact 
  is 
  the 
  enormous 
  populations 
  of 
  the 
  tribes, 
  which 
  are 
  increasing 
  

   steadily. 
  In 
  many 
  if 
  not 
  most 
  other 
  "native" 
  areas 
  of 
  the 
  world 
  the 
  

   aboriginal 
  groups 
  have 
  declined 
  markedly 
  in 
  numbers 
  as 
  a 
  result 
  of 
  

   white 
  conquest. 
  In 
  Indonesia, 
  force 
  of 
  numbers 
  has 
  given 
  strength 
  

   in 
  resisting 
  alien 
  influences; 
  and 
  the 
  result 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  islands 
  offer 
  a 
  

   peerless 
  field 
  of 
  research 
  to 
  the 
  ethnologist 
  wishing 
  to 
  study 
  so-called 
  

   primitive 
  societies 
  in 
  action. 
  And, 
  as 
  remarked 
  above, 
  the 
  cultures 
  

   cover 
  an 
  amazingly 
  wide 
  range 
  : 
  all 
  the 
  way 
  from 
  the 
  simplest 
  on 
  earth 
  

   to 
  highly 
  evolved 
  civilizations 
  of 
  long 
  standing. 
  

  

  RACIAL 
  TYPES 
  

  

  The 
  Hindu 
  period 
  of 
  Indonesian 
  history 
  began 
  about 
  1,500 
  years 
  

   ago; 
  and 
  with 
  it 
  written 
  records 
  start. 
  The 
  ages 
  before 
  this 
  can 
  be 
  

   reconstructed 
  only 
  by 
  inference 
  from 
  archeology 
  and 
  legendry. 
  Long 
  

   before 
  the 
  dawn 
  of 
  written 
  history 
  the 
  ancestors 
  of 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  Indo- 
  

   nesians 
  had 
  entered 
  the 
  islands 
  ; 
  probably 
  the 
  last 
  influx 
  of 
  the 
  later 
  

   Malays 
  occurred 
  around 
  2000 
  B. 
  C. 
  The 
  only 
  additions 
  after 
  that 
  

   time 
  were 
  the 
  relatively 
  few 
  Hindus, 
  Arabs, 
  Chinese, 
  and, 
  recently, 
  

   Europeans. 
  The 
  earliest 
  racial 
  types 
  in 
  the 
  islands 
  have 
  now 
  either 
  

   disappeared, 
  or 
  appear 
  only 
  in 
  very 
  remote 
  tribes. 
  These 
  archaic 
  

   strains 
  are 
  Australoid, 
  Oceanic 
  Negroid, 
  Negrito, 
  and 
  Veddoid. 
  The 
  

   first 
  two 
  passed 
  through 
  the 
  Indies 
  long 
  ago 
  on 
  their 
  way 
  to 
  their 
  

   ultimate 
  homes 
  in 
  Australia 
  and 
  the 
  Melanesian 
  islands. 
  Traces 
  of 
  

   them 
  are 
  still 
  discernible 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  population, 
  particularly 
  in 
  

   the 
  easternmost 
  islands 
  of 
  the 
  Lesser 
  Sundas, 
  the 
  Flores-Timor 
  zone. 
  

   The 
  Negritos, 
  the 
  dwarf 
  Negroid 
  stock, 
  also 
  apparently 
  very 
  ancient 
  

   in 
  the 
  Indies, 
  are 
  now 
  pretty 
  well 
  submerged, 
  but 
  in 
  a 
  few 
  places 
  there 
  

   are 
  tribes 
  showing 
  Negrito 
  characteristics. 
  Mostly 
  they 
  dwell 
  in 
  the 
  

   remoter 
  districts 
  : 
  the 
  swamps 
  of 
  east 
  Sumatra, 
  the 
  mountainous 
  back- 
  

   country 
  of 
  the 
  eastern 
  Lesser 
  Sundas, 
  and 
  the 
  deep 
  interior 
  of 
  New 
  

   Guinea. 
  The 
  primitive, 
  frail-boned 
  Veddoid 
  stock 
  has 
  also 
  been 
  

   forced 
  out 
  into 
  the 
  poorer 
  swamp 
  and 
  jungle 
  country 
  of 
  south 
  Su- 
  

   matra, 
  interior 
  Borneo 
  and 
  Celebes, 
  and 
  the 
  eastern 
  islands 
  of 
  In- 
  

   donesia. 
  

  

  