484 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



3.— A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SOME OF THE 

 CUSTOMS AND SOCIAL HABITS OF THE MALAYAN 

 AND PAPUAN RACES OF POLYNESIA. 



By the Rev. S. Ella, of the Loyalty Island's Mission. 



The islands of Polynesia, north and south, are inhabited by 

 distiiTct races, commonly classified as Malayan, Papuan, and 

 Negrillo, to these may be added that with which we are more 

 especially acquainted — the Australian. The distinctive character- 

 istics of these are very marked, and their locations, with few 

 exceptions, are as distinctly separate. In the Fijian we recognise 

 a union of the Malay and Papuan, and Fiji seems to be the 

 boundary or dividing line of the two races ; for eastward of that 

 group the Polynesians are of the Malay race, and westward of 

 the Papuan and Negrillo. The origin of these races is at present 

 hidden in mystery. Although the Malayan race can be readily 

 traced to its source — the Malay Archipelago — the origin of the 

 remaining races is very obscure, und the multitudinous differences 

 of languages and varieties of customs render the task of asso- 

 ciating them with any of the nations of the large continents 

 very difficult and perplexing. Some ethnologists have (I believe, 

 erroneously) included all these distinct races under one common 

 origin — Asiatic ; but such a hypothesis will not stand the test of 

 examination or experience. Until further light is thi'own upon 

 the subject it will be safest to affix the origin of the Malayan 

 tribes to that part of the globe to which it has hitherto been 

 assigned — the south-eastern coast of India ; and to infer that the 

 remaining races have come, by some unknown and untraceable 

 means, from the African continent. Such an inference will not 

 appear overstrained when we remember that Madagascar, on the 

 south-east of Africa, is peopled by the Malay race, with some 

 remains of the African — probably the early inhabitants ; and the 

 language spoken there has many words found in the Malay- 

 Polynesian dialects. 



Some writers, treating of the origin of the people of Polynesia, 

 have attempted to trace it to the Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico, 

 and to the ancient inhabitants of Peru. They are met by another 

 perplexity, and one opening up a deeply interesting inquiry — 

 Whence did the Toltecs, Aztecs, and Incas derive their origin ? 

 a people so remarkably superior in intelligence and civilisation to 

 the ancient aborigines of America, as seen by the vestiges they 

 have left of stupendous monuments, pyramids, temples, and 

 monoliths, and records of their public and religious institutions. 

 The inquiry cannot be touched in this paper. One well-known 



