258 



NATURE 



\yan 1 6, 1879 



INDO-OCEANIC RACES 



TWO papers of considerable interest on the peoples of the 

 Pacific and Indian Islands were read at the last meeting of 

 the Anthropological Institute. The first of these papers, by the 

 Rev, S. J. VVhitmee, so long resident in Samoa, was for the 

 purpose of proposing a revised nomenclature of what he calls the 

 Inter-Oceanic races of men. There is much confusion, it is ad- 

 mitted, in the use of geographical and ethnographical names in the 

 Pacific. Polynesia is employed by some for all the intertropical 

 islands eastward of New Guinea. By others it is used for those 

 islands which are east of Fiji, while Melanesia is employed for the 

 southern islands from Fiji -westward, and Micronesia for the 

 northern island. Mr. Whitmee proposes that Polynesia should 

 be uniformly employed in the wider signification, and that the 

 different portions be indicated by east, west, and north-west, 

 just as we indicate the parts of a continent. 



The term Inter- Oceanic Races is used for the people found in 

 Madagascar, Australasia, the Indian Archipelago, Formosa, and 

 Polynesia. In this region there are two classes of people, who 

 may be superficially described as dark and brown. 



The dark people comprise three very distinct races : i. The 

 Australians, who may bear the numt A ustra/s ; 2. The people 

 found in the Andaman Islands, the interior of the Malacca 

 peninsula, and some portions of the Indian Archipelago, who 

 already have a good name, viz., Negritos ; 3. The woolly-haired 

 people of Western New Guinea, the Aru, and other islands in 

 the Indian Archipelago, and Western Polynesia. Two names 

 have been used for these — Papuan and Melanesian, and Mr. 

 Whitmee proposes to keep Papuan and drop Melanesian. 

 Where these Papuans are somewhat mixed with brown Poly 

 nesian blood, they may be conveniently known as sub-Papuan. 



The people known as Alfurese in the Indian Archipelago 

 Mr. Whitmee does not regard as a separate people. As used by 

 the Malays, Alfuro appears simply to mean non-Mahommedan 

 and non-Christian — pagan wild men, whether brown or black. 

 Hence Alfuro cannot be used as an ethnic appellation. 



The brown people found, from Madagascar, through the 

 Indian Archipelago, in Formosa, in north-west and eastern 

 Polynesia and in New Zealand, Mr. Whitmee regards as having 

 sprung from one stock which had its home in the Indian Archi- 

 pelago or the Malacca peninsula. For this family he wishes to 

 retain Baron von Humboldt's name, Malayo-Folynesian ; not 

 because it is the best possible name, but because it is in use and 

 well understood. 



There are five branches of this family : i. Mr. Whitmee 

 believes the first branch which broke off from the parent stock 

 was that which went across the Pacific to Eastern Polynesia and 

 New Zealand. These people probably retain more of the 

 primitive condition of the parent stock than the others, owing 

 to their isolation. But it is almost certain they have to some 

 extent deterioi-ated from that condition. This race, which does 

 not now possess a satisfactory collective name, he proposes to 

 call Sawaidri : this word being compounded from the following 

 representative names, Sa-xaoa,, llazuai-l, and Ma.-ori, following 

 the precedent of the Horsoks of North Thibet, whose name is 

 from I/o?'-Tpa and Sok-Tps,. 2. A much later migration went west- 

 ward to Madagascar, and these people bear the appropriate 

 name Malagasy. Probably an approximate date of this migra- 

 tion may be fixed by the presence of a few Sanscrit words in the 

 Malagasy language. 3. Mr. Whitmee is unable to express any 

 opinion as to when the Formosan migration took place. 4. The 

 latest exodus from the Indian Archipelago was doubtless that 

 which went to north-west Polynesia (Melanesia). For these 

 people he proposes the name Tdrapon, from Tarawa, in the 

 Gilbert group (used by Mr. Horatio Hall for the language of 

 that archipelago) and Ponape, a representative atoll of the 

 Caroline group. 5. For that branch of the family found still in 

 the Indian Archipelago he proposes to 'use the generic name 

 Malayan. He believes all these people may be included under 

 this term, and that the differences which exist between them may 

 be accounted for by the isolation of some, while others have had 

 a greater mixture of foreign blood, and have been more in 

 contact with external culture and other influences which have 

 changed them since the family has been broken up. 



At the eastern end of New Guinea there are mixed people, 

 who may be called stib-Sazvaidri, or sub-Malayan, as their 

 affinities with one or other of these divisions may hereafter prove 

 to be. 



The following table shows in compact form the divisions pro- 

 posed by Mr. Whitmee : — 



Inter- 

 Oceanic 

 Races of 



Men. 



Dark Races — 

 ? Negrito- Polynesians 



Austral 

 Negrita 



Papuan 



... Australia. 



(Andaman Is. 

 '■■ISamang, &c. 



(Aru Is. 

 .. \ Western New Guinea. 

 (Western Polynesia. 



Brown Stock — 

 Malay o-Polynesians 



{Samoa. 

 1{a\raii. 

 New Zealand, &c., &c. 



Malagasy. Madagascar, 



Formosan . Formosa. 



Malav-in f ^'alays of Sumatra, &c. 

 Malayan "Javanese, &c., &c. 



(Carol'ne Is. 

 Tdrapon ...< Marshall Is. 

 (Gilbert Is. 



A lively discussion followed, in which Mr. Wallace, Prof, 

 Flower, and Mr. A. H. Keane took part ; the two former, while 

 approving of some of Mr. Whitmee's proposed changes, pre- 

 ferred, on the whole, to utilise existing terms. Mr. Keane, in 

 the main, supported Mr. Whitmee's conclusions ; indeed, Mr. 

 Whitmee acknowledged his indebtedness to Mr. Keane for 

 several important suggestions contained in his paper. 



The second paper, by the Rev. W. G. Lawes, recently re^ 

 turned from a three years' residence at Port Moresby, New 

 Guinea, was an extremely interesting series of ethnological notes 

 on the Motu, Koitapu, and Koiari tribes of New Gu nea. 



It is extremely important that all statements about New 

 Guinea should be specific as to locality. It is even more impor- 

 tant with reference to the people than to the country, the 

 divei'sities of race and tribe are so numerous. Twenty-five 

 different dialects and languages are spoken, to the writer''s 

 knowledge, in the 300 miles of coast extending from Yule 

 Island to China Straits. Port Moresby is the centre of the 

 Motu district, and is in lat. 9° 30' S. and long. 147° 10' E, 

 The Motu were fully described by Dr. W. Y. Turner in a paper 

 published in the Journal of the Institute, May, 1878. So far 

 as the Motu is concerned Mr. Lawes' paper was simply supple- 

 mentary. 



Great importance is attached among the Motu to the tattooing 

 of the women as a means of enhancing beauty. No importance 

 seems to be attached by them to the pattern. The men are 

 sometimes slightly tattooed, but with them it is a decoration of 

 honour, and shows that the wearer has killed some one. 



The taboo system of Polynesia is practised on many occa- 

 sions and for many purposes. 



The spirits of the departed go away to ocean space (their 

 hades), and ultimately find their v ay to the place which is asso- 

 ciated in the native mind with plenty and animal enjoyment. 



The legend of the Motu respecting the origin of fire is that 

 smoke being seen out to sea, the animals assembled and volun- 

 teered to fetch it. The snake, bandicoot, bird, and kangaroo, 

 all started, but came back without it. The dog then went, and 

 succeeded. 



The Koitapu are now for the most part to be found living at 

 one end of the Motu villages although preserving their distinct- 

 ness and separateness. They are also to be foimd in littk 

 groups of a few houses a little way inland, on a hill overlooking 

 the sea all through the Motu district. The typical Koitapu 

 man is slightly darker in colour than the Motu, and the hair is 

 frizzy, not woolly. The principal differences between the 

 Koitapu and Motu are the following : — 



Language. — This is essentially different from the Motu and 

 coast tribes. In a vocabulary of. 250 words there are only 12 

 words which have any affinity for coastal or Malayo-Polynesian 

 dialects. 



Food and Cooking. — Their bill of fare is more extensive than 

 the Motu, and the mode of cooking different. 



Ornaments. — Those different to the Motu are the breastplate 

 and feather head-dress. 



Weapons and Manufactures.— Tan weapons are stone clubs 

 and spears ; the bow and arrow is confined to coast tribes. A 

 netted bag and peculiar kind of matting are made by Koitapu, 

 but the knowledge of pottery is confined to coast tribes. 



The Koitapu excel in hunting, but the coast tribes are fisher- 

 men. The Motu are the conquerors and superior race, but have 

 a superstitious fear of the Koitapu and inland tribes. The 



