ETHNOGRAPHY, 



C E A N I C A . 



THE term Oceanica is now commonly applied to the land included 

 in that portion of the globe which lies between the coasts of Asia and 

 America. Besides the great island or continent of New Holland, it 

 comprises the extensive insular masses forming what is called the 

 East Indian Archipelago, and the countless smaller clusters scattered 

 over the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The latest writers, particularly 

 the French voyagers and geographers, have, with much propriety, 

 subdivided this region into five minor departments, distinguished from 

 one another both by their natural features, and by the character of 

 their inhabitants. These are Malaisia, Melanesia, Australia, Micro- 

 nesia, and Polynesia, all of which have been visited and examined, to 

 a greater or less extent, in the course of our voyage. The first of these 

 names is applied to the islands in the East Indian seas occupied by 

 the yellow Malay race, the principal of which are Sumatra, Java, 

 Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, the Sooloo Group, and the Philippine 

 Islands. The peninsula of Malacca and the island of Formosa are 

 also inhabited, in great part, by people of this race. 



Melanesia comprises that part of Oceanica inhabited by a dark- 

 skinned race, with woolly or frizzled hair ; it includes New Guinea 

 and the adjacent islands of Arroo, Mysol, and Waygeoo, to the west, 



