MALAYSIA AND THE PACIFIC AKCHIPELAGOES 9 



Semangs of the Malay peninsula and the inhabitants of 

 the Andamans (see illustration p. 48). The distinction 

 that has been drawn between the Papuans proper and 

 a special Melanesian type seems to rest upon insufficient 

 grounds, and is not admitted by those most qualified 

 to judge. 



The dark, frizzly-haired Papuan type is not only found 

 in the Melanesian group, but traces of apparently the 

 same dark race may be detected throughout almost the 

 whole of Polynesia and Micronesia. In many of these 

 islands we meet with individuals who in their dark 

 complexions and crisp, frizzly hair closely resemble the 

 Papuans. The light type, on the other hand, is repre- 

 sented by the Malays and by the Polynesians, who in 

 some places, such as Samoa and the Marquesas, are in no 

 respect inferior to the average European, either in com- 

 plexion, physical beauty, or nobility of expression (see 

 illustration p. 489). Nevertheless, these higher tribes are 

 all disappearing under the fatal influence of our much- 

 vaunted civilisation, and nowhere is this process of 

 extinction developing so rapidly and so inevitably as 

 among the South Sea islanders. 



The Eastern Archipelago also affords us an unusual 

 number of examples of immigration and colonisation by 

 the higher races. Malaysia was the scene of the earliest 

 European settlements in Eastern Asia. The Portuguese 

 reached the Spice Islands in 1511, and the Spaniards the 

 same goal ten years later, after discovering the Philip- 

 pines on their way. Both were soon supplanted in 

 many places by the Dutch, and the English were also 

 not long in obtaining a footing. All these nations have 

 colonies in the Malay islands, while the French have 

 more recently established themselves in Xew Caledonia 

 and Tahiti, and the Germans in New Guinea and else- 



