494 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL 



others have proved, that it is radically distinct from the 

 Malay, in grammatical structure no less than in vocabu- 

 lary, and that the Malay words after all do not exceed 

 three or four per cent, and are, besides, mostly modern 

 words, not modified roots — a clear indication of their 

 recent origin. 



Some evidence of the very remote antiquity of the 

 Polynesians is perhaps to be found in the absence of the 

 art of making pottery among the whole of the race ; for 

 it may possibly imply that they left the continent or the 

 western islands before that art was known, its practice 

 being so simple, and at the same time so useful, that, 

 once known, it would probably never have been lost. 

 But on all the great continents and continental islands 

 this is a universal and a very ancient art. There is not 

 a single tribe in the whole Malay Archipelago which does 

 not possess it ; and there is evidence in many parts of 

 the world that it dates far back into prehistoric times, 

 and even into the polished stone age. In Eastern Asia, 

 where it attained a high development much earlier than 

 in Europe, it is certainly of extreme antiquity. It may 

 be, however, that during a long process of migration over 

 small coral islands, a process which would probably ex- 

 tend over scores or hundreds of generations, the art of 

 making pottery became lost owing to the want of suitable 

 materials. 



We have already seen that their tall stature, their 

 curly hair, their well -formed and rather prominent 

 features, their joyous and laughter -loving dispositions, all 

 separate these people widely from true Malays. Yet 

 they have many characteristics of an Asiatic race, and it 

 seems probable that they came originally, but at a very 

 remote epoch, from some part of Southern Asia. Savaii 

 would be the first lofty and luxuriant island of consider- 



