42 INTERMIXTURE OP CERTAIN RACES 



approximate more to tlie indigenous race than to the foreign ; 

 that is to say, that the Mulattoes of the second, third degree, 

 etc., are much more numerous than the Mulattoes of the first 

 degree. But in proportion as a recrossing is effected, the in- 

 fluence of hybridity diminishes, and becomes effaced. In the 

 second case, on the contrary, the greater part of the Mulattoes 

 are of the first degree, 1 and, much more than the rest, subject 

 to the influence of hybridity ; and if it be true that hybridity 

 causes a diminution of fecundity, it is easily understood that 

 the prolificness must vary according to the relative proportion 

 of the two races. Now, Batavia is the great centre of the 

 population of the India Archipelago ; there the Europeans are 

 most numerous ; it is chiefly there that the Lipplappen form a 

 distinct class, and it is precisely there that their defective pro- 

 lificness is found. I do not pretend to say that this interpre- 

 tation is perfectly correct ; I merely advance it as an hypo- 

 thesis to be verified. Here, however, we have a fact which 

 may enhance its value. I borrow it from the work of Prof. 

 Waitz. It is known that a large number of Chinese are found 

 in the eastern and western isles of the Indian Archipelago. 

 They are relatively less numerous in Java and Sumatra, where 

 their commerce cannot sustain the competition with the Dutch. 

 " The descendants of the Chinese and the Malay women in 

 the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago," says Waitz, 

 " soon become extinct ; whilst at Java, where the pure Chinese 

 are few in number. The Malay- Chinese Mulattoes amount to 

 200,000. 2 



If the defective fecundity of the Lipplappen of Java is due 

 to the deleterious influence of climate, it is very difficult to 

 attribute the great prolificness of the Malay-Chinese to the 

 benignity of the same climate. Moreover, the more eastern 



the Malays are free as well as the Mulattoes, they have always been so. The 

 Mulattoes are proud of having in their veins European blood, as, in our own 

 country, certain citizens are proud of their aristocratic alliances. They form 

 thus, in the centres of the population, a sort of intermediate caste between 

 the Whites and the natives. 



1 It is necessary to mention, that the expression of the first degree de- 

 signates here not merely the individuals issued from the first intermixture, 

 but also the descendants of unions which they form between themselves 



2 "Waitz, loc. cit. p. 207. 



