VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1363 



the interior of many of the larger islands* of 

 the Indian Archipelago ; it is not always cer- 

 tain, however, whether the people whose pre- 

 sence there is reported, are Negritoes or dark 



F,g. 852. 



Portrait ofOurou-Mare, an Australian Chief. (From 

 the " Atlas du Voyage au Terres Australes.") 



Malays. There are many indications, indeed 

 that the Malayo-Polynesian and Negrito races 

 are not really so distinct, as the marked dis- 

 similarity of their respective physical types, 

 and the complete want of conformity between 

 their languages, would make it appear. For 

 as, on the one hand, some of the subdivisions 

 of the former present a decided tendency to- 

 wards the prognathous character, and the 

 depth of complexion, which are typical of the 

 latter, so among the latter we do find a lighter 

 shade of skin, a greater symmetry of skull, and 

 a considerable improvement in form and fea- 

 ture, not unfrequently displaying themselves ; 

 as is the case, for example, with some of the 

 Papuans, or inhabitants of New Guinea, and 

 even occasionally with the Australian abori- 

 gines, notwithstanding that the physiognomy 

 of the latter generally exhibits a very manifest 

 degradation (fig. 852.) The relations of the 

 language of the different branches of this race 

 to each other, and to other languages, have 

 not yet been clearly developed. They appear, 

 however, to possess a general community of 

 structure, with differences in the vocabulary ; 

 and such differences present themselves very 

 prominently among some of the languages of 

 Australian tribes, whose common origin can- 

 not be questioned. According to Dr. Latham, 

 they contain a considerable infusion of Malay 

 words ; but this is scarcely enough to establish 

 their community of origin with the languages 

 of the Malayo-Polynesian stock. Some other 

 affinities have been pointed out by Dr. Prich- 

 ard ; but these, it is remarkable," are not so 

 intimate as those which subsist between the 

 Australian and the Tamulian of Southern 



India. Remote as the connection seems, this 

 circumstance adds weight to the idea, that the 

 native Australians are an offset from that 

 southern branch of the great nomadic stock 

 of Central Asia, which seems early to have 

 spread itself through the Indian and Indo- 

 Chinese peninsula. 



It is commonly believed that there is no 

 people, excepting the most degraded of the 

 Negroes and the Bushmen of the Cape, 

 whose physical condition is so miserable, 

 or whose mental development is so low, as 

 that of the Australian aborigines ; but the 

 testimony of those who have visited them 

 in their native haunts, where as yet they 

 have been uncontaminated by contact with 

 Europeans, and have not suffered from the 

 deprivation of the land which affords them 

 the means of subsistence, is very decided i i 

 regard to the exaggeration which has prevailed 

 on this point. In particular it may be re- 

 marked, that, although they have less suscepti- 

 bility than exists among many other rude 

 nations to religious impressions, yet it is cer- 

 tain that they are not destitute (as some have 

 represented them to be) of all idea of a God ; 

 they even seem to have a notion of a future 

 state, and a belief in good and evil angels. 

 They have likewise a superstitious belief in 

 magicians or sorcerers ; a belief which seems 

 to attain its highest point among the nations 

 of High Asia. Many complex and singular 

 institutions, especially relating to the tenure 

 of property, exist among them ; to which the 

 nearest approach elsewhere is presented by 

 the North American Indians. 



Looking, then, to the great diversity which 

 exists among the subordinate groups of which 

 both these divisions consist, and their ten- 

 dency to mutual approximation, it cannot be 

 shown that any sufficient reason exists for 

 isolating them from each other ; and, as already 

 remarked, there seems no medium between the 

 supposition that each island had its aboriginal 

 pair or pairs, and the doctrine that the whole 

 of Oceania has been peopled from a common 

 stock. Looking, again, to the very marked 

 approximation which is presented by certain 

 Oceanic tribes to the Mongolian type, and this 

 in a locality which, on other grounds, might 

 be regarded as having received the first stream 

 of migration, the possibility, to say the least, 

 can scarcely be denied, that the main-land 

 furnished the original stock, which has under- 

 gone various transformations subsequentlj^to 

 its first dispersion ; these having been the re- 

 sult of climatic influence and mode of life, and 

 having been chiefly influenced as to degree, by 

 the length of time during which the transform- 

 ing causes have been in operation. At any rate 

 it may be safely affirmed, that there is no 

 physical peculiarity which entitles the Oceanic 

 races to rank as a group, which must have ne- 

 cessarily had an original stock distinct from 

 that of the continental nations. 



GENERAL RECAPITULATION. 



On the whole then, the result of the ex- 

 tensive range of inquiries, of which an out- 



4 s 2 



