490 DIVISION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES 



five feet, having slender limbs, large bellies, high shoulders, 

 and large heads. They had woolly hair, flat noses, and thick 

 lips ; and a skin of a deep sooty black. They are naked, 

 and in a state of complete barbarism *. 



The lighter-coloured race, with more oval countenance, 

 longer hair, and finer forms altogether, occupy the coasts 

 of the larger islands, and some smaller ones entirely. 

 Many of them shew their Malay origin, by their organiza- 

 tion, language and manners ; and appear to have gradually 

 spread from the continent over the adjacent islands. Others, 

 however, cannot be traced so satisfactorily to this source f . 



In the numerous larger and smaller islands of the South 

 Sea, extending from New Holland to Easter Island, over a 

 space of nearly 140 degrees of longitude, very various tribes 

 are found, of light-brown or olive to black colour, of woolly 

 or long hair, tall or short, handsome or ugly; and that often 

 very near each other. They may be arranged, as in the 

 latter case, under two divisions, between which, however, 

 there are several intermediate gradations forming an insen- 

 sible transition from the one to the other. 



1st, Negro-like men, with curly hair, occupy the south- 

 western islands; and may, perhaps, have descended from 

 the analogous race in the Moluccas and other East-Indian 

 islands. They are savage, ferocious, and suspicious X- 



* Embassy to Ava, 8vo. p. 301. A similar description of them is given 

 by the Arabian travellers in the ninth century, whose account is translated 

 by Renaudot, Ibid. p. 296, note. " It deserves remark, " the author adds, 

 " that on the continent of India e.xtra Gangem, tigures of Boodh or Budhoo, 

 the Gaudmaof the Birmans and Siamese, arc often seen with characteristic 

 hair and features of the Negro." p. 302, note. 



Mr. Colebrook's account of the physical traits, the ferocity, and the 

 completely savage state of this race, is precisely similar to that of Col. 

 Stmes. Asiatic Researches, v. iv. 



f Two natives of Timor are represented by Peron, Voyage de Decon- 

 vertes dux Terres Australes, t. \. pi. 23 and 26. 



J For portraits of this race, see Cook's Voyage totvards the South Pole, 

 V. ii.pl. 47, Man of MalJicollo; pi. 26 and 45, Man and \Voman of 

 Tanna ; pi. 39 and 48, Man and Woman of New Caledonia. Cook's Voy- 

 age to the Pacific ; pi. 6 and 7, Man, Woman, and Child, of Van Dieman's 

 Laud. CoLLixs, Account of New South Wales, p. 439, portrait of a Native, 



