Jan. 13, 1 88 1 ] 



NA TURE 



249 



Dates have ev^en been assigned for these various migra- 

 tions. Thus we are told that the Polynesians made their 

 appearance in the Marquesas Islands about the beginning 

 of the fifth century A.D., in Tahiti about 1 100, in Raro- 

 tonga about 1200, in New Zealand about 1400, and so on. 

 But all this, depending on the oral genealogies of the 

 chiefs, and other equally unreliable data, must be regarded 

 as pure conjecture. More probable is the statement that 

 the race appeared in Malaysia 



over a thousand years before ._— =^ii 



any mention occurs of Malays in -;;=^^=- — —^^ 



that region. At the same time it 

 is idle to attempt assigning dates 

 to strictly prehistoric events, 

 with the correct sequence of 

 which we are more concerned. 



The Sawaiori are one of the 

 finest races of mankind, Cau- 

 casian in all essentials, and with 

 out a trace of Mongolian blood 

 Observers, from Cook to the 

 members of the Challeiii^er Ex- 

 pedition, are unanimous in de 

 scribing them as distinguished 

 by their fine symmetrical pro- 

 portions, tall stature, handsome 

 and regular features. Cook gives 

 the palm to the Marquesas 

 Islanders, who, " for fine shape 

 and regular features, surpass all 

 other natives." The Samoans 

 and Tahitians are very little in- 

 ferior, and even of the Tongans 

 (Friendly Archipelago) Lord 

 George Campbell remarks : — 

 " There are no people in the 

 world who strike one at first s 

 much as these Friendly IsLin 

 ders. Their clear, light coppci 

 brown coloured skins, yellow ami 

 curly hair, good-humoured and 

 handsome faces, their tout en 

 seinbh', formed a novel and 

 splendid picture of the i^enm 

 homo, and as far as physique and 

 appearance goes they gave one 

 certainly an impression of bein^ 

 a superior race to ours." Their 

 average height is five feet ten 

 inches, ranking in this respect 

 ne.\t to the Tehuelches of Pat.a- 

 gonia ; they have smooth but 

 not lank hair, often curly and 

 wavy, and Mr. Staniland Wake 

 has recently shown that, against 

 the commonly-received opinion, 

 the beard is naturally full, though 

 often artificially removed. Add 

 to all this a cheerful joyous 

 temperament, a frank and truth- 

 ful disposition and kindly nature, 

 and you have a type as dif- 

 ferent as it is possible to im- 

 agine from the Mongolian, and 

 consequently from the true Malay. Yet the Sawaiori 

 and IVIalays are grouped together under the collective 

 designation of ' Malayo-Polynesians," as if they were 

 merely two varieties cf a common stock. All they have 

 in common are one or two cranial features, of no par- 

 ticular value as racial tests, at least when taken apart, 

 and the elements of their language, which we shall see is 

 in this instance no racial test at all. The true affinities of 

 the Sawaiori are with the Caucasians of Indo-China, and 

 withthat fairelement in Malaysia which Dr. Hamyproposes 



to group as Indonesians, and whose relations to the Eastern 

 Polynesians he has been one of the first to perceive. 

 Noteworthy amongst these Indonesians, Pre-Malays, or 

 Indo-Chinese Caucasians still unaffected by Mongol in- 

 fluences in the Archipelago are the Mentawey Islanders, 

 who, though occupying the Pora Group some seventy miles 

 off the west coast of Sumatra, are none the less closely 

 related in physique, language, and customs, to the Eastern 



— Mongoloid Types, Indo-China. King and Queen of SIe 



Polynesians. On this point the testimony of C. B. H. 

 von Rosenberg is decisive. " On a closer inspection of 

 the inhabitants the careful observer at once perceives 

 that the Mentawey natives have but little in common with 

 the peoples and tribes of the neighbouring islands, and 

 thus as regards physical appearance, speech, customs, 

 and usages, they stand almost quite apart. They bear 

 such a decided stamp of a Polynesian tribe that one feels 

 far more inclined to compare them with the inhabitants 

 of the South Sea Islands." 



