24 AFFILIATION OF THE ALGONQUIN LANGUAGES. 



"In this description there seems little to object to on the score of 

 beauty, and yet, on the whole, the Malays are certainly not handsome. 

 In youth, however, they are often very good-looking, and many of the 

 boys and girls up to twelve or fifteen years of age are very pleasing,- 

 and some have countenances which are in their way almost perfect. 

 I am inclined to think they lose much of their good looks by bad 

 habits and irregular living. At a very early age they chew betel 

 and tobacco almost incessantly ; they sufier much want and exposure 

 in their fishing and other excursions ; their lives are often passed in 

 alternate starvation and feasting, idleness and excessive labour ; and 

 this naturally produces premature old age and harshness of features. 

 " In character the Malay is impassive. He exhibits a reserve, 

 diffidence, and even bashfulness, which is in some degree attractive, 

 and leads the observer to think that the ferocious and bloodthirsty 

 character imputed to the race must be grossly exaggerated. He is 

 not demonstrative. His feelings of surprise, admiration or fear are 

 never openly manifested, and are probably not strongly felt. He is 

 slow and deliberate in speech, and circuitous in introducing the sub- 

 ject he has come expressly to discuss. These are the main features 

 of his moral nature, and exhibit themselves in every action of his 

 life. 



" Children and women are timid, and scream and run at the unex- 

 pected sight of a European. In the company of men they are silent, 

 and ai^ generally quiet and obedient. When alone the Malay is 

 taciturn; he neither talks nor sings to himself. When several are 

 paddling in a canoe, they occasionally chant a monotonous and plain- 

 tive song. He is cautious of giving oflfence to his equals. Practical 

 joking is utterly repugnant to his disposition, for he is particularly 

 sensitive to breaches of etiquette, or any interference with the personal 

 liberty of himself or another. As an example, I may mention that I 

 have often found it very difficult to get one Malay servant to waken 

 another. He will call as loud as he can, but will hardly touch, much 

 less shake, his comrade. 



" The intellect of the Malay race seems rather deficient. They are- 

 incapable of anything beyond the simplest combination of ideas, and 

 have little taste or energy for the acquirement of knowledge. Their 

 civilization, such as it is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it is. 

 entirely confined to those nations who have been converted ta the- 

 Mahometan or Brahminical religions." 



