THE POLYNESIAN RACES. 173 



which they had been driven. The Bushmen 

 of South Africa are another case in point. 

 It seems to be clearly ascertained that they 

 belong to the same race as other tribes who 

 are far less degraded, and that they are 

 simply the descendants of outcasts driven to 

 the woods and rocks* So, again, among the 

 great islands of the Pacific, the natives of 

 Van Diemen's Land were the m.ost utterly 

 degraded of all the Polynesian races. 



With these facts staring us in the face, 

 connecting themselves in an obvious order 

 with causes which we know to be all 

 operating in one direction, is it not absurd 

 to argue that the condition of these outcasts 

 of the human family can be assumed as 



* Pritchard's ** Natural History of Man," vol. u. 



