102 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



is inhabited by the Malays, a much handsomer 

 people, whose race and language are spread over 

 the sea-coast of all the islands of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, and through almost all the islands of the 

 southern ocean. In the largest of the former, es- 

 pecially in the wild and uncultivated tracts, we find 

 another race of men, with crisped hair, black com- 

 plexion, negro countenance, and barbarous beyond 

 measure. Those that are most known have received 

 the name of Papuas, and it may be applied as a 

 general denomination to them all. 



It is not very easy to refer either the Malays, or 

 the Papuas, to any one of the three grand varieties 

 of mankind already described. It is a question how- 

 ever, whether the former people can be accurately 

 distinguished from their neighbours on either side ; 

 the Caucasian Hindoos on the one, and the Mongolian 

 Chinese on the other. We scarcely find in them 

 characteristics sufficiently striking for this purpose. 

 Again, are the Papuas Negroes, who, in remote 

 periods, may have lost their way upon the Indian 

 ocean ? We have neither figures nor descriptions 

 sufficiently clear to reply to this question. 



The natives of the north of boih continents, the 

 Samoiedes, the Laplanders, and the Esquimaux, 

 spring, according to some authorities, from the Mon- 

 golian race. According to others, they are only 

 degenerate ofT-shoots from the Scythian branch of 

 the Caucasian variety. 



The Americans themselves have not yet been 

 properly referred to either of the other races, nqr 



