chap, xvn.] NATIVES OF MINAHASA. 411 



got a single specimen, and on a few occasions two, but 

 never without a more or less active pursuit. This and 

 several other species I never saw but in this one ravine. 



Among the people here I saw specimens of several types, 

 which, with the peculiarities of the languages, gives me 

 some notion of their probable origin. A striking illustra- 

 tion of the low state of civilization of these people till 

 quite recently, is to be found in the great diversity of their 

 languages. Villages three or four miles apart have sepa- 

 rate dialects, and each group of three or four such villages 

 has a distinct language quite unintelligible to all the rest ; 

 so that, till the recent introduction of Malay by the Mis- 

 sionaries, there must have been a bar to all free communi- 

 cation. These languages offer many peculiarities. They 

 contain a Celebes-Malay element and a Papuan element, 

 along with some radical peculiarities found also in the 

 languages of the Siau and Sanguir islands further north, 

 and therefore probably derived from the Philippine Islands. 

 Physical characters correspond. There are some of the less 

 civilized tribes which have semi-Papuan features and hair, 

 while in some villages the true Celebes or Bugis phy- 

 siognomy prevails. The plateau of Tondano is chiefly 

 inhabited by people nearly as white as the Chinese, and 

 with very pleasing semi-European features. The people 

 of Siau and Sanguir much resemble these, and I believe 

 them to be perhaps immigrants from some of the islands 



