138 



ORDER BIMANA.— GENUS HOMO. 



The Malayan race, resident in the immediate vicinity of the equator, 

 is seldom found beyond the 92d and 13:id meridian of Eastern longitude ; 

 yet they can be traced^to the eastern coast of the Island of Madagascar, 

 though sometimes partially mingled with the Moors. They may be said 

 to form the entire population of the shores of the Indian Archipelago, the 

 Sonda and Molucca Islands ; from whence they have been distributed to 

 some of tlie Philippine Islands, and as far as the Island of New Guinea, 

 on the north of which they have formed some permanent settlements. 

 Tlie Malays are even to be found at Waijoo, at the Isles of Aroo, and in 

 Dampiei's Straits. 



The physical traits of the Malays are as characteristic as their manners 

 and customs. In general they are of medium size, robust and well pro- 

 portioned, their complexions of a yellowish copper-colour, slightly mixed 

 with orange. M. Bory remarks that their mucous membranes have a 

 deep violet tinge. The females, every where subjected to a jealous sar- 

 veillance, are in general of diminutive stature, well rounded, their breasts 

 voluminous, their hair very coarse and black, their mouth wide, and their 

 teeth might be accounted beautiful, if they were not blackened and cor- 

 roded by the immoderate use of the betel. Both sexes are violent in their 

 passions, irritable, treacherous, capable of the grossest deceit, submissive 

 and crouching to the yoke of the strongest, barbarous and merciless to their 

 enemies or their slaves.' 



The Malayan language is spoken throughout all the islands, with slight 

 local variations. It is mild, harmonious, and simple in its rules ; full of 

 oriental terms of expression, and abounding in figures of speech.^ Their 

 religion and knowledge being derived from the Arabs, the inhabitants of 

 Malacca have adopted the characters of the Arabic, with the practice of 

 writing from right to left, while those of Java and Sumatra write like the 

 Europeans, from left to right 3 



B. HOMO POLYNESIUS POLYNESIANS. 



Syn. Rameau Oceanien Less. Mam. 25. 



H. Neptonianus Oceaniql'E (Occidentai.e). — Bory, Ess. Zool. I. 298. 



Race Jaune ud Grand Ocean Quoy et Gaim. Zool. de TAstr.* I. 



18 (in part). 

 Icon. Blumenb. Dec. Cran. IlL t. 26. fSkuU of au Otaheitan); V. t. 50. 

 (Skull of a Marquesan). 



Cook and King, Voy.5 PI. XI. XVIII. XXIIL LXIIL and LXIV. 



Langsd. Reise." I. . 7 and 8. 



Kotzeb. Voy.' II. fig. and III. fig. tit. 



Quoy et Gaim. Zool. de IWstr. pi. I. and fig. 4 and 5 of pi. 2. 



The Polynesian or Oceanic variety of the human race is far superior 

 to the remaining population of the Southern Ocean in the beauty and 

 symmetry of its proportions. In general, the South Sea Islanders are of an 

 elevated stature, with their muscles well defined, a well formed and ele- 

 vated cranium, andan expressive physiognomy, varying from |)lacid timidity 

 to warlike ferocity. Their eyes are large and protected by dense eve- 

 lashes. The colour of their complexion is a clear yellow, deeper in those 

 natives who are compellird to seek for subsistence among the coral reefs, 

 and much fainter among the females. Their noses are broad and fiat, 

 the nostrils widely-dilated, the mouth large, the lips thick, the teeth very 

 white and beautiful, and the external ears remarkably small. The beauty 

 of the women, though somewhat exaggerated by the earlier navigators, is 

 not inconsiderable. Their eyes are large, their teeth of the purest ena- 

 mel, their skins soft and smooth, their hair long and black, and tastefully 

 arranged over breasts of the most perfectly hemispherical form. In 

 other respects they may be termed ugly, having, like the men, large 

 mouths and flat noses. The colour of their complexions is almost 

 white, their stature short, their forms corpulent. The inhabitants of 

 Mendociaand Rotooma, according to Knisenstern,* are the most comely; 

 next to these we may place the Otaheitans, the Sandwich Islanders, and 

 those of Tonga. At New Zealand, the beauty of the females declines, 

 while the males are more robust and athletic than any others of the same 

 race. 



The greatest analogy may be traced in the manners and customs of 

 these islanders, though separated from each other by an immense ex- 

 parrse of ocean, and the identity of the race has been demonstrated upon 

 the greater portion of the islands situate to the south-east of the Indian 

 Archipelago and Australia. In fact, all the volcanic and coral islands of 

 this ocean within the Southern Temperate Zone are peopled by the 

 Polynesians, while they appear to have sent only a single colony to the 

 northward, which occupies the Sandwich Islands. The entire Aichi- 

 pelago of the Carolinas, on the contrary, with the Philippine and 

 Marianne Islands, is peopled by a totally different race. The Polyne- 

 sians are thus widely distributed in the Frieirdly and Society Islands. A 

 branch has extended to the Isles of Mandana, Washington, Mangea, 

 Rotooma, Lady Penryn, Sauvage, Tonga, and New Zealand. About 

 one half of the population of the Fidjee and Navigators' Islands belongs 

 to this race, which does not extend, according to MM. Lesson and 

 Garnot, beyond the Island of Rotooma in that direction. 



Both se.xes of the Polynesian variety clothe themselves in the most 

 graceful manner with long flowing robes, wherever the variations of tem- 

 perature require this covering. The chiefs alone possess the prerogative 

 of wearing the tipoiita, a garment which bears much resem.blance to the 

 ponc/io of the Araucanos in South America. The New Zealanders, 

 placed beyond the tropics, have adopted garments suited to their climate, 

 consisting in an ingenious fabric, formed of the silky fibres of the Phor- 

 mium. All these islanders agree in possessing a singular taste for head 

 dresses. Those of Otaheite and Sandwich crown themselves with flowers, 

 while those of the Marquesas and Washington, Rotooma and the Fidjee, 

 attach a superstitious value to the teeth of the Cachalot. These orna- 

 ments are replaced in New Zealand by plumes of feathers. Throughout 

 the entire islands, the practice of tattooing the skin is widely practised, 

 either to distinguish the different ranks of the people, or merely for orna- 

 mental or superstitious purposes. The inhabitants of the Pomotoo Islands 

 cover their entire bodies with these designs ; in Otaheite and Tonga, tUev 

 are more limited and simple; while in the Sandwich Isles and New 

 Zealand, the entire countenance is covered with devices, arranged in a 

 symmetrical and highly expressive form. The women of New Zealand 

 and the Marquesas tattoo the internal angle of the eyes, the angles of 

 the mouth, and often also the chin. In general, the tattooing of the 

 South Sea Islands is composed of circles and semicircles, opposed or 

 bordered by notches somewhat resemblmg the never-ending circle of the 

 Hindoo mythology. 



The same domestic habits may be traced throughout the entire race. 

 Their food is cooked in subterranean ovens by means of heated stones ; 

 the leaves of plants are used for culinary purposes ; the Bread-fruit (Arto- 

 carpus incisa), the Cocoa, and the Taro, are boiled for food. They all 

 drink the Kava or Ava, the juice of a species of Pepper, which intoxi- 

 cates or refreshes. Before the arrival of Europeans, the women were 

 excluded from all entertainments. Their dwellings are adapted to the 

 circumstances of the locality. In some places, such as the Society 

 Islands, Tonga, Mangea, the Marquesas, and Rotooma, the houses are 

 large and capacious, serving for several families, without closed walls, 

 and built nearly on the same plan. In other places, such as New Zea- . 

 land, where each tribe is continually at war with its neighbours, and 

 where the tempests are violent and prolonged, their hippaks are almost 

 inaccessible, surrounded with palisades ; while the narrow buildings, sunk 

 in pits almost level with the ground, and sufficient to contain only two 

 or three persons, are entered on all-fours. 



The language of the Polynesians, though apparently simple, and rich 

 in Oriental figures, is directly opposed to the genius of the pure Malayan. 

 All navigators agree in remarking the singular affinity which prevails 

 throughout the dialects of the great Southern Ocean. An Otaheitan can 

 be understood in the Marquesas, the latter at Sandwich, and the native 

 of these last islands in New Zealand.' 



Our limits do not permit us to notice at present the religious opinions 

 prevalent among these tribes, their human sacrifices, their Morals, or the 

 occasional cannibalism of some nations.'" 



' Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' History of Java. London, 1S17. 



2 Wm. Marsden's History of Sumatra. London, 1811. Also Grammar and Dictionary of the Malayan Language. London, 1812. 



' Cravvfurd and Leyden's Memoirs, in the Asiatic Society's Transactions. 



* Quoy ET Gaim. Zool. de l'Astr. — Voyage de la Corvette I'Astrolabe, execute par ordre du Roi, pendant les annees 1826 a 1829, sous le commandement de M. 

 Jules Diimont D'Urville- — Zoologie, par I\IM. Quoy et Gaimard. Paris, ]»30, et suiv. 



s Cook and King, Voy. — A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, undertaken by the command of his Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern hemisphere, per- 

 formed under the direction of Ciptams Cook, Gierke, and Gore, in his Majesty's ships the Resolution and Discovery, in the years 1776 to 1780. Vols. I. and II. by Cap- 

 tain James Cook; 111. by Captain James King. London, 1785. 



6 LAMGsn. Reise Bemeikungcn auf einer Reise um die Welt, von G. H. von Langsdoiff. Frankfort, 1812. 



7 Kotzeb. Vot Otto Von Kotzcbue. A Voyage of Discovery into the South Seas and Behrini's Straits, undertaken in the years 1815-1818, in the ship Kurick, 



(in German.) Translated by H. E. Lloyd. London, 1821. Also, a new Voyage round the World in 1823 to 1826. London, 1830. 



8 KnusENsT. VoY A. J. Krusenstcm — Voyage round the World, (in Russ.) Peteribm-g, 1809, and atlas in fol. 1813. (Translated into English by R. B. 



Hoppner. London, 1813.) 



9 Otaheitan Grammar, published by the Missionaries at Otaheite, 1823. .A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand, 1820. 



10 See the Voyages of Cook, Bougainville, Vancouver, Carteret, TurnbuU, Mariner, Wallis, Krusenstern, La Perouse, Langsdorff, Lisianskoi, Sic. &c Also Forster, in 



the 2d Voyage of Cook. 



