56 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



colony which, to Europeans, have been lost for ages ; and their long intercourse 

 with the Greenland tribes has led them to adopt the superstitions of that people 

 and more or less their language and mode of life. 



13. THE MALAY FAMILY. 



The head of the Malay is large, and the nose short, depressed, and flattened 

 towards the nostrils: the eyes are small, black, oblique and expressive; the face 

 is broad, compressed, and very prominent, and the mouth and lips are large. 

 Their limbs are thick and they are below the middle stature. The color of the 

 Malay is a decided brown, often with a bronze tint. Their hair is long, black 

 and lank ; but they have little beard, and this they for the most part eradicate. 



The skull of the Malay presents the following characters : the forehead is 

 low, moderately prominent and arched : the occiput is much compressed, and 

 often projecting at its upper and lateral parts : the orbits are oblique, oblong and 

 remarkably quadrangular, the upper and lower margins being almost straight and 

 parallel : the nasal bones are broad, and flattened, or even concave : the cheek 

 bones are high and expanded : the jaws are greatly projected ; and the upper jaw, 

 together with the teeth, is much inclined outwards, and often nearly horizontal. 

 The teeth are by nature remarkably fine, but are almost uniformly filed away in 

 front to enable them to imbibe the color of the betel nut, which renders them 

 black and unsightly. 



The facial angle is less than in the Mongol and Chinese ; for the average, 

 derived from a measurement of thirteen perfect skulls in my possession, gives 

 about seventy-three degrees. 



Among a considerable number of Malays whom I have seen in this country 

 as mariners, there has been a remarkable uniformity of appearance ; as much so, 

 indeed, as if they had belonged to the same social family. Even their complexion 

 seems little altered by the diversified latitudes they inhabit ; and Mr. Crawford 

 has remarked that they are a very distinct people, strikingly alike among them- 

 selves, but unlike all other nations.* 



The Malays are a strictly maritime nation, making considerable voyages in 

 their light vessels, and for the most part establishing themselves on the rivers and 

 along the sea coasts of the islands they invade. They possess an active and 



^ Indian Archipel. v. I, p. 25.-M. Lesson (Voy. du Coquille, Zool. p. 43,) supposes the Malays 

 to be a mixed race of Indo-Caiicasians and Mongols. 



