ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 285 



Australia, and has been taken possession of by England, whose govern- 

 ment is now endeavoring to increase the population and render the country 

 more profitable, by means of European settlers. The south-eastern portion 

 of this vast island is called New South Wales ; many settlements exist 

 there, as well as upon the eastern part of the south coast, the west and 

 north coasts. The whole of Oceania has been divided in different ways ; 

 one of those most natural appears, however, to be that of Domeny de Rienzi, 

 improved by Dumont d'Urville : 1. Malaysia or West Oceania, improperly 

 denominated by the English the Indian Archipelago, with Borneo as a 

 centre ; 2. Micronesia or North Oceania, comprising the very small islands 

 and naked rocks in a space extending from a little below the Tropic of Can- 

 cer in the south to 40° north latitude, bounded on the west by the Island of 

 Borodino, on the east, at about 167° west longitude (from Paris), by Neker 

 Island; the most important part of it being the group of Munin Sima. 

 3. Polynesia, consisting of the St. David or Free-will Islands, Nevil Island, 

 the great archipelago of the Carolinas, including the Pelew and Navigators' 

 Islands, the large island of Cocal, and others of this chain ; in general, all 

 the islands of the South Sea, from the Hawaian or Sandwich archipelago 

 to the Bishop and Clerk Islands, south of New Zealand, to the Island of 

 Ticopia near Vanicoro, in the west, and to the island of Sala y Gomez in 

 the east, in the direction of America : 4. Melanesia ; that is, Australia 

 with the archipelago belonging to it. Van Diemen's Land, New Caledonia, 

 Malicollo, &c.. New Guinea and the adjacent Papua Islands, and all the 

 islands to the east and south-east with a black population, e. g. Solomon's 

 and Viti Islands, New Ireland, New Britain, &c. 



The possessions of the Dutch in Malaysia number about 10,000,000 of 

 inhabitants. Portugal holds the north-eastern part of the island of Timor, 

 and the two small islands of Sabrao and Solor. Spain owns the greatest 

 portion of the Archipelago of the Philippines, and is endeavoring to enter 

 into the interior of Leyte, Samar, Mindora, Mindanao, and La Paragua or 

 Palawan. England possesses Pulo Penang and Singhapura, Melville Island, 

 north, Norfolk, east, Tasmania, south of Australia. She holds the entire 

 east coast, or New South Wales, and some points in the south, west, and 

 north of this great island or continent, which is almost as large as Europe. 



The Malays are the race most widely spread in Oceania. In all proba- 

 bility the east coast of Borneo is the native place of this seafaring and 

 commercial people. They conquered and gave their name to the peninsula 

 of Malacca, and the east coasts of Madagascar and Formosa were probably 

 colonized by them. The coasts of Sumatra, a part of the Moluccas and of 

 the Nicobars, Pinang, Nias, Singhapura, Linging, Bingtang, &c., are 

 inhabited by this stock. The Malays are well formed, of medium thick-set 

 stature, little inclined to corpulency ; their feet small. Upon almost all the 

 shores of West Oceania, where they have settled, they appear to occupy 

 the middle position between Hindoos and Chinese, but their complexion 

 approaches the dark brick-red of the Illinois and Caribs, and sometimes 

 inclines to white or black, according to the intermixture of nations. In 

 Timor, dark and tan-colored faces are seen; in Borneo, the complexion is 



457 



