THE MALAY RACE. 



135 



to be physically Malay ; and there were no marks of Chinese lineage. 

 In stature, however, they were perhaps inferior to the insular East 

 Indians. 



The Siamese also frequent Singapore ; though there happened to 

 be none present at the time of our visit. They " have likewise vessels 

 of European model; chiefly old English merchant ships which they 

 have purchased; and they employ English commanders." Siam and 

 Cochin-China were then at war ; but I did not hear of any naval en- 

 gagements. The ' twins,' well known in the United States, are the 

 only Siamese I have ever seen ; and they bear the distinctive marks 

 of the Malay race. 



Dr. Betton, of Philadelphia, on visiting Birmah, found " the Birmese 

 to belong to the same class of people with the Malays of the East 

 Indies: the Malay character of the population, commencing suddenly 

 a few miles beyond the Eastern mouth of the Ganges. He regarded 

 the Karens, however, as belonging to a different race :" and from the 

 descriptions and figures, they would appear to belong either to the 

 White race or to the Mongolian. 



MADAGASCAR. 



During my recent visit to Zanzibar, I remarked among the lower 

 class of the population, four or five individuals who evidently belonged 

 to the Malay race. Two of them were ascertained to be Ovahs from 

 Madagascar; or as they were here termed, "Ambolambo from 

 Bookin." They were held as slaves by the Arabs. One was a lad 

 of sixteen years, " from Nos Bey ;" and the other, a middle-aged 

 woman; but having been both stolen when quite young, they could 

 give no account of their native country. Their hair was very dense, 

 and they exhibited other obvious marks of the unmixed Malayan. 

 This resemblance was admitted by Europeans present; and it ap- 

 peared also, that the Arabs had remarked the identity in physical 

 race of the Ambolambo and the East Indians. 



The survey of the immense series of ocean migrations was here 

 completed; the Malay race having been traced by actual inspection, 

 from the shores of America, through the Pacific and East Indian 

 islands, to the immediate vicinity of Africa. 



