8 THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE JNWAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



indigenous plants and animals of the country they inhabit" 

 An attempt has recently bean made by M. D'Eichtal to give 

 Polynesia an entirely new place in the ethnology of the world- 

 He declares that the Polynesian civilisation is original, and 

 apparently the earliest in the world, that it spread to the east 

 and west from its focus in Polynesia or in a continent situated 

 in the same region bnt now submerged, that it reached America on 

 the one aide and Africa on the other where it embraced the Fuhdw, 

 Copts, Mandwgoes and other races, while towards the north it 

 penetrated into Asia. He even throws out the suggestion that 

 a germ, emanating from this Polynesian cradle and falling into 

 the valley of the Nile, originated or fecundated the ancient 

 -Egyptian eivilitsution. 



I believe I have indicated the v '*■' important as well as the 

 more touting M the opinions that hav* been placed before the 

 world respecting the origin and affinities of the Oceanic races. 

 Others there doubtless are, and perhaps there are few possible 

 solutions of most of the difficulties of the subject, that have not 

 been thrown out in one shape or another. This is at least a 

 proof of the j*re*it curiosity which the region and its people have 

 universally excited, and ii affords some assurance that the labour 

 of attempting to lay a broader and, if possible, a better denned 

 basis for future research, will not be wasted. 



As this fertility of speculation lias arisen clue fly from a 

 barrenness of facts, it is obvious that an extension of our data 

 is the true means of removing the subjeet from the field of 

 conjecture, in which every writer claims a license to wanton. 

 Under this conviction I liave for some years endeavoured to 

 collect more information, and as language is the foundation of 

 all sound ethnology, my principal attention has been given to iL 

 The labour of making vocabularies is a very slow one, and I 

 have only been able, up to this time, to complete large ones 

 containing from 2,0U0 to f!,000 words of six languages of Sumatra, 

 two of the Malay Pcutnsuto, one of Borneo, six of Celebes, 

 five of Java and the adjacent islands, and several of the Transjavan 

 chain mostly on a smaller scale. 1 have derived from Dutch authors 

 many others not generally known, and to these I have lately been 

 enabled to add several large dictionaries of the Philipine languages 

 by Spanish authors. In pursuing ray enquiries into the languages 

 and other peculiarities of the insular races, I was struck by a 

 number of resemblances amongst themselves and with other human 

 families which did not appear to have been noticed before, and 

 which led me to think Xhat a full comparison even of the tacts 

 already known, might lead to more definite notions respecting 

 the true requirements and difficulties of the subject, and serve 

 as a useful preparation for further research. The task proved 

 to be larger than f had anticipated, and it has somewhat retarded 

 my main pursuit. With a view to ascertain generally the position 



