CHAP, XI.] TX TffE MALAY AnCHU'ELAQO. ijS5 



have fptiquently bad to waken a hard sleeper myself wkeu 

 on a land or seu joiiniey. 



The hi<,dier clu^^ses of Jtalays are exceedingly polite, and 

 liave all the quiet ease and dignity of the bust-bred Euro- 

 peans. Yet tliis is compatible with a rccklees cruelty atiJ 

 contempt of human life, which is the dark side of their 

 character. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 

 different persons give totally opposite accounts of tbcm — 

 one praising them for their soberness, civility, and good- 

 nature; another abusing them for their deceit, treachery, 

 and cruelty. The old traveller Nicolo Conti, waiting in 

 1430, says': "The inliabitants of Java and Sumatra ex- 

 ceed every other people in cruelty. They I'egard killing a 

 man as a mere jest; nor is any punishment allotted for 

 such a deed. If any one purchase a new swortl, and wish 

 to try it, he will thrust it into the breast of ibe tirst person 

 he meets. The passers-by examine the wound, and praise 

 the skill of the pei-sou who intlicted it, if he thrust in 

 the weapon direct." Yet Drake says of the south of 

 Java : " The people (as are their kings) are a very loving, 

 tme, and just-dealing people;" and Mr. Crawfurd says 

 that the Javanese, whom he knew thoroughly, are " a 

 peaceable, docile, sober, simple, and imlustrious people." 

 Harbosa, on the other hand, who sjiw them at Malucen 

 about 1660, says: "They are a peojile of gmit ingenuity, 

 very subtle in all their deaUngs; very malicious, great 

 deceivei's, seldom speaking the truth ; prepared to do all 

 manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrilice their lives." 



The intellect of the Malay race seems ralher deficient 

 They are incapable t)f anything beyond the simplest com- 

 bimltious of ideas, and liave little taste or energy for the 

 !ic<|uirement of knowledge. Their civilization, such as it 

 is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it is entirely confined 

 to those nations who have been converted to tlie I^Liho- 

 nietan or Brahminical religious. 



I mtII now give an et[ually brief sketch of the other 

 great race of the Malay Archipelago, the Papuan. 



The typical Papuan nice is in many respects the very 

 opposite of the Malay, and it has hillierto heen very iiii- 

 pcrfectiy described. The colour of the bovly is a deep 

 oooty- brown or black, sometimes approach iug, but never 



