230 
JJOETH AUSTRALIA. 
the mixture being more apparent, hereabouts, in the 
interior than upon the coast, does not militate against the 
eorrectness of this suppositioOj since we find that in all 
the neighbouring countries there exists a great tendency 
on the part of the Polynesians to occupy the upland or 
mountain districts in preference to the coasts. It is in 
such poaitions, indeed, that \re find the superior breeds of 
this race; T^itness the inland inhabitants of Borneo, 
Celebes, Timor, Snmatra, and Madagascar. I think it 
proper to state that in making this suggestion I have no 
theory to snpport. The subject ia one^ indeed, that I 
only enter upon from the circumstance of those countries 
hanng been rarely visited by individuals who have had 
Bufficicut leisure to promote inquiries into the matter, and 
that, therefore, in the present state of our knowledge 
concerning the native tribes, the in formation I have been 
enabled to collect from time to time may prove acceptable 
to parties desirous of solWng the mystery that involves 
the early history of these eastern nations.* 
Our visitors from the interior spoke of a white people 
who dwelt in the eountr\' to the south, and who built 
houses of stone. This^ account excited a conaiderable 
degree of curiosity in the settlement, but I have no doubt 
that they alluded to our colonists in South Australia, or 
New South Wales. Scraps of news pass so rapidly from 
one tribe to auother, that an event of any importance is 
kno'wn over a large extent of country in the course of a 
very few months, although it is certainly difficult to 
« 
