138 
ORDER BIMANA GENUS HOMO. 
The Malayan race, resident in the immediate vicinity of the equator, 
is seldom found beyond the 92d and 132d meridian of Eastern longitude ; 
yet they can be traced'to the eastern coast of the Island of Madagascar, 
though sometimes partially mingled with the Moors. They may be said • 
to form the entire population of the shores of the Indian Archipelago, the 
Sonda and Molucca Islands ; from whence they have been distributed to 
some of the Philippine Islands, and as far as the Island of New Guinea, 
on the north of which they have formed some pennanent settlements. 
The Malays are even to be found at Wuijoo,at the Isles of Aroo, and in 
Dampiet’s Straits. 
The physical traits of the Malays are as characteristic as their manners 
and customs. In general they are of medium size, robust and well pro- 
portioned, their comple.xions of a yellowish copper-colour, slightly mixed 
with orange. M. Bory remarks that their mucous membranes have a 
deep violet tinge. The females, every where subjected to a jealous mr- 
veillance, are in general of diminutive stature, well rounded, their breasts 
ynluminons, their hair very coarse and black, their mouth wide, and their 
teeth might be accounted beautiful, if they were not blackened and cor- 
roded by the immoderate use of the betel. Both sexes are violent in their 
passions, irritable, treacherous, capable of the grossest deceit, submissive 
and crouching to the yoke of the strongest, barbarous and merciless to their 
enemies or their slaves.' 
The Malayan language is spoken throughout all the islands, with slight 
local variations. It is mild, harmonious, and simple in its rules ; full of 
oriental terms of expression, and abounding in figures of speech. ^ Their 
religion and knowledge being derived from the Arabs, the inhabitants of 
Malacca have adopted the characters of the Arabic, with the practice of 
writing from right to left, while those of Java and Sumatra write like the 
Europeans, from left to right 3 
B. HOMO POLYNESIUS.— POLYNESIANS. 
Syn- Ramrao Ocbanien. — Less. Mam. 25. 
II. Neptunianus OckANiQL'E (Occidentai.e). — Bory, Ess. Zool. I. 298. 
Race Jaune du Grand Ocean Quoy et Gaim. Zool. dc I’Astr.A I. 
18 (in part). 
Icon. Blumenb. Dec. Cran. III. t. 26. ("Skull of an Otaheitan); V. t. 50. 
(Skull of a Marquesan). 
Cook and King, Voy.S PI. XI. XVIII. XXIII. LXIII. and LXIV. 
Langsd. Reisc.® I. . 7 and 8. 
Kotzeb. Voy.t II. fig. and III. fig. fit. 
Quoy et Gaini. Zool. dc I’.Astr. pi. I. and fig. 4 and 5 of pi. 2. 
The Polynesian or Oceanic variety of the human race is far superior 
to the remaining population of the Southern Ocean in the beauty and 
symmetry of its proportions. In general, the South Sea Islanders are of an 
elevated stature, with their muscles well defined, a well formed and ele- 
vated cranium, and an expressive physiognomy, varying from placiti timidity 
to warlike ferocity. Their eyes are large and protected by dense eye- 
liishes. The colour of their complexion is a clear yellow, deeper in those 
natives who are compelh d to seek lor subsistence among the cor.al reefs, 
and much fainter among the females. Their noses are broad and fiat, 
the nostrils widely-dilated, the mouth large, the lips thick, the teeth very 
white and beautiful, and the e.xteinal ears remarkably small. The beauty 
of the women, though somewhat exaggerated by the earlier navigators, is 
not inconsiderable. Their eyes are large, their teeth of the purest ena- 
mel, their skins soft and smooth, their hair long and t)lack, and tastefully 
arranged over breasts of the most perfectly hemispheiical form. In 
other respects they may be termed ugly, having, like the men, large 
mouths and flat noses. The colour of their complexions is almost 
white, their stature short, their forms corpulent. The inhabitants of 
Mendociaand Rotooma, according to Krusenstern,® arc the most comely: 
next to these we may place the Otaheitans, the Sandwich Islanders, and 
those of Tonga. At New Zealand, the beauty of tlie females declines, 
while the males ate more robust and athletic than any others of the same 
race. 
The greatest analogy may he traced in the manners and customs of 
these islanders, though separated from each other by an immense ex- 
panse of ocean, and the identity of the race has been demonstrated upon 
the greater portion of the islands situate to the south-east of the Indian 
Archipeliigo and Australia. In fact, all the volcanic and coral islands of 
this ocean within the Southern Temperate Zone are peopled by the 
Polynesians, while they appear to have sent only a single colony to the 
northward, which occupies the Sandwich Islands. The entire Aichi- 
pelago of the Carolinas, on the contrary, with the Philippine and 
Marianne Islands, is peopled by a totally diff'eient race. The Polyne- 
sians are thus widely distributed in the Eriendly and Society Islands. A 
branch ha.s extended to the Isles of Mandana, Washington, Mangea, 
Rotooma, Lady Penryn, Sauvage, Tonga, and New Zealand. About, 
one half of the population of the Fidjee and Navigators’ Islands belongs 
to this race, wliich does not extend, according to MM. Lesson and 
Garnot, beyond the Island of Rotooma in that direction. 
Both .sexes of the Polynesian variety clothe themselves in the most 
graceful manner with long flowing robes, wherever the variations of tem- 
perature require this covering. The chiefs alone possess the prerogative 
of wearing the tipouta, a garment which bears much resemblance to the 
poncho of the Araucanos in South America. The New Zealanders, 
placed beyond the tropics, have adopted garments suited to their climate, 
consisting in an ingenious fabric, formed of the silky fibres of the Phor- 
minm. All these islanders agree in possessing a singular taste for head 
dresses. Those of Otaheite and Sandwich crown themselves with flowers, 
while those of the Marquesas and Washitigton, Rotooma and the Fidjee, 
attach a superstitious value to the teeth of the Cachalot. These orna- 
ments are replaced in New Zealand by plumes of featliers. Throughout 
the entire islands, the practice of tattooing the skin is widely practised, 
either to distinguish the diflercnt ranks of the people, or merely for orna- 
mental or superstitions purposes. The inhabitants of the Pomotoo Islands 
cover their entire bodies with these designs j in Otaheite and Tonga, they 
are more limited and simple; while in the Sandwich Isles and New 
Zealand, the entire countenance is covered with devices, arranged in u 
symmetrical and highly expressive form. The women of New Zealand 
and the Marquesas tattoo the internal angle of the eyes, the angles of 
the mouth, and often also the chin. In general, the tattooing of the 
South Sea islands is composed of circles and semicircles, opposed or 
bordered by notches sotn'ewhat resemtiling the never-ending circle of the 
Hindoo mythology. 
The same domestic habits may be traced tliroughout the entire race. 
Their food is cooked in subterranean ovens by means of heated stones ; 
the leaves of plants are used for culinary purposes; the Bread-fruit (Arto- 
carpus incisd), the Cocoa, and the 'Faro, are boiled for food. They all 
drink the Kava or Ava, the juice of a species of Pepper, which intoxi- 
cates or refreshes. Before the arrival of Europeans, the women were 
excluded from all entertainments. Their dwellings are adapted to the 
circumstances of the locality. In some places, such as the Society 
Islands, Tonga, Mangea, the Marquesas, and Rotooma, the houses are 
large and capacious, serving for several families, without closed walls? 
and built nearly on the same plan. In other places, such as New Zea- 
land, where each tribe is continually at war with its neighbours, and 
where the tempests are violent and prolonged, their hippahs are almost 
inaccessible, surrounded with palisades; while the narrow buildings, sunk 
in pits almost level with the ground, and sufiicient to contain only t'VO 
or three persons, are entered on all-fours. 
The language of the Polynesians, though apparently simple, and rich 
in Orientar figures, is directly opposed to the genius of the pure Malaya"- 
All navigators agree in remarking the singular affinity which prevails 
throughout the dialects of the grettt Southern Ocean. An Otaheitan ca" 
be understood in the Marquesas, the latter at Sandwich, and the nati''® 
of these last islands in New Zealand.® 
Our limits do not permit us to notice at present the religious opi"'"”® 
prevalent among these tribes, their human sacrifices, their Morais, or 
occasional cannibalism of some nations.'® 
1 Sir Thomas Stamford llafflas’ History of Java. London, 1817. 
V Win. Alarsdcn’s History of Sumatra. London, 1811. Also Grammar and Dictionary of the ALalayan Language. 
3 Crawfurd and Leyden’s 
1 le commandement de 
JL 
London, 181 
. Memoirs, in the. .Asiatic Society’s Transai-tions. 
t Qbov et GaiJI. Zool. de i.’.Astr — Voyage de la Corvette I’Astrolabe, execute par ordro du Roi, pendant les annees 1826 a 1829, sous 
Jules Dumont D'Urville — Zoologic, par MM. Quoy ot Gaimard. Paris, 1 830, et suiv. . , per- 
s Coox AHn Kiso, Vov.— A Voyage to tlie Pacific Ocean, undertaken by the command of his Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern hemispo > 
formed under the direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore, in his Majesty’s ships the Resolution and Discovery, in the years 1776 to 1780. Vols. I. and i • J 
fain .lames Cook ; 1 II. by Captain James King. London, 1 78.5. 
6 LaNGsn. Reise Bemerkmigeii auf eincr Pa-ise urn die Welt, von G. H. von Langsdotff. Frankfort, 1812. . u T , Knrick' 
7 Kotzeb. Voy Otto Von Kotzebue. A Voyage of Discovery into the South Seas and Behring’s Straits, undertaken in the years 1815-1818, in the sliq 
fill German.) Translated by H. E. Lloyd. London, 1821. Also, a new Voyage round Ihe World in 1823 to 1826. London, 1830. c. r i, hv B- 
8 KitusENST. VoY.— A. J. Krusenstern— Voyage round the World, (in Russ.) Petersburg, 1809, and atlas in fob 1813. (Translated into Engli.sn j 
Hoppner. London, 1813.) . s at i i lonc 
■J Otaheitan Grammar, published hy the Mis.sionaries at Otaheite, 1823. A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New /ealand, 1820. Porstet. '» 
to See the Voyages of Cook, Bougainville, Vandouver, Carteret, Turnbull, Alariner, Wallis, Krusenstern, La Perouse, Langsdorff, Lisianskoi, &c. fee— Also 
the 2d Voyage of Cook. 
