t 
TRK 
JOURNAL 
OF THE 
THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO 
AND 
EASTERN ASIA. 
ON THE LEADING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PAPUAN* AUS¬ 
TRALIAN* AND MALAYU-POLYNE9IAN NATIONS. 
By G. Windsor Earl* Esqre. m. r. a. s. 
no. i. 
The existence of a Negro race in the Indian Archipelago, so 
remote from the continent which is considered as the original seat 
of the race* has given rise to endless speculations as to how they 
got there* and probably will continue so to do until the end of 
time* for, being a nation without a written language, and surrounded 
by others whose records are carried back to no very distant date. 
End wliosc traditions have become^ from lapse of time^ mere 
fables, this point can only rest upon circumstantial evidence, and 
therefore will ever prove liable to dispute. Their position in many 
of the larger islands, as occupants solely of the mountain fastnesses, 
surrounded by people who evidently belong to a distinct race, has 
certainly put an end to those theories of the last century which 
attributed their origin to the shipwrecked crews of Arabian slave- 
vessels, and has led to a very general opinion that they were, in 
fact, the aboriginal inhabitants of the countries in which they are 
found. That their existence was not altogether unknown to the 
ancients is proved by the maps and writings of Ptolemey, the Alex¬ 
andrian, who flourished soon after the commencement of the 
Christian era, and was the first to reduce geography to a system. 
In the last map of his volume, that which contains the “ Aurea 
Chersonesus and the u Jabados Insulse,” (supposed to have meant 
VOL. III. NO. XL NOVEMBER, 1849. 15 Q 
