190 
ON THE MALAYAN AND POLYNESIAN 
Torres Straits. Mr. Jukes describes the inhabitants of Erroob as 
follows:—“ The men were line, active, well-made fellows, rather 
above the middle height, of a dark-brown or chocolate colour. They 
had, frequently, almost handsome faces, aquiline noses, rather broad 
about the nostrils, well-shaped heads, and many had a singular Jew¬ 
ish cast of features. The liair was frizzled, and dressed into long 
ringlets. The hair of their body and limbs grew in small tufts, giv¬ 
ing the skin a slightly woolly appearance.”* 
The Australian continent, with Van Dieman’s Land, may he con¬ 
sidered as coming* within the scope of the present inquiry. The 
Australian approaches nearer to some of the oriental negroes than 
to any other races of mankind, but is notwithstanding, widely differ¬ 
ent. One race occupies the whole continent. Its average stature 
is 5 feet 6 inches, and the colour “ almost black.” The hair is 
black, sometimes lank, and sometimes curled, but never woolly. The 
beard is tolerably abundant and long. The mouth is large, the lips 
thick, the teeth good, but frequently there is no distinction in the form 
of the incisors and canine. “ Compared with the other races scat¬ 
tered over the face of the globe, the Neiv Hollander appears to stand 
alone. ”+ 
It remains only to notice the inhabitants of Madagascar, very 
wantonly imagined by some writers to be of the Malayan race, sim¬ 
ply because, in the Malagas! language, there have been found a few p 
words of a Malayan tongue. J But the people of Madagascar, whether 
Hovas or ordinary Malagasis, are merely a variety of the African negro, 
and, neither in colour, features, form, or stature, do they bear any 
analogy either to the Malayan race, or to any section of the oriental 
negro. 
From the enumeration now made, it will appear that there are no 
fewer than live distinct races of the brown-complexioned and lank¬ 
haired family; and, without including Madagascar or Australia, and 
* Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of the Fly. London. 1847. 
i' Journal of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, by Ed¬ 
ward John Eyre. London, 1845. Discoveries in Australia by J. Scot 
Stokes, Corn*, in the II. R. 1846. 
t Humboldt declares that this language is essentially Malayan in its roots 
and structure. Ed. J. I. A. 
