230 CUSTOMS COMMON TO THE HILL TRIBES BORDERING ON 
breaks in the land. The Johore Archipelago offers a series of step¬ 
ping stones to Sumatra. 115 The north-west coast of Borneo and 
the Philippine group present extensive shores, opposed to the sea¬ 
ward extremities of the continental ranges and rivers, which could 
hardly fail occasionally to receive visitants from the mainland from 
the very earliest times at which tribes existed there possessed of 
boats. A priori therefore nothing would seem to be more impro¬ 
bable and extravagant than the assumption that the Archipelago de¬ 
rived its population from America rather than from the shores of 
the neighbouring continent. The next step in the chain of observa¬ 
tion would be the remark that the personal characteristics of the 
principal races of the Archipelago allied them, at the present day, to 
the races of Eastern Asia. When their agreement with the Indo- 
Chinese people in particular was further found to extend to many 
peculiar customs and practises, it would go far to convert surmise 
into conviction. Those who entet tained this conviction assumed that 
the human race was one species, and that its original seat was in 
Asia. 
A few years ago, on reviewing all the evidence within our reach 
that had been brought to bear on this subject, we were impressed 
with a belief that the Archipelago had been first peopled from east¬ 
ern Asia at an extremely remote period, but we saw, at the same 
time, that, as yet, the belief rested on a combination of strong pro¬ 
babilities and not on complete demonstration. The evidence avail¬ 
able, however, so far from being exhausted appeared to have been 
hardly opened. It was evidently to be sought along the band of 
mountain chains which connect the Archipelago with central Asia. 
But of the ethnography of this band, as of the Archipelago itself, our 
knowledge was nearly confined to the more civilized races, while 
even of these it was imperfect. Considerable observation and spe¬ 
culation had been bestowed on the Javanese, Malays, Siamese, Co¬ 
chin Chinese, and Burmese, but the more barbaious races and tribes 
were little known and less regarded. Of many we knew but the 
This was the route by which the Malays of Sumatra passed over to 
Peninsula. 
