494 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
others have proved, that it is radically distinct from the 
Malay, in grammatical structure no less than in vocabu¬ 
lary, and that the Malay words after all do not exceed 
three or four per cent, and are, besides, mostly modern 
words, not modified roots—a clear indication of their 
recent origin. 
Some evidence of the very remote antiquity of the 
Polynesians is perhaps to be found in the absence of the 
art of making pottery among the whole of the race; for 
it may possibly imply that they left the continent or the 
western islands before that art was known, its practice 
being so simple, and at the same time so useful, that, 
once known, it would probably never have been lost. 
But on all the great continents and continental islands 
this is a universal and a very ancient art. There is not 
a single tribe in the whole Malay Archipelago which does 
not possess it; and there is evidence in many parts of 
the world that it dates far back into prehistoric times, 
and even into the polished stone age. In Eastern Asia, 
where it attained a high development much earlier than 
in Europe, it is certainly of extreme antiquity. It may 
be, however, that during a long process of migration over 
small coral islands, a process which would probably ex¬ 
tend over scores or hundreds of generations, the art of 
making pottery became lost owing to the want of suitable 
materials. 
We have already seen that their tall stature, their 
curly hair, their well-formed and rather prominent 
features, their joyous and laughter-loving dispositions, all 
separate these people widely from true Malays. Yet 
they have many characteristics of an Asiatic race, and it 
seems probable that they came originally, but at a very 
remote epoch, from some part of Southern Asia. Savaii 
would be the first lofty and luxuriant island of consider- 
