The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

404 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chav.The people of AVaigiou are not truly indigenes of the island,which possesses no " Alfuros," or aboriginal inhabitants.^ TheyapiDear to be a mixed race, partly from Gilolo, partly from NewGuinea. Malays and Alfuros from the former island have probablysettled here, and many of them have taken Papuan wivesfrom Salwatty or Dorey, while the influx of people from thoseplaces, and of slaves, has led to the formation of a tribe exhibitingalmost all the transitions from a nearly pure Malayanto an entirely Papuan type. The language spoken by them isentirely Papuan, being that whicli is used on all the coasts ofMysol, (Salwatty, the north-west of New Guinea, and the islandsin the great Geelvink Bay—a fact whicli indicates the way inwliich tlie coast settlements have been formed.The fact thatso many of the islands between New Guinea and the Moluccas—such as Waigiou, Guebe, Poppa, Obi, Batchian, as well as thesouth and east jjeninsulas of Gilolo — possess no aboriginaltril:)es, but are inhabited by people who are e\'idently mongrelsand wanderers, is a remarkable corroborative proof of the distinctnessof the Malayan and Papuan races, and the separationof the geographical areas they inhabit. If these two greatraces were direct modifications, the one of the other, we shouldexpect to find in the intervening region some homogeneousindigenous race presenting intermediate characters. For exami^le,between the whitest inhabitants of Europe and theblack Klings of South India, there are in the intervening districtshomogeneous races which form a gradual ti'ansition fromone to the other ; wliile in America, although there is a perfecttransition from the Anglo-Saxon to the negro, and from theSjDaniard to the Indian, there is no homogeneous race forminga natural transition from one to the other. In the Malay Archipelagowe have an excellent example of two absolutely distinctraces, which appear to have approached each other, and intermingledin an unoccupied territory at a very recent epoch inthe history of man ; and I feel satisfied that no unprejudicedperson could study them on the spot without being convincedthat this is the true solution of the problem, rather than thealmost universally accepted view that they are but modificationsof one and the same race.Tlie people of Muka live in that abject state of poverty thatis almost always found where the sago-tree is abundant. Veryfew of them take the trouble to plant any vegetables or fruit,but live almost entirely on sago and fish, selling a little tripangor tortoiseshell to buy the scanty clothing they I'equire. Almostall of tliem, however, possess one or moi'e Papuan slaves, onwhose labour tliey live in almost absolute idleness, just goingout on little fishing or trading excursions, as an excitement intlieir monotonous existence. They az-e under the rule of the1 Dr. GuillPiiiard met with some people who, he was told, were true indigenes. Butit would be difficult to determine the point without a tolerably complete knowledge ofall the surrounding islands and their languages.