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

452 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.in some respects, peculiar race. These people are xerj handsoaie,with good features, resembling in many characteristicstlie race jiroduced by the mixture of the Hindoo or Arab withthe Maky. They are certainly distinct from the Timorese orPapuan races, and must be classed in the western rather thanthe eastern etlmological division of the Archipelago.he whole of the great island of New Guinea, the Ke andAru Islands, w^itli Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabitedalmost exclusivelj' by the typical Papuans. I found no trace ofany other tribes inhabiting the intei'ior of Xew Guinea, but thecoast people are in some places mixed with the browner races ofthe Moluccas. The same Papuan race seems to extend over thoislands east of Xew Guinea as far as the Fijis.^There remain to be noticed tlie black woolly-haired races ofthe Philippines and the Malay peninsula, the former called" N'egritos," and the latter " Semangs." I liave never seen thesepeople myself, but from the numerous accurate desci'iptions ofthem that have been published, I have had no difficulty insatisfying myself that they liave little affinity or resemlilanceto the Papuans, with which they have been hitherto associated.In most imjDortant characters they diffi^r more f i-om the Papuanthan they do from the Malaj". They are dwarfs in stature, onlyaveraging four feet six inclies to four feet eight inches high, oreight inches less than the Malays ; whereas the Papuans aredecidedly taller than the Malaj^s. Tlie nose is invariably representedas small, flattened, or turned up at the apex, whereas themost universal character of the Papuan race is to have the noseprominent and large, with tlie apex produced downwards, as itis invariably represented in their own rude idols. The liair ofthese dwartisli races agrees with tliat of tlie Papuans, but so itdoes with that of the negroes of Africa. The Negritos and theSemangs agree very closely in physical characteristics witheach other and with the Andaman islanders, Avhile they differin a marked manner from every Papuan race.A careful study of these varied races, comparing them withthose of Eastern Asia, the Pacitic Islands, and Australia, hasled me to adopt a comparatively simple view as to their originand affinities.If we draw a line (see Physical Map, p. 7), commencing tothe east of the Philii^pine Islands, thence along the westerncoast of Gilolo, through the island of Bouru, and curving roundthe west end of Floi-es, then l^ending back by SandalwoodIsland to take in Eotti, we shall divide the Archipelago intotwo portions, the races of which have strongly marked distinctivepeculiarities.all the Asiatic races from the Papuans and all that inhabit thePacitic ;and though along the line of junction intermigrationThis line will separate the Malayan andIn the south-east peninsula of New Guinea are found some undoubtedly Polynesiantribes, called Motu. Tliese have probablv settled hereat an earlyperiod, and have mixedmore or less with the native Papuans.