c a u s e s ifles were peopled from America. I f we moreover confult the
o f v a r i - jyje x ; c a n Peruvian, and Chilefe vocabularies, * and -thofe of other
ETIES- -■ - -
American languages, -f- we find not the moil diftant, or even accidental
fimilarity between any o f the American languages, and thofe
of the South Sea Ifles. ,■ T h e colour, features, form, habit o f body,
and cuftoms o f the Americans, and thefe iilanders, are -totally
different-; as every one converfant with the ' fubjedt, will eafily
difcover. Nay, the diftanees,-of 600, 700, 800, or even 1000
leagues between the continent o f America and the Eaflernmofl of
thefe ifles, together with the wretchednefs and fmall fiz e , o f their
veffels, prove, in my opinion, inconteflably, that thefe iilanders
never came from America.
W e mull therefore go to the Weft ward > let us begin with
New Holland. A l l the former navigators, and efpecially Capt.
Cook, in the Endeavour, found this immenfe continent,t very
.thinly inhabited. T h e diminutive , fize o f its inhabitants, the
peculiarity of their cuftoms and habits, their total want of coconuts,
cultivated plantanes, and hogs, together with the nioft
miferable .condition-of their huts, and boats, prove, beyond all
doubt, that the South Sea iilanders, are not defcended from the
, natives
‘ * In Ireland’s DHT. Mifcellan, vol. in.' ~
+ A Manuftript Vocabulary ot die liraziltiin language, obligingly communicated by
his .Excellency the Chevalier Pinto,
natives o f New Holland. But, what is ftill more convincing, their
language is totally different, as evidently appears from the examination
o f a vocabulary obligingly communicated to me by Capt. Cook. We
have therefore nothing left but to go further to the North, where
the South Sea ifles are as it were, cohnedted with the Eaft Indian
ifles.. Many o f thefe latter are inhabited by two different races of
men. In feveral o f the Moluccas is a race o f men, who are blacker
than the reft, with woolly hair, flender and tall, fpeaking a peculiar
language, and inhabiting the interior hilly parts o f the countries;
in feveral ifles thefe people are called A l f o o r i e s . * The
Ihores o f thefe ifles are peopled by another nation, whofe individuals
are fwarthy, of a more agreeable form, with curled and long
.hair, and o f a different language, which is chiefly a branch or
dialeft o f the Malayan. In all the Philippines, the interior mountainous
parts, are inhabited by a black fet o f people, with frizzled
hair, who are. tall, lufty, and very warlike, and fpeak a peculiar
language different from that o f their neighbours. But the put-
Ikirts towards the fea are peopled with a race infinitely fairer, having
long hair, and fpeaking different languages: they are o f various
denominations, but the Tagales, Pampangos, and Bijfayas, are
O o the
C A U S E S
OF V A R I E
T I E S .
* Franc. Valentyn Befchryving van Amboiria, ii deel. p. 71,— 84, and Dan. Bceckmaa
Voyage to Borneo, p. 43. who calls the Aboriginal people on Borneo Byajos,