different persons give totally opposite accounts of them—
one praising them for their soberness, civility, and goodnature
; another abusing them for their deceit, treachery,
and cruelty. The old traveller Mcolo Conti, writing in
1430, says: “ The inhabitants of Java and Sumatra exceed
every other people in cruelty. They regard killing a
man as a mere jest; nor is any punishment allotted for
such a deed. If any one purchase a new sword, and wish
to try it, he will thrust it into the breast of the first person
he meets. The passers-by examine the wound, and praise
the skill of the person who inflicted it, if he thrust in
the weapon direct.” Yet Drake says of the south of
Ja v a : The people (as are their kings) are a very loving,
true, and just-dealing p e o p l e a n d Mr. Crawfurd says
that the Javanese, whom he knew thoroughly, are “ a
peaceable, docile, sober, simple, and industrious people.”
Barbosa, on the other hand, who saw them at Malacca
about 1660, says : “ They are a people of great ingenuity,
very subtle in all their dealings; very malicious, great
deceivers, seldom speaking the tru th ; prepared to do all
manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrifice their lives.”
The intellect of the Malay race seems rather deficient.
They are incapable of anything beyond the simplest combinations
of ideas, and' have little taste or energy for the
acquirement of knowledge. Their civilization, such as it
is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it is entirely confined
to those nations who have been converted to the Mahometan
or Brahminical religions.
I will now give an equally brief sketch of the other
great race of the Malay Archipelago, the Papuan.
The typical Papuan race is in many respects the very
opposite of the Malay, and it has hitherto been very imperfectly
described. The colour of the body is a deep
sooty-brown or black, sometimes approaching, but never
quite equalling, the jet-black of some negro races. It
varies in tint, however, more than that of the Malay, and
is sometimes a dusky-brown. The hair is very peculiar,
being harsh, dry, and frizzly, growing in little tufts or
curls, which in youth are very short and compact, but
afterwards grow out to a considerable length, forming the
compact frizzled mop which is the Papuans’ pride and
glory. The face is adorned with a beard of the same
frizzly nature as the hair of the head. The arms, legs, and
breast are also more or less clothed with hair of a similar
nature.
In stature the Papuan decidedly surpasses the Malay,
and is perhaps equal, or even superior, to the average of
Europeans. The legs are long and thin, and the hands and
feet larger than in the Malays. The face is somewhat
elongated, the forehead flattish, the brows very prominent;
the nose is large, rather arched and high, the base thick,
the nostrils broad, with the aperture hidden, owing to the