have given the outline may he geographically described as consisting
of the innumerable islands of the Indian Archipelago, from
Sumatra to Hew Guinea—of the great group of the Philippines—of
the islands of the North and South Pacific — and of Madagascar.
It is inhabited by many different and distinct races of men, — as the
Malayan, the brown Polynesian,, the insular Negro of several varieties,
and the African of Madagascar.”
Beginning with these last, Me. C e a w f u e d says, — “ Very clear
traces of a Malayan tongue are found some 3000 miles distant from
the nearest part of the Malayan Archipelago, and only 240 miles
from the eastern shore of Africa. From this isolated fact (which
the author, pp. cclxxvi — xxxi, shows by historical navigation to be
by no means improbable), the importance and the value of which I
am about to test, some writers have jumped to the conclusion that
,the language of Madagascar is of the same stock with Malay and
Javanese, and hence, again, that the people who speak it are of the
same race with the Malays. It can be shown, without much diffi-
culty, that there is no shadow of foundation for so extravagant an
hypothesis.” And, in fact, after exhibiting how in their grammars,
both groups of tongues resemble each other merely by their simplicity,
he manifests, through a comparative vocabulary, that the whole
number of known Malayan words, in the Malagas! language, is but
168 in 8340; or about 20 in 1000.
-Next, the insular Negroes of the Pacific Archipelagoes — the
“ Puwa-puwa, or Papuwa, which, however, is only the adjective
‘frizzly,’ or ‘ curling.’ ” After enumerating their physical characteristics
at different islands, he concludes-^“Here, then, without
reckoning other Negro races of the Pacific which are known to
exist,29 we have, reckoning from the Andamans, twelve varieties,
generally so differing from each other in complexion, in features,
and in strength and stature, that some are puny pigmies under five
feet high, and others large and powerful men of near six feet.' To
place all these in one category would be preposterous, and contrary
to truth and reason. That they have no common language is made
evident (p. clxxi) through a comparative vocabulary of seven of
these Oriental Negro tongues; whence the unavoidable conclusion
that each is a distinct language.
Adverting digressionally to the Australians, — who are never to
be confounded, physically-speaking, with any of the woolly-haired
29 In a later monograph on the “ Negroes of the Indian Archipelago” (Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal, 1853, p. 78), Crawford maintains, — “ There are 15 varieties of
Oriental Negroes. * * * * * * There is no evidence, therefore, to justify the conclusion,
that the Oriental Negro, wherever found, is one and the same race.”
blacks of the Pacific Archipelagoes. The point of contact between
these distinct types is at Cape York, in Torres Straits, and around
its neighboring islets. No where else has amalgamation betwixt
them been perceived. “As to the great bulk of the inhabitants of
Australia, they are assuredly neither Malays, Negroes, nor Polynesians,
nor a mixture of any of these, but a very peculiar people,
distinct from all the other races of men” (p. clxxvi). In lists of
about thirty languages, already known in the yet-discovered parts
of Australia, M e . C e a w f u e d (p. ccxci} has been unable to detect
more than four or five words of corrupt Malay; and that only in
the tongue of a tribe at Cobourg peninsula, once Port Essington.
As to Polynesia, our author holds:—“ The languages spoken over
this vast area are, probably, nearly as numerous as the islands of
themselves; but still there is one of very wide dissemination, which
has no native name, but which, with some propriety, has been called
by Europeans, on account of its predominance, the Polynesian.
This language, with variations of dialect, is spoken by the same
race of men from the Fiji group west, to Easter island eastward,
and from the Sandwich islands north, to the New Zealand islands
south. The language and the race have been imagined to be essentially
the same as the Malay, which is undoubtedly a great mistake”
(p. cxxxiv). After pointing out their physical contrasts with characteristic
precision, he adds — “ The attempt, therefore, to bring
these two distinct races under the same category had better be
dropped, for, as will be presently seen, even the evidence of lan-
guage gives no countenance.” Again bringing to his aid comparative
vocabularies, M e . C e a w f u e d (p. ccxl) ascertains that the total
number of Malayan words, in the whole range of Polynesian
tongues, is about 80; including even the numerals; which themselves
make up nearly a sixth part of that trifling quantity,—on
which imagination erects an hypothesis of unity, between the lusty
and handsome islanders of the South Seas,' and the squat and ill-
favored navigators of Malayan waters.
Lastly, the Malays themselves. Sumatra is, traditionally, their
father-land; but they were wholly unknown to Europeans before
Marco-Polo in 1295; and, 220 more years elapsed before acquaintance
with them was real. From this centre they seem to have
radiated over the adjacent coasts and islands; subduing, exterminating,
enslaving, or driving into the interior, the many sub-typical
races of the same stock which appear to have been, like themselves,
terrse geniti of the Archipelago, distinguished by their restless and
ever-encroaching name. “ By any standard of beauty which can be