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Show 78 ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND have given the outline may be geographically described as consisting of the innumerable islands of tho Indian Archipelago, from Sumatra to Now Guino::v-of tho great group of tho Pllilippinos-·of the islands of tho 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 N cgro of several varieties, and the African of Madagascar." Beginning with these last, MR. CRAWFURD says,-" Very clear traces of a Malayan tongue aro found some 3000 miles distant from tho nearest part of the Malayan Archipelago, and only 240 mil s from tho eastern shore of Africa. From this isolated fact (wl1ich the author, pp. cclx:xvi- x.u.i, shows by historical navigation to be by no moans improbable), tho importance and the value of which I am about to test, some writers have jumped to the conclusion that tho language of Madagascar is of tho same stock with Malay and Javanese, and hence, again, that the people who speak it aro of tho same race with the Malays. It can be shown, without much difficulty, that there is no shadow of foundation for so extravagant an hypothesis." Antl, 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 tho whole number of known Malayan words, in the Malagasi language, is but 168 in 8340; or about 20 in 1000. Next, the insular N ogroos of the Pacific Archipelagoes- the "Puwa-puwa, or Papuwa, which, however, is only tho adjective 'frizzly,' or 'curling.' " Aft or enumerating their physical characteristics at different islands, he concludes-" Here, then, without reckoning other Negro races of the Pacific which are kuown to exist,29 we have, reckoning from the Andamans, twelve varieties, generally so differing fi·om 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 bo 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 Orion tal 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, wHb any of the woolly-haired ~In a .later monograph on tho "Negroes of tho Indian Archipelago" (Edinburgh New Phllo.,oplncal Journal, 1858, p. 78), CRAWl!URD maintains,-" 1'horo are ] 5 varieties of Oriental Ne~roes. * * * * * * Thoro is no evidonco, therefore, to justify tho conclnsion, that tho Or1ontal Negro, wherever found, is one and tho Sllmo nee." ( CLASSIFICATION OF TONGUES. 79 blacks of the Pacific Archipelagoes. The point of cont.'lct between those distinct types is at Cape York, in Torres Straits, ~nd arou~d its ncio·hborincr islets. No whore olso bas amalgamat10n botw1xt them b~on per;eived. "As to tho groat bulk of tho inhabitants of Australia, they are assuredly neither Malays, N ogroos, .nor Polynesians, nor a mixture of any of those, but a very pecuhar ~ooplo, distinct fl'om all the other races of men" (p. clxxvi). In hats of about thirty languages, already known in the yet-discovered parts of Australia, Mit. CRAWFURD (p. ccxci) has boon unable to doto.ct more than fonr or five words of corrupt Malay; and that only m tho tono-ue of a tribe at Cobourg peninsula, once Port Essington. As t~ Polynesia our author holds:-" The languages spoken over this vast area are: probably, nearly as numerous as ~be ~slands . of themselves; but still there is one of very wide dissommatwn, wlnrh has no native name, but which, with some propriety, has been ca~led by ]~uropeans, on account of its pt'odominance, tho Polynesian. This lano-uao-o with variations of dialect, is spoken by the same race of ~en ° f;om tho Fiji group west, to Easter island ea~tward, and from the Sandwich islands north, to the New Zealand 1slands south. The language and tho race have been imagined to b~ esse~~ tially the same as tho Malay, which is undoubtedly a groat ~1stake (p. cxxxiv). After pointing out their physical contrasts w1th c~mractoristic precision, he adds-" Tho attempt, tboroforo, to bnng those two distinct races under the same category had bettor be dropped, for, as will bo presently soon, even tho cvidc.nco of language gives no countenance." Again bringing t~ his a1d comparative voc~tbularios, MR. CRAWFURD (p. ccxl) ascertams that the t~tal number of Malayan words, in the whole range of ~olyno 1an tongues, is about 80; including even tho num.er.als; wlnc~ themsolves make up nearly a sixth part of that tnfhng quantlty,-on which imagination 01·octs an hypothesis of unity, between tho lu~ty and handsome islanders of the South Seas, and the squat and Ill-favored navigators of Malayan waters. . Lastly tho Malays themselves. Sumatra is, traditionally, their fathor-la~d; but they wore wholly unknown to Europeans bo~ore Marco-Polo in 1295; and, 220 more years elapsed before acqnamtance with them was real. From this centro they seem to h.ave radiated over the adjacent coasts and islands; subduing, exterml.nating, enslaving, or driving into the interior, the m~ny sub-typ10al races of the same stock which appear to have been, hke themselves, ten·m neniti of tho Archipclacro, distinguished by their restless and ever-e,n., croaching name. "Byo any standard of beauty wh . h be IC can |