_The Andaman Islands._--A Vocabulary, collected by Lieutenant R. H.
Colebrooke, appears in the Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 410. The
native name is Mineopie. An historical notice of them appears as early
as the ninth century, in the Travels of the Two Arabians, translated by
Renaudot.
_The Nicobar and Carnicobar Islands._--In the largest of these it is
stated that, in the interior, blacks are to be found. The current
assertion concerning the language of the rest of these islands is, that
the Carnicobar is Peguan, and the Nicobar Malay.--Asiatic Researches,
iii. 303.
_Malacca._--The Samangs of the interior are Negrito. For the single
Vocabulary of their language, see Crawfurd's Indian Archipelago, or
Klaproth's Nouveau Journal Asiatique, xii. 239, where Crawfurd's
Vocabulary is reprinted without acknowledgement. The Orang Benua are
_not_ Negrito; neither are the Jokong Negrito. For thirty words in the
latter language, see Thomas Raffles in Asiatic Researches, xii. 109. In
this list twelve words are shown by Raffles to be Malay, and Humboldt
states the same of two more. The other sixteen may or may not be of
Negrito origin. The Samangs are the Orang Udai.--Humboldt, _Über die
Kawi-Sprache_.
_Sumatra._--The Battas of Sumatra are Malay, not Negrito (Marsden's
Sumatra, p. 203, and Rienzi's Oceanie, vol. i.). The Sumatran of
Parkinson's Journal (p. 198) is the Arabic of Acheen. The true Negritos
of Sumatra seem to be,
1. The _Orang Cooboo_.--These are stated to be pretty numerous between
Palembang and Jambee.--Marsden's Sumatra, p. 35.
2. _The Orang Googoo_,--who are described by the Sumatrans of Laboon
as being more Orang Utang than man.--Marsden's Sumatra, p. 35.
Specimens of the Orang Googoo (Gougon) Rienzi states to have seen. He
says that they come from Palembang and Menangcaboo, and he calls them
Pithecomorphi.
For an historical notice as early as 960 A. D., probably referring to
the Blacks of Sumatra, see Klaproth in Nouveau Journal Asiatique, xii.
239.
_Borneo._--The Biajuk of Borneo is not Negrito but Malay (Crawfurd's
Indian Archipelago); neither are the Dyacks Negrito. The statement of
Marsden and Leyden is, that the Dyacks are _whiter_ than the rest of
the natives of Borneo; and the remark of more than one voyager is,
that the Dyacks of Borneo look like South Sea Islanders in the midst
of a darker population. Are the Marut, Idongs, Tidongs, or Tirungs of
the north of Borneo Negrito? In Rienzi's Oceanie there is a Borneo
Vocabulary which is headed Dyack, Marut and Idaan, the three terms
being treated as synonyms. Of this Vocabulary all the words are Malay.
That there are Negritos in Borneo is most probable, but of their
language we possess but one word, _apün_, father[17] (and that more
than doubtful); whilst of their name we know nothing; and in respect
to their locality, we have only the statement of Kollf, that in the
north of Borneo Blacks are to be found on the Keeneebaloo mountain; a
statement, however, slightly modified by the fact of his calling them
Idaans or Maruts (see Earl's translation of the Voyage of the Doorga,
p. 417). Compare the name Idaan in Borneo, with the name Orang Udai,
applied to certain rude tribes in Malacca.
[Footnote 17: Mithr. i. 598.]
_The Sooloo Islands._--There are positive statements that the Sooloos
contain Negritos. They also contain Malays; as may be seen in a Sooloo
vocabulary in Rienzi's Oceanie, vol. i.
_The Manillas._--The Isola de Negros testifies its population by
its name. Hervas calls it the Papua of the Philippines. In Panay
are the blackest of the Philippine Negritos. Rienzi would term them
Melanopygmæi. In Bohol, Leyté and Samar, there are Negritos (Lafond
Lurcy, ii. 182.); also in Cayagan (Lafond Lurcy, ii. 182.); also in
Capul or Abac (Hervas). For the two main islands there are,--1st. In
Mindanao, two wild tribes inhabiting the interior, the Bantschilen
and the Hillunas. The proof of these two tribes being Negrito is
the strongest for the Hillunas. They are the Negros del Monte of
the Spaniards (Hervas, Catalogo delle Lingue; Adelung, i. 601).
Near Marivèles are the Igorots or Ætas (Agtas of Hervas); and of
these we have late and positive evidence, first to the fact of their
being Negrito, and next to the difference of their language from the
Tagal.--(Lafond Lurcy.) Secondly, in Luçon, the Zambalen of Adelung
are Negrito. These are the Blacks of Pampango. The Blacks inhabiting
the other parts of the island are called Ygelots; and Mount St.
Mathew, near Manilla, is one of their well-known localities, and the
Illoco mountains another. Here they were visited by Lafond Lurcy.
They were all alike, and all under four feet six (French measure).
Italonen, Calingas, and Maitim are the names under which the Philippine
Blacks have been generally described. Agta and Maitim are said to be
indigenous appellations.--Hervas.
_Formosa._--The Formosan language is Malay. In the interior, however,
are, according to the Chinese accounts,--1, the Thoufan; 2, the
Kia-lao; 3, the Chan tchaó chan; 4, the Lang Khiao,--aboriginal tribes
with Negrito characters, each speaking a peculiar dialect.--Klaproth,
Recherches Asiatiques.
_The Loochoo Islands._--The current Loochoo language is Japanese
(Klaproth, Rech. Asiat.). But besides this, Adelung mentions from
Père Gaubil and Gosier, that three other languages are spoken in the
interior, neither Japanese nor Chinese; and we are now, perhaps,
justified in considering that, in these quarters, the fact of a
language being aboriginal, is _primâ facie_ evidence of its being
Negrito.
_Java._--Here the evidence of an aboriginal population at all is
equivocal, and that of Negrito aborigines wholly absent. For the
Kalangs, see Raffles's History of Java. The dark complexions on the
island Bali show the darkness, not of the Negrito, but of the Hindoo;
such at least is the view of Raffles opposed to that of Adelung (Mith.
i.). There is no notice of Blacks in Ende (otherwise Floris), in
Sumbawa, or in Sandalwood Island.
_Savoo._--If the Savoo of modern geographers be the Pulo Sabatu of
Dampier, then there were, in Dampier's time, Blacks in Savoo. The Savoo
of Parkinson's Journal is Malay.
_Timor._--In this island Negritos were indicated by Peron. Freycinet
describes them. Lafond Lurcy had a Timor black as a slave. Of their
language he gives four words:--_manouc_, bird; _vavi_, woman; _lima_,
five; _ampou_, ten. All these are Malay.
_Ombay._--In Freycinet's Voyage the natives of Ombay are described
as having olive-black complexions, flattened noses, thick lips, and
long black hair. In Arago[18] we find a short vocabulary, of which a
few words are Malay, whilst the rest are unlike anything either in
the neighbouring language of Timor (at least as known by Raffles's
specimens), or in any other language known to the author. Upon what
grounds, unless it be their cannibalism, the Ombaians have been classed
with the New Zealanders, is unknown. The evidence is certainly not
taken from their language.
[Footnote 18: Vide Note A.]
Between Timor and New Guinea we collect, either from positive
statements or by inference, that, pure or mixed, there are Negritos in
at least the following islands:--1, Wetta; 2, Kissa?; 3, Serwatty?; 4,
Lette?; 5, Moa?; 6, Roma?; 7, Damma; 8, Lakor?; 9, Luan; 10, Sermatta;
11, Baba; 12, Daai; 13, Serua; 14, the Eastern Arroos; 15, Borassi.
(Kollf's Voy.; Earl's Translation.)
The language of the important island of Timor-Laut is Malay. From a
conversation with the sailor Forbes, who was on the island for sixteen
years, the author learned that there are in Timor-Laut plenty of black
slaves, but no black aborigines.
_Celebes._--In the centre of Celebes and in the north there are
Negritos: the inhabitants call them Turajas, and also Arafuras: they
speak a simple dialect and pass for aborigines. (Raffles, History of
Java.) Of this language we have no specimen. Gaimard's Menada is the
Menadu of Sir Stamford Raffles, and Raffles's Menadu is Malay. (Voyage
de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 191.) The remark made by the collector
of this Menadu Vocabulary was, that those who spoke it were _whiter_
than the true Bugis, and that they looked like South-Sea Islanders,
a fact of value in a theory of the Dyacks, but of no value in the
enumeration of the Negritos.
_Bourou_, _Gammen_, _Salawatty_, _Battenta_.--For each of these islands
we have positive statements as to the existence of Negritos.
_Gilolo._--In Lesson's Natural History the inhabitants of Gilolo are
classed with those of Gammen, Battenta, &c., as Negritos. The same is
the case in the Mithridates, where the inference is, that in all the
Moluccas, with the exception of Amboyna and Ternati, Negritos are to
be found in the interior. For Guebé see the sequel.
_The Teetees._--The Teetee Islands of Meares, the Jauts or Aeauw of the
Mithridates, sixteen in number, are Negrito. (Meares, Voyage, Adelung.)
_Oby._--According to Adelung this island is Negrito.
The object of what has gone before is less to state where Negritos are
to be found than where they are to be looked for. Hence many of the
above notices indicate the probable rather than the actual presence of
them; and those statements concerning the Molucca localities that are
taken from systematic books (and as such at secondhand) are all subject
to one exception, viz. the fact that the tribes described as Arafura,
although in current language Negrito, are not necessarily so. An
instance of this has been seen in the so-called Arafura of Menadu. The
same applies to the so-called Arafura of Ceram, (Handboek der Land-en
Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indië. P. P. Roorda van Eysinga. Amsterdam
1841; indicated by Mr. Garnett,) which is Malay. In the quarters about
to be given in detail the evidence is less exceptionable.
_New Guinea._--Here there is little except Negritos; and here we meet
with the name _Papua_. What is said of the Papuas must be said with
caution. Physical conformation being the evidence, there are in New
Guinea two nations, if not more than two:--1. Those of the North, with
curly hair, which are subdivided into the pure Papuas, and the Papuas
that are looked upon as a cross with the Malay (Quoy, Gaimard and
Lesson in the French Voyages). 2. Those of the South, with lank hair,
called by the French naturalists Arafuras. The author was unable to
determine who were meant by the Alfakis of Quoy (Durville's Voyage,
iv. 746). To the language of these Alfakis are possibly referable the
ten words of Lesson. These are the numerals, and, they are as might be
expected, Malay. For the South of New Guinea we have not so much as a
single vocabulary or a single word.
_Waigioo._--The Waigioo and New Guinea have been frequently confounded;
we have therefore deferred speaking of the latter until we could also
deal with the former. Without going into the conflicting evidence, we
may state that there are two Vocabularies wherein _arm_ is _kapiani_,
and three wherein _arm_ is _bramine_. Of the first division we
have--1st, the Vocabularies of the Uranie and Physicienne Corvettes,
under Freycinet, in 1817, 1818, 1819, as given in Arago's (the
draughtsman's) Narrative, p. 275, English translation; and 2ndly,
the Undetermined Vocabulary of Dentrecasteaux. Dentrecasteaux,
whilst at Boni in Waigioo, saw some strangers who spoke a language
very different from the inhabitants of that island; he considered
that they came from New Guinea. Now this language is the Waigioo of
Arago[19]; whilst the Waigioo of Dentrecasteaux is the Papua of Arago.
Among the Vocabularies of the second class we have Gaimard's Rawak
Vocabulary, stated especially (Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, vol.
ii. p. 153.) to have been collected at Rawak in Waigioo in 1818: here
_arm_ is _bramine_. Now a vocabulary (that will soon be mentioned)
of the New Guinea Papuan of Port Dorey was collected during the
expedition of the Astrolabe by the same naturalist, M. Gaimard. With
this vocabulary Gaimard's Rawak coincides, rather than with Arago's
Waigioo and Dentrecasteaux's Undetermined Vocabulary. This makes the
third vocabulary for these islands. The fourth is Gaimard's Port
Dorey Vocabulary (Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 146.). The
fifth, Dentrecasteaux's (or La Billardière) Waigioo Vocabulary. This
represents the same language as those last-mentioned, inasmuch as in it
_arm_ is _bramine_ not _kapiani_. The sixth vocabulary is the Utanata,
from Dutch authorities (vide Trans. Geogr. Soc). This akin to the
Lobo Vocabulary.--Ibid. The next is Forest's Vocabulary. See Forest's
Voyage to New Guinea. Such are the data for New Guinea and Waigioo.
Dalrymple's Vocabulary will be noticed in the sequel.
[Footnote 19: See Note B.]
_Guebé._--The Guebé Vocabulary of the Astrolabe (Philologie, ii. 157)
is the Guebé of Freycinet's Voyage in 1818, when it was collected by
Gaimard, The Guebé of Arago (under Freycinet) also approaches the Guebé
of Gaimard. According to D. Durville the Guebé is Papuan. The author
however considers it Malay, though there was some resemblance to the
Papuan, inasmuch as many Malay terms were common to both these dialects.
From New Guinea westward and southward the Negritos are no longer
isolated. The following are Negrito Islands, or Negrito Archipelagos:--
1. New Britain; 2. New Hanover; 3. New Ireland; 4. Solomon's Islands;
5. Queen Charlotte's Archipelago; 6. Louisiade Archipelago; 7. Isles of
Bougainville; 8. Bouka; 9. New Georgia; 10. Admirality Isles,--York,
Sandwich, Portland; 11. Santa Cruz Archipelago; 12. Arsacides; 13.
Espiritu Santo, or New Hebrides,--Mallicollo, Erromango, Tanna,
Erronan, Annatom; 14. New Caledonia; 15. Warouka, Bligh's and Banks's
Island.--Astrolabe. The Ticopian is not Negrito but Polynesian.--Voyage
de l'Astrolabe.
_Fiji Islands._--In the Fiji Islands the physical character of the
natives is half Negrito and half Polynesian. Here is the Negrito limit
to the east; that is, of Negrito tribes as existing at the present
moment.
The languages of the list just given are known to us through the
following Vocabularies.
_New Ireland_ &c.--Gaimard's Carteret Harbour Vocabulary.--Voyage de
l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 143.
Durville's Port Praslin Vocabulary, incorporated with Gaimard's
Carteret Bay Vocabulary.--Ibid.
Dalrymple's so-called New Guinea Vocabulary. The word _so-called_ was
used because, unless there were natives of New Ireland on the coast of
New Guinea, Dalrymple's Vocabulary is a representative of the Papuan.
It coincides with those of Durville and Gaimard from New Ireland: it
was collected by Schouten and Le Maire. It is also the New Guinea of De
Brosses.
Vocabularies of four small islands are given by Dalrymple and De
Brosses, viz. of Moses Island, Moa, Hoorn Island, and Cocos Island.
These are the vocabularies of Reland (Diss. xi.), referred to by
Adelung.
_Manicolo._--In Queen Charlotte's Archipelago, or perhaps among the
Solomon Islands, lies an island in name resembling one of the New
Hebrides. Durville called it Vanikoro, but Captain Dillon assures me
that the true name is Manicolo. Of the language spoken here we have a
vocabulary collected by Gaimard in three dialects; the Vanikoro, the
Tanema, and the Taneanou. Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 164.
_Mallicollo._--Cook's Island is Mallicollo. A glossary occurs in Cook's
Voyages.
_Tanna._--A single vocabulary in Cook's Voyages.
_New Caledonia._--A short vocabulary in Cook. A longer one in
Dentrecasteaux and La Billardière.
Of the Fiji we have a few words by Cook, a long vocabulary by
Gaimard (Astrol. Phil. ii. 136), Port regulations, and MS. Scripture
translations, which afford us full and sufficient samples of the
language. To deal with this as Negrito the Polynesian element must be
eliminated.
In the way of Ethnography Madagascar is Asiatic; since its language,
as has been known since the time of Reland, is Malay. For this island
the evidence of physical character gives two or more races, but the
evidence of language only one.
_Australia._--In this island we have vocabularies for the following
localities: (1.) Murray Island; (2.) Caledon Bay; (3. 4.) Endeavour
River; (5.) the Burrah Burrah tribe; (6.) Limestone Creek; (7.) Port
Macquarie; (8.) Port Jackson; (9.) Menero Downs; (10.) Jervis Bay;
(11.) Hunter's River, _vide_ Threlkeld's Grammar; (12, 13, 14, 15.)
Adelaide,--one of these being Teichelmanns and Schürmann's Grammar;
(16.) Gulf St. Vincent; (17, 18, 19, 20.) King George's Sound; (22.)
Grey's Vocabulary; and a few others.
_Van Diemen's Land._--Here, as in Australia, everything is Negrito.
In the way of Vocabularies, we have for the North,--(1.) Gaimard's
Port Dalrymple Vocabulary, taken down from the mouth of a Van
Diemen's Land woman at King George's Sound, with an Englishman as
an interpreter.--Voy. Astr. Phil. ii. 9. In the South we have (2.)
Cook's Vocabulary, collected in Adventure Bay, S. E. of Van Diemen's
Land,--nine words. (3.) Dentrecasteaux's, or La Billardière's
Vocabulary. (4.) Allan Cunningham's Vocabulary, collected in 1819
at Entrance Island. (5.) Dr. Lhotsky's Vocabulary, derived from Mr.
M'Geary, and representing the language of Hobart's Town.--Journ.
Geo. Soc. ix. Besides these, there is a Vocabulary procured by Mr.
Robert Brown when in Australia. It nearly represents the same state of
language as Dentrecasteaux's Vocabulary.
Besides these remarks, another class of facts should be indicated. In
the south of Japan, and in the Marianne Isles, there are statements
that Blacks _have been_:--Père Cantova (in Duperrey and Freycinet), and
Adelung (Mithr. i.). From Rienzi also we learn a statement of Lütke's,
viz. that in Pounipet, one of the Carolines, there are abundance of
Blacks at this moment. These _may_ be indigenous. The hypothetical
presence of Negritos may account also for certain peculiarities of
the Polynesian of the Tonga Islands. There are traces of them in the
Navigator's Archipelago. Crozet (see Pritchard's Phys. Hist.) mentions
Negritos in New Zealand, and Cook speaks to a tradition of aboriginal
Negritos in Tahiti.
Such are the notices of the Oceanic Negritos in respect to their
distribution and the amount of evidence afforded by the specimens of
their language. The current opinion is, that over a certain area Blacks
of a certain race or races were aborigines. This opinion there is no
reason to disturb or to refine upon; the general question is as to the
unity or the multiplicity of these races; but the more specific object
of the present paper is to ascertain how far that question is decided
by the comparison of their languages. The safe way is to _ascend_ in
the classification, and to begin with determining the uniformity of
speech over limited areas, and within natural boundaries. The most
convenient locality to begin with is--
_New Guinea._--That four out of the seven New Guinea Vocabularies
(supposing them to have been collected independently of each other)
represent either dialects of one language, or else languages closely
allied, appears on the first comparison. These vocabularies are,--_a_)
Gaimard's Rawak; _b_) Gaimard's Port Dorey; _c_) Arago's Papua; and
_d_) Dentrecasteaux's Waigioo. To these Forest's Vocabulary (supposing
always that his words have not been incorporated in the vocabularies
that came after him) approaches more closely than to the other two.
ENGLISH. FOREST. DENTRECASTEAUX, &c.
_fish_ een iené, _Malay_?
_bird_ moorsankeen mazaukéhéné.
_man_ sononman snoné, _Malay_?
_woman_ binn biéné, _Malay_?
_fire_ for afor.
_water_ war ouar, _Malay_?
_sand_ yean iené.
_house_ rome rouma, _Malay_?
_hook_ sofydine sarfedinne.
_sun_ rass riass.
Of the two remaining vocabularies the Lobo comes nearer to Forest than
the Utanata does. Neither, however, coincide with Forest, as Forest
coincides with the first four: nor yet do they coincide so closely with
each other.