CHAPTER VII

THE OCEANIC MONGOLS

Range of the Oceanic Mongols--The terra "Malay"--The Historical

Malays--Malay Cradle--Migrations and Present Range--The

Malayans--The Javanese--Balinese and Sassaks--Hindu Legends in

Bali--The Malayan Seafarers and Rovers--Malaysia and Pelasgia: a

Historical Parallel--Malayan Folklore--Borneo--Punan--Klemantan--

Bahau-Kenyah-Kayan--Iban (Sea Dayak)--Summary--Religion--Early

Man and his Works in Sumatra--The Mentawi Islanders--Javanese

and Hindu Influences--The Malaysian Alphabets--The Battas: Cultured

Cannibals--Hindu and Primitive Survivals--The Achinese--Early

Records--Islam and Hindu Reminiscences--Ethnical Relations in

Madagascar--Prehistoric Peoples--Oceanic Immigrants--Negroid

Element--Arab Element--Uniformity of Language--Malagasy

Gothamites--Partial Fusion of Races--Hova Type--Black Element

from Africa--Mental Qualities of the Malagasy--Spread of

Christianity--Culture--Malagasy Folklore--The Philippine

Natives--Effects of a Christian Theocratic Government on the

National Character--Social Groups: the Indios, the Infielos,

and the Moros--Malayans and Indonesians in Formosa--The Chinese

Settlers--Racial and Linguistic Affinities--Formosa a Connecting

Link between the Continental and Oceanic Populations--The

Nicobarese.

CONSPECTUS.

#Present Range.# _Indonesia, Philippines, Formosa, Nicobar Is.,

Madagascar._

#Hair#, _same as Southern Mongols, scant or no beard_. #Colour#,

_yellowish or olive brown, yellow tint sometimes very faint or absent,

light leathery hue common in Madagascar_.

#Skull#, _brachy or sub-brachycephalic (78 to 85)_. #Jaws#, _slightly

projecting_. #Cheek-bones#, _prominent, but less so than true Mongol_.

#Nose#, _rather small, often straight with widish nostrils

(mesorrhine)_. #Eyes#, _black, medium size, horizontal or slightly

oblique, often with Mongol fold_. #Stature#, _undersized, from 1.52 m.

to 1.65 m. (5 ft. to 5 ft. 5 in.)_. #Lips#, _thickish, slightly

protruding, and kept a little apart in repose_. #Arms# _and_ #legs#,

_rather small, slender and delicate_; #feet#, _small_.

#Temperament.# _Normally quiet, reserved and taciturn, but under

excitement subject to fits of blind fury_; _fairly intelligent, polite

and ceremonious, but uncertain, untrustworthy, and even treacherous_;

_daring, adventurous and reckless_; _musical_; _not distinctly cruel,

though indifferent to physical suffering in others_.

#Speech#, _various branches of a single stock language_--_the_

#Austronesian# (#Oceanic# _or_ #Malayo-Polynesian#), _at different

stages of agglutination_.

#Religion#, _of the primitive Malayans somewhat undeveloped--a vague

dread of ghosts and other spirits, but rites and ceremonies mainly

absent although human sacrifices to the departed occurred in Borneo_;

_the cultured Malayans formerly Hindus (Brahman and Buddhist), now

mostly Moslem, but in the Philippines and Madagascar Christian_; _belief

in witchcraft, charms, and spells everywhere prevalent_.

#Culture#, _of the primitive Malayans very low--head-hunting,

mutilation, common in Borneo_; _hunting, fishing; no agriculture; simple

arts and industries_; _the Moslem and Christian Malayans

semi-civilised_; _the industrial arts--weaving, dyeing, pottery,

metal-work, also trade, navigation, house and boat-building--well

developed_; _architecture formerly flourishing in Java under Hindu

influences_; _letters widespread even amongst some of the rude Malayans,

but literature and science rudimentary_; _rich oral folklore_.

#Malayans (Proto-Malays)#: _Lampongs, Rejangs, Battas, Achinese, and

Palembangs in Sumatra_; _Sundanese, Javanese proper, and Madurese in

Java_; _Dayaks in Borneo_; _Balinese_; _Sassaks (Lombok)_; _Bugis and

Mangkassaras in Celebes_; _Tagalogs, Visayas, Bicols, Ilocanos and

Pangasinanes in Philippines_; _Aborigines of Formosa_; _Nicobar

Islanders_; _Hovas, Betsimisarakas, and Sakalavas in Madagascar_.

#Malays Proper# (_Historical Malays_): _Menangkabau (Sumatra)_; _Malay

Peninsula_; _Pinang, Singapore, Lingga, Bangka_; _Borneo Coastlands_;

_Tidor, Ternate_; _Amboina_; _Parts of the Sulu Archipelago_.

* * * * *

In the Oceanic domain, which for ethnical purposes begins at the neck of

the Malay Peninsula, the Mongol peoples range from Madagascar eastwards

to Formosa and Micronesia, but are found in compact masses chiefly on

the mainland, in the Sunda Islands (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok,

Borneo, Celebes) and in the Philippines. Even here they have mingled in

many places with other populations, forming fresh ethnical groups, in

which the Mongol element is not always conspicuous. Such fusions have

taken place with the Negrito aborigines in the Malay Peninsula and the

Philippines; with Papuans in Micronesia, Flores, and other islands east

of Lombok; with dolichocephalic Indonesians in Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes,

Halmahera (Jilolo), parts of the Philippines[492], and perhaps also

Timor and Ceram; and with African negroes (Bantu) in Madagascar. To

unravel some of these racial entanglements is one of the most difficult

tasks in anthropology, and in the absence of detailed information cannot

yet be everywhere attempted with any prospect of success.

The problem has been greatly, though perhaps inevitably complicated by

the indiscriminate extension of the term "Malay" to all these and even

to other mixed Oceanic populations farther east, as, for instance, in

the expression "Malayo-Polynesian," applied by many writers not only in

a linguistic, but also in an ethnical sense, to most of the insular

peoples from Madagascar to Easter Island, and from Hawaii to New

Zealand. It is now of course too late to hope to remedy this misuse of

terms by proposing a fresh nomenclature. But much of the consequent

confusion will be avoided by restricting _Malayo-Polynesian_[493]

altogether to linguistic matters, and carefully distinguishing between

_Indonesian_, the pre-Malay dolichocephalic element in Oceania[494],

_Malayan_ or _Proto-Malayan_, collective name of all the Oceanic

Mongols, who are brachycephals, and _Malay_, a particular branch of the

Malayan family, as fully explained in _Ethnology_, pp. 326-30[495].

The essential point to remember is that the true Malays--who call

themselves _Orang-Malayu_, speak the standard but quite modern Malay

language, and are all Muhammadans--are a historical people who appear on

the scene in relatively recent times, ages after the insular world had

been occupied by the Mongol peoples to whom their name has been

extended, but who never call themselves Malays. The Orang-Malayu, who

have acquired such an astonishing predominance in the Eastern

Archipelago, were originally an obscure tribe who rose to power in the

Menangkabau district, Sumatra, not before the twelfth century, and whose

migrations date only from about the year 1160 A.D. At this time,

according to the native records[496], was founded the first foreign

settlement, Singapore, a pure Sanskrit name meaning the "Lion City,"

from which it might be inferred that these first settlers were not

Muhammadans, as is commonly assumed, but Brahmans or Buddhists, both

these forms of Hinduism having been propagated throughout Sumatra and

the other Sunda Islands centuries before this time. It is also

noteworthy that the early settlers on the mainland are stated to have

been pagans, or to have professed some corrupt form of Hindu idolatry,

till their conversion to Islam by the renowned Sultan Mahmud Shah about

the middle of the thirteenth century. It is therefore probable enough

that the earlier movements were carried out under Hindu influences, and

may have begun long before the historical date 1160. Menangkabau,

however, was the first Mussulman State that acquired political supremacy

in Sumatra, and this district thus became the chief centre for the later

diffusion of the cultured Malays, their language, usages, and religion,

throughout the Peninsula and the Archipelago. Here they are now found in

compact masses chiefly in south Sumatra (Menangkabau, Palembang, the

Lampongs); in all the insular groups between Sumatra and Borneo; in the

Malay Peninsula as far north as the Kra Isthmus, here intermingling

with the Siamese as "Sam-Sams," partly Buddhists, partly Muhammadans;

round the coast of Borneo and about the estuaries of that island; in

Tidor, Ternate, and the adjacent coast of Jilolo; in the Banda, Sula,

and Sulu groups; in Batavia, Singapore, and all the other large seaports

of the Archipelago. In all these lands beyond Sumatra the Orang-Malayu

are thus seen to be comparatively recent arrivals[497], and in fact

intruders on the other Malayan populations, with whom they collectively

constitute the Oceanic branch of the Mongol division. Their diffusion

was everywhere brought about much in the same way as in Ternate, where

A. R. Wallace tells us that the ruling people "are an intrusive Malay

race somewhat allied to the Macassar people, who settled in the country

at a very early epoch, drove out the indigenes, who were no doubt the

same as those of the adjacent island of Gilolo, and established a

monarchy. They perhaps obtained many of their wives from the natives,

which will account for the extraordinary language they speak--in some

respects closely allied to that of the natives of Gilolo, while it

contains much that points to a Malayan [Malay] origin. To most of these

people the Malay language is quite unintelligible[498]."

The Malayan populations, as distinguished from the Malays proper, form

socially two very distinct classes--the _Orang Benua_, "Men of the

Soil," rude aborigines, numerous especially in the interior of the Malay

Peninsula, Borneo, Celebes, Jilolo, Timor, Ceram, the Philippines,

Formosa, and Madagascar; and the cultured peoples, formerly Hindus but

now mostly Muhammadans, who have long been constituted in large

communities and nationalities with historical records, and flourishing

arts and industries. They speak cultivated languages of the Austronesian

family, generally much better preserved and of richer grammatical

structure than the simplified modern speech of the Orang-Malayu. Such

are the Achinese, Rejangs, and Passumahs of Sumatra; the Bugis,

Mangkassaras and some Minahasans of Celebes[499]; the Tagalogs and

Visayas of the Philippines; the Sassaks and Balinese of Lombok and Bali

(most of these still Hindus); the Madurese and Javanese proper of Java;

and the Hovas of Madagascar. To call any of these "Malays[500]," is like

calling the Italians "French," or the Germans "English," because of

their respective Romance and Teutonic connections.

Preeminent in many respects amongst all the Malayan peoples are the

_Javanese_--_Sundanese_ in the west, _Javanese proper_ in the centre,

_Madurese_ in the east--who were a highly civilised nation while the

Sumatran Malays were still savages, perhaps head-hunters and cannibals

like the neighbouring Battas. Although now almost exclusively

Muhammadans, they had already adopted some form of Hinduism probably

over 2000 years ago, and under the guidance of their Indian teachers had

rapidly developed a very advanced state of culture. "Under a completely

organised although despotic government, the arts of peace and war were

brought to considerable perfection, and the natives of Java became

famous throughout the East as accomplished musicians and workers in

gold, iron and copper, none of which metals were found in the island

itself. They possessed a regular calendar with astronomical eras, and a

metrical literature, in which, however, history was inextricably blended

with romance. Bronze and stone inscriptions in the Kavi, or old Javanese

language, still survive from the eleventh or twelfth century, and to the

same dates may be referred the vast ruins of Brambanam and the

stupendous temple of Boro-budor in the centre of the island. There are

few statues of Hindu divinities in this temple, but many are found in

its immediate vicinity, and from the various archaeological objects

collected in the district it is evident that both the Buddhist and

Brahmanical forms of Hinduism were introduced at an early date.

"But all came to an end by the overthrow of the chief Hindu power in

1478, after which event Islam spread rapidly over the whole of Java and

Madura. Brahmanism, however, still holds its ground in Bali and Lombok,

the last strongholds of Hinduism in the Eastern Archipelago[501]."

On the obscure religious and social relations in these Lesser Sundanese

Islands much light has been thrown by Capt. W. Cool, an English

translation of whose work _With the Dutch in the East_ was issued by E.

J. Taylor in 1897. Here it is shown how Hinduism, formerly dominant

throughout a great part of Malaysia, gradually yielded in some places to

a revival of the never extinct primitive nature-worship, in others to

the spread of Islam, which in Bali alone failed to gain a footing. In

this island a curious mingling of Buddhist and Brahmanical forms with

the primordial heathendom not only persisted, but was strong enough to

acquire the political ascendancy over the Mussulman Sassaks of the

neighbouring island of Lombok. Thus while Islam reigns exclusively in

Java--formerly the chief domain of Hinduism in the Archipelago--Bali,

Lombok, and even Sumbawa, present the strange spectacle of large

communities professing every form of belief, from the grossest

heathendom to pure monotheism.

As I have elsewhere pointed out[502], it is the same with the cultures

and general social conditions, which show an almost unbroken transition

from the savagery of Sumbawa to the relative degrees of refinement

reached by the natives of Lombok and especially of Bali. Here, however,

owing to the unfavourable political relations, a retrograde movement is

perceptible in the crumbling temples, grass-grown highways, and

neglected homesteads. But it is everywhere evident enough that "just as

Hinduism has only touched the outer surface of their religion, it has

failed to penetrate into their social institutions, which, like their

gods, originate from the time when Polynesian heathendom was all

powerful[503]."

A striking illustration of the vitality of the early beliefs is

presented by the local traditions, which relate how these foreign gods

installed themselves in the Lesser Sundanese Islands after their

expulsion from Java by the Muhammadans in the fifteenth century. Being

greatly incensed at the introduction of the Koran, and also anxious to

avoid contact with the "foreign devils," the Hindu deities moved

eastwards with the intention of setting up their throne in Bali. But

Bali already possessed its own gods, the wicked Rakshasas, who fiercely

resented the intrusion, but in the struggle that ensued were

annihilated, all but the still reigning Mraya Dewana. Then the new

thrones had to be erected on heights, as in Java; but at that time there

were no mountains in Bali, which was a very flat country. So the

difficulty was overcome by bodily transferring the four hills at the

eastern extremity of Java to the neighbouring island. Gunong Agong,

highest of the four, was set down in the east, and became the Olympus of

Bali, while the other three were planted in the west, south, and north,

and assigned to the different gods according to their respective ranks.

Thus were at once explained the local theogony and the present physical

features of the island.

Despite their generally quiet, taciturn demeanour, all these Sundanese

peoples are just as liable as the Orang-Malayu himself, to those sudden

outbursts of demoniacal frenzy and homicidal mania called by them

_m[)e]ng-amok_, and by us "running amok." Indeed A. R. Wallace tells us

that such wild outbreaks occur more frequently (about one or two every

month) amongst the civilised Mangkassaras and Bugis of south Celebes

than elsewhere in the Archipelago. "It is the national and therefore the

honourable mode of committing suicide among the natives of Celebes, and

is the fashionable way of escaping from their difficulties. A Roman fell

upon his sword, a Japanese rips up his stomach, and an Englishman blows

out his brains with a pistol. The Bugis mode has many advantages to one

suicidically inclined. A man thinks himself wronged by society--he is in

debt and cannot pay--he is taken for a slave or has gambled away his

wife or child into slavery--he sees no way of recovering what he has

lost, and becomes desperate. He will not put up with such cruel wrongs,

but will be revenged on mankind and die like a hero. He grasps his

kris-handle, and the next moment draws out the weapon and stabs a man to

the heart. He runs on, with bloody kris in his hand, stabbing at

everyone he meets. 'Amok! Amok!' then resounds through the streets.

Spears, krisses, knives and guns are brought out against him. He rushes

madly forward, kills all he can--men, women, and children--and dies

overwhelmed by numbers amid all the excitement of a battle[504]."

Possibly connected with this blind impulse may be the strange nervous

affection called _latah_, which is also prevalent amongst the Malayans,

and which was first clearly described by the distinguished Malay

scholar, Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham[505]. No attempt has yet been

made thoroughly to diagnose this uncanny disorder[506], which would seem

so much more characteristic of the high-strung or shattered nervous

system of ultra-refined European society, than of that artless

unsophisticated child of nature, the Orang-Malayu. Its effects on the

mental state are such as to disturb all normal cerebration, and

Swettenham mentions two latah-struck Malays, who would make admirable

"subjects" at a seance of theosophic psychists. Any simple device served

to attract their attention, when by merely looking them hard in the face

they fell helplessly in the hands of the operator, instantly lost all

self-control, and went passively through any performance either verbally

imposed or even merely suggested by a sign.

A peculiar feminine strain has often been imputed to the Malay

temperament, yet this same Oceanic people displays in many respects a

curiously kindred spirit with the ordinary Englishman, as, for instance,

in his love of gambling, boxing, cock-fighting, field sports[507], and

adventure. No more fearless explorers of the high seas, formerly rovers

and corsairs, at all times enterprising traders, are anywhere to be

found than the Menangkabau Malays and their near kinsmen, the renowned

Bugis "Merchant Adventurers" of south Celebes. Their clumsy but

seaworthy praus are met in every seaport from Sumatra to the Aru

Islands, and they have established permanent trading stations and even

settlements in Borneo, the Philippines, Timor, and as far east as New

Guinea. On one occasion Wallace sailed from Dobbo in company with

fifteen large Makassar praus, each with a cargo worth about L1000, and

as many of the Bugis settle amongst the rude aborigines of the eastern

isles, they thus cooperate with the Sumatran Malays in extending the

area of civilising influences throughout Papuasia.

Formerly they combined piracy with legitimate trade, and long after the

suppression of the North Bornean corsairs by Keppel and Brooke, the

inland waters continued to be infested especially by the _Bajau_ rovers

of Celebes, and by the _Balagnini_ of the Sulu Archipelago, most dreaded

of all the _Orang-Laut_, "Men of the Sea," the "Sea Gypsies" of the

English. These were the "Cellates" (_Orang-Selat_, "Men of the Straits")

of the early Portuguese writers, who described them as from time

immemorial engaged in fishing and plundering on the high seas[508].

In those days, and even in comparatively late times, the relations in

the Eastern Archipelago greatly resembled those prevailing in the Aegean

Sea at the dawn of Greek history, while the restless seafaring

populations were still in a state of flux, passing from island to island

in quest of booty or barter before permanently settling down in

favourable sites[509]. With the Greek historian's philosophic

disquisition on these Pelasgian and proto-Hellenic relations may be

compared A. R. Wallace's account of the Batjan coastlands when visited

by him in the late fifties. "Opposite us, and all along this coast of

Batchian, stretches a row of fine islands completely uninhabited.

Whenever I asked the reason why no one goes to live in them, the answer

always was 'For fear of the Magindano pirates[510].' Every year these

scourges of the Archipelago wander in one direction or another, making

their rendezvous on some uninhabited island, and carrying devastation to

all the small settlements around; robbing, destroying, killing, or

taking captive all they meet with. Their long, well-manned praus escape

from the pursuit of any sailing vessel by pulling away right in the

wind's eye, and the warning smoke of a steamer generally enables them to

hide in some shallow bay, or narrow river, or forest-covered inlet, till

the danger is passed[511]." Thus, like geographical surroundings, with

corresponding social conditions, produce like results in all times

amongst all peoples.

This fundamental truth receives further illustration from the ideas

prevalent amongst the Malayans regarding witchcraft, the magic arts,

charms and spells, and especially the belief in the power of certain

malevolent human beings to transform themselves into wild beasts and

prey upon their fellow-creatures. Such superstitions girdle the globe,

taking their local colouring from the fauna of the different regions, so

that the were-wolf of medieval Europe finds its counterpart in the human

jaguar of South America, the human lion or leopard of Africa[512], and

the human tiger of the Malay Peninsula. Hugh Clifford, who relates an

occurrence known to himself in connection with a "were-tiger" story of

the Perak district, aptly remarks that "the white man and the brown, the

yellow and the black, independently, and without receiving the idea from

one another, have all found the same explanation for the like phenomena,

all apparently recognising the truth of the Malay proverb, that we are

like unto the _taman_ fish that preys upon its own kind[513]." The story

in question turns upon a young bride, whose husband comes home late

three nights following, and the third time, being watched, is discovered

by her in the form of a full-grown tiger stretched on the ladder, which,

as in all Malay houses, leads from the ground to the threshold of the

door. "Patimah gazed at the tiger from a distance of only a foot or two,

for she was too paralysed with fear to move or cry out, and as she

looked a gradual transformation took place in the creature at her feet.

Slowly, as one sees a ripple of wind pass over the surface of still

water, the tiger's features palpitated and were changed, until the

horrified girl saw the face of her husband come up through that of the

beast, much as the face of a diver comes up to the surface of a pool. In

another moment Patimah saw that it was Haji Ali who was ascending the

ladder of his house, and the spell that had hitherto bound her was

snapped."

These same Malays of Perak, H. H. Rajah Dris tells us, are still

specially noted for many strange customs and superstitions "utterly

opposed to Muhammadan teaching, and savouring strongly of devil-worship.

This enormous belief in the supernatural is possibly a relic of the

pre-Islam State[514]."

We do not know who were the primitive inhabitants of Borneo. One would

expect to find Negritoes in the interior, but despite the assertion of

A. de Quatrefages[515] it is impossible to overlook the conclusions of

A. B. Meyer[516] that no authoritative evidence of their occurrence is

forthcoming, and A. C. Haddon[517] confidently states that there are

none in Sarawak. It might be supposed that the Pre-Dravidian element

found in Sumatra and Celebes might occur also in Borneo, but the only

indication of such influence is the "black skin" noticed among certain

Ulu Ayar of the Upper Kapuas in Western Dutch Borneo[518]. With the

exception of certain peoples such as Europeans, Indians, Chinese, and

Orang-Malayu, whose foreign origin is obvious, the population as a whole

may be regarded as being composed of two main races, the Indonesian and

Proto-Malay. Probably all tribes are of mixed origin, but some, such as

the _Murut_, _Dusun_, _Kalabit_, and _Land Dayak_ are more Indonesian

while the _Iban_ (_Sea Dayak_) are distinctly Proto-Malay. The _Land

Dayak_ have doubtless been crossed with Indo-Javans.

Scattered over a considerable part of the jungle live the nomad _Punan_

and _Ukit_. They are a slender pale people with a slightly broad head.

They are grouped in small communities and inhabit the dense jungle at

the head waters of the principal rivers of Borneo. They live on

whatever they can find in the jungle, and do not cultivate the soil, nor

live in permanent houses. Their few wants are supplied by barter from

friendly settled peoples, or in return for iron implements, calico,

beads, tobacco, etc., they offer jungle produce, mainly gutta,

indiarubber, camphor, dammar and ratans. They are very mild savages, not

head-hunters, they are generous to one another, moderately truthful,

kind to the women and very fond of their children.

Hose and Haddon have introduced the term _Klemantan_ (_Kalamantan_) for

the weak agricultural tribes such as the _Murut_, _Kalabit_, _Land

Dayak_, _Sebop_, _Barawan_, _Milanau_, etc.[519] Brook Low[520], who

knew the Land Dayak well, gives a very favourable account of the people

and this opinion has been confirmed by other travellers. They are

described as amiable, honest, grateful, moral and hospitable. Crimes of

violence, other than head-hunting, are unknown. The circular _panga_ is

a "house set apart for the residence of young unmarried men, in which

the trophy-heads are kept, and here also all ceremonial receptions take

place[521]." The _baloi_ of the Ot Danom of the Kahajan river is very

similar[522]. The very energetic and dominating _Bahau-Kenyah-Kayan_

group are rather short in stature, with slightly broad heads. They

occupy the best tracts of land which lie in the undulating hills at the

upper reaches of the rivers, between the swampy low country and the

mountains. The Kayan more especially have almost exterminated some of

the smaller tribes. The Klemantan and Kenyah-Kayan tribes are

agriculturalists. They clear the jungle off the low hills that flank the

tributaries of the larger rivers, but always leave a few scattered trees

standing; irrigation is attempted by the Kalabits only, as _padi_ rice

is grown like any other cereals on dry ground; swamp _padi_ is also

grown on the low land. In their gardens they grow yams, pumpkins, sugar

cane, bananas, and sometimes coconuts and other produce. They hunt all

land animals that serve as food, and fish, usually with nets, in the

rivers, or spear those fish that have been stupefied with _tuba_; river

prawns are also a favourite article of diet.

They all live in long communal houses which are situated on the banks of

the rivers. Among the Klemantan tribes the headman has not much

influence, unless he is a man of exceptional power and energy, but among

the larger tribes and especially among the Kayan and Kenyah the headmen

are the real chiefs and exercise undisputed sway. The Kenyah are perhaps

the most advanced in social evolution, holding their own by superior

solidarity and intelligence against the turbulent Kayan.

All the agricultural tribes are artistic, but in varying degrees; they

are also musical and sing delightful chorus songs. In some tribes the

ends of the beams of the houses are carved to represent various animals,

in some the verandah is decorated with boldly carved planks, or with

painted boards and doors. The bamboo receptacles carved in low relief,

the bone handles of their swords and the minor articles of daily life,

are decorated in a way that reveals the true artistic spirit. Both

Kenyah and Kayan smelt iron and make spear heads and sword blades, the

former being especially noted for their good steel. The forge with two

bellows is the form widely spread in Malaysia.

The truculent _Iban_ (_Sea Dayak_) have spread from a restricted area in

Sarawak[523]. They are short and have broader heads than the other

tribes; the colour is on the whole darker than among the cinnamon

coloured inland tribes. They have the same long, slightly wavy, black

hair showing a reddish tinge in certain lights, that is characteristic

of the Borneans generally. Most of the Iban inhabit low lying land; they

prefer to live on the low hills, but as this is not always practicable

they plant swamp _padi_; all those who settle at the heads of rivers

plant _padi_ on the hills in the same manner as the up-river natives.

They also cultivate maize, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, gourds, pumpkins,

cucumbers, melons, mustard, ginger and other vegetables. Generally

groups of relations work together in the fields. Although essentially

agricultural, they are warlike and passionately devoted to head-hunting.

The Iban of the Batang Lupar and Saribas in the olden days joined the

Malays in their large war praus on piratical raids along the coast and

up certain rivers and they owe their name of Sea Dayaks to this

practice. The raids were organised by Malays who went for plunder but

they could always ensure the aid of Iban by the bribe of the heads of

the slain as their share. The Iban women weave beautiful cotton cloths

on a very simple loom. Intricate patterns are made by tying several warp

strands with leaves at varying intervals, then dipping the whole into

the dye which does not penetrate the tied portions. This process is

repeated if a three-colour design is desired. The pattern is produced

solely in the warp, the woof threads are self-coloured and are not

visible in the fabric, which is therefore a cotton rep. Little tattooing

is seen among the Iban women though the men have adopted the custom from

the Kayan.

It is probable that the Iban belong to the same stock as the original

Malay and if so, their migration may be regarded as the first wave of

the movement that culminated in the Malay Empire. The Malays must have

come to Borneo not later than the early part of the fifteenth century as

Brunei was a large and wealthy town in 1521. Probably the Malays came

directly from the Malay Peninsula, but they must have mixed largely with

the _Kadayan_, _Milanau_ and other coastal people. The Sarawak and

Brunei Malays are probably mainly coastal Borneans with some Malay

blood, but they have absorbed the Malay culture, spirit and religion.

From the sociological point of view the Punan, living by the chase and

on exploitation of jungle produce, represent the lowest grade of culture

in Borneo. Without social organisation they are alike incapable of real

endemic improvement or of seriously affecting other peoples. The purely

agricultural tribes that cultivate _padi_ on the low hills or in the

swamps form the next social stratum. These indigenous tillers of the

soil have been hard pressed by various swarms of foreigners.

The Kenyah-Kayan migration was that of a people of a slightly higher

grade of culture. They were agriculturalists, but the social

organisation was firmer and they were probably superior in physique. If

they introduced iron weapons, this would give them an enormous

advantage. These immigrant agricultural artisans, directed by powerful

chiefs, had no difficulty in taking possession of the most desirable

land.

From an opposite point of the compass in early times came another

agricultural people who strangely enough have strong individualistic

tendencies, the usually peaceable habits of tillers of the soil having

been complicated by a lust for heads and other warlike propensities. But

the Iban do not appear to have gained much against the Kenyah and Kayan.

Conquest implies a strong leader, obedience to authority and concerted

action. The Iban appear to be formidable only when led and organised by

Europeans.

The Malay was of a yet higher social type. His political organisation

was well established, and he had the advantage of religious enthusiasm,

for Islam has no small share in the expansion of the Malay. He is a

trader, and still more an exploiter, having a sporting element in his

character not altogether compatible with steady trade. Then appeared on

the scene the Anglo-Saxon overlord. The quality of firmness combined

with justice made itself felt. At times the lower social types hurled

themselves, but in vain, against the instrument that had been forged and

tempered in a similar turmoil of Iberian, Celt, Angle and Viking in

Northern Europe. Now they acknowledge that safety of life and property

and almost complete liberty are fully worth the very small price that

they have to pay for them[524].

The cult of omen animals, most frequently birds, is indigenous to

Borneo. These are possessed with the spirit of certain invisible beings

above, and bear their names, and are invoked to secure good crops,

freedom from accident, victory in war, profit in exchange, skill in

discourse and cleverness in all native craft. The Iban have a belief in

_Ngarong_ or spirit-helpers, somewhat resembling that of the _Manitu_ of

North America. The _Ngarong_ is the spirit of a dead relative who visits

a dreamer, who afterwards searches for the outward and visible sign of

his spiritual protector, and finds it in some form, perhaps a natural

object, or some one animal, henceforth held in special respect[525].

In Sumatra there occur some remains of Hindu temples[526], as well as

other mysterious monuments in the Passumah lands inland from Benkulen,

relics of a former culture, which goes back to prehistoric times. They

take the form of huge monoliths, which are roughly shaped to the

likeness of human figures, with strange features very different from the

Malay or Hindu types. The present Sarawi natives of the district, who

would be quite incapable of executing such works, know nothing of their

origin, and attribute them to certain legendary beings who formerly

wandered over the land, turning all their enemies into stone. Further

research may possibly discover some connection between these relics of a

forgotten past and the numerous prehistoric monuments of Easter Island

and other places in the Pacific Ocean. Of all the Indonesian peoples

still surviving in Malaysia, none present so many points of contact with

the Eastern Polynesians, as do the natives of the Mentawi Islands which

skirt the south-west coast of Sumatra. "On a closer inspection of the

inhabitants the attentive observer at once perceives that the Mentawi

natives have but little in common with the peoples and tribes of the

neighbouring islands, and that as regards physical appearance, speech,

customs, and usages they stand almost entirely apart. They bear such a

decided stamp of a Polynesian tribe that one feels far more inclined to

compare them with the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands[527]."

The survival of an Indonesian group on the western verge of Malaysia is

all the more remarkable since the _Nias_ islanders, a little farther

north, are of Mongol stock, like most if not all of the inhabitants of

the Sumatran mainland. Here the typical Malays of the central districts

(Menangkabau, Korinchi, and Siak) merge southwards in the mixed

Malayo-Javanese peoples of the _Rejang_, _Palembang_, and _Lampong_

districts. Although Muhammadans probably since the thirteenth century,

all these peoples had been early brought under Hindu influences by

missionaries and even settlers from Java, and these influences are still

apparent in many of the customs, popular traditions, languages, and

letters of the South Sumatran settled communities. Thus the Lampongs,

despite their profession of Islam, employ, not the Arabic characters,

like the Malays proper, but a script derived from the peculiar Javanese

writing system. This system itself, originally introduced from India

probably over 2000 years ago, is based on some early forms of the

Devanagari, such as those occurring in the rock inscriptions of the

famous Buddhist king As'oka (third century B.C.)[528]. From Java, which

is now shown beyond doubt to be the true centre of dispersion[529], the

parent alphabet was under Hindu influences diffused in pre-Muhammadan

times throughout Malaysia, from Sumatra to the Philippines.

But the thinly-spread Indo-Javanese culture, in few places penetrating

much below the surface, received a rude shock from the Muhammadan

irruption, its natural development being almost everywhere arrested, or

else either effaced or displaced by Islam. No trace can any longer be

detected of graphic signs in Borneo, where the aborigines have retained

the savage state even in those southern districts where Buddhism or

Brahmanism had certainly been propagated long before the arrival of the

Muhammadan Malays. But elsewhere the Javanese stock alphabet has shown

extraordinary vitality, persisting under diverse forms down to the

present day, not only amongst the semi-civilised Mussulman peoples, such

as the Sumatran Rejangs[530], Korinchi, and Lampongs, the Bugis and

Mangkassaras of Celebes, and the (now Christian) Tagalogs and Visayas

of the Philippines, but even amongst the somewhat rude and pagan Palawan

natives, the wild Manguianes of Mindoro, and the cannibal Battas[531] of

North Sumatra.

These Battas, however, despite their undoubted cannibalism[532], cannot

be called savages, at least without some reserve. They are skilful

stock-breeders and agriculturists, raising fine crops of maize and rice;

they dwell together in large, settled communities with an organised

government, hereditary chiefs, popular assemblies, and a written civil

and penal code. There is even an effective postal system, which utilises

for letter-boxes the hollow tree-trunks at all the cross-roads, and is

largely patronised by the young men and women, all of whom read and

write, and carry on an animated correspondence in their degraded

Devanagari script, which is written on palm-leaves in vertical lines

running upwards and from right to left. The Battas also excel in several

industries, such as pottery, weaving, jewellery, iron work, and

house-building, their picturesque dwellings, which resemble Swiss

chalets, rising to two stories above the ground-floor reserved for the

live stock. For these arts they are no doubt largely indebted to their

Hindu teachers, from whom also they have inherited some of their

religious ideas, such as the triune deity--Creator, Preserver, and

Destroyer--besides other inferior divinities collectively called

_diebata_, a modified form of the Indian _devate_[533].

In the strangest contrast to these survivals of a foreign culture which

had probably never struck very deep roots, stand the savage survivals

from still more ancient times. Conspicuous amongst these are the

cannibal practices, which if not now universal still take some

peculiarly revolting forms. Thus captives and criminals are, under

certain circumstances, condemned to be eaten alive, and the same fate is

or was reserved for those incapacitated for work by age or infirmities.

When the time came, we are told by the early European observers and by

the reports of the Arabs, the "grandfathers" voluntarily suspended

themselves by their arms from an overhanging branch, while friends and

neighbours danced round and round, shouting, "when the fruit is ripe it

falls." And when it did fall, that is, as soon as it could hold on no

longer, the company fell upon it with their krisses, hacking it to

pieces, and devouring the remains seasoned with lime-juice, for such

feasts were generally held when the limes were ripe[534].

Grouped chiefly round about Lake Toba, the Battas occupy a very wide

domain, stretching south to about the parallel of Mount Ophir, and

bordering northwards on the territory of the Achin people. These valiant

natives, who have till recently stoutly maintained their political

independence against the Dutch, were also at one time Hinduized, as is

evident from many of their traditions, their Malayan language largely

charged with Sanskrit terms, and even their physical appearance,

suggesting a considerable admixture of Hindu as well as of Arab blood.

With the Arab traders and settlers came the Koran, and the Achinese

people have been not over-zealous followers of the Prophet since the

close of the twelfth century. The Muhammadan State, founded in 1205,

acquired a dominant position in the Archipelago early in the sixteenth

century, when it ruled over about half of Sumatra, exacted tribute from

many vassal princes, maintained powerful armaments by land and sea, and

entered into political and commercial relations with Egypt, Japan, and

several European States.

There are two somewhat distinct ethnical groups, the _Orang-Tunong_ of

the uplands, a comparatively homogeneous Malayan people, and the mixed

_Orang-Baruh_ of the lowlands, who are described by A. Lubbers[535] as

taller than the average Malay (5 feet 5 or 6 in.), also less

round-headed (index 80.5), with prominent nose, rather regular features,

and muscular frames; but the complexion is darker than that of the

Orang-Malayu, a trait which has been attributed to a larger infusion of

Dravidian blood (Klings and Tamuls) from southern India. The charge of

cruelty and treachery brought against them by the Dutch may be received

with some reserve, such terms as "patriot" and "rebel" being

interchangeable according to the standpoints from which they are

considered. In any case no one denies them the virtues of valour and

love of freedom, with which are associated industrious habits and a

remarkable aptitude for such handicrafts as metal work, jewellery,

weaving, and ship-building. The Achinese do not appear to be very strict

Muhammadans; polygamy is little practised, their women are free to go

abroad unveiled, nor are they condemned to the seclusion of the harem,

and a pleasing survival from Buddhist times is the _Kanduri_, a solemn

feast, in which the poor are permitted to share. Another reminiscence of

Hindu philosophy may perhaps have been an outburst of religious fervour,

which took the form of a pantheistic creed, and was so zealously

preached, that it had to be stamped out with fire and sword by the

dominant Moslem monotheists[536].

Since the French occupation of Madagascar, the Malagasy problem has

naturally been revived. But it may be regretted that so much time and

talent have been spent on a somewhat thrashed-out question by a number

of writers, who did not first take the trouble to read up the literature

of the subject.

By what race Madagascar was first peopled it is no longer possible to

say. The local reports or traditions of primitive peoples, either

extinct or still surviving in the interior, belong rather to the sphere

of Malagasy folklore than to that of ethnological research. In these

reports mention is frequently made of the _Kimos_, said to be now or

formerly living in the Bara country, and of the _Vazimbas_, who are by

some supposed to have been Gallas (_Ba-Simba_)--though they had no

knowledge of iron--whose graves are supposed to be certain monolithic

monuments which take the form of menhirs disposed in circles, and are

believed by the present inhabitants of the land to be still haunted by

evil spirits, that is, the ghosts of the long extinct Vazimbas.

Much of the confusion prevalent regarding the present ethnical relations

may be avoided if certain points (ably summarised by T. A. Joyce[537])

are borne in mind. The greater part of the population is negroid; the

language spoken over the whole of the island and many institutions and

customs are Malayo-Polynesian. A small section (Antimerina commonly

called Hovas)--forming the dominant people in the nineteenth century--is

of fairly pure Malay (or Javanese) blood, but is composed of

sixteenth-century immigrants, whereas the language belongs to a very

early branch of the Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) family. It would be

natural to suppose that the negroid element was African[538], for in

later times large numbers of Africans have been brought over by Arabs

and other slavers; but there are several objections to this view. In the

first place, the natives of the neighbouring coast are not seamen, and

the voyage to Madagascar offers peculiar difficulties owing to the

strong currents. In the second place, it seems impossible that the first

inhabitants, supposing them to be African, should have abandoned their

own language in favour of one introduced by a small minority of

immigrants; the few Bantu words found in Madagascar may well have been

adopted from the slaves. In the third place, the culture exhibits no

distinctively African features, but is far more akin to that of

south-east Asia. There is much to be said, therefore, for the view that

the earliest and negroid inhabitants of Madagascar were Oceanic

negroids, who have always been known as expert seamen.

Since the coming of the negroid population, which probably arrived in

very early days, various small bands of immigrants or castaways have

landed on the shores of Madagascar and imposed themselves as reigning

dynasties on the surrounding villages, each thus forming the nucleus of

what now appears as a tribe. Among these were immigrants from Arabia,

and J. T. Last, who identifies Madagascar with the island of

_Menuthias_ described by Arrian in the third century A.D.[539], suggests

the "possibility that Madagascar may have been reached by Arabs before

the Christian era." This "possibility" is converted almost into a

certainty by the analysis of the Arabo-Malagasy terms made by Dahle, who

clearly shows that such terms "are comparatively very few," and also

"very ancient," in fact that, as already suggested by Fleischer of

Leipzig, many, perhaps the majority of them, "may be traced back to

Himyaritic influence[540]," that is, not merely to pre-Muhammadan, but

to pre-Christian times, just like the Sanskritic elements in the Oceanic

tongues.

The evidence that Malagasy is itself one of these Oceanic tongues, and

not an offshoot of the comparatively recent standard Malay is

overwhelming, and need not here detain us[541]. The diffusion of this

Austronesian language over the whole island--even amongst distinctly

Negroid Bantu populations, such as the Betsileos and Tanalas--to the

absolute exclusion of all other forms of speech, is an extraordinary

linguistic phenomenon more easily proved than explained. There are, of

course, provincialisms and even what may be called local dialects, such

as that of the Antankarana people at the northern extremity of the

island who, although commonly included in the large division of the

western Sakalavas, really form a separate ethnical group, speaking a

somewhat marked variety of Malagasy. But even this differs much less

from the normal form than might be supposed by comparing, for instance,

such a term as _maso-mahamay_, sun, with the Hova _maso-andro_, where

_maso_ in both means "eye," _mahamay_ in both = "burning," and _andro_

in both = "day." Thus the only difference is that one calls the sun

"burning eye," while the Hovas call it the "day's eye," as do so many

peoples in Malaysia[542].

So also the fish-eating _Anorohoro_ people, a branch of the _Sihanakas_

in the Alaotra valley, are said to have "quite a different dialect from

them[543]." But the statement need not be taken too seriously, because

these rustic fisherfolk, who may be called the Gothamites of Madagascar,

are supposed, by their scornful neighbours, to do everything

"contrariwise." Of them it is told that once when cooking eggs they

boiled them for hours to make them soft, and then finding they got

harder and harder threw them away as unfit for food. Others having only

one slave, who could not paddle the canoe properly, cut him in two,

putting one half at the prow, the other at the stern, and were surprised

at the result. It was not to be expected that such simpletons should

speak Malagasy properly, which nevertheless is spoken with surprising

uniformity by all the Malayan and Negro or Negroid peoples alike.

In Madagascar, however, the fusion of the two races is far less complete

than is commonly supposed. Various shades of transition between the two

extremes are no doubt presented by the _Sakalavas_ of the west, and the

_Betsimisarakas_, _Sitanakas_, and others of the east coast. But,

strange to say, on the central tableland the two seem to stand almost

completely apart, so that here the politically dominant Hovas still

present all the essential characteristics of the Oceanic Mongol, while

their southern neighbours, the _Betsileos_, as well as the _Tanalas_ and

_Ibaras_, are described as "African pure and simple, allied to the

south-eastern tribes of that continent[544]."

Specially remarkable is the account given by a careful observer, G. A.

Shaw, of the Betsileos, whose "average height is not less than six feet

for the men, and a few inches less for the women. They are large-boned

and muscular, and their colour is several degrees darker than that of

the Hovas, approaching very close to a black. The forehead is low and

broad, the nose flatter, and the lips thicker than those of their

conquerors, whilst their hair is _invariably_ crisp and woolly. No pure

Betsileo is to be met with having the smooth long hair of the Hovas. In

this, as in other points, there is a very clear departure from the

Malayan type, and a close approximation to the Negro races of the

adjacent continent[545]."

Now compare these brawny negroid giants with the wiry undersized Malayan

Hovas. As described by A. Vouchereau[546], their type closely resembles

that of the Javanese--short stature, yellowish or light leather

complexion, long, black, smooth and rather coarse hair, round head

(85.25), flat and straight forehead, flat face, prominent cheek-bones,

small straight nose, tolerably wide nostrils, small black and slightly

oblique eyes, rather thick lips, slim lithesome figure, small

extremities, dull restless expression, cranial capacity 1516 c.c.,

superior to both Negro and Sakalava[547].

Except in respect of this high cranial capacity, the measurements of

three Malagasy skulls in the Cambridge University Anatomical Museum,

studied by W. L. H. Duckworth[548], correspond fairly well with these

descriptions. Thus the cephalic index of the reputed Betsimisaraka

(Negroid) and that of the Betsileo (Negro) are respectively 71 and 72.4,

while that of the Hova is 82.1; the first two, therefore, are

long-headed, the third round-headed, as we should expect. But the cubic

capacity of the Hova (presumably Mongoloid) is only 1315 as compared

with 1450 and 1480 of two others, presumably African Negroes. Duckworth

discusses the question whether the black element in Madagascar is of

African or Oceanic (Melanesian-Papuan) origin, about which much

diversity of opinion still prevails, and on the evidence of the few

cranial specimens available he decides in favour of the African.

Despite the low cubic capacity of Duckworth's Hova, the mental powers of

these, and indeed of the Malagasy generally, are far from despicable.

Before the French occupation the London Missionary Society had succeeded

in disseminating Christian principles and even some degree of culture

among considerable numbers both in the Hova capital and surrounding

districts. The local press had been kept going by native compositors who

had issued quite an extensive literature both in Malagasy and English.

Agricultural and industrial methods had been improved, some engineering

works attempted, and the Hova craftsmen had learnt to build but not to

complete houses in the European style, because, although they could

master European processes, they could not, Christians though they were,

get the better of the old superstitions, one of which is that the owner

of a house always dies within a year of its completion. Longevity is

therefore ensured by not completing it, with the curious result that the

whole city looks unfinished or dilapidated. In the house where Mrs

Colvile stayed, "one window was framed and glazed, the other nailed up

with rough boards; part of the stair-banister had no top-rail; outside

only a portion of the roof had been tiled; and so on throughout[549]."

The culture has been thus summarised by T. A. Joyce[550]. Clothing is

entirely vegetable, and the Malay _sarong_ is found throughout the east;

bark-cloth in the south-east and west. Hairdressing varies considerably,

and among the Bara and Sakalava is often elaborate. Silver ornaments are

found amongst the Antimerina and some other eastern tribes, made chiefly

from European coins dating from the sixteenth century. Circumcision is

universal. In the east the tribes are chiefly agricultural; in the

north, west and south, pastoral. Fishing is important among those tribes

situated on coast, lake or river. Houses are all rectangular and

pile-dwellings are found locally. Rice is the staple crop and the cattle

are of the humped variety. The Antimerina excel the rest in all crafts.

Weaving, basket-work (woven variety) and iron-working are all good; the

use of iron is said to have been unknown to the Bara and Vazimba until

comparatively recent times. Pottery is poor. Carvings in the round (men

and animals) are found amongst the Sakalava and Bara, in relief

(arabesques, etc.) among the Betsileo and others. Before the

introduction of firearms, the spear was the universal weapon; bows are

rare and possibly of late introduction; slings and the blowgun are also

found. Shields are circular, made of wood covered with hide. The early

system of government was patriarchal, and villages were independent; the

later immigrants introduced a system of feudal monarchy with themselves

as a ruling caste. Thus the Antimerina have three main castes;

_Andriana_ or nobles (_i.e._ pure-blooded descendants of the

conquerors), _Hova_, or freemen (descendants of the incorporated Vazimba

more or less mixed with the conquerors), and _Andevo_ or slaves. The

king was regarded almost as a god. An institution thoroughly suggestive

of Malayo-Polynesian sociology is that of _fadi_ or tabu, which enters

into every sphere of human activity. An indefinite creator-god was

recognized, but more important were a number of spirits and fetishes,

the latter with definite functions. Signs of tree worship and of belief

in transmigration are sporadic. At the present time, half the population

of the island is, at least nominally, Christian.

A good deal of fancy is displayed in the oral literature, comprising

histories, or at least legends, fables, songs, riddles, and a great mass

of folklore, much of which has already been rescued from oblivion by the

"Malagasy Folklore Society." Some of the stories present the usual

analogies to others in widely separated lands, stories which seem to be

perennial, and to crop up wherever the surface is a little disturbed by

investigators. One of those in Dahle's extensive collection, entitled

the "History of Andrianarisainaboniamasoboniamanoro" might be described

as a variant of our "Beauty and the Beast." Besides this prince with the

long name, called _Bonia_ "for short," there is a princess "Golden

Beauty," both being of miraculous birth, but the latter a cripple and

deformed, until found and wedded by Bonia. Then she is so transfigured

that the "Beast" is captivated and contrives to carry her off. Thereupon

follows an extraordinary series of adventures, resulting of course in

the rescue of Golden Beauty by Bonia, when everything ends happily, not

only for the two lovers, but for all other people whose wives had also

been abducted. These are now restored to their husbands by the hero, who

vanquishes and slays the monster in a fierce fight, just as in our

nursery tales of knights and dragons.

In the Philippines, where the ethnical confusion is probably greater

than in any other part of Malaysia, the great bulk of the inhabitants

appear to be of Indonesian and proto-Malayan stocks. Except in the

southern island of Mindanao, which is still mainly Muhammadan or

heathen, most of the settled populations have long been nominal Roman

Catholics under a curious theocratic administration, in which the true

rulers are not the civil functionaries, but the priests, and especially

the regular clergy[551]. One result has been over three centuries of

unstable political and social relations, ending in the occupation of the

archipelago by the United States (1898). Another, with which we are here

more concerned, has been such a transformation of the subtle Malayan

character that those who have lived longest amongst the natives

pronounce their temperament unfathomable. Having to comply outwardly

with the numerous Christian observances, they seek relief in two ways,

first by making the most of the Catholic ceremonial and turning the many

feast-days of the calendar into occasions of revelry and dissipation,

connived at if not even shared in by the padres[552]; secondly by

secretly cherishing the old beliefs and disguising their true feelings,

until the opportunity is presented of throwing off the mask and

declaring themselves in their true colours. A Franciscan friar, who had

spent half his life amongst them, left on record that "the native is an

incomprehensible phenomenon, the mainspring of whose line of thought and

the guiding motive of whose actions have never yet been, and perhaps

never will be, discovered. A native will serve a master satisfactorily

for years, and then suddenly abscond, or commit some such hideous crime

as conniving with a brigand band to murder the family and pillage the

house[553]."

In fact nobody can ever tell what a Tagal, and especially a Visaya, will

do at any moment. His character is a succession of surprises; "the

experience of each year brings one to form fresh conclusions, and the

most exact definition of such a kaleidoscopic creature is, after all,

hypothetical."

After centuries of misrule, it was perhaps not surprising that no kind

of sympathy was developed between the natives and the whites. Foreman

fells us that everywhere in the archipelago he found mothers teaching

their little ones to look on their white rulers as demoniacal beings,

evil spirits, or at least something to be dreaded. "If a child cries, it

is hushed by the exclamation, _Castila!_ (Spaniard); if a white man

approaches a native dwelling, the watchword always is _Castila!_ and the

children hasten to retreat from the dreadful object."

For administrative purposes the natives were classed in three social

divisions--_Indios_, _Infieles_, and _Moros_--which, as aptly remarked

by F. H. H. Guillemard, is "an ecclesiastical rather than a scientific

classification[554]." The _Indios_ were the Christianized and more or

less cultured populations of all the towns and of the settled

agricultural districts, speaking a distinct Malayo-Polynesian language

of much more archaic type than the standard Malay. According to the

census of 1903 the total population of the islands was 7,635,428, of

whom nearly 7,000,000 were classed as civilised, and the rest as wild,

including 23,000 Negritoes (_Aeta_, see p. 156). At the time of the

Spanish occupation in the sixteenth century the _Visayas_ of the central

islands and part of Mindanao were the most advanced among the native

tribes, but this distinction is now claimed for the _Tagalogs_, who form

the bulk of the population in Manila and other parts of Luzon, and also

in Mindanao, and whose language is gradually displacing other dialects

throughout the archipelago. Other civilised tribes are the _Ilocano_,

_Bicol_, _Pangasinan_, _Pampangan_ and _Cagayan_, all of Luzon. Less

civilised tribes are the _Manobo_, _Mandaya_, _Subano_ and _Bagobo_ of

Mindanao, the _Bukidnon_ of Mindanao and the central islands, the

_Tagbanua_ and _Batak_ of Palawan, and the _Igorots_ of Luzon, some of

whom are industrious farmers, while among others, head-hunting is still

prevalent. These have been described by A. E. Jenks in a monograph[555].

The head form is very variable. Of 32 men measured by Jenks the

extremes of cephalic index were 91.48 and 67.48. The stature is always

low, averaging 1.62 m. (5 ft. 4 in.) but with an appearance of greater

height. The hair is black, straight, lank, coarse and abundant but "I

doubt whether to-day an entire tribe of perfectly straight-haired

primitive Malayan people exists in the archipelago[556]."

Under _Moros_ ("Moors") are comprised the Muhammadans exclusively, some

of whom are Malayans (chiefly in Mindanao, Basilan, and Palawan), some

true Malays (chiefly in the Sulu archipelago). Many of these are still

independent, and not a few, if not actually wild, are certainly but

little removed from the savage state. Yet, like the Sumatran Battas,

they possess a knowledge of letters, the Sulu people using the Arabic

script, as do all the Orang-Malayu, while the Palawan natives employ a

variant of the Devanagari prototype derived directly from the Javanese,

as above explained. They number nearly 280,000, of whom more than one

half are in Mindanao, and they form the bulk of the population in some

of the islands of the Sulu archipelago.

Some of these Sulu people, till lately fierce sea-rovers, get baptized

now and then; but, says Foreman, "they appeared to be as much Christian

as I was Mussulman[557]." They keep their harems all the same, and when

asked how many gods there are, answer "four," presumably Allah plus the

Athanasian Trinity. So the Ba-Fiots of Angola add crucifying to their

"penal code," and so in King M'tesa's time the Baganda scrupulously kept

two weekly holidays, the Mussulman Friday, and the Christian Sunday.

Lofty creeds superimposed too rapidly on primitive beliefs are apt to

get "mixed"; they need time to become assimilated.

That in the aborigines of Formosa are represented both Mongol

(proto-Malayan) and Indonesian elements may now probably be accepted as

an established fact. The long-standing reports of Negritoes also, like

the Philippine Aeta, have never been confirmed, and may be dismissed

from the present consideration. Probably five-sixths of the whole

population are Chinese immigrants, amongst whom are a large number of

Hakkas and Hok-los from the provinces of Fo-Kien and Kwang-tung[558].

They occupy all the cultivated western lowlands, which from the

ethnological standpoint may be regarded as a seaward outpost of the

Chinese mainland. The rest of the island, that is, the central highlands

and precipitous eastern slopes, may similarly be looked on as a

north-eastern outpost of Malaysia, being almost exclusively held by

Indonesian and Malayan aborigines from Malaysia (especially the

Philippines), with possibly some early intruders both from Polynesia and

from the north (Japan). All are classed by the Chinese settlers after

their usual fashion in three social divisions:--

1. The _Pepohwans_ of the plains, who although called "Barbarians," are

sedentary agriculturists and quite as civilised as their Chinese

neighbours themselves, with whom they are gradually merging in a single

ethnical group. The Pepohwans are described by P. Ibis as a fine race,

very tall, and "fetishists," though the mysterious rites are left to the

women. Their national feasts, dances, and other usages forcibly recall

those of the Micronesians and Polynesians. They may therefore, perhaps,

be regarded as early immigrants from the South Sea Islands, distinct in

every respect from the true aborigines.

2. The _Sekhwans_, "Tame Savages[559]," who are also settled

agriculturists, subject to the Chinese (since 1895 to the Japanese)

administration, but physically distinct from all the other

Formosans--light complexion, large mouth, thick lips, remarkably long

and prominent teeth, weak constitution. P. Ibis suspects a strain of

Dutch blood dating from the seventeenth century. This is confirmed by

the old books and other curious documents found amongst them, which have

given rise to so much speculation, and, it may be added, some

mystification, regarding a peculiar writing system and a literature

formerly current amongst the Formosan aborigines[560].

3. The _Chinhwans_, "Green Barbarians"--that is, utter savages--the true

independent aborigines, of whom there are an unknown number of tribes,

but regarding whom the Chinese possess but little definite information.

Not so their Japanese successors, one of whom, Kisak Tamai[561], tells

us that the Chinhwans show a close resemblance to the Malays of the

Malay Peninsula and also to those of the Philippines, and in some

respects to the Japanese themselves. When dressed like Japanese and

mingling with Japanese women, they can hardly be distinguished from

them. The vendetta is still rife amongst many of the ruder tribes, and

such is their traditional hatred of the Chinese intruders that no one

can either be tattooed or permitted to wear a bracelet until he has

carried off a Celestial head or two. In every household there is a frame

or bracket on which these heads are mounted, and some of their warriors

can proudly point to over seventy of such trophies. It is a relief to

hear that with their new Japanese masters they have sworn friendship,

these new rulers of the land being their "brothers and sisters." The

oath of eternal alliance is taken by digging a hole in the ground,

putting a stone in it, throwing earth at each other, then covering the

stone with the earth, all of which means that "as the stone in the

ground keeps sound, so do we keep our word unbroken."

It is interesting to note that this Japanese ethnologist's remarks on

the physical resemblances of the aborigines are fully in accord with

those of European observers. Thus to Hamy "they recalled the Igorrotes

of North Luzon, as well as the Malays of Singapore[562]." G. Taylor

also, who has visited several of the wildest groups in the southern and

eastern districts[563] (_Tipuns_, _Paiwans_, _Diaramocks_, _Nickas_,

_Amias_ and many others), traces some "probably" to Japan (Tipuns);

others to Malaysia (the cruel, predatory Paiwan head-hunters); and

others to the Liu-Kiu archipelago (the Pepohwans now of Chinese speech).

He describes the Diaramocks as the most dreaded of all the southern

groups, but doubts whether the charge of cannibalism brought against

them by their neighbours is quite justified.

Whether the historical Malays from Singapore or elsewhere, as above

suggested, are really represented in Formosa may be doubted, since no

survivals either of Hindu or Muhammadan rites appear to have been

detected amongst the aborigines. It is of course possible that they may

have reached the island at some remote time, and since relapsed into

savagery, from which the Orang-laut were never very far removed. But in

the absence of proof, it will be safer to regard all the wild tribes as

partly of Indonesian, partly of proto-Malayan origin.

This view is also in conformity with the character of the numerous

Formosan dialects, whose affinities are either with the Gyarung and

others of the Asiatic Indonesian tongues, or else with the Austronesian

organic speech generally, but not specially with any particular member

of that family, least of all with the comparatively recent standard

Malay. Thus Arnold Schetelig points out that only about a sixth part of

the Formosan vocabulary taken generally corresponds with modern

Malay[564]. The analogies of all the rest must be sought in the various

branches of the Oceanic stock language, and in the Gyarung and the

non-Chinese tongues of Eastern China[565]. Formosa thus presents a

curious ethnical and linguistic connecting link between the Continental

and Oceanic populations.

In the Nicobar archipelago are distinguished two ethnical groups, the

coast people, _i.e._ the _Nicobarese_[566] proper, and the _Shom Pen_,

aborigines of the less accessible inland districts in Great Nicobar. But

the distinction appears to be rather social than racial, and we may now

conclude with E. H. Man that all the islanders belong essentially to the

Mongolic division, the inlanders representing the pure type, the others

being "descended from a mongrel Malay stock, the crosses being probably

in the majority of cases with Burmese and occasionally with natives of

the opposite coast of Siam, and perchance also in remote times with such

of the Shom Pen as may have settled in their midst[567]."

Among the numerous usages which point to an Indo-Chinese and Oceanic

connection are pile-dwellings; the chewing of betel, which appears to be

here mixed with some earthy substance causing a dental incrustation so

thick as even to prevent the closing of the lips; distention of the

ear-lobe by wooden cylinders; aversion from the use of milk; and the

_couvade_, as amongst some Bornean Dayaks. The language, which has an

extraordinarily rich phonetic system (as many as 25 consonantal and 35

vowel sounds), is polysyllabic and untoned, like the Austronesian, and

the type also seems to resemble the Oceanic more than the Continental

Mongol subdivision. Mean height 5 ft. 3 in. (Shom Pen one inch less);

nose wide and flat; eyes rather obliquely set; cheekbones prominent;

features flat, though less so than in the normal Malayan; complexion

mostly a yellowish or reddish brown (Shom Pen dull brown); hair a dark

rusty brown, rarely quite black, straight, though not seldom wavy and

even ringletty, but Shom Pen generally quite straight.

On the other hand they approach nearer to the Burmese in their mental

characters; in their frank, independent spirit, inquisitiveness, and

kindness towards their women, who enjoy complete social equality, as in

Burma; and lastly in their universal belief in spirits called _iwi_ or

_siya_, who, like the _nats_ of Indo-China, cause sickness and death

unless scared away or appeased by offerings. Like the Burmese, also,

they place a piece of money in the mouth or against the cheek of a

corpse before burial, to help in the other world.

One of the few industries is the manufacture of a peculiar kind of rough

painted pottery, which is absolutely confined to the islet of Chowra, 5

miles north of Teressa. The reason of this restriction is explained by a

popular legend, according to which in remote ages the Great Unknown

decreed that, on pain of sudden death, an earthquake, or some such

calamity, the making of earthenware was to be carried on only in Chowra,

and all the work of preparing the clay, moulding and firing the pots,

was to devolve on the women. Once, a long time ago, one of these women,

when on a visit in another island, began, heedless of the divine

injunction, to make a vessel, and fell dead on the spot. Thus was

confirmed the tradition, and no attempt has since been made to infringe

the "Chowra monopoly[568]."

All things considered, it may be inferred that the archipelago was

originally occupied by primitive peoples of Malayan stock now

represented by the Shom Pen of Great Nicobar, and was afterwards

re-settled on the coastlands by Indo-Chinese and Malayan intruders, who

intermingled, and either extirpated or absorbed, or else drove to the

interior the first occupants. Nicobar thus resembles Formosa in its

intermediate position between the continental and Oceanic Mongol

populations. Another point of analogy is the absence of Negritoes from

both of these insular areas, where anthropologists had confidently

anticipated the presence of a dark element like that of the Andamanese

and Philippine Aeta.

FOOTNOTES:

[492] Here E. T. Hamy finds connecting links between the true Malays and

the Indonesians in the Bicols of Albay and the Bisayas of Panay ("Les

Races Malaiques et Americaines," in _L'Anthropologie_, 1896, p. 136).

Used in this extended sense, Hamy's _Malaique_ corresponds generally to

our _Malayan_ as defined presently.

[493] Ethnically Malayo-Polynesian is an impossible expression, because

it links together the Malays, who belong to the Mongol, and the

Polynesians, who belong to the Caucasic division. But as both

undoubtedly speak languages of the same linguistic stock the expression

is permitted in philology, although, as P. W. Schmidt points out,

"Malay" and "Polynesian" are not of equal rank: and the combination is

as unbalanced as "Indo-Bavarian" for "Indo-Germanic"; it is best

therefore to adopt Schmidt's term _Austronesian_ for this family of

languages (_Die Mon-Khmer Voelker_, 1906, p. 69).

[494] Indonesian type: undulating black hair, often tinged with red;

tawny skin, often rather light; low stature, 1.54 m.-1.57 m. (5 ft.

0-1/2 in.-5 ft. 1-3/4 in.); mesaticephalic head (76-78) probably

originally dolichocephalic; cheek-bones sometimes projecting; nose often

flattened, sometimes concave. It is difficult to isolate this type as it

has almost everywhere been mixed with a brachycephalic Proto-Malay

stock, but the Muruts of Borneo (cranial index 73) are probably typical

(A. C. Haddon, _The Races of Man_, 1909, p. 14).

[495] Recent literature on this area includes F. A. Swettenham, _The

Real Malay_, 1900, _British Malaya_, 1906; W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_,

1900; N. Annandale and H. C. Robinson, _Fasciculi Malayenses_, 1903; W.

W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, 1903.

[496] J. Leyden, _Malay Annals_, 1821, p. 44.

[497] In some places quite recent, as in Rembau, Malay Peninsula, whose

inhabitants are mainly immigrants from Sumatra in the seventeenth

century; and in the neighbouring group of petty Negri Sembilan States,

where the very tribal names, such as _Anak Acheh_, and _Sri Lemak

Menangkabau_, betray their late arrival from the Sumatran districts of

Achin and Menangkabau.

[498] _The Malay Archipelago_, p. 310.

[499] For Celebes see Von Paul und Fritz Sarasin, _Reisen in Celebes

ausgefuehrt in den Jahren 1893-6 und 1902-3_, 1905, and _Versuch einer

Anthropologie der Insel Celebes_, 1905.

[500] In 1898 a troop of Javanese minstrels visited London, and one of

them, whom I addressed in a few broken Malay sentences, resented in his

sleepy way the imputation that he was an Orang-Malayu, explaining that

he was _Orang Java_, a Javanese, and (when further questioned) _Orang

Solo_, a native of the Solo district, East Java. It was interesting to

notice the very marked Mongolic features of these natives, vividly

recalling the remark of A. R. Wallace, on the difficulty of

distinguishing between a Javanese and a Chinaman when both are dressed

alike. The resemblance may to a small extent be due to "mixture with

Chinese blood" (B. Hagen, _Jour. Anthrop. Soc._ Vienna, 1889); but

occurs over such a wide area that it must mainly be attributed to the

common origin of the Chinese and Javanese peoples.

[501] A. H. Keane, _Eastern Geography_, 2nd ed. 1892, p. 121.

[502] _Academy_, May 1, 1897, p. 469.

[503] Cool, p. 139.

[504] _The Malay Archipelago_, p. 175.

[505] In _Malay Sketches_, 1895.

[506] Cf. M. A. Czaplicka on Arctic Hysteria in _Aboriginal Siberia_,

1914, p. 307.

[507] On these national pastimes see Sir Hugh Clifford, _In Court and

Kampong_, 1897, p. 46 sq.

[508] _Cujo officio he rubar e pescar_, "whose business it is to rob and

fish" (Barros). Many of the Bajaus lived entirely afloat, passing their

lives in boats from the cradle to the grave, and praying Allah that they

might die at sea.

[509] Thucydides, _Pel. War_, I. 1-16.

[510] These are the noted _Illanuns_, who occupy the south side of the

large Philippine island of Mindanao, but many of whom, like the Bajaus

of Celebes and the Sulu Islanders, have formed settlements on the

north-east coast of Borneo. "Long ago their warfare against the

Spaniards degenerated into general piracy. Their usual practice was not

to take captives, but to murder all on board any boat they took. Those

with us [British North Borneo] have all settled down to a more orderly

way of life" (W. B. Pryer, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1886, p. 231).

[511] _The Malay Archipelago_, p. 341.

[512] In Central Africa "the belief in 'were' animals, that is to say in

human beings who have changed themselves into lions or leopards or some

such harmful beasts, is nearly universal. Moreover there are individuals

who imagine they possess this power of assuming the form of an animal

and killing human beings in that shape." Sir H. H. Johnston, _British

Central Africa_, p. 439.

[513] _In Court and Kampong_, p. 63.

[514] _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1886, p. 227. The Rajah gives the leading

features of the character of his countrymen as "pride of race and birth,

extraordinary observance of punctilio, and a bigoted adherence to

ancient custom and tradition."

[515] _The Pygmies_ (Translation), 1895, p. 26, fig. 15.

[516] _The Distribution of the Negritos_, 1899, p. 50.

[517] In the Appendix to C. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of

Borneo_, 1912, p. 311.

[518] J. H. Kohlbrugge, _L'Anthropologie_, IX. 1898.

[519] A. C. Haddon, "A Sketch of the Ethnography of Sarawak," _Archivio

per l'Antropologia e l'Etnologia_, XXXI. 1901; C. Hose and W. McDougall,

_The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_, 1912, Appendix, p. 314.

[520] H. Ling Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo_,

1896.

[521] O. Beccari, _Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo_, 1904, p.

54.

[522] Schwaner, in H. Ling Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak_, etc., 1896.

[523] A. C. Haddon, _Head-Hunters, Black, White and Brown_, 1901, p.

324.

[524] A. C. Haddon, _Head-Hunters, Black, White and Brown_, 1901, pp.

327-8.

[525] For further literature on Borneo see W. H. Furness, _The Home-life

of the Borneo Head-Hunters_, 1902; A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch

Borneo_, 1904; E. H. Gomes, _Seventeen Years among the Sea-Dyaks of

Borneo_, 1911; C. Hose and W. McDougall, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._, XXXI.

1901, and _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_, 1912.

[526] Not only in the southern districts for centuries subject to

Javanese influences, but also in Battaland, where they were first

discovered by H. von Rosenberg in 1853, and figured and described in

_Der Malayische Archipel_, Leipzig, 1878, Vol. I. p. 27 sq. "Nach ihrer

Form und ihren Bildwerken zu urtheilen, waren die Gebaeude Tempel, worin

der Buddha-Kultus gefeiert wurde" (p. 28). These are all the more

interesting since Hindu ruins are otherwise rare in Sumatra, where there

is nothing comparable to the stupendous monuments of Central and East

Java.

[527] Von Rosenberg, _op. cit._ Vol. I. p. 189. Amongst the points of

close resemblance may be mentioned the outriggers, for which Mentawi has

the same word (_abak_) as the Samoan (_va'r_ = _vaka_); the funeral

rites; taboo; the facial expression; and the language, in which the

numerical systems are identical; cf. Ment. _limongapula_ with Sam.

_limagafulu_, the Malay being _limapulah_ (fifty), where the Sam. infix

_ga_ (absent in Malay) is pronounced _gna_, exactly as in Ment.

[528] See Fr. Mueller, _Ueber den Ursprung der Schrift der Malaiischen

Voelker_, Vienna, 1865; and my Appendix to Stanford's _Australasia_,

First Series, 1879, p. 624.

[529] _Die Mangianenschrift von Mindoro, herausgegeben von A. B. Meyer

u. A. Schadenberg_, speciell bearbeitet von W. Foy, Dresden, 1895; see

also my remarks in _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1896, p. 277 sq.

[530] The Rejang, which certainly belongs to the same Indo-Javanese

system as all the other Malaysian alphabets, has been regarded by Sayce

and Renan as "pure Phoenician," while Neubauer has compared it with that

current in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. The suggestion that it

may have been introduced by the Phoenician crews of Alexander's admiral,

Nearchus (_Archaeol. Oxon._ 1895, No. 6), could not have been made by

anyone aware of its close connection with the Lampong of South, and the

Batta of North Sumatra (see also Prof. Kern, _Globus_, 70, p. 116).

[531] Sing. _Batta_, pl. _Battak_, hence the current form _Battaks_ is a

solecism, and we should write either _Battas_ or _Battak_. Lassen

derives the word from the Sanskrit _b'hata_, "savage."

[532] Again confirmed by Volz and H. von Autenrieth, who explored

Battaland early in 1898, and penetrated to the territory of the

"Cannibal Pakpaks" (_Geogr. Journ._, June, 1898, p. 672); not however

"for the first time," as here stated. The Pakpaks had already been

visited in 1853 by Von Rosenberg, who found cannibalism so prevalent

that "Niemand Anstand nimmt das essen von Menschenfleisch einzugestehen"

(_op. cit._ 1. p. 56).

[533] It is interesting to note that by the aid of the Lampong alphabet,

South Sumatra, John Mathew reads the word _Daibattah_ in the legend on

the head-dress of a gigantic figure seen by Sir George Grey on the roof

of a cave on the Glenelg river, North-west Australia ("The Cave

Paintings of Australia," etc., in _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1894, p. 44

sq.). He quotes from Coleman's _Mythology of the Hindus_ the statement

that "the Battas of Sumatra believe in the existence of one supreme

being, whom they name _Debati Hasi Asi_. Since completing the work of

creation they suppose him to have remained perfectly quiescent, having

wholly committed the government to his three sons, who do not govern in

person, but by vakeels or proxies." Here is possibly another

confirmation of the view that early Malayan migrations or expeditions,

some even to Australia, took place in pre-Muhammadan times, long before

the rise and diffusion of the Orang-Malayu in the Archipelago.

[534] _Memoir of the Life etc. of Sir T. S. Raffles_, by his widow,

1830.

[535] "Anthropologie des Atjehs," in _Rev. Med._, Batavia, XXX. 6, 1890.

[536] See C. Snouck Hurgronje, _The Achenese_, 1906.

[537] _Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections, British Museum_,

1910, p. 245.

[538] This opinion is still held by many competent authorities. Cf. J.

Deniker, _The Races of Man_, 1900, p. 469 ff.

[539] "His remarks would scarcely apply to any other island off the East

African coast, his descriptions of the rivers, crocodiles,

land-tortoises, canoes, sea-turtles, and wicker-work weirs for catching

fish, apply exactly to Madagascar of the present day, but to none of the

other islands" (_Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1896, p. 47).

[540] _Loc. cit._ p. 77. Thus, to take the days of the week, we

have:--Malagasy _alahady_, _alatsinainy_; old Arab. (Himyar.)

_al-ahadu_, _al-itsnani_; modern Arab. _el-ahad_, _el-etnen_ (Sunday,

Monday), where the Mal. forms are obviously derived not from the

present, but from the ancient Arabic. From all this it seems reasonable

to infer that the early Semitic influences in Madagascar may be due to

the same Sabaean or Minaean peoples of South Arabia, to whom the

Zimbabwe monuments in the auriferous region south of the Zambesi were

accredited by Theodore Bent.

[541] Those who may still doubt should consult M. Aristide Marre, _Les

Affinites de la Langue Malgache_, Leyden, 1884; Last's above quoted

Paper in the _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ and R. H. Codrington's _Melanesian

Languages_, Oxford, 1885.

[542] Malay _mata-ari_; Bajau _mata-lon_; Menado _mata-ro[=u]_; Salayer

_mato-allo_, all meaning literally "day's eye" (_mata_, _mato_ =

Malagasy _maso_ = eye; _ari_, _allo_, etc. = day, with normal

interchange of _r_ and _l_).

[543] J. Sibree, _Antananarivo Annual_, 1877, p. 62.

[544] W. D. Cowan, _The Bara Land_, Antananarivo, 1881, p. 67.

[545] "The Betsileo, Country and People," in _Antananarivo Annual_,

1877, p. 79.

[546] "Note sur l'Anthropologie de Madagascar," etc., in

_L'Anthropologie_, 1897, p. 149 sq.

[547] The contrast between the two elements is drawn in a few bold

strokes by Mrs Z. Colvile, who found that in the east coast districts

the natives (Betsimisarakas chiefly) were black "with short, curly hair

and negro type of feature, and showed every sign of being of African

origin. The Hovas, on the contrary, had complexions little darker than

those of the peasantry of Southern Europe, straight black hair, rather

sharp features, slim figures, and were unmistakably of the Asiatic type"

(_Round the Black Man's Garden_, 1893, p. 143). But even amongst the

Hovas a strain of black blood is betrayed in the generally rather thick

lips, and among the lower classes in the wavy hair and dark skin.

[548] _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1897, p. 285 sq.

[549] _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1897, p. 153.

[550] _Handbook to the Ethnological Collection, British Museum_, 1910,

pp. 246-7.

[551] Augustinians, Dominicans, Recollects (Friars Minor of the Strict

Observance), and Jesuits.

[552] In fact there is no great parade of morality on either side, nor

is it any reflection on a woman to have children by the priest.

[553] J. Foreman, _The Philippine Islands_, 1899, p. 181.

[554] _Australasia_, 1894, II. p. 49.

[555] _The Bontoc Igorot_, Eth. Survey Pub. Vol. I. 1904. Further

information concerning the Philippines is published in the _Census

Report in 1903_, 1905; _Ethnological Survey Publications_, 1904- ; C. A.

Koeze, _Crania Ethnica Philippinica, ein Beitrag zur Anthropologie der

Philippinen_, 1901- ; Henry Gannett, _People of the Philippines_, 1904;

R. B. Bean, _The Racial Anatomy of the Philippine Islanders_, 1910;

Fay-Cooper Cole, _Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao_, 1913.

[556] A. E. Jenks, _The Bontoc Igorot_, 1904, p. 41.

[557] _Op. cit._ p. 247.

[558] Girard de Rialle, _Rev. d'Anthrop._, Jan. and April, 1885. These

studies are based largely on the data supplied by M. Paul Ibis and

earlier travellers in the island. Nothing better has since appeared

except G. Taylor's valuable contributions to the _China Review_ (see

below). The census of 1904 gave 2,860,574 Chinese, 51,770 Japanese and

104,334 aborigines.

[559] Lit. "ripe barbarians" (_barbares murs_, Ibis).

[560] See facsimiles of bilingual and other MSS. from Formosa in T. de

Lacouperie's _Formosa Notes on MSS., Languages, and Races_, Hertford,

1887. The whole question is here fully discussed, though the author

seems unable to arrive at any definite conclusion even as to the _bona_

or _mala fides_ of the noted impostor George Psalmanazar.

[561] _Globus_, 70, p. 93 sq.

[562] "Les Races Malaiques," etc., in _L'Anthropologie_, 1896.

[563] "The Aborigines of Formosa," in _China Review_, XIV. p. 198 sq.,

also xvi. No. 3 ("A Ramble through Southern Formosa"). The services

rendered by this intelligent observer to Formosan ethnology deserve more

general recognition than they have hitherto received. See also the

_Report on the control of the Aborigines of Formosa_, Bureau of

Aboriginal Affairs, Formosa, 1911.

[564] "Sprachen der Ureinwohner Formosa's," in _Zeitschr. f.

Voelkerpsychologie_, etc., v. p. 437 sq. This anthropologist found to his

great surprise that the Polynesian and Maori skulls in the London

College of Surgeons presented striking analogies with those collected by

himself in Formosa. Here at least is a remarkable harmony between speech

and physical characters.

[565] De Lacouperie, _op. cit._ p. 73.

[566] The natives of course know nothing of this word, and speak of

their island homes as _Mattai_, a vague term applied equally to land,

country, village, and even the whole world.

[567] "The Nicobar Islanders," in _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1889, p. 354 sq.

Cf. C. B. Kloss, _In the Andamans and Nicobars_, 1903.

[568] E. H. Man, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ 1894, p. 21.