In regard to Formosa Meyer quotes Scheteleg (Trans. Ethn. Soc.,
n.s., 1869, vii): "I am convinced * * * that the Malay origin of
most of the inhabitants of Formosa is incontestable." But Hamy holds
that the two skulls which Scheteleg brought were Negrito skulls,
an assumption which Meyer (Distribution of Negritos, 1898, p. 52)
disposes of as follows: "To conclude the occurrence of a race in a
country from certain characters in two skulls, when this race has
not been registered from that country, is, in the present embryonic
state of craniology, an unwarrantable proceeding."
In like manner Hamy has found that a certain Japanese skull in the
Paris Museum resembles a Negrito skull, and he also finds traces of
Negritos in Japan in the small stature, crisp hair, and darker color
of the natives of the interior of the Island of Kiusiu. But Meyer
holds that the facts brought forward up to the present time are far
from being established, and objects to the acceptance of surmises
and explanations more or less subjective as conclusive.
There is no doubt of the occurrence of Negritos in the peninsula of
Malacca, where both pure and mixed people have been found. These
are reported under a variety of names, of which Semang and Sakai
are perhaps the best known. Meyer (Distribution of Negritos, p. 62,
footnote 2) says: "Stevens divides the Negritos of Malacca into two
principal tribes--the Belendas, who with the Tumiors branched off
from the Kenis tribe, and the Meniks, who consist of the Panggans
of Kelantan and Petani and the Semangs of the west coast. Only
the Panggans * * * and the Tumiors are pure Negritos. A name often
recurring for the Belendas is Sakeis (Malay: 'bondman,' 'servant'),
a designation given them in the first instance by the Malays but
which they often also apply to themselves when addressing strangers."
In their efforts to find Negrito traces in the Mao-tse, the aboriginal
peoples of the Chinese Empire, De Lacouperie and De Quatrefages
have, in the opinion of Meyer, even less to stand on than had Hamy
in the case of Japan. In like manner it remains to be proved whether
the Moii of Annam are related to Negritos, as the two French writers
have stated, but whose opinions have been vigorously opposed by Meyer
and others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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