The Ethnology of the British Colonies and DependenciesLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology
[62] Since this was written Major-General Briggs' valuable paper on the
_Aboriginal Tribes of India_, has been published in "Transactions of the
British Association," &c., for 1851. Having been seen in MS. by the
present writer it has been freely used.
CHAPTER V.
BRITISH DEPENDENCIES IN THE MALAYAN PENINSULA.--THE OCEANIC STOCK
AND ITS DIVISIONS.--THE MALAY, SEMANG, AND DYAK TYPES.--THE ORANG
BINUA.--JAKUNS.--THE BIDUANDA KALLANG.--THE ORANG SLETAR.--THE
SARAWAK TRIBES.--THE NEW ZEALANDERS.--THE AUSTRALIANS.--THE
TASMANIANS.
Our isolated and small settlements in the Malayan Peninsula,[63] the
depôt at Labuan, Sir James Brooke's Rajahship of Sarawak, New Zealand,
the joint protectorate of the Sandwich Islands and Tahiti, Australia,
and Van Dieman's Land, bring us to a new division of the human species,
which is conveniently called the _Oceanic_.
Its divisions and subdivisions are as follows:--
{ PROTONESIANS { MICRONESIANS
{ AMPHINESIANS -{ POLYNESIANS -{ POLYNESIANS
{ { MALAGASI { PROPER
OCEANIC-{
{ { PAPUANS
{ KELÆNONESIANS-{ AUSTRALIANS
{ TASMANIANS.
Our settlements are limited to the Protonesian, Proper Polynesian,
Australian, and Tasmanian sections: and we have no political authority
over any of the Malagasi, Micronesians, or Papuans.
With the exception of the occupants of the Malayan Peninsula, all the
Oceanic population occupy islands. This explains the term _Oceanic_.
Their _distribution_ is as remarkable as their _extension_. The
Amphinesian[64] stream of population, originating in the peninsula of
Malacca, is continued through Borneo, the Moluccas, and the Philippines,
Lord North's Island, Sonsoral, the Pelew group, the Caroline and
Marianne Isles, the Ralik and Radack chains, the Kingsmill group and the
Gilbert and Scarborough Islands, to the Navigators', Society, Friendly,
Marquesas, Sandwich, and New Zealand groups; having become _Micronesian_
rather than _Protonesian_, after passing the Philippines, and _Proper
Polynesian_ rather than _Micronesian_, after passing the Scarborough and
Gilbert Archipelagoes. In this course it passes _round_ New Guinea and
Australia; in each of which islands the population is Kelænonesian.
The Malay of the Malacca peninsula is no longer either monosyllabic or
uninflectional, although in immediate contact with the southern
dialects of the Siamese. Hence, the transition is abrupt; although by no
means conclusive as to any broad and trenchant line of ethnological
demarcation.
The differences of physical form are less than those of language. No one
has denied that the Malay configuration is a modification of the
Mongolian--_at least in some of its varieties_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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