_b._ The opinion of Le Gobien, one of the early Missionaries, "that the Caroline Islanders came from the Philippines." 4. _Details of the distribution within the limits of a single division._--The question as to the particular part of Micronesia, or the particular part of Polynesia, from which the rest of the respective areas was peopled, is so much a part and parcel of the broader question as to the origin of the population _en masse_, that it belongs, in its entirety, to a latter stage of our inquiries. Still there are a few facts which may be noticed at once; and these apply to Polynesia Proper. Assuming as a postulate, that the direction of the line of population is from east to west (or _vice versâ_), from north to south (or _vice versâ_), &c., it is reasonable to suppose that each isle has been peopled from the one nearest to it, and that _exclusively_. Hence no second source of population is to be assumed _gratuitously_. Upon reasonable grounds, however, it _may_ be assumed; _e.g._ in the Marquesas, it is said, that the difference of dialects for the different islands is scarcely consistent with a population from the Paumoto group exclusively. So also, in the Sandwich Islands, although Nukahiva is the _primâ facie_ source of the population, Tonga elements occur in a degree beyond that in which they are found in Nukahiva itself. Here, also, the inference of a second element is legitimate. Missionaries and ethnologists, who have applied a sagacious criticism to the problem of the _immediate_ population of Polynesia, have found good reasons for believing that the _first archipelago of Polynesia Proper_ that received a population from some other quarter, and which transmitted it, in different streams elsewhere, was the _Samoan_ or _Navigators'_ Islands. This opinion, the grounds of which may be found in full in the ethnological portion of the United States Exploring Expedition, is, probably, the right one; at any rate it is the proper inference, from the facts known to the investigators. The last three questions will be better considered after the notice of the _Oceanic Negritos of the Kelænonesian area_. _THE MALEGASI BRANCH_(?). The consideration of the Malegasi Amphinesians is deferred until we treat upon the ethnology of Africa. II. _THE KELÆNONESIAN STOCK_.[66] _Physical conformation._--Modified Amphinesian Negrito. Skin rough and harsh, black rather than brown or olive. Hair crisp, curly, frizzy, and woolly(?) rather than straight; black. Stature from five feet, or under, to six(?). _Languages._--Not generally admitted to contain a certain proportion of Malay words--but really containing it. _Distribution._--Wholly insular; islands often large. _Area._--New Guinea, New Ireland, Solomon's Isles, Louisiade, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Australia, Tasmania. _Aliment._--Mammalian fauna considerable. In parts, deficient in ruminants and pachydermata.