Chapter IV. Islands of the Indian and Malay Archipelago.

There exists no history or tradition of the process of dispersal of the Sabaians amongst the islands of the Indian Ocean. We have now got beyond the range of the classical historians, and it is unlikely that there should be any memorials preserved by the people of a series of movements which would be gradual and limited in their character, often consisting of families or hapus,^* and not attracting public observation. But that the dispersal amongst the whole of these islands, as far east as Papua, including the Philippine Islands, was complete will be abundantly shown when we refer to the names of places still existing. The revered name Saba was again spread as the people spread, and survives still in the name of the large island adjoining Sabadidi—Java, and again in Ceram as Sawai, and again on the north coast of Papua as Saibai, according to a recent missionary report published in the Evening Star newspaper, and very notably in the name of the island Saparua or Saba the Second. The legend of Hawaii loa describes the islands discovered by him as uninhabited. That may have been so. It is, however, very remarkable that in the Maui legend Muri-ranga-Whenua expects enemies from the east, and only feels easy in her mind when she finds that Maui is approaching from the west, the quarter from which friends would arrive when making for Sabadidi. This portion of the legend appears in all the versions that I have seen. It would appear from this that there were persons in her neighbourhood whose relations to her were of a hostile character. I am unable to

^* A subdivision of a tribe.

page 72 discover whether the Negritto races, who may have been the persons of whom Ranga-whenua was in dread, preceded the Sabaians or arrived after their settlement in the islands, and pushed through to the territories where they are still found. According to recent observations there seems to be considerable approximation of the languages, but the physical characteristics of the two people are not alike, at least in the eyes of an unscientific observer. Admixture of blood may have taken place, and of language also, possibly though only during the sojourns on the coasts while at a later period the Sabaians were passing onwards in their progress eastwards.

The first great event which disturbed the Sabaians after their settlement in the Molucca islands seems to have been an invasion, possibly with warlike forces, possibly by gradual accretion of the Barat or Mahratta races from the south-east of India. Pressed southwards by the increasing weight of foreign invasion from the north the Barats passed over into the islands. Tradition says that Sumatra (our Sabadidi or Jabadi) was at one time joined to Hindustan. Whether it was so or not matters little to our subject. The transit was made, and an impulse was given to an eastward migration of the previous inhabitants—the Sabaians. It is probable that a contest of some duration took place before the final expulsion of the Sabaians by the Indians. During this period there would be some intermixture of blood and language, for female prisoners of the intruding race would be saved from destruction by the Sabaians into whose hands they fell, and would be taken for wives. Thus many Barat words would be introduced into the language, as Mr. Thomson has shown in his papers printed in the proceedings of the New Zealand Institute,—the number, however, being surprisingly small, perhaps not equal to the number of Greek or Aryan words in the Maori language. At this period of their history also were procured, as spoil or otherwise, the Tamul bell, in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Colenzo, and the stone bird, lately discovered at Whaingaroa, and the other bird mentioned by Dr. Von Haast, of Christchurch. Similarly, although the English were successful in the war with the Maoris, page 73 the latter are in possession of watches and trinkets, which they took from English officers, and if they migrated again would doubtless take these things with them.

This Hindoo invasion or migration must have been on a very great scale indeed, for the public works of the intruders, still in existence, can only have been erected by a people both numerous and wealthy. Mr. Wallace, a most exact and painstaking observer, spent many years in the Moluccas, Sundas, and Philippines, engaged in his special work of collecting birds and insects. But he furnishes also much information on ethnic and historical matters, all characterised by the same conscientious moderation and cautious observation. A description by Mr. Wallace of some of the architectural wonders of Java, the work of this intruding race, is inserted. He places the date of their construction at five hundred years back, when the Hindoos had complete possession of the Sunda Islands.

"The road to Wonosalem led through a magnificent forest, in the depths of which we passed a fine ruin of what appeared to have been a royal tomb or mausoleum. It is formed entirely of stone and elaborately carved. Near the base is a course of boldly projecting blocks, sculptured in high relief, with a series of scenes which are probably incidents in the life of the defunct. These are all beautifully executed, some of the figures of animals in particular being easily recognisable and very accurate. The general design, as far as the ruined state of the upper part will permit of its being seen, is very good, the effect being given by an immense number and variety of projecting or retreating courses of squared stones in place of mouldings. The size of this structure is about thirty feet square by twenty feet high, and as the traveller comes suddenly upon it on a small elevation by the roadside, overshadowed by gigantic trees, overrun with plants and creepers, and closely backed by the gloomy forest, he is struck by the solemnity and picturesque beauty of the scene, and is led to ponder on the strange law of progress, which looks so like retrogression, and which in so many distant parts of the world has exterminated or driven out a highly artistic and constructive race, to make room for one which, as far as we can judge, is very far its inferior.

"Few Englishmen are aware of the number and beauty of the architectural remains in Java. They have never been popularly illustrated or described, and it will therefore take most people by surprise to learn that they far surpass those of Central America, perchance even those of India. To give some idea of these ruins, and perchance to excite wealthy amateurs to explore them thoroughly and obtain by photography an accurate record of these beautiful sculptures before it is too late, I will enumerate the most important, as briefly described in Sir Stamford Raffles's 'History of Java.'

"Brambanam.—Near the centre of Java, between the native capitals of Djoko-kerta and Sura-kerta, is the village of Brambanam, near which are abundance of ruins, the most important being the temples of Loro-Jongran and Chandi Sewa. At Loro-Jongran there were twenty separate buildings, six large and fourteen small temples. They are now a mass of ruins, but the largest temples are supposed to have been ninety feet high. They were all constructed of solid stone, everywhere decorated with carvings and bas-reliefs, and adorned with numbers of statues, many of which still remain entire. At Chandi Sewa, or the 'Thousand Temples,' are many fine colossal figures. Captain Baker, who surveyed these ruins, said he had never in his life seen 'such stupendous and finished specimens of human labour, and of the science and taste of ages long since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass as in this spot.' They cover a space of nearly six hundred feet square, and consist of an outer row of eighty-four small temples, a second row of seventy-six, a third of sixty-four, a fourth of forty-four, and the fifth forming an inner parallelogram of twenty-eight, in all two hundred and ninety-six small temples, disposed in five regular parallelograms. In the centre is a large cruciform temple surrounded by forty flights of steps, richly ornamented with sculpture, and containing many apartments. The tropical vegetation has ruined most of the smaller temples, but some remain tolerably perfect, from which the effect of the whole may be imagined. About half-a-mile off is another temple, called Chandi Kali Bening, seventy-two feet page 75 square and sixty feet high, in fine preservation and covered with sculptures of Hindoo mythology surpassing any that exist in India. Other ruins of palaces, halls, and temples, with abundance of sculptured deities, are found in the same neighbourhood.

"Borobodo.—About eighty miles eastward, in the province of Kedu, is the great temple of Borobodo. It is built upon a small hill, and consists of a central dome and seven ranges of terraced walls covering the slope of the hill and forming open galleries each below the other, and communicating by steps and gateways. The central dome is fifty feet in diameter; around it is a triple circle of seventy-two towers, and the whole building is six hundred and twenty feet square, and about one hundred feet high. In the terrace walls are niches containing cross-legged figures larger than life, to the number of about four hundred, and both sides of all the terrace walls are covered with bas-reliefs crowded with figures, and carved in hard stone; and which must therefore occupy an extent of nearly three miles in length! The amount of human labour and skill expended on the Great Pyramid of Egypt sinks into insignificance when compared with that required to complete this sculptured hill-temple in the interior of Java.

"Junong Prau.—About forty miles south-west of Samarang, on a mountain called Junong Prau, an extensive plateau is covered with ruins. To reach these temples four flights of stone steps were made up the mountain from opposite directions, each flight consisting of more than a thousand steps. Traces of nearly four hundred temples have been found here, and many (perhaps all) were decorated with rich and delicate sculptures. The whole country between this and Brambanam, a distance of sixty miles, abounds with ruins; so that fine sculptured images may be seen lying in ditches or built into the walls of enclosures.

"In the eastern part of Java, at Kediri and in Malang, there are equally abundant traces of antiquity, but the buildings themselves have been mostly destroyed. Sculptured figures, however, abound; and the ruins of forts, palaces, baths, aqueducts, and temples can be everywhere traced. It is altogether contrary to page 76 the plan of this book to describe what I have not myself seen, but having been led to mention them, I felt bound to do something to call attention to these marvellous works of art. One is overwhelmed by the contemplation of these innumerable sculptures, worked with delicacy and artistic feeling in a hard, intractable, trachytic rock, and all found in one tropical island. What could have been the state of society, what the amount of population, what the means of subsistence which rendered such gigantic work possible, will, perhaps, ever remain a mystery: and it is a wonderful example of the power of religious ideas in social life that in the very country where, five hundred years ago, these grand works were being yearly executed, the inhabitants now only build rude houses of bamboo and thatch, and look upon these relics of their forefathers with ignorant amazement, as the undoubted productions of giants or of demons. It is much to be regretted that the Dutch Government do not take vigorous steps for the preservation of these ruins from the destroying agency of tropical vegetation, and for the collection of the fine sculptures which are everywhere scattered over the island."

The constructors of these amazing works must have been a numerous, civilized, and powerful people. They expelled or reduced to slavery, or drove to the mountains, the population previously inhabiting the country. The evidences of the Hindoo intrusion gradually diminish as we advance eastwards, while that of the Mongol or Malay becomes more marked.

It is very difficult to arrange any system of chronology of these events. An approximate estimate may be made, however, which would put the immigration into the islands of the Indian Ocean of small contingents of the Sabaians at dates anterior to the Solomonic epoch, with a continued accretion of settlers, from commercial or similar interests, progressing down to the classical times. Probably during the centuries that followed the Roman attack on the Sabaians in Arabia, and more markedly after the supremacy of the Himyaritic tribe had been acquired by force, the movement of the tribes of the nation called by Strabo Chatramotitæ, Chattabaneis, Minœi, and Sabaians became general. At about 550 A.D., after the page 77 Persian invasion under Chosroes, the Himyarites, or a considerable contingent of them, followed the other clans, leaving behind them part of their tribe, who still inhabit the south coast of Arabia, and are called Mahri. We should then expect that the Himyarites would be the occupants of the most westerly lands in the new country, and the last to move on to the east as successive attacks of Hindoos and Malays compelled renewed flight. And this would appear to be so, for many considerations suggest that the Maori and Moriori, who it is presumed are the Polynesian representatives of the Himyarites or Homeritai, were the last of the nation to make their appearance in the Pacific. To an instinctive recognition of this fact may be attributed the general attempt of investigators to trace the migration of the Maori tribe into New Zealand from some other of the Pacific groups. The duration of the residence of the Maori people in New Zealand cannot be more than twenty generations,^* or 600 years. If then the Himyarites arrived in the Indian Islands about 600 A.D., and appeared in New Zealand in 1250, allowing thirty years for sojournings on the passage (of course a merely conjectural number), their residence in the Indian Islands will have covered a period of 600 years.

After the expulsion of the Sabaians, including the Himyarites (or to use their modern designation, the Mahri), from the Westerly Islands, Sumatra and Java, as they are now called, they occupied the more easterly portion of the Sunda and Molucca groups, and the Philippines. No doubt these places had been already settled by the people, and the refugees merely joined their brethren who had gone before. But troubles still followed them. The Malays, a people of Mongol race, who inhabited the adjoining peninsula, commenced encroachments and acquired a military superiority against which the native residents struggled fruitlessly. The invaders treated the inhabitants of these easterly islands as the Barats treated the inhabitants of the Sundas. They expelled

^* I have met with genealogies containing more than twenty generations, but those antecedent to twenty are generally mythical, containing the names of the gods. I feel very confident that the number twenty may be relied on. According to Fernander, the legends and genealogies of other Polynesian Islands indicate a period for the migration into the Pacific ranging from 200 to 500 A.D.

page 78 them or destroyed them, or drove them to the mountains, leaving a few existing in miserable communities, as we now find them. The Malay accounts furnish abundant evidence of these facts.

Here again took place a slight admixture of foreign blood, and a small introduction of foreign words into the language,—very insignificant indeed, but still sufficiently observable to have caused some writers to attribute to the Polynesians a Malay origin. It is admitted that there is some mixture of blood, and that there is a Malay taint in the Polynesian race, as there ever will be in the case of a conquering people intruding among a people who yield, but the mixture is very slight in the Polynesian Islands, owing to the fact, doubtless, that the conquered people rapidly fled away, and sought new homes in the archipelago, even before they finally abandoned the Indian islands. The portion of the nation that remained among the hostile invaders would be more liable to be affected by the intruding element; but even amongst them the original type is still easily distinguished, and the language does not appear to have undergone much change.

During this troublesome period the work of degradation would advance with accelerated rapidity, and it is probable that long before the Sabaians abandoned the islands of the Indian Ocean they had fallen into a state of social barbarism little differing from the aspect presented to Capt. Cook when he made his voyages.

As the belief in the Malay origin of the Polynesians is of very general acceptation, and is, in my judgment, a very singular error, for which no foundation of fact exists, it will be well to insert some quotations from the works of scientific men, who, writing without reference to this special subject, and without animus arguendi (to use a lawyer's word), will furnish evidence of undoubted authority.

Dr. Pickering, member of the United States exploring expedition, writes when reaching Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands: "The armed government launch boarded us in the bay, and afforded the opportunity of recognising in the crew the identity in race with the Polynesians."

Writing of Mindanao, he says: "Towards evening we again left the fort to visit a village in the vicinity, with the injunction to be page 79 very cautious, and not to trust the Moors. The people were civil. One Malay soldier, however, pronounced them Moris (Maoris), and spoke with a compassionate air of their ignorance." Further on he says: "I have not met with any examples of the Harapora tribes, described as inhabiting the interior of Mindanao, Booru, Ceram, and Celebes, and as possessing the entire island of Jilolo. What is alleged of the superior stature^* and lordly perfection of these people is worthy of notice, together with the existence among them of the practice of tattooing, or at least of staining the skin. These particulars, taken in connection with what has already been stated of the inhabitants of Pulo-Mariere, seem to have a bearing on the question of the origin of the Polynesians." Again, Hunt, in speaking of the Idan and Maruts of Borneo, states that they are fairer and better featured than Malays, stronger and more robust. The inhabitants of Mount Kiley-Baulu are nearly as fair as Europeans.

What Dr. Pickering refers to about Pulo-Mariere is this. Mr. James Read, of Philadelphia, once landed on Pulo-Mariere, a small island north-east of Jilolo, and found the natives a very large and fine-looking set of people, and beautifully tattooed. Proceeding thence to the Malay Islands, he perceived a striking diminution of stature, together with an entire absence of tattooing.

Mr. Wallace, the celebrated naturalist already mentioned, who travelled for eight years among these islands, also furnishes valuable authority. I should state, however, that this writer includes the Papuans among the Polynesians. He classes the Malays amongst the Mongolians, noticing the absence of beard and the peculiar hair. Speaking of Coupang, he says, "The inhabitants consist of Malays, Chinese, and Dutch, besides the natives." Of the Celebes Island he says, "The plateau of Tondano is chiefly inhabited by people nearly as white as the Chinese, and with very pleasing semi-European features. The people of Siau and Sanguir much resemble these, and I believe them to be perhaps immigrants from some of the islands of North Polynesia." Of Batchian he

^* How physical types endure! Herodotus's phrase is "the tallest and handsomest people in the world."

page 80 writes, "In the evening we stayed at a settlement of Galela men. These are natives of a district in the extreme north of Gilolo, and are great wanderers over this part of the archipelago. They build large and roomy praus with outriggers, and settle on any coast or island they take a fancy for. They hunt deer and wild pig, drying the meat; they catch turtle and trepang; they cut down the forest, and plant rice or maize, and are remarkably energetic and industrious. They are a very fine people, of light complexion, tall, and with Papuan features, coming nearer to the drawings and descriptions of the true Polynesians of Tahiti and Owyhee" (properly written Hawaii) "than I have ever seen."

Speaking of Ternate, he says: "The people of Ternate are of three well-marked races: the Ternate Malays, the Orang Serani, and the Dutch. The first are an intrusive Malay race somewhat allied to the Macassar people, who settled in the country at a very early period, drove out the indigenes, who were no doubt the same as those of the adjacent mainland 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 Malay origin. To most of these people the Malay language is quite unintelligible, although such as are engaged in trade are obliged to acquire it."

Of Gilolo he says: "In the country round about Sahoe, and in the interior, there is a large population of indigenes, numbers of which come daily into the village, bringing their produce for sale, while others were engaged as labourers by the Chinese and Ternate traders. A careful examination convinced me that these people are radically distinct from all the Malay races." Further on he accounts for the presence of these people in the Malay islands by supposing an immigration from the islands of the Pacific. Of Manawolko he writes: "The people here, at least the chief men, were of a purer Malay race than the Mahometans of the mainland of Ceram, which is perhaps due to there having been no indigenes on these small islands when the first settlers arrived." It would be better to attribute the absence of indigenes, as he calls page 81 them, and properly calls them, on these small islands, to the greater ease with which they would be cleared out by invaders.

In his last chapter he says: "The brown Polynesian race, or some intermediate type, is spread everywhere over the Pacific. The descriptions of these latter agree exactly with the characters of the brown indigenes of Gilolo and Ceram. It is to be especially remarked that the brown and the black Polynesian races closely resemble each other. Their features are almost identical, so that the portraits of a New Zealander or Otaheitan will often serve accurately to represent a Papuan or Timorese, the darker colour and more frizzly hair of the latter being the only differences. They are both tall races. They agree in their love of art and the style of their decorations. They are energetic, demonstrative, and laughter-loving, and in all these particulars they differ widely from the Malay." Further on we read: "The true Polynesians, inhabiting the furthest isles of the Pacific, are no doubt doomed to an early extinction. But the more numerous Malay race seems well adapted to survive as the cultivator of the soil, even when his country and government have passed into the hands of Europeans. A warlike and energetic people who will not submit to national slavery or to domestic servitude, must disappear before the white man as surely as do the wolf and the tiger."

Though Mr. Wallace seems to entertain the belief that the black Polynesians or Papuans are of the same race as the brown Polynesians, Professor Huxley differs. The discussion of this question forms no necessary part of our inquiry. It is sufficient for our present purpose that this scientific writer clearly describes as still existing in the Malay islands settlements of indigenes, a distinct people, who are not Malays, and who exactly resemble the people of the Polynesian islands. And it is remarkable that they exist generally in the interior of the larger islands, having been apparently expelled by the Malays from the smaller ones, and are now found for the most part in a state of political inferiority and social distress.

More authorities hostile to any approximation, except such as has resulted from desultory intermixture, between the page 82 characteristics of the Malay and the Polynesian, may be easily produced. Thus D'Urville, in his "Voyage au Pale Sud," describes the Harafuros of Celebes (Menado) as identical, physically, with the Polynesians, and the Harafuros he shows to be the remains of a people who have been subjugated by the Malays.

Lieutenant Kolff, in "Voyages of the Dutch Brig of War, Donga," gives similar testimony with respect to the inhabitants of Kissa, in the southern Moluccas, describing the people as tall and well-formed, with light-brown complexions. Speaking of the inhabitants of the Tenimber group, he says: "They are usually well formed, and possess a finer complexion than most of their neighbours, while their features display few of the characteristics of the inhabitants of the Indian Archipelago."

I will add the authority of the great voyage of Magellan, the author of which clearly distinguishes the dominant Malay race from the scattered remnants of a subject population resembling the Polynesians. De Rienzi, in an article called "Oceanie," in L'Univers, treats the question very fully, and arrives at the same conclusion. Finally, the Javanese. (Indians) and Malays themselves state that they arrived in the islands at a later date than the people whom we have spoken of as resembling the Polynesians, and that they conquered them, extirpating, driving them out, or compelling them to seek safety in mountain fastnesses. They record their priority by calling them Orang-Benoa, aborigines or autochthones.

It will have been noticed that the indigenous inhabitants of the Indian Islands, that is, the people who were established there when the Barat and Malay invasions respectively took place, are mentioned by writers under many names, which, however, may be reduced to two general forms—Alfuro, Harafuro, or Harapura; and Baruts, Maruts, Moors, Moris. The former class of names varies, no doubt, simply from the manner in which it was taken down by the several European travellers. I take Harapura to be identical with Hadramaut, the vernacular name of the Sabaian tribe, called by some classical writers Atramitæ, and by Strabo Chatramotitæ, spoken of previously. The latter list represents page 83 most probably one and the same word, and may be traced to the "Mahri," of South Arabia, and its more ancient protonom—Homeritai, the classical rendering of Hinyarite. The tribal names seem to have accompanied the emigrating people as well as the national designation. Orang Benoa and Orang Serani simply mean autochthones.

Similarly, the language of the Malay is not the language of these indigenes or pre-Malay races, whom we have identified with the Polynesians (Sabaians). According to Dieffenbach, the Polynesian language, in its whole formation and construction, is by far more primitive than the Malayan and the rest of the Javano-Tagalo languages. It belongs to a primitive state of society. The Malayan is classed by Professor M. Müller amongst the Turanian or agglutinative languages, and Dr. Rae is of opinion that the study of the Polynesian language gives us the key to the original function of language itself, and to its whole mechanism.^*

It appears highly probable that the Polynesian language, as found in the Pacific, through its various dialects, is the oldest living language on the face of the earth, and the lineal representative of the oldest dead language. A careful comparison of its several dialects shows how wonderfully small is the change it has undergone since the dispersal of the people throughout the islands many centuries ago. The Malayan tongue appears to have no further connection with the Polynesian than such a reciprocal giving and taking of words as must have resulted from the propinquity of residence during a long period of time. Whatever resemblance the Malayan language as spoken in the Archipelago now bears to the Polynesian must be ascribed to the operation of a law clearly stated by Professor Müller.^† The

^* Dr. Rae is very ardent in his advocacy of the dignity and antiquity of the Polynesian language. He writes, "All those tongues which we designate the Indo-European languages have their true root and origin in the Polynesian language. I am certain that this is the case as regards Greek and Sanscrit. I find reason to believe it so as to the Latin and other more modern tongues,—in short, as to all European languages, old and young."

^† Professor Müller ("Science of Language") has a remarkable passage on the rule, which appears to be almost uniform, that a conquering and intruding race gradually acquires the language of the subject race. "It was this language, this germanised Latin, which was adopted by the Norman invaders of France, themselves equally Teutonic, and representing originally that branch of the Teutonic stock of speech which is known by the name of Scandinavian. These Normans or Northmen, speaking their newly acquired Franco-Roman dialect, became afterwards the victors of Hastings, and their language, for a time, ruled supreme in the palaces, law courts, churches and colleges of England. The same thing, however, which had happened to the Frank conquerors of Gaul and the Norman conquerors of Neustria happened again to the Norman conquerors of England. They had to acquire the language of their conquered subjects; and as the Franks, though attempting to speak the language of the Roman provincials, retained large numbers of barbaric terms, the Normans, though attempting to conform to the rules of the Saxon grammar, retained many a Norman word which they had brought with them from Normandy." It is in obedience to this law that in New Zealand for one Maori who can speak English there are fifty Englishmen who can speak Maori more or less correctly. It will, however, be remembered, that the reverse process took place on the first conquest of the Cushites by the Semites before mentioned.

page 84 Sabaians or Harafuros are still in those islands in considerable numbers, and the resident Malays have partially acquired their tongue. Mr. Wallace's book contains a list of one hundred and seventeen words in thirty-three languages of the Malay Archipelago, from which a selection is added in the Appendix. The words are selected from the list as most strongly showing Polynesian resem-blance. One's mind cannot fail to be impressed with the identity of these words of the existing pre-Malay languages of the Indian Ocean with the corresponding Maori words. "The identity of the Polynesian language with the pre-Malay dialects still existing in the Malay Islands is now established," says Fernander; "and not only so, but it is especially and manifestly the older surviving form of a once common tongue. Thanks to its isolation in the Pacific for long ages, it has preserved the ancient simplicity of its structure, and suffered less phonetic corruption than its congeners and pre-Malay cousins, subject as these have been for unknown ages to a constant and harassing intrusion from, and intercourse with, Kani, Malay, and Chinese."

Many of the words in Mr. Wallace's list seem to follow the Malay, while others may be traced to Barat roots, and others, again, seem to have been engrafted on to the dialects from no known stock. Philologists seem pretty well agreed that the criterion of relationship of languages is to be found in the grammar, page 85 and not in the etymology; so that the common property of two forms of speech in a great number of words merely proves that the people speaking the two languages have at some time or other been in conditions of contiguity of habitation or of considerable intercommunication. This law, therefore, although prohibiting any proof of the affinity between the Maori and other Polyne-sian dialects and those spoken by the Harapuras and Moris of the Malay Islands, is infinitely serviceable for proving that the two peoples at some past period lived together. There is no foundation of fact for Mr. Wallace's conjecture that the present aboriginal inhabitants of the Malay Islands are immigrants from Polynesia. Dr. Pickering more acutely observes that the similarity of habits and of physical characteristics of these aborigines has a bearing on the question of the origin of the Polynesians.

The Malay intrusion may have been by sudden and overwhelming invasion, with numerous forces, or it may have resulted from gradual accretion of population by desultory settlement. The former system would be more in unison with the usual characteristics of movements of the Mongol races; and the local traditions affirm that the inroad was powerful and violent. It may be presumed, then, that the Sabaian tribes (for it appears by the existing names attributed to the resident remnants of the aborigines, Harapura and Moris, that the tribal formation was preserved) abandoned their homes simultaneously under the stress of military aggression. In opposition to this presumption must, however, be placed a fact clearly apparent, that is, that none of the traditions with which I am acquainted make any mention of external pressure. All the accounts—at least, all the New Zealand accounts—attribute the migrations from their former habitat to New Zealand to intestine commotions, appearing in the legends as family broils, generally of a very trivial character, arising mostly from insults to women or quarrels about land or property. It is very questionable whether the details of the causes which led to emigration, and the long conversational narratives which describe them, are not later additions which have gradually, during the lapse of centuries, grown on to the original page 86 tales. If, however, these preludes are truly parts of the ancient traditions, it may be taken as an explanation that the Sabaians were not at first oppressed by the Malays, but were permitted to remain in peace in possession of their ancestral homes; that they did not move away in a body, but departed at various times, moving on from island to island, and occupying probably many years before the tribes arrived at the final place of sojourn, where they now are. For that they all along maintained to a certain extent, perhaps to a very large extent, their tribal relations may be safely inferred not only from the preservation of tribal designations as mentioned above, but also from the great varieties in complexion and general appearance which are found in the several groups of the Polynesian islands, arising, as was previously stated, from the different proportions in which Shemite and Cushite blood were mingled in each tribe.

The general direction pursued by the fleets was of course eastwards; and as the south-east monsoon blows for nine months out of the twelve, the voyages may have been made during the remaining three months of the year. Perhaps each year's voyage was of short duration, the greater part of the year being spent on the shores of some of the islands on the route, during which time crops might be planted and reaped. The sojourns on the islands during the passage may have been sometimes of many years' duration, for it does not appear that there was any intention, on the first migrations, of seeking any particular place. On the contrary, the earlier legends present us with the idea of parties starting away on a sudden impulse, or under pressure of force, and trusting to chance as to where, if anywhere, they would bring up. And, in fact, the general peopling of the islands of the Pacific, notwithstanding the vast distances at which they are situated apart from each other, would tend to show that the course of the expeditions was decided principally by causes over which the navigators had little control. A change of the wind might cause a party's ultimate destination to be the Sandwich Islands or New Zealand, as the fates, or rather as Aiolos, directed. It must be noticed, however, that in the case of the Maori migra- page 87 tions the traditions seem to indicate that after the first expeditions of Ngahue and Kupe the subsequent fleets seem to have started with the definite object of arriving at Aotearoa, or New Zealand, and there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the legends on this particular point, or the capacity of the previous navigators to make the return voyage, and furnish the requisite information.

The vessels used by the navigators are called in the legends "waka," or canoes—the only vernacular word now known for a water-carriage. It is supposed that they were the double canoes still used in the Pacific Ocean, which are vessels of considerable strength and great speed, of which the use and construction have long since been discontinued in New Zealand. Whatever was the form and size of the craft used by these navigators, it is clear from the legends that they had houses on deck, and were capable of carrying many people. But there is no logical necessity for assuming that the Sabaians had lost all the skill that they once possessed in building vessels and making distant voyages, for knowledge of this sort decays slowly, and a people removing from a continent to islands were little likely to abandon a practice for which they were so renowned, and which had become more than ever a necessity for them. The vessels used by the navigators may have been of a much more powerful and efficient type than is now known amongst the South Sea Islanders, and the legends may, in the course of time, have become altered by adaptation to the character of the craft in general use and known to the people.

But I do not think that there is any necessity for supposing that the art of shipbuilding was in a greatly superior condition at the epoch of the migration into the Pacific Ocean. The skill of the native artificers, as now existing, is amply efficient to satisfy the necessities of the situation. The praus of the Malay pirates indisputably establish the fact that great skill in shipbuilding and in navigating vessels is not inconsistent with a low state of civilisation. The Maoris of New Zealand build, or used lately to build, very beautiful and powerful canoes, capable of carrying one hundred men and more, with page 88 which, even in our time, they were accustomed to make voyages round the coasts.^* There are specimens still in existence, but the construction of large canoes has ceased, as all other habits of industry have ceased. The natives of the Indian islands do not appear to have lost the art of building fine sea-going vessels. Mr. Wallace says: "The art in which the natives of Ké pre-eminently excel is that of boatbuilding. Their forests supply abundance of timber, and from some unknown causes these remote savages have come to excel in what seems a very difficult art. Their small canoes are beautifully formed, broad and low in the centre, but rising at each end, where they terminate in high pointed peaks, more or less carved and ornamented with plumes of feathers. They are not hollowed out of a tree, but are regularly built of planks running from end to end, and so accurately fitted that it is often difficult to find a place where a knife-blade can be inserted between the joints. The larger ones are from 20 to 30 tons burthen, and are finished ready for sea without a nail or particle of iron being used. These vessels are handsome to look at, good sailers, and admirable sea boats, and will make long voyages with perfect safety."

We read from all contemporary voyagers that the navigating powers of the northern Polynesians are still considerable, though the New Zealanders have not only discontinued the habit of going to sea, but have ceased to build canoes. The Tahitians still procure red feathers from Whenuarora, one of the Fiji group, ten days' sail to the westward (Pickering's "Races of Man"). Dr. Pickering says, speaking of Tutuila in the Samoan group: "A party of visitors had been expected, from the wind having recently changed to the westward, an occurrence, it was said, that rarely takes place without bringing visitors." He says further on, in a sort of summary at the end of his book: "Of the aboriginal vessels of the Pacific, two kinds only are adapted for long sea voyages—those of Japan, just mentioned, and the large double

^* The Rev. Mr. Lawry, in his "Visit to the Friendly Islands" (1851), says that he measured a canoe, and found it to be ninety feet long, with a sail ninety feet high and sixty feet wide at the top; adding that the canoes sail very fast and near the wind. He mentions the arrival at Tonga of a fleet of double canoes.

page 89 canoes of the Society and Tonga groups. In times anterior to the impulse given to civilised Europe, through the novel enterprise of Columbus, Polynesians were accustomed to make sea voyages nearly as long, exposed to equal dangers, and in vessels of inferior construction. However incredible this may appear to many, there is sufficient evidence of the fact. The Tonga people are known to hold intercourse with Vavao, Samoa, the Fijis, Rotuma, and the New Hebrides." But there is a document published before those seas were frequented by whalers and trading vessels which shows a more extensive aboriginal acquaintance with the islands of the Pacific. I allude to the map obtained by Foster and Cook from a native of the Society Islands, and which has been shown by Mr. Hale to contain not only the Marquesas and the islands south and east of Tahiti, but the Samoan, Fiji, and even more distant groups.

There is no necessity that more labour should be devoted to collecting proofs that the South Sea islanders have always been, and in some islands are still, capable of making long sea voyages and in any direction.^* The traditions of the New Zealanders are very clear about their powers of navigation in the olden time. Not only did Tamatekapua and the other leaders of the people make the long voyages to New Zealand, but it is related of almost all the immigrations that, after having reached land, the adventurers put to sea again, and sailed to some other part of the coast, and in some instances return voyages were made to the places whence they came. I confess that how these navigators managed to hit the Chatham Islands has always been to my mind a puzzle. All traditions say that this was a distinct immigration, and that the Chathams were not colonised from New Zealand. It must be presumed that when these expeditions were covering the Pacific Seas parties went where the winds took them, and that many of them must have missed land altogether and have never turned up anywhere. Dr. Pickering says that the inhabitants of parts of the Californian coast are of the Polynesian race, and it is extremely probable that some of the fleets may have missed all

^* See Ellis's "Polynesian Researches."

page 90 the islands and continued on until brought up by the continent of America.

The south-east monsoon would, no doubt, afford considerable obstacle to the Eastward progress of the Sabaian expeditions; but, admitting that all the voyages were not made during the three months when these winds do not blow, and, granting further that there were not many stopping places on the way (which latter is an unnecessary concession, for the traditions even furnish the names of the places at which stoppages were made), it does not appear that the monsoon blows with so much regularity as to present an insuperable difficulty to navigators going in a direction contrary to it, or in any desired direction. The unsteadiness and uncertainty of these trade winds is amusingly described by Wallace, who lamented the loss of time they occasioned in his favourite pursuit—the collection of insects.

He tells us that the south-east monsoon lasts two-thirds of the year, and that a westerly wind prevails during the remainder; but he is sorely vexed with its irregularity. "Night closed in," he says, "and the wind grew more ahead, so we had to take in sail. Then came a calm, and we sailed and rowed as occasion offered." Again: "The rest of the evening we had a fine west wind, which carried us on at five knots an hour, as much as our lumbering old tub can possibly go. Next day a heavy swell from the south-west rolled us about most uncomfortably." Again, December 25: "The afternoon was fine, and the wind got round again to the west; but although this is really the west monsoon, there is no regularity or steadiness about it, calms and breezes from every point of the compass continually occurring." Again: "When we got out of the straits, and were fairly on the great Pacific Ocean, we had a steady wind for the first time since leaving Ternate; but unfortunately it was dead ahead, and we had to beat against it." Again: "We made sail to the northward, hoping soon to get a more southerly wind. Towards noon the sea was much smoother, and with a S.S.E. wind we were laying in the direction of Salwalty. This wind did not, however, last long, but died away into a calm, and a light west page 91 wind sprang up." Again: "The wind was, however, as usual, contrary, being S.S.W. instead of S.S.E., as it should have been at this time of the year." Again: "It must be remembered that this was the season of the S.E. monsoon, and yet we had not had half a day's S.E, wind since we left Waikiou." He sums up his complaints of the fickle winds on arriving at his journey's end: "And to crown all, during the whole of our voyages from Goram by Ceram to Waikiou, and from Waikiou to Ternate, occupying in all seventy-eight days, or only twelve days short of three months (all in what was supposed to be the favourable season), we had not one single day of fair wind."