He Will Call As Loud As He Can, But Will Hardly Touch,
Much Less Shake His Comrade.
I have frequently had to waken a
hard sleeper myself when on a land or sea journey.
The higher classes of Malays are exceedingly polite, and have all
the quiet ease and dignity of the best-bred Europeans. Yet this
is compatible with a reckless cruelty and contempt of human life,
which is the dark side of their character. It is not to be
wondered at, therefore, that different persons give totally
opposite accounts of them - one praising them for their soberness,
civility, and good-nature; another abusing them for their deceit,
treachery, and cruelty. The old traveller Nicolo Conti, writing
in 1430, says: "The inhabitants of Java and Sumatra exceed every
other people in cruelty. They regard killing a man as a mere
jest; nor is any punishment allotted for such a deed. If any one
purchase a new sword, and wish to try it, he will thrust it into
the breast of the first person he meets. The passers-by examine
the wound, and praise the skill of the person who inflicted it,
if he thrust in the weapon direct." Yet Drake says of the south
of Java: "The people (as are their kings) are a very loving,
true, and just-dealing people;" and Mr. Crawfurd says that the
Javanese, whom he knew thoroughly, are "a peaceable, docile,
sober, simple, and industrious people." Barbosa, on the other
hand, who saw them at Malacca about 1660, says: "They are a
people of great ingenuity, very subtle in all their dealings;
very malicious, great deceivers, seldom speaking the truth;
prepared to do all manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrifice
their lives."
The intellect of the Malay race seems rather deficient. They are
incapable of anything beyond the simplest combinations of ideas,
and have little taste or energy for the acquirement of knowledge.
Their civilization, such as it is, does not seem to be
indigenous, as it is entirely confined to those nations who have
been converted to the Mahometan or Brahminical religions.
I will now give an equally brief sketch of the other great race
of the Malay Archipelago, the Papuan.
The typical Papuan race is in many respects the very opposite of
the Malay, and it has hitherto been very imperfectly described.
The colour of the body is a deep sooty-brown or black, sometimes
approaching, but never quite equalling, the jet-black of some
negro races. It varies in tint, however, more than that of the
Malay, and is sometimes a dusky-brown. The hair is very peculiar,
being harsh, dry, and frizzly, growing in little tufts or curls,
which in youth are very short and compact, but afterwards grow
out to a, considerable length, forming the compact frizzled mop
which is the Papuans' pride and glory. The face is adorned with a
beard of the same frizzly nature as the hair of the head. The
arms, legs, and breast are also more or less clothed with hair of
a similar nature.
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