In Some Parts Of The West End Of Timor, And On
The Little Island Of Semau, The Houses More Resemble Those Of The
Hottentots, Being Egg-Shaped, Very Small, And With A Door Only
About Three Feet High.
These are built on the ground, while those
of the eastern districts art, raised a few feet on posts.
In
their excitable disposition, loud voices, and fearless demeanour,
the Timorese closely resemble the people of New Guinea.
In the islands west of Timor, as far as Flores and Sandalwood
Island, a very similar race is found, which also extends eastward
to Timor-laut, where the true Papuan race begins to appear. The
small islands of Savu and Rotti, however, to the west of Timor,
are very remarkable in possessing a different and, in some
respects, peculiar race. These people are very handsome, with
good features, resembling in many characteristics the race
produced by the mixture of the Hindoo or Arab with the Malay.
They are certainly distinct from the Timorese or Papuan races,
and must be classed in the western rather than the eastern
ethnological division of the Archipelago.
The whole of the great island of New Guinea, the Ke arid Aru
Islands, with Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabited almost
exclusively by the typical Papuans. I found no trace of any other
tribes inhabiting the interior of New Guinea, but the coast
people are in some places mixed with the browner races of the
Moluccas. The same Papuan race seems to extend over the islands
east of New Guinea as far as the Fijis.
There remain to be noticed the black woolly-haired races of the
Philippines and the Malay peninsula, the former called
"Negritos," and the latter "Semangs." I have never seen these
people myself, but from the numerous accurate descriptions of
them that have been published, I have had no difficulty in
satisfying myself that they have little affinity or resemblance
to the Papuans, with which they have been hitherto associated. In
most important characters they differ more from the Papuan than
they do from the Malay. They are dwarfs in stature, only
averaging four feet six inches to four feet eight inches high, or
eight inches less than the Malays; whereas the Papuans are
decidedly taller than the -Malays. The nose is invariably
represented as small, flattened, or turned up at the apex,
whereas the most universal character of the Papuan race is to
have the nose prominent and large, with the apex produced
downwards, as it is invariably represented in their own rude
idols. The hair of these dwarfish races agrees with that of the
Papuans, but so it does with that of the negroes of Africa. The
Negritos and the Semangs agree very closely in physical
characteristics with each other and with the Andaman Islanders,
while they differ in a marked manner from every Papuan race.
A careful study of these varied races, comparing them with those
of Eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, has led me
to adopt a comparatively simple view as to their origin and
affinities.
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