Distribution - Earlier traces in the Indian Ocean

Distribution - Traces of an earlier more extensive distribution in the Indian Ocean - Colour; Skull; Hair; Bodily build; Resemblance to Negroes - Alleged race of Dwarfs - Relation of Papuas and Negritos - Misunderstanding of the name Alfurs - Character and mental qualities of the Melanesian population.

Distribution - Earlier traces in the Indian Ocean

Crossing the eastern boundary of Melanesia, we at once come in the Fiji Islands across a plainly Negroid race, the traces of which to the eastward we have already mentioned. Beyond the region defined as Melanesia, it is found in the interior of India and Ceylon. In the Malay Archipelago it extends westward as far as Timor; when we get to Lombok we find Malays. To one particular group, the negritos, may be with much probability assigned an extension to east and north formerly much wider. The inhabitants of the interior of the Philippines, who live in a state of warfare with the Malays who invade the coast districts, belong to this group. The Aborigines of the Andamans are nearly akin, and some profess to point to traces of the race in the Mariannes and in Micronesia. Quatrefages found his so-called "Mincopie-Type" even in the Japanese skull, though in an attenuated form. Remains of negroid tribes are also said to be known in the interior of Malacca and in India.

New Guinea Girl. (From a Photograph in the possession of Herr W. Joost, Berlin.)

This dispersed and fragmentary occurrence of the dark element has suggested to many observers the view that we should see therein an earlier population of these and neighbouring regions, for which the continent of Southern Asia formed a bridge between the Indo-Pacific and the African domains of the Negro. Upon this the lighter men were superimposed in a broad layer, leading on the mainland to every possible degree of crossing. Here also we must guard against any cut-and-dried notions with respect to the relations of ever-shifting races. The Papuas made forays against Asia, and came in great numbers as slaves to Ceram and the Eastern part of the Malay Archipelago. In this way we may explain in some measure those races not woolly-haired, but crisp or curly-haired, which, starting from Ceram, have made their way among the straight-haired population. The name Alfuros or Alfurs has nothing to do with these Papua-like and Negrito-like elements. Thus, without speaking of the dark races everywhere as a primitive population, we may at least denote them as probably the older.

Colour,skull, hair, bodily build

Man of New Ireland. (From the Godeffroy Album.)

In the colour of the skin dark tints prevail without quite reaching the depth of much Negro colouring. The nearest to this, perhaps, is the colour of many Solomons Islanders; manifold admixtures of lighter elements are the cause of the frequency of various shading. In Western Fiji, in the New Hebrides, Malicollo, and New Britain, the dolichocephalic form of skull prevails. The dark crisp-haired population of negroid exterior in the Malayan Archipelago and New Guinea are said to be brachycephalic, as are the so-called Mincopies of the Andamans. According to Krauser the Fijian skull is highly prognathous. At one time it was alleged that their hair grew in tufts, in which it was sought to find a distinction from the African Negro; now it has been discovered that the hair is distributed pretty evenly over the scalp, and only assumes the tufted appearance when it becomes long. Individual hairs are coarse, wiry, and of elliptical section; on the face and body the hair seems to be stronger than in Negroes.

Fijian gentleman. (From Godeffroy Album.)

The frequent occurrence of small individuals is a curious feature in the negroid population of the Indo-Malayan region. In many tribes they form a decided majority, and are clearly distinguished from the others. The average height of the Papuas of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands is between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 8 inches. The Fijians even, especially in the upper classes, are often taller than the whites; on the other hand, for the Andaman Islanders the standard is from 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet; for the Negritos the average is 5 feet. The measurement among the Kanjhars of South India is for men 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 3 inches; the Veddahs of Ceylon 4 feet 9 inches to 4 feet 11 inches; the Paliars of Travancore about 5 feet 3 inches; the Kardars of the Anamalai mountains from 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 5 inches.

Resemblance to Negroes

The resemblance to Negroes which predominates in the total of the phenomena is constantly being insisted on; 260 years ago Tasman expressed it by saying that they only differed from Kaffirs in having less woolly hair. Observers like Finsch and D'Albertis take every opportunity of rejecting the notion of a special Papuan race; the prevailing type of the Melanesians is only a slight variation, recognisable by the greater abundance of hair on the face and body, and by peculiarities in the features. In the larger archipelagos the natives display various departures from the type which may be referred partly to Malayo-Polynesian crossing, partly to the influence of their surroundings. Not to mention Fiji, with its patchwork of races, the New Hebrides unfold before us a real book of patterns.