Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

IXHABITANTS OF INDONESIA. 77In the Sunda Islands and Celebes, as well as in a part of the Moluccas, thedominant, if not the exclusive race, is the Malayan, which constitutes the bulk ofthe population, or which at least has absorbed and assimilated most of the otherethnical elements. But whatever resemblances they may present to each otherthroughout the archipelago, these Malayan peoples are everywhere divided intonatural groups, according to the geographical environment, their diverse interminglings,their diet and different degrees of barbarism or culture.The Malays, properly so called, who closely resemble those of the neighbouringpeninsula, and who have given their name to the whole race, occupy the coastlandsof Sumatra and Borneo, with the intermediate islands. The Javanese, as indicatedby their name, inhabit the greater part of Java, and have also spread farther eastFig. 26.—IXHABITiXTS OF IsDON'ESIA.Scale 1 : 45,000,000.mMalays of divers Indonesians Amianiites. Papuans- Negritos,nationalities.Batta, Dyak.Minahassa, Alfuru.to the two islands of Bali and Lorabok. The Sundanese dwell in the westerndistricts of Java, on the shores of the Sunda Strait separating that island fromSumatra. The Bughis hold the south-western peninsula of Celebes as well as thenorth coast, and all the adjacent i.slands. Lastly, each separate land has its moreor less pure or mixed populations, bearing an endless variety of tiibal names. Theterm " Alfuru," however, collectively applied in Celebes and farther east to allthe wild tribes driven from the coastlands to the interior, has no racial significance.It simply indicates the social condition of the populations which have kept alooffrom the Mohammedan Malays, some of which are of lighter complexion eventhan the Javanese, while others resemble in colour and aspect the dark Papuansof Xew Guinea.