FIG. 150.—Same subject as Fig. [149], in profile.
Tattooing by cicatrisation.
(Phot. Prince Roland Bonaparte.)
There remain the two principal groups of the population of the Archipelago: the Indonesians and Malays, who differ from each other much less than till recently was supposed.
It has been said and frequently repeated, though without precise documents to warrant the assertion, that the Indonesians resemble the Polynesians, and the Malays the Mongols, but recent anthropological research has proved that this is not the case.[556] The Indonesians, which is the collective name under which, since Junghuhn, Logan, and Hamy,[557] have been comprised the little intermixed inland populations of the large islands (Dyaks of Borneo, Battas of Sumatra, various “Alfurus” of Celebes and certain Moluccas, etc.), have none of the special characters of Polynesians. They are of very short stature (1 m. 57 on the average), mesocephalic or dolichocephalic (av. ceph. ind., 78.5 on the liv. sub.), while the Polynesians are very tall (1 m. 72 on the average) and brachycephalic; and if the yellow colour of the skin and the nature of the hair (straight or slightly curled) are almost the same in the two races, the form of the nose, of the lips, of the face, as well as various other traits, present notable differences.
On the other hand, the Indonesians singularly resemble the Malays. Speaking generally, the Malays are somewhat taller (av. height, 1 m. 61) and brachycephalic (av. ceph. ind., 85 on the liv. sub.), but there is a great variety of type in this group, which is much more mixed than the Indonesian. It is even possible that the Malays (that is to say, the Malays properly so called of Malacca and of Menangkabau in Sumatra, as well as the Javanese, Sundanese, and the riverine “Malays” of the other islands) are a mixed nation, sprung from the intermixture of Indonesians with various Burmese, Negrito, Hindu, Chinese, Papuan and other elements. In this case, the Indonesians would be of the pure Malay type, the real Protomalays. Intermixtures of Indonesians and Chinese are especially pronounced in Java, in the north of Borneo, and in the Philippines of the north; while in Mindanao, in Sulu and Palawan islands, Arab elements (Moros) dominate, and Hindu elements in certain parts of Java, Sumatra, Bali, and of the south of Borneo. As to intermixtures with Negrito blood they are, as I have already said, specially notable in the north of the Archipelago, while Papuan influence predominates in the south-east.
Apart from some savage tribes like the Olo-ot, the Punan of Borneo, and the Kubus of Sumatra, all the Indonesians and Malays are tillers of the soil, using the hoe. The plant most extensively cultivated is rice, a foreign importation; it has replaced the indigenous plant, millet (Panicum italicum), which only some backward Dyak tribes, the Alfurus of Buru, and the natives of Timur continue to cultivate. Mention has already been made of the use of siri or betel (p. [158]), and of geophagy and anthropophagy (p. [145], et seq.) in the Archipelago. The characteristic dress of the Indonesians and Malays is the kaïn, a piece of stuff passed round the loins and between the legs; also the “sarong,” which appears to have been imported from India—a piece of stuff enveloping the body (Figs. [126] and [146]), worn by both sexes; the women wear besides the javat or chastity belt. Among other ethnic characters special to the Malay-Indonesians should be mentioned the quadrangular houses on piles,[558] the use of the “sumpitan” (p. [261]), the bow being of foreign importation, either from India (in Java and Bali) or from Melanesia (in the islands of the south-east and south-west, in Timur, and the east of Floris); the national weapon, the “kris,” an inlaid dagger with slightly bent handle and sheath in the form of an axe; the large quadrangular or hexagonal shield (Fig. [79]); tattooing, practised among the Dyaks, the Igorrotes of the Philippines, the inhabitants of Ceram, of Timur Laut, the Tenimber Islands, etc.
Among the customs of the family life should be noted the alterations of names (the father at the birth of a son takes the name of “the father of so-and-so”); exogamy in relation to the clan (the “saku” of the Malays of Sumatra, the “marga” of the Battas), practised everywhere in Malaysia except by the Dyaks and the Alfurus to the north of Celebes; the patriarchate, existing everywhere except in the “Padangshe Bovenlanden” (upper Padang district, Sumatra), among the Nias and the Alfurus of Baru and Ceram; the universal custom of carrying off the bride and the indemnity paid at once to the relatives (“halaku” of the Dyaks, the “sompo” of the Bugis). The barbarous practice of head-hunting, either to be assured of servitors in the other world, or to lend importance there (see p. [251]), is in vogue with the Dyaks, the Nias, the Alfurus of Minahassa (north Celebes), the Toradja (mid Celebes), as well as in Ceram and Timur islands.[559] Family property exists almost throughout the Archipelago, side by side with individual property.
The Malay languages, which form part of the Malayo-Polynesian family, are of agglutinative structure, with prefixes and suffixes; by the introduction of infixes they have a tendency towards flexion. Many words, however, do not change at all, and represent at the same time noun, verb, adjective, etc. Among the dialects, Tagal is the richest in affixes and gives to its words the finest shades; then comes the Batta dialect, the dialect of the Alfurus of Minahassa, and lastly, Javanese (see also p. [133]). The dialect least complicated grammatically is the Malay properly so called; it has become the lingua franca and official language of the Mussulmans throughout the Archipelago. Among other dialects may be mentioned Mangkassarese and the “Behasa tanat” of the Moluccas.
The Javanese make use of a special alphabet; the inhabitants of the south of Sumatra have a hooked mode of writing, different from the rounded writing of the Battas; finally, the Bugis and Mangkassars of Celebes, as well as the Bisayans and Tagals of the Philippines, have special forms of writing derived probably from the Devanagari. The Malays employ the Arabo-Persian alphabet.