Dumont d’Urville has distinguished among these races three divisions which he has designated by the appellations of Malays, Polynesians, and Micronesians; and these groups will be treated here as so many families.
Malay Family.
The Malay family, which inhabits Malaysia and the peninsula of Malacca, is made up of a vast number of nations, the widely varied characteristics of which partake more or less of those of the Indo-Chinese, the Hindoos, and even the Negroes. We shall specify in this family the Malays, Javanese, Battas, Bugs, or Bougis, the Macassars, Dyaks, and Tagals.
Malays.—The Malays constitute the most numerous and remarkable branch of this family. They are spread over the peninsula of Malacca, the islands of Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes, and in the Moluccas, etc. This group of islands was formerly known as the Indian Archipelago, and owes its name of Malaysia to the naturalist Lesson.
The chief characteristics of the Malays are a lithe and active body, medium stature, somewhat slanting eyes, prominent cheekbones, a flat nose, smooth glossy hair, and a scanty beard. Their limbs are elegantly formed and their hair is black and curling. The flatness of their noses is attributable to an artificial cause, as, immediately on the birth of an infant, this feature is compressed until the cartilage is broken, for a broad flat face is considered a point of beauty, and a projecting nose would be looked on as a snout. Their lips are deformed by the inordinate chewing of the betel leaf, and become ultimately repulsive in appearance on account of their exaggerated redness and the extravasated blood beneath their surface. The yellow colour of their skin is heightened still more by artificial means, for it is regarded as an attraction, and is the aristocratic tint; daily rubbing with henna or turmeric bring it to a saffron tinge. The natural complexion of the women is pale and dull; brown is predominant among the men. The princes and dignitaries stain a dark yellow every part of the body exposed to view.
A Malay’s clothing is of a very light description, consisting, both for men and women, of two large pieces of stuff skilfully arranged and confined at the waist by a scarf. Princes and moneyed persons alone wear a kind of drawers.
The indolence of the Malays is excessive. With the exception of the slaves, no one works. They are in fact an utterly demoralized people; murder, pillage, and outrage are familiar to them, they possess neither honour nor gratitude, and have no respect for their pledged word. Play is with them a passion, a frenzy. They gamble away their property, their wives and children, everything, in fact, except their own persons. They are victims of opium and the betel plant. Nevertheless some laws have existence among them, for murder and robbery are punishable by fines and corporal punishments.
The Malays of the Malacca peninsula are not, like the inhabitants of the Archipelago, violent, passionate, and lazy. They are an energetic, provident, trading, industrious race, but quite as rapacious and as tricky as the others. Like the inhabitants of Malaysia, too, they are prone to vengeance, and when under the influence of opium this sentiment becomes inflamed, and turns into a kind of fury, directed not only against the person of the offender but also against harmless passers-by. The Malay who is a prey to this double paroxysm of opium and frenzy, snatches up a sharp weapon, dashes forth furiously, shouting “Kill! Kill!” and strikes everyone who crosses his path.