F. Such is the case with the languages of the Philippine Islands. In no part of the great Malay area has the difference between the higher and lower varieties of the population, been more strongly insisted on, and more accurately explained than here. Yet the testimony of the early Spanish Missionaries, as to the fundamental identity of the Black with the other languages is unanimous; and, to put the matter further beyond doubt, the few words of the Igorot negroes, near Marivèles, which are supplied by Lafond Luray, who visited them, are Malay also.
Now, on these grounds, and laying the Andaman Islands out of the question, it may be safely predicated, that, until we reach either New Guinea, or Australia, we have no proofs of the existence of any language fundamentally different from the Malay; whatever may be the difference in physical appearance of those who speak it.
III. For New Guinea, and the islands Waigioo, and Guebé, I have found only ten short vocabularies, and these only for the north-western districts. One of these, the Guebé, of the voyage of the Astrolabe, although dealt with by Mr. Durville as Papuan, is Malay. The rest, without any exception, have a sufficient portion of Malay words to preclude any argument in favour of their belonging to a fresh class of languages. On the other hand, the commercial intercourse between the Papuans and Malays precludes any positive statements as to the existence of a true philological affinity.
From New Guinea, westward and southward, we have for the localities inhabited by the black tribes with curly hair, the following vocabularies.
1. For New Ireland.
A. Gaimard's Carteret Harbour Vocabulary—Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 143.
B. Durville's Port Praslin Vocabulary. Ibid.
C. Dalrymple's, so called, New Guinea Vocabulary, collected by Schouten and Le Maire, given also by De Brosses.
2. For Vanikoro—Gaimard's Vocabulary in three dialects, the Vanikoro, the Tanema, and the Taneanou—Voyage de l'Astrolabe, Philologie, ii. 164.
3. Mallicollo—Cook's Vocabulary.