In an ethnographical distribution such as this, so remarkable for both its negative and positive phænomena, there is ample ground for speculation; and of this there has been abundance. I prefer, however, at present, to suggest a distinction between the Oceanic area of dispersion and the Turk.
In respect to the former, the later the date we assign to it the more explicable are the phænomena; in other words, the more advanced the art of navigation the easier the extension from island to island.
The converse is the case with the latter. The earlier a land migration takes place, the less is the resistance of the nations around it, and, consequently, the greater the facilities of its propagation.
Divisions of the Oceanic Mongolidæ.—I think that if we base our primary divisions of the great Oceanic stock upon difference of physical form, they will not be more than two; although, by raising the value of certain sub-divisions, the number may be raised to three, four, five, or six.
Now as the value of the members of the Oceanic groups is a point upon which there is a variety of opinion, and as the opinion of the present writer as to its unity as a whole, is at variance with the systems of ethnologists, with whom he is diffident of disagreeing, it will be well to take more than usual pains to give prominence to the leading facts upon which the current opinions are based; and for the sake of fuller illustration to carry the reader over the subject by two ways.
A. One class of the Oceanic islanders is yellow, olive, brunette, or brown, rather than black, with long black and straight hair; and when any member of this division is compared with a native of the continental portions of the world, it is generally with the Mongol.
B. Another class of the Oceanic islanders is black rather than yellow, olive, brunette, or brown; and when any member of this division is compared with a native of the continental portions of the world, it is generally with the Negro. As to the hair of this latter group, it is always long, sometimes strong and straight; but, in other cases, crisp, curly, frizzy, or even woolly. Upon these differences, especially that of the hair, we shall see, in the sequel, that sub-divisional groups have been formed.
The social, moral, and intellectual difference between these two classes, in their typical form, is, certainly, not less than the physical—probably more. The continuous geographical area is,—for the black division, New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, New Ireland, and the islands between it and New Caledonia. For the brown division, all the rest of the Oceanic area,—Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Moluccas, the Philippines, the South Sea Islands, the Carolines, &c.
Now this is one way of viewing the subject, and it is the way which gives us the contrast in the most marked manner; the typical instances of each group being put forward.