e is particularly sensitive to breaches of etiquette, or any
interference with the personal liberty of himself or another. As an
example, I may mention that I have often found it very difficult to get
one Malay servant to waken another. He will call as loud as he can, but
will hardly touch, much less shake his comrade. I have frequently had to
waken a hard sleeper myself when on a land or sea journey.

The higher classes of Malays are exceedingly polite, and have all
the quiet ease and dignity of the best-bred Europeans. Yet this is
compatible with a reckless cruelty and contempt of human life, which
is the dark side of their character. It is not to be wondered at,
therefore, that different persons give totally opposite accounts of
them--one praising them for their soberness, civility, and good-nature;
another abusing them for their deceit, treachery, and cruelty. The old
traveller Nicolo Conti, writing in 1430, says: "The inhabitants of Java
and Sumatra exceed every other people in cruelty. They regard killing a
man as a mere jest; nor is any punishment allotted for such a deed. If
any one purchase a new sword, and wish to try it, he will thrust it
into the breast of the first person he meets. The passers-by examine the
wound, and praise the skill of the person who inflicted it, if he thrust
in the weapon direct." Yet Drake says of the south of Java: "The people
(as are their kings) are a very loving, true, and just-dealing people;"
and Mr. Crawfurd says that the Javanese, whom he knew thoroughly, are "a
peaceable, docile, sober, simple, and industrious people." Barbosa, on
the other hand, who saw them at Malacca about 1660, says: "They are
a people of great ingenuity, very subtle in all their dealings; very
malicious, great deceivers, seldom speaking the truth; prepared to do
all manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrifice their lives."

The intellect of the Malay race seems rather deficient. They are
incapable of anything beyond the simplest combinations of ideas, and
have little taste or energy for the acquirement of knowledge. Their
civilization, such as it is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it
is entirely confined to those nations who have been converted to the
Mahometan or Brahminical religions.

I will now give an equally brief sketch of the other great race of the
Malay Archipelago, the Papuan.

The typical Papuan race is in many respects the very opposite of the
Malay, and it has hitherto been very imp