remote as the origin of
a very distinct race--a race as different from the Malay in mental and
moral, as it is in physical characters.

As bearing upon this question it is important to point out the harmony
which exists, between the line of separation of the human races of the
Archipelago and that of the animal productions of the same country,
which I have already so fully explained and illustrated. The dividing
lines do not, it is true, exactly agree; but I think it is a remarkable
fact, and something more than a mere coincidence, that they should
traverse the same district and approach each other so closely as they
do. If, however, I am right in my supposition that the region where the
dividing line of the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan regions of zoology
can now be drawn, was formerly occupied by a much wider sea than at
present, and if man existed on the earth at that period, we shall see
good reason why the races inhabiting the Asiatic and Pacific areas
should now meet and partially intermingle in the vicinity of that
dividing line.

It has recently been maintained by Professor Huxley, that the Papuans
are more closely allied to the negroes of Africa than to any other race.
The resemblance both in physical and mental characteristics had often
struck myself, but the difficulties in the way of accepting it as
probable or possible, have hitherto prevented me front giving full
weight to those resemblances. Geographical, zoological, and ethnological
considerations render it almost certain, that if these two races ever
had a common origin, it could only have been at a period far more remote
than any which has yet been assigned to the antiquity of the human race.
And even if their lenity could be proved, it would in no way affect my
argument for the close affinity of the Papuan and Polynesian races, and
the radical distinctness of both from the Malay.

Polynesia is pre-eminently an area of subsidence, and its great
widespread groups of coral-reefs mark out the position of former
continents and islands. The rich and varied, yet strangely isolated
productions of Australia and New Guinea, also indicate an extensive
continent where such specialized forms were developed. The races of
men now inhabiting these countries are, therefore, most probably the
descendants of the races which inhabited these continents and islands.
This is the most simple and natural supposition to make. And if we find
any signs of direct affinity b