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The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise : A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature
The Malay Archipelago The Land of the OrangUtan and the Bird of Paradise A Narrative of Travel with Studies of Man and Nature Author:Alfred Russel Wallace Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I believe, therefore, that all the peoples of the various islands can be grouped either witii -the Malays or the Papuans; and that these two have no traceable af... more »finity to each other. I believe, further, that all the races east of the line I have drawn have more affinity for each other than they have for any of the races west of that line ;— that, in fact, the Asiatic races include the Malays, and all have a continental origin, while the Pacific races, including all to the east of the former (except perhaps some in the Northern Pacific), are derived, not from any existing continent, but from lands which now exist or have recently existed in the Pacific Ocean. These preliminary observations will enable the reader better to apprehend the importance I attach to the details of physical form or moral character, which I shall give in describing the inhabitants of many of the islands. CHAPTER IL SINGAPORE. (A BKBTCH OF THE TOWN AND ISLAND AS SEEN DURING SEVERAL VISITS FROM 1854 TO 1862.) FEW places are more interesting to a traveller from Europe than the town and island of Singapore, furnishing, as it does, examples of a variety of Eastern races, and of many different religions and modes of life. The government, the garrison, and the chief merchants are English; but the great mass of the population is Chinese, including some of the wealthiest merchants, the agriculturists of the interior, and most of the mechanics and labourers. The native Malays are usually fishermen and boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The Portuguese of Malacca supply a large number of the clerks and smaller merchants. The Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and, with many Arabs, are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and washermen are all Bengalees, and the...« less