Note 3 — Source and Migration of the Polynesian Race.

In a recent work,3 Wallace argues very ingenuously that the Polynesian race is merely a modification of the Papuan race, superinduced by an admixture of Malay or some light-colored Mongol element, the Papuan, however, largely predominating, physically, mentally and morally, but that such admixture probably occurred at such a remote period as, through the lapse of ages, to have become a permanent type. He further asserts that the presence of a decided Malay element in the Polynesian languages is altogether a phenomenon of recent occurrence originating in the roaming habits of the chief Malay tribes, and says that this fact is proved by the presence of a number of actual modern Malay and Javanese words and not more Malay roots, as would have been the case had their introduction been as remote as the origin of a very distinct race; and he concludes by saying that there are proofs of extensive migration among the Pacific Islands, but there are no proofs whatever of recent migration from any surrounding country to Polynesia, since there are no people to be found elsewhere sufficiently resembling the Polynesian race in their chief physical and mental characteristics.