Note 13 — Chapter VI

If we compare the Malays with the more acute forms of the Tartar race, with the Chinese on the one hand, or with the Arabs or Hindoos that frequent their islands, on the other, we may be disposed to consider them as forming a different race. Their affinity with the Indo-Chinese nations, whom we have every reason to consider as of Tartar origin, is, however, quite unequivocal; and it is through this medium, it appears to me, that we ought to trace their filiation. The sea-coasts of the peninsula of Malacca, Sumatra, and a few other places in that neighbourhood, will be found to afford the best forms illustrative of the character of this tribe; as for instance, the people called Orang Laut. In the better-cultivated islands, the physical form is much modified, as well as the manners, by intermixture with other tribes; probably with those who preceded them in the possession of the country. Let the inhabitants of the places referred to be compared, not directly with the Chinese, but with the Siamese, Barmans, &c., and little doubt will be entertained as to the probable origin of this people.