FL661348

and whether or not they were originally
[words crossed out] so ignorant & uncivilized as they
are now? I regret that to all these
questions [words crossed out] no satisfactory answers can
be [words crossed out] given. We can
only throw out conjectures & hint at pos-
sibilities & probabilities concerning
their original descent, as they are utterly
without a history of their own with
scarcely a [words crossed out] any fragments of tradition and
in as much as all ancient history is
silent about this part of the globe.
How all the Polynesian islands have been
peopled, how long they have been inhabited
and whence they originally came will probably
always remain [words crossed out] doubtful and problematical.
But there is a chain of [word crossed out] islands [word crossed out]
some smaller some greater [words crossed out] connecting
this continent with Asia such as New Guinea,
Borneo [words crossed out] is not far from
the northern coast of this country and Timor is
not a great distance from the Malay country
on the Indian archipelago, or the Malay Archi-
pelago as it is sometimes called. Whether driven
from necessity, when hunted by other tribes

(Margin)

The Celebes
The Phillipines
or nearer
still &
in straiter
line the
Island of
Timor Java
Sumatra the Malay